Downton Abbey star saves 130 abused bears after abuse video moved her to tears
It was a heartbreaking scene that made Downton Abbey’s Mrs Patmore boil with rage.
When actress Lesley Nicol, who played the drama’s bustling cook, saw a video of the abuse of bears 6,000 miles away in Vietnam and China she knew instantly she had to do something about it.
It led to the star becoming a key ingredient in a campaign to save them – and, in typical Mrs Patmore fashion, Lesley rounded up fellow cast members to help out too. Now their efforts have helped save 130 Asiatic black bears caught and farmed for their bile, which is used in traditional Chinese medicine. And the power behind their success has been driven by the massive fanbase Downton Abbey has in Asia.
The scene was set back in 2012 when Lesley and late husband David Heald – Darbs – were relaxing at home one day and she saw a video tweeted by actor pal Peter Egan. “It showed one of these bears being released from its cage, swimming around in a pool, and I just burst into tears,” says Lesley.
“That bear hooked my heart. I told Darbs we just had to do something.” Lesley contacted Jill Robinson, the founder of Animals Asia which leads a campaign to end the farming trade for bear bile.
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Lesley and her husband Darbs“Downton had a Chinese audience of 160 million, so Jill was delighted to have me on board,” says Lesley, 70. “I promised to rope in other actors from the series and they all jumped on board too, making videos. Saving these bears became everything to Darbs and me. They are snatched from the wild, trapped in tiny cages, unable to stand on all fours. They exist in unimaginable pain, their bodies abused and broken. And they are kept in a constant state of hunger and thirst, as it’s said to make their bile more effective for traditional remedies.”
Animal Asia had persuaded a bear bile farm near Nanning in China to renounce the trade and become a sanctuary for its 130 black bears – also known as moon bears for the cream-coloured crescents on their chests. So the couple and their famous pals joined the charity’s £3million fundraising effort to help make it a reality. Downton stars including Jim Carter ( Mr Carson), Brendan Coyle (John Bates), Joanne Froggatt (Anna Smith), Rob James-Collier (Thomas Barrow) and Sophie McShera (Daisy) filmed a video in costume in the servants’ hall on the Downton Abbey set to promote the Nanning project.
A bear at Tam Dao Sanctuary
Lesley as Mrs Patmore (ITV)“It was beautiful,” says Lesley. “And Raquel Cassidy, who plays Lady Grantham’s maid Miss Baxter, asked wardrobe to make a banner saying ‘We love bears’ which we all held up. Lesley says pal Peter, who appeared in the 2012 Downton Christmas special, has “infectious” enthusiasm for the cause.
“He told me once you’ve seen them, the bears get into your heart,” she says. The following year Lesley and Darbs visited a makeshift animal hospital on China’s border with Vietnam – helping AA vets carry out health checks on the animals. She says: “It was mind-blowing.”
Meanwhile, the ‘Downton effect’ has also helped AA’s efforts in Vietnam to reduce thousands of bears tortured for bile to just 300. Bile farming has been illegal in Vietnam since 2005, but a legal loophole lets farmers keep the bears as “pets” – secretly continuing the trade. Now AA and the Vietnam government have made an agreement to stamp this out – again with the help of Downton Abbey.
Watching King Darbs“Because I played Mrs Patmore I had more gravitas in Asia than many much bigger stars,” says Lesley. “I was happy to do whatever it took.” Lesley and Darbs remained passionately involved with the charity until he died in May 2022 at 68 after posting on Facebook that he had caught Covid. A spiritual healer, he and Lesley married in 2007. She says: “Losing Darbs ripped me to pieces.”
Last month Lesley flew to Bach Ma in Vietnam, where AA is building a 32 acre sanctuary for 400 rescued bears. She says: “I am still grieving, but I want to carry on the work we started together.” While there she saw a rescued bear called King in quarantine that stood out for her. “I said to Jill, ‘My God, is it just me? Who does he remind you of?’ Jill said, ‘Darbs, he’s the spitting image.’”
King Darbs after his rescueNow Lesley has adopted the bear and renamed him King Darbs. She says: “King Darbs has this swagger about him. He’s a bit of a charming poser like Darbs was.” Lesley is now back at work playing sub-postmaster Pam Stubbs in three-part ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office starting on January 1, based on the wrongly jailed postmasters scandal.
But she remains solidly committed to her cause. She says: “It blows me away that bears abused for so many years let you go up close and give them something to eat. They’re so stoic and forgiving.”
While the Vietnamese bile bear industry appears to be coming to an end, Lesley acknowledges there is still a lot of work to be done in China and other South East Asian countries, where around 10,000 moon bears are still being farmed.
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Her latest visit to Vietnam coincides with the charity’s new No Bear Left Behind campaign supported by video messages from celebrities including Dame Judi Dench, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Fry and Alan Cumming.
To find out more and help build the new sanctuary, visit animalsasia.org
Tortured for the sake of 'tonics'
Tortured in the name of medicine, the bears have crude catheters stuck into their abdomens to extract bile from their gall bladders. It contains ursodeoxycholic acid that helps animals avoid problems with gallstones during hibernation.
The bile sells for around £10 a millilitre and is used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat everything from haemorrhoids and sore throats to hangovers. It’s taken in teas, tonics and wines, as well as in tablet form, face packs, toothpaste and shampoo.
Britain has one of the world’s highest seizure rates of products with bear bile. Selling them can lead to five years’ jail.
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