OSCAR-WINNING writer Julian Fellowes is swapping rural Dorset for the glamour of Los Angeles.

He is travelling to the showbiz hub to attend the annual Emmy awards tomorrow after his series Downton Abbey was nominated 11 times.

The prestigious accolades, which are handed out by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, are to TV programmes what the Academy Awards are to film and the Grammies to the music industry.

As well as a nod for Outstanding Mini-series or Movie, the ITV programme has been recognised for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Mini Series or Movie for Elizabeth McGovern and Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Mini-series Or A Movie for Dame Maggie Smith.

But the series’ creator Julian Fellowes, also Lord Fellowes of West Stafford, is taking it all in his stride as he prepares to attend the awards ceremony.

He said: “There is a lot of build up and a lot of parties before these events and I enjoy it up to a point – it’s all part of the job and think it is cheating not to go along with it.”

The second series of Downton Abbey, which follows the fortunes of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants, opens with the outbreak of the First World War. It includes some of the landmark events of that era.

Although it has gone down a storm with viewers on both sides of the Atlantic, Julian is preparing for every eventuality come awards night.

“I am practising my composed face for if someone else wins,” he said. “If you haven’t won and the camera pans on to you it’s always best to be smiling and saying ‘didn’t they do well’, then you can go off to the bathroom and tear your clothing in private!”

The second series starts tomorrow and in a piece of scheduling that is set to divide households across the nation, will clash with the BBC’s super-sleuth series Spooks which Julian dismisses as ‘sad’.

“They are both good, popular series and will be damaged as a result of the clash,” he said. “I think the scheduling is rather sad and it’s a case of people being greedy and not considering their audiences.

“I think it will divide households and there is the fact that a good drama that is doing well is good for everybody involved in making it, no matter who they are working for.”

Once the Emmy awards ceremony is over and the second series of Downton safely ensconced in the Sunday schedules, Julian and wife Emma are returning to Dorset to take part in a fundraising event for the county’s St John Ambulance on September 23 at Lulworth Castle.

The Fellowes will be taking part in an ‘in conversation with’ evening, giving guests the chance to find out all about Downton and other projects.

Tickets cost £35 and proceeds will go towards funding a specialist ophthalmic nurse at the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital.

The event is at 7.45pm on September 23 and tickets are limited and available from St John Ambulance Dorset. Call Alison Glenn or Judith Simpson on 01305 751167 or email: fundraising@dorset.sja.org.uk