Simon Curtis takes small worries seriously and gives actors time to make them matter. We value that patience in Cranford; the thin, comfortable Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale shows how easily his good manners can soften a drama.
Fi1m perspective
In Cranford (2007), older women worry about doing things properly when they have less money than their manners might suggest. Simon Curtis, directing alongside Steve Hudson, lets those concerns occupy the drama without treating the women as decorative. We think this is where his patience is most rewarding: people who might have been background figures elsewhere are allowed to matter. The humour depends on understanding why a breach of manners might seem a serious matter.
Heidi Thomas’s adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell gives Eileen Atkins and Judi Dench dialogue that is enjoyable without making every exchange sound like a prepared speech. Curtis and Hudson trust the actors to hold our attention without hurrying them towards the next incident. We were moved by the care given to these women’s efforts to remain respectable as their circumstances change. The opening is slow, and the community can look too comfortable, but neither weakness makes the women themselves any less worth watching.
His earlier television work included David Copperfield (1999) and Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky (2005). With his feature debut, My Week with Marilyn (2011), he moved towards biographical stories confined to a particular period rather than an entire life. Michelle Williams gives that film a strong centre, although Curtis’s visual approach is conventional. We want the framing to tell us more, rather than leave so much of the work to the performer.
Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022) brought him to another established period ensemble, followed by Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (2025). In the latter, Julian Fellowes’s writing and Curtis’s direction make room for every regular to have a moment, leaving a dozen small stories competing for attention. Michelle Dockery carries what dramatic weight there is, and the farewell is handled with care. We would have preferred fewer little stories and more substance in each; the good manners cannot quite conceal how thin it is. Start with Cranford, and give its opening time; Atkins and Dench repay the patience.
Biography
Simon Curtis is an English director and producer. Born in London on 11 March 1960, he began his career in theatre at the Royal Court Theatre, where he served as deputy director and directed productions including the world premiere of Jim Cartwright's Road.
Curtis has directed numerous television dramas for the BBC, including David Copperfield (1999) and Cranford (2007–2009). His feature films include the biographical dramas My Week with Marilyn (2011), Woman in Gold (2015), Goodbye Christopher Robin (2017), The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019), Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022) and Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (2025). He has received Emmy and BAFTA nominations for his television work.
He is married to actress Elizabeth McGovern, with whom he has two children.
