Downton Abbey actor Jim Carter has said the cast of the hit series was lucky to have worked so closely with Maggie Smith "for so long".
The British actress, who played Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham in the TV drama and its subsequent films, died at the age of 89 in September 2024.
Carter, 76, reprises the role of Charles Carson in the latest Downton Abbey film, which is being released later in the year.
"I think we're going to see it (the film) soon, but it’s going to be a mystery to me", he told This Morning.
"I know I filmed certain parts of it in the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate, which is just 300 yards from where I was born. I learned to ride my bicycle on the Great Yorkshire Showground."
Asked about the cast, he said: "I’ve got a hot date in about 10 days time with Mrs Patmore (Lesley Nicol), Mrs Hughes (Phyllis Logan), Daisy the maid (Sophie McShera), and Mr Barrow (Robert James-Collier) – the naughty footman, who became my successor as a butler.
"So we meet up for dinners from time to time, and dish the dirt, sort of things."
Speaking about Smith, he said: "We won’t see her like again, really somebody, an iconic figure whose career started in classical theatre and then expanded to worldwide fame."
He added: "And how lucky we were to have worked so closely with her for so long in Downton Abbey."
He continued: "Get me back another time, and I’ll tell you about when Maggie Smith met Shirley MacLaine."
Smith was known for her roles in the Harry Potter films, as well as Downton Abbey, but also had a significant career in theatre working with Lord Laurence Olivier at the Old Vic during the National Theatre’s first season in 1963.
Downton Abbey 3 will be released globally on 12 September with a cast that includes Hugh Bonneville (Robert Crawley) and Elizabeth McGovern (Cora Crawley).
The Holdovers actor Paul Giamatti and The Gentlemen actress Joely Richardson also star in the Simon Curtis-directed film.
Source: Press Association
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