"Downton Abbey" icon Hugh Bonneville says he's honored to work on a franchise that has so significantly impacted the cultural zeitgeist for more than a decade.

Elizabeth McGovern and Hugh Bonneville star in "Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale," in theaters on Friday. Photo courtesy of Focus Features UPI Hugh Bonneville attends the premiere of "Paddington 2" at the Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles in 2018. File Photo by Christine Chew/UPI UPI Left to right, Julian Ovenden, Tom Cullen, Allen Leech, Kevin Doyle, and Jeremy Swift, winners of the Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series award for "Downton Abbey," appear backstage during the Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall in Los Angeles in 2016. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI UPI Allen Leech arrives on the red carpet at the 2014 National Board of Review Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI UPI

NeW YORK, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Downton Abbey icon Hugh Bonneville says he has been honored to work on a series that has so significantly impacted the cultural zeitgeist.

In theaters on Friday, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is billed as the last chapter in a 15-year franchise that includes a beloved, Emmy-winning six-season costume drama and three movie sequels.

It follows the wealthy Crawley family and the loyal servants who work for them at their British country estate from 1912 to 1930.

"It's a great and unique gift," Bonneville told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.

"For all these years, we have been in people's homes and now in people's movie theaters and I urge people to go to the movies to see it, because the Downton family is huge now and to share this final outing with your fellow family members is a real, real treat."

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Bonneville loved watching the film with a New York audience at the premiere this week.

"There was even a round of applause at one point for something that happens in the middle of the film, to hear those collective reactions that you can only get in a movie theater -- the big laughs, the pin-drop silences, perhaps the sniffles," he said.

"The audience has been as much a part of the story of Downton as the actual stories themselves because they, the audiences, have sustained us."

Over the years, Bonneville has heard countless heartfelt stories about what the franchise means to fans around the world.

"Experiences of families watching together or watching in the memory of someone who's passed or a daughter or son who has moved on from home," Bonneville said.

"It's become a sort of comfort go-to of a family residence and that's meant so much to us," the actor added. "Also, when everyone's so upset at the end, just turn, if you're in the movie theater, and hug a stranger."

Bonneville plays stuffy, but loving patriarch Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham.

One of the most important relationships Robert has is with Tom Branson (Allen Leech), the former chauffeur who marries his daughter Lady Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay).

Although Sybil dies in childbirth a short time later, Tom remains at Downton and serves as a trusted counselor to first Robert, then his daughter and successor, Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery).

"It's, obviously, started off as employer and employee and, furthermore, someone who's a bit of a radical coming into a very conservative household and, of course, we've ended up in this final version of the show, where they have, I think it's fair enough to say, become friends," Bonneville said.

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"There's a huge amount of respect from Robert towards Tom and he takes his advice. He listens to him. He values his advice because he's become part of the family."

Leech agreed.

"They're a long way from when [Robert] came to the little hotel I was staying in and tried to buy me off and, the irony is, here in this movie, Tom comes and offers a very generous gesture, back to Robert," Leech said, referring to how Tom bails the Crawleys out of their financial difficulties.

"It's been an amazing journey and I love how they have transitioned, but, also, of course, because it's Downton, it's done in a very civilized, British way. We won't ever say we love each other. We just nod."

By the end of the film, Robert accepts the recommendations of Tom and his butler Carson (Jim Carter) to allow Mary to be the official steward of the estate.

"He's always admired her spirit," Bonneville said.

"She's had the license to do the things he could never do. He was born into this role of protecting and conserving the estate and, so, really had to play by the rules, whereas she's broken every society rule and had a lot of fun," he added.

"He's rather impressed by that and rather envious of her freedom. ... By the time we come to this final movie, the character has appreciated that she's ready to take over."

While he has faith in his daughter's capabilities, the movie follows Mary through yet another romantic faux pas that has set the tongues wagging in polite circles.

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"She's undergoing a scandal yet again, but he knows that Downton will be in safe hands with her, with Tom's advice," Bonneville said. "She says, 'I'll always be on the phone to you asking for advice.'"

Leech added: "I love the fact that not only for Robert has Tom become a sounding board for change, but I think, for Mary, Tom has taken on the role of a brother.

"I quite love that and it's been a lovely journey... going from literally opening doors to drive them around to suddenly sitting in conversations that are uncomfortable," Leech said, "but necessary for them to survive."