Post-Downton Abbey movie could be wonderful – producer

By ending the TV drama several years shy of the 1929 stock market crash, producer Gareth Neame said rich territory is left to be mined if a film is made. “It’s something we’ve talked about”, he said, adding that though he thinks a film would be “a wonderful thing”, there is now no script or firm plans in place at the moment. But it may not be the end of the upstairs-downstairs melodrama as creator Julian Fellowes is considering a proper movie after the series concludes.

The end of an era is approaching as Downton Abbey, the biggest hit in PBS history, prepares to launch into its sixth and final season.

It was time for the series itself to end while still popular and acclaimed, Neame said.

On the small screen, while Season 6 will say goodbye to the entire cast, the final run will also pay homage to characters killed off earlier.

Studio scenes remain to be shot, but production at Highclere, the estate that stood in for Downton Abbey, wrapped recently.

“The one thing I learned from the show is that only people who smoke cigarettes are up to no good”, added Hugh Bonneville, aka Robert Crawley, providing much needed comic relief.

Michelle Dockery said she and Ms. Carmichael wandered the halls and grounds for one last time. “And it’s brought home to [the characters] when we go to visit a neighbor in the county who is literally having to sell the family silver”. She and Carmichael (Edith Crawley), sat on a garden bench used by Mary and the now-departed Matthew, her husband who was played by Dan Stevens.

Surely, the key word in that sentence for the show’s rabid fans is “yet”. It was an worldwide success and is the highest-rated PBS drama ever.

Asked what they will miss or have learned from doing the show, Elizabeth McGovern, aka Cora Crawley, said, “I will miss the peace of it”.

Besides, Penelope Wilton noted, nothing can go on forever.