After the show that thrust Rob James-Collier into the spotlight came to a close, he took a bit of a hiatus from acting — seven months, to be exact. Although the break wasn't purposeful, it was welcome. "I was waiting for the right thing and I could've been waiting for years," he told Digital Spy. He also mentioned how important it was for him to "put distance" between himself and his Downton Abbey role. "I always try and do something new and different," he said. "Unfortunately it's not always the way it turns out — because it's hard, it's a tough game to be in. And I always say it, but there's better actors than me out of work all the time."
According to the actor's IMDb page, various new and different roles swiftly came his way. In 2016, he starred as a recurring character in the gripping British crime series "The Level." He then starred as Hutch in the 2017 thriller "The Ritual." Distancing himself even more from his "Downtown" character, James-Collier landed a role in "Fate: The Winx Saga," in which he plays the fencing instructor and specialist headmaster, Saul Silva (via Fandom). One of his other recent roles includes playing Martin Evershed in the miniseries "Ackley Bridge," which is about a multi-cultural academy in Yorkshire, which just so happens to be the location of the one and only (fictional) Downton Abbey.
