TV

Michelle Dockery adds a touch of class

Lady Mary shows some leg!

“Downton Abbey” star Michelle Dockery — you know, the one with a voice like cut glass — joined her actress sister Jo for a Red magazine October cover shoot on London’s bucolic Hampstead Heath. In oversized coats and dungarees, they rode bikes, climbed trees and talked about growing up together in the ordinary suburb of Chad-well Heath in Essex. Their mother raised them and their middle sister, Louise, to remain as down to earth as possible.

“The way we were brought up means our expectations are never too high, so everything is like an amazing surprise,” says Michelle, 31. “Mum’s favorite saying is, ‘Now, don’t get your hopes up,’ which sounds like a negative thing to say but it has helped me a lot. She taught us to enjoy every day. On ‘Downton,’ we always get asked, ‘What’s next, Hollywood?’ But I’m in this amazing show and really enjoying it. Why should I think beyond that? Right now, this is enough.”

Jo, 33, reveals that her sister’s performance on “Downton Abbey” is really an extended version of her “posh lady impression.”

“She’s been doing impressions since the age of five and the only difference is that now everyone knows about it,” says Jo. “I’ve always known what she can do. The rest of the world has just caught up.”

“Downton Abbey” returns to PBS in January 2014. The full interview with Dockery appears in the October issue of Red, on sale September 4, which is also available as a digital edition.