Joanne Froggatt hoping to get a bit of a tan now Downton Abbey is over

Actress Joanne Froggatt is looking forward to catching a few rays now she no longer has to stay pale to play maid Anna Bates in Downton Abbey.

The star wrapped up the period drama last year (15) and now admits staying out of the sun was part of her contract.

"It wouldn't have made sense," she explains. "They wouldn't have traveled at that time, so if we all went off and had a lovely holiday in Mauritius or something and we came back and we were tanned, it wouldn't make sense.

"I was so pale on one particular scene that when we had to go and re-do some of the sound, the director said I had to put breath on it, because it looked like I was dead."

However, Joanne's basic look on the show has done wonders for her ego when she's out and about, because fans always think she looks much better in person.

"When people sort of say hi and talk about work in the street, it's often, 'Oh my God, you look so much younger and prettier and thinner'," she told chat show host Conan O'Brien, "and I'm like, 'Thanks'."