Michelle Dockery: 'I'm not posh'

Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery is convinced she would never have been cast in the hit period drama if she had kept her regional accent instead of putting on a posh voice.

The actress, who grew up in Essex, England, speaks in clipped tones for her role as Lady Mary Crawley, daughter of an aristocrat, in the popular period drama, and she admits her regular accent would have put casting directors off.

She tells Britain's Hello! magazine, "I'm not like Lady Mary at all. For one thing, I'm not actually posh. I come from a very humble, working class background... The Romford (Essex) accent... (has) been beaten out of me a little bit by (drama school). I had a very strong Essex accent when I was younger, and I don't think I would have got the role of Lady Mary if I'd walked into the audition going, 'Allo, nice ter meet yer'."