Maggie Smith News

"Oh dear! Bought marmalade. I call that very feeble!" Maggie Smith's character, the Countess of Trentham, says in Gosford Park.

ARISTOCRACY: Set in an Edwardian country house, Downton Abbey portrays the lives of the Crawley family and the servants who work for them DOWNTON Abbey fans need not wait until the return of the series in the autumn for news of the Crawley family.

Where's a withering comment from "Downton Abbey" grande dame, Violet, the Dowager Countess of Grantham when you need one? If Sean "Diddy" Combs, he of the oft-changing name and appetite for attention, wanted people to notice whatever it is he has coming up, he found a good way to do it.

In this image released by PBS, Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess Grantham, is shown in a scene from the second season on "Downton Abbey." The fourth season of the popular British series will premiere in the U.S. on Jan.

The costume drama about the family and servants in a stately English home stars Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Maggie Smith and Michelle Dockery.

Busy times at Southwark's Menier Chocolate Factory. While their redoubtable production of Merrily We Roll Along has barrelled into the West End, their production of Graham Greene's peripatetic classic starts on home turf.

The movie will mark the directorial debut for the playwright and screenwriter whose credits include "Author! Author!" starring Al Pacino.

If you aren't an Indie film fan, the new DVDs being released are just plain weak.

You probably remember Whoopi Goldberg's popular film Sister Act from 1992, an unlikely story about an aspiring singer who witnesses a murder and needs to be hidden until the trial - in a convent.

Olivier Awards host Sheridan Smith, 31, starred in TV comedies Two Pints of Lagera and Gavin & Stacey.

Executive producer Gareth Naeme said Wednesday that British actor Gary Carr has been cast as Jack Ross, a jazz musician who will have a "recurring role" on the upcoming season four.

Gary Carr, best known for his role as Fidel Best in BBC crime drama Death in Paradise, has joined the cast of Downton Abbey for series 4. The 26-year-old actor, who has recently appeared in Afghanistan army comedy Bluestone 42, will play a "charming and charismatic" young jazz singer called Jack Ross.

There was much excitement when it was announced last month that Shirley MacLaine will return to Downton Abbey as Cora Crawley's loud-mouthed mother, Martha Levinson.

TV this week: Doctor Who : "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" - Every episode this season I've felt let down a little.

It is screening Quartet at Combe village hall from 7.30pm. Tickets are A 5 in advance or A 5.50 on the door - and choc ices will be available.

It had been five years since he made a film, but just before his 76th birthday in February he suddenly appeared in two - Gambit with Colin Firth and Cameron Diaz, and then opposite Dame Maggie Smith in Quartet, directed by Dustin Hoffman, which is out on DVD in the next fortnight.

Benedict 'Sherlock' Cumberbatch wants to flee TV. Parade's End , he tells Gerard Gilbert, is his last work for the small screen - maybe Benedict Cumberbatch is furiously scrolling through his iPhone, the actor trying to locate a quote he believes summarises his character, Christopher Tietjens, in the coming period drama Parade's End .

ACTRESS Sheridan Smith has revealed she has NEVER been on a date - but she is open to being swept off her feet.