An invasion of Downton Abbey fans has turned the village where the hit television series and films are shot into "a zoo", an angry resident has claimed.
The success of the period drama has brought about 30,000 fans on tour buses to picturesque Bampton in Oxfordshire, says Mark McArthur Christie. A resident of the village for 20 years, he is now thinking of selling his cottage in one of the areas most targeted by the fans.
Mr McArthur Christie says the cast and crew, as well as many individual tourists, are "lovely people". But the sheer volume of visitors has left him "living in a zoo". He added that fans keep knocking on his door, recite lines at him in the street, put selfie sticks over into his garden, and even steal bricks from his walls. With the new Downton film due for release at the end of this month, he fears it will get worse.
