He played the ever-loyal butler in Downton Abbey, but in real life actor Jim Carter has very different views about the job.

The actor, 68, who starred as Carson in the popular ITV period drama, said that “posh people” should “help themselves”.

Discussing visiting Los Angeles, Carter told Radio Times magazine: “People come up to me and say, ‘Oh my God, I love your programme, oh my God!’

“They wish life were like that.

Downton Abbey's Jim Carter will attend the concert
Downton Abbey’s Jim Carter (Ian West/PA)

“I say, ‘It’s not a documentary, you know’.”

And the star added: “Besides, I wouldn’t want to be a butler, standing around posh people who don’t know how to feed themselves.

“Invent a buffet, help yourselves!”

The Harrogate-born actor told the magazine that he had “avoided people trying to make me a professional Northerner”.

Jim Carter as Carson
Jim Carter as Carson (Nick Briggs/Carnival Films)

“They all think you’re working class whether you are or not. Harrogate is not the pit face,” he said.

Carter, who is married to actress Imelda Staunton, also starred in the Yorkshire coalfield-set Brassed Off (1996), about the troubles faced by a colliery brass band following the closure of their pit, but does not believe the film would get made now.

“They would be frightened. It was too party political and partisan for the modern financier,” he said.

:: This week’s Radio Times is on sale from Tuesday.