BAD NEWS for Downton Abbey fans: according to several reports the creator of the wildly popular TV show Lord Julian Fellowes is to ditch the period drama to work on a lucrative project in America.
The sixth series of the popular programme is set to hit British screens later this year but it will be the last instalment, sources say.
Lord Fellowes, 65, is working on a new project about 19th century New York.
It is understood he will have no time to work on future storylines for the upstairs downstairs drama starring Hugh Bonneville as the Earl of Grantham.
The bombshell news comes just days after the Downton cast was named the outstanding drama ensemble at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Hollywood.
A source said: “It’s an open secret that Downton is ending this year.
“Some of the actors are keen to let it be known they will be available for work after the summer. Some are interested in the US, where Downton is as popular as it is in the UK.”
The season opener of the fifth series last year was the least-watched episode since Downton hit our screens four years ago.
More than one million fans dropped off compared to the fourth series curtain raiser in 2013, which was watched by a record high 9.51million.
Filming for the sixth series is set to start in the spring and will finish in the summer before airing on ITV from September.
A Downton source said: “The show is commissioned on a series by series basis and always has been.
“As in previous years we tend to find out if the show has been recommissioned towards the end of the run on ITV.
“We have had this speculation for years, since series two in fact. We film for six months of the year leaving the cast plenty of time to do other work.
“Of course ITV is always looking for other dramas – we are only on air for eight Sundays in a year, leaving 44 others to fill.”
ITV added: “We wouldn’t comment on speculative stories about our programmes.”
Show stars Joanne Froggatt, Edith Carmichael and Allen Leech were all in Los Angeles for the awards last week and all three reportedly held meetings about both TV and film roles.
Downton alumni Dan Stevens and Jessica Brown Findlay have already left the show for the bright lights of Hollywood so it’s little surprise others are keen to try their luck.
And another source told how ITV chiefs are already desperately searching for a replacement to pull in the same audience levels as Downton. ‘They want something long-running and ambitious,’ they said.
Fellowes had previously told the Wall Street Journal how he’s looking forward to getting stuck into The Gilded Age, which is set to air on NBC.
He said: ‘It will happen when Downton finishes, because I just couldn’t do both at once. Downton is not going to go on forever. It won’t be Perry Mason.’
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