The ITV drama is in the middle of its sixth and final season, before a Christmas special wraps it up for good.
Many will be sad to see ‘Downton Abbey’ finally closing its doors upon the conclusion of the Christmas special this year, but one of its key stars won’t be viewing it with too much unhappiness. Dame Maggie Smith has said that she’s “glad” to be saying goodbye after six years.
80 year old Smith, who plays the irrepressible matriarch Violet Crawley in the ITV series, spoke to the ‘Graham Norton Show’ on the BBC on Friday night (October 30th) about how she’s pleased to finally wrap up the popular drama.
“I’m glad it’s over, I really am,” she said frankly. “By the time we finished she (Countess of Grantham) must have been about 110. It couldn’t go on and on, it just didn’t make sense.” Asked whether she would like to be in the movie, which has long been mooted by the series’ creator Julian Fellowes, she replied simply “I can’t. What age would she be?”
Dame Maggie Smith
Though the period drama has legions of fans both in the UK and the States, Smith herself has never actually watched it. Before the current sixth season began, she said that she was waiting for show ended for good before watching a box set that she’s got.
More: Will Lord and Lady Grantham be facing hard times in ‘Downton Abbey’s final season?
However, the screen veteran admitted that it was only in the last five years since ‘Downton Abbey’ first aired that she started to be recognised in the street, despite her acting career of nearly 60 years.
“That’s television for you. I was in Waitrose the other day and a little boy was at the checkout with his mother and he kept looking at me. When I asked him, ‘Can I help you?’ he said, “No, it’s alright, it’ll come to me in a minute.’ It was so lovely,” she laughed.
She also promoted her upcoming movie The Lady In The Van, in which she stars alongside Alex Jennings and James Corden.
More: ‘Downton Abbey’ characters to appear in NBC’s ‘The Gilded Age’?
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