Maggie Smith has admitted that she is relieved that Downton Abbey is coming to an end.
The veteran star, who plays Violet Crawley on the ITV period drama. said on The Graham Norton Show, which airs tonight on BBC One, that she can't quite believe her character is still alive.
"I'm glad it's over, I really am," she told Norton. "By the time we finished, she must have been about 110. It couldn't go on and on. It just didn't make sense."
Smith added that, despite being a successful film, TV and stage actress since the 1960s, she noticed a sudden upturn in her public visibility since the Julian Fellowes' drama came on the small screen.
"It's only since Downton that people seem to recognise me," she said. "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."
