reached its climax last year with the cinema release of its third film, The Grand Finale.
But the curtain has not just come down on the hit period drama, which starred and the late Dame .
I can disclose that Downton's creator Julian Fellowes is to end his political career.
The Oscar winner was elevated to the House of Lords in 2011 by 's Coalition government.
He chose the title of Lord Fellowes of West Stafford after the area of Dorset where he lives in a manor house with his wife, Emma Kitchener, 63, a former lady in waiting to of Kent. The couple have an adult son, Peregrine.
The scriptwriter, 76, has now given formal written notice that he'll retire from the Upper House next month.
However, the usually amiable Fellowes declines to discuss his reasons for stepping down.
'I don't want to talk about it,' he tells me.
Fellowes was elevated to the House of Lords in 2011 by David Cameron 's Coalition government
Fellowes's health has been in decline. Last year, he told me he was largely confined to a wheelchair after the return of a devastating medical condition. 'About 40 years ago, I was diagnosed with spinal stenosis, probably resulting from an early slipped disc,' he explained. 'I had an operation and, after quite a long convalescence, I was well again, dancing, riding and the rest.
'Unluckily, a couple of years ago I was told the condition had returned and, after another operation, I was obliged to recognise that my powers of recovery at 75 were not quite what they had been at 35. Which, I suppose, is no great surprise.'
He added: 'I am not entirely immobile, but I do have to remain sitting for most of the time. I don't consider myself unlucky in this.
'Other people have far worse to put up with.'
Look out Eamonn! Fans prefer Ellie's new canine co-star
He's clocked up more than 45 years on our screens, but Eamonn Holmes may have finally met his match – a pooch called Monty.
Holmes's GB News co-star Ellie Costello's new sidekick is her ten-week-old long hair miniature dachshund, who has barely left her side and has won over viewers since his Breakfast show debut last week.
Ellie Costello's new sidekick is her ten-week-old long hair miniature dachshund Monty
She tells me at a red-carpet event at the Chancery Rosewood hotel in London: 'We took Monty to the GB News studio, and he was just causing chaos just before we went on air, but everybody loved him. And then he actually came on air with me and sat on my lap for about 20 minutes. He was so laid-back and chill. It's like he knew he was on air.'
Holmes, 66, has been on annual leave, and it appears Monty has been a good stand-in.
Ellie, 32, admits, jokingly: 'All the viewers were messaging in, saying, 'Please can you replace Eamonn with the dog.'
Lady Marina's a Martini bride
The next royal wedding should be a lively affair, if the hen do is anything to go by.
Lady Marina Windsor wore a white dress and veil as she knocked back Martini cocktails at the hen party on the Isle of Sheppey, off the coast of Kent. Charity events manager Lady Marina, 33, who's to wed cyber security specialist Nico Macauley, is a granddaughter of the Duke and late Duchess of Kent.
She says: 'My heart is bursting with love and gratitude for my magical hens and this spectacular weekend.'
He shocked fans when he starred on the cover of Men's Health showing off a newly ripped physique, and now Ed Sheeran has revealed the simple diet swap that helped get him there.
'My life hack for it was just rice,' explains the Grammy winner, 35, who has lost 30lb since his heavier days. 'I just eat a lot of rice now. I used to eat a lot of bread, a lot of pasta, and then I just stopped that and ate way more rice, and that seems to work for me.'
Friend's tribute to racing legend Miriam Francome
Miriam Francome has died aged 72
The racing world is mourning Miriam Francome, who has died aged 72.
A former model, she was working as a horse trainer when she met John Francome, whom she married in 1976, the same year he won the first of his seven champion jump jockey titles.
Miriam worked as a presenter with the Racing Channel in the 1990s and for BBC racing.
Trainer Charlie Brooks, who had a 12-year relationship with Miriam after she divorced Francome, tells me: 'She was the kindest and most generous person you could ever meet.'
