Killing off Maggie Smith is not in the 'Downton Abbey' script By Diane Bell 6:42 P.M.MAY 3, 2013

Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess Grantham, is shown in a scene from the second season on "Downton Abbey." She told “60 Minutes” that she hasn't watched the drama because doing so would only make her agonize over her performance. She said she may watch it someday. (AP Photo/PBS, Carnival Film & Television Limited 2011 for MASTERPIECE, Nick Briggs)

Rest assured, "Downton Abbey" fans, the matriarch dowager played by Maggie Smith will not be killed off the highly rated PBS Masterpiece TV series.

That assurance came Thursday from Rebecca Eaton, Masterpiece executive producer.

Unlike the untimely death in the Season 3 finale of the popular Matthew, cut from the cast when Dan Stevens’ acting career called him elsewhere, if Smith must take a hiatus, her character will go on an extended seaside vacation.

“Downton Abbey” creator Julian Fellowes will never “run over her with a car” or close the door on her return, Eaton told a San Diego Rotary gathering. Speculation was fueled by Smith herself on a recent Today show interview when she said of Lady Grantham, “She’s gotta drop down dead at some point.”

Filming is beginning on Season 4 in England. Although it will be broadcast there this fall, Eaton said, it won’t air here until January, both so the actors will be free to promote it and due to PBS scheduling demands.

READ MORE: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/may/03/downton-abbey-maggie-smith-pbs-masterpiece-eaton/

Downton Abbey:CBS SUNDAY MORNING to Go Behind the Scenes of DOWNTON ABBEY, 12/9 (BROADWAY WORLD)

The drama, the intrigue, a castle, stunning period wardrobes and more greeted CBS SUNDAY MORNING WITH Charles Osgood correspondent Martha Teichner as part of the first U.S. TV network news broadcast ever to be allowed behind the scenes for filming of the third season of the international television hit “Downton Abbey.” Teichner’s inside report from the set will be presented on CBS SUNDAY MORNING to be broadcast Dec. 9, 2012 on the CBS Television Network.

“Downton Abbey” is an international TV phenomenon seen in 170 countries, centered around a British Earl, his American wife and life at their country manor. The program has been nominated for 27 Emmy Awards and has won nine, a level of success even the producers never imagined, Teichner reports.

“No one is prepared for this extraordinary kind of whirlwind that took place, and if you expected it, you’d be a fool,” show creator Julian Fellowes tells Teichner.

Teichner and a CBS SUNDAY MORNING crew visited the Highclere Castle, the home of a real Earl in the English countryside southwest of London, where the show is shot. There, Teichner interviews cast members Hugh Bonneville, Brendan Coyle, Joanne Froggatt, Dan Stevens, Michelle Dockery, historical advisor Alastair Bruce and Rebecca Eaton, executive producer of PBS’ “Masterpiece,” which nearly passed on “Downton Abbey.” The new season gets underway in the United States on Jan. 6.

READ MORE:http://tv.broadwayworld.com/article/CBS-SUNDAY-MORNING-to-Go-Behind-the-Scenes-of-DOWNTON-ABBEY-129-20121207 

‘Downton Abbey’ actress comes to defense of Maggie Smith (SF GATE)

“Downton Abbey” star Lesley Nicol has hit back at a TV executive who called Maggie Smith “very difficult” to work with, insisting the veteran star is professional at all times.

“Harry Potter” actress Smith has proved a huge hit with TV audiences as the catty Dowager Countess of Grantham, but long-running rumors suggest she is demanding behind-the-scenes.

Producer Rebecca Eaton, who works for PBS Masterpiece, said, “Maggie Smith is a handful, it’s true. She’s very difficult. She knows her worth, and she’s tricky on the set, but she delivers when the time comes.”

She says, “Maggie’s a professional, she does really well, working horrible, long hours sometimes for a lady that age.

“She has a rest between takes. That doesn’t make her a snotty cow, it just means she needs a lie-down. She’s not a diva.”

READ MORE:http://blog.sfgate.com/dailydish/2012/08/21/downton-abbey-actress-comes-to-defense-of-maggie-smith/

'Sherlock' Star Benedict Cumberbatch Says 'Downton Abbey' Criticism Was A Joke Posted: 06/14/2012 2:23 pm (HUFF POST)

Benedict Cumberbatch was just kidding about "Downton Abbey" not deserving the Golden Globe, according to the "Sherlock" star.

In a new interview with TVLine, Cumberbatch said "it's like people don’t have any sense of irony or a brain," in regards to his comments to "Downton Abbey" (and "Sherlock") producer Rebecca Eaton. The New York Times ran an interview with Cumberbatch in April 2012 and the "Sherlock" star said Eaton came up to him at the January 2012 Golden Globes ceremony with her new award for "Downton Abbey" and "taunted him affectionately.

"I just looked at it and went: 'Begone, woman. Bring it back when it says "Sherlock Holmes" or Steven Moffat or myself -- someone else who's more deserving than the second series of "Downton Abbey."'"


READ MORE:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/14/benedict-cumberbatch-downton-abbey-criticism_n_1597420.html

Benedict Cumberbatch: Fan Q & A in New York (MASTERPIECE)

Watch Sherlock 2: Fan Q&A in New York on PBS. See more from Masterpiece.

 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/sherlock2_nypanel.html?elq=7c7a240208e34d71b5084187f4ccc215&elqCampaignId=352

ALAN RICKMAN

September 16th, 2011

Alan Rickman sings The Song of Lunch

As Alan Rickman recently triumphed as Top British leading man in BBC America’s first Anglo Fan Favorites tournament, this is a great time to talk about The Song of Lunch, coming to Masterpiece this November. Clocking in at just under 50 minutes, the one-act poem from the point of view of a man meeting a former lover for lunch after fifteen years of estrangement makes a cinematic tour-de-force for Rickman. She (Emma Thompson) looks fabulous and serenely satisfied with her marriage to a bestselling author, with her affluent life and even with the radical makeover of what had once been their favorite Italian restaurant. He is the promising poet fifteen years on, dissatisfied with his dead-end job in publishing. His observations reveal less and less of the lyrical poet and more and more of the burgeoning curmudgeon. Beautifully filmed and very funny, The Song of Lunch is what Masterpiece executive producer Rebecca Eaton calls one of the “little jewels in the crown.” Little as this jewel may be, it’s flawless. The DVD will follow early next year.

 

BBC America