Jessica Brown Findlay’s “micro” wedding was “wonderful”

She said: “It was wonderful - low-key and micro. After a lockdown 30 people felt huge. I wouldn’t change anything about it.”

After tying the knot at a local church, the couple and their guests went back to their home for a low-key reception.

Jessica recalled: “We got rid of all the furniture so everyone could be spread out, and we did speeches on the stairs.”

However, the former ‘Downton Abbey’ star confessed to a misunderstanding of the rules which led to some “awkward” disinvitations because they hadn’t realised the permitted number included the couple themselves, the priest overseeing the ceremony and the church organist.

And the couple’s plans for a honeymoon were quashed when further lockdown measures were imposed, but Jessica insisted they didn’t mind.

She told The Times newspaper's Saturday Review supplement: “Perfect! We didn’t want to go anywhere and we couldn’t."

The ‘Banishing’ actress is most looking forward to being able to dance in a nightclub when lockdown finally ends.

She said: “I just want to dance all night, because there really is a limit to how loud you can play music at home. It’s not quite the same turning on and off the oven lights."

Jessica became a household name playing Lady Sybil in ‘Downton Abbey’ but quit after three series in 2012, which she’d always planned to do.

She explained: “I don’t respond well to other people planning where I will go. I’m forever grateful for it, but I was worried about what comfort would do to my drive.”

But she admitted she often doubted her decision.

She said: “A hundred per cent! There were moments when I thought, ‘Was that really silly?’"