Coming eyeball to eyeball with a hummingbird on my terrace is as exciting to me as any celebrity Ive met as a result of Downton Abbey.

I guess that is my favorite thing - to make people laugh and also to maybe engage them emotionally and touch them somehow in telling the story.

Coming eyeball to eyeball with a hummingbird on my terrace is as exciting to me as any celebrity Ive met as a result of Downton Abbey.

People have preconceptions about women of a certain age.

I don't like being shouted at.

I want to have a scene with Maggie Smith.

I get invited to a lot more glamorous parties since Ive been in Downton Abbey, which has made me much more fashion conscious.