Michael Fox almost fainted at Downton Abbey blood scene

British actor Michael Fox almost passed out on the set of Downton Abbey as they shot a controversial stomach-churning scene.
Many viewers of the hit period drama were left feeling squeamish during the broadcast of a new episode in the U.K. on Sunday (18Oct15) when Hugh Bonneville’s character projectile-vomited blood during a dinner party.
Several fans have already complained to U.K. TV watchdog the Office of Communications (Ofcom) about the graphic moment, and many more took to social media after the screening to compare it to a gory horror movie.
Now Fox, who plays a footman called Andy in the show, has revealed only the main actors involved in the scene knew what was about to happen, and he was taken by surprise and almost fainted when he saw the fake blood.
He tells British TV show This Morning, “It was pretty graphic… While filming, it was pretty graphic (too). Hugh was so good at it, because we only had one take because they can’t re-set the tables and stuff. And Elizabeth (McGovern) got covered because the distance it travelled was slightly further than Elizabeth was expecting. Just suddenly, like, ‘Woah, okay (I’m) covered in blood’…
“And when you see that, the blood drains from your face. Well, I do anyway. I felt quite faint. So I’m there in the background going, ‘Oh my god, here we go’.”