‘Downton Abbey’ Star Maggie Smith Reveals That She Has Never Watched An Episode Of ‘Downton Abbey’

Maggie Smith, the actress who reigns supreme on the hit TV series Downton Abbey as the HBIC Dowager Countess Lady Violet Grantham, has revealed in a new interview with 60 Minutes that she doesn’t watch her own show. In fact, says Smith, she has never even watched a single episode of Downton Abbey … ever. Despite the fact that Downton Abbey has become a worldwide hit and anyone who’s anyone watches the show religiously, Maggie Smith says, basically, that she ain’t got time for that. LOL!

Millions of people have watched Maggie Smith on Downton Abbey. But she’s not one of them. The 78-year-old actress portrays Lady Grantham in the popular series, which is currently airing its third season on PBS in the U.S. But the award-winning British actress said in an interview with 60 Minutes that she hasn’t watched the drama. ‘I haven’t actually seen it, so I don’t… I don’t sit down and watch it,’ she told Steve Kroft. ‘Never?’ he asks, to which she firmly replied: ‘No, I haven’t watched it.’ She explained doing so would only make her agonise over her performance. She said she may watch it someday. Smith explained of her decision not to watch the show: ‘Because it’s frustrating. I always see things that I would like to do differently and think, “Oh, why in the name of God did I do that?”‘ Smith told Kroft, in an interview to be televised Sunday, that what she takes from the role is ‘the delight of acting’. She has two Oscars, three Emmys and a Tony Award. But she said the Downton Abbey role has given her more public recognition than anything in her career. ‘I don’t feel any different to the way I felt before and I’m not quite sure what (being a star) means. I am familiar to people now, which is what I was not before,’ she says. ‘That is entirely due to the television set.’

I mean … how can you not love her? Maggie Smith is always the best thing about any project she is in so … yeah, I watch mainly to see her in action. I have to say, tho, she is missing out on a really great show. I hope does does watch Downton Abbey sometime soon, it’d be a shame for her not to see how amazingly kickass she is.

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