Peter Egan refused to film Downton Abbey meat scene

Staunch vegan Peter Egan refused to appear with a plateful of meat during dinner party scenes in Downton Abbey. Egan, who plays Hugh ‘Shrimpy’ MacClare, Marquess of Flintshire in the period drama, made sure his beliefs were not compromised during filming, and even asked for a hunting scene to be changed so he was not seen firing a gun at an animal.
He tells British newspaper the Daily Mail, “I’ve never had a dinner party scene at Downton with meat on my plate and never would… They know I’m a vegan. Everyone’s very sensitive about it, they’d never put meat in front of me, nobody expects me to do that… I refused to do a hunting scene in Downton where the end result was a shot (gun shot). I did have one scene in Scotland, but that was just three minutes of stalking (the prey) and there was no specific end shot (gun shot).”