Ashlea is now an Associate member of ACO and her main project this year has been B
camera Op on Bridgerton series 3 with DP Alicia Robbins, who was lead DP on Grey’s
Anatomy Season 17 (produced by Shondaland) and was alternating DP on Season 16.
Shondaland is an American television production company founded by television
writer/producer Shonda Rhimes. She founded it to be one of the production companies of
her first series Grey’s Anatomy in 2005.

Bridgerton is based on a series of eight novels (and multiple “epilogues”) written by Julia
Quinn and adapted for Netflix by Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland productions. They follow the
Bridgerton family, composed of widowed matriarch Violet (Ruth Gemmell) and her eight
children, as they seek marriage matches in Regency England’s high society.

The first season, which premiered Dec. 25, 2020, broke Netflix viewing records as it
followed eldest daughter Daphne’s (Phoebe Dynevor) search for a husband, and her
unexpected connection with the dashing Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean
Page). Season 2 then tackled the second book in the series, honing in on eldest brother
Anthony (Jonathan Bailey)’s enemies-to-lovers romance with the foolhardy Kate Sharma
(Simone Ashley). But it seems Netflix has every intention to continue this story far beyond
these instalments.

To add to a productive year, Ashlea has
worked with DP Matt Gray on the Doctor Who
60th Anniversary Special.
The Doctor Who 60th anniversary special is
already shaping up to be an amazing
celebration of everything Doctor Who. Whilst
we definitely still have lots to look forward to
in the third and final Doctor Who special later
this year, everything we’ve learned about the
60th anniversary special coming in 2023
suggests it will be an unmissable event for any
Doctor Who fan.

Please see Ashlea’s Profile and CV here…

Ashlea Downes ACO Assoc.