'Jim Carter is my gardener!'

Lesley Nicol, Downton Abbey's Mrs Patmore, reveals what's next, and why she'll never retire

- ARIANA LONGSON

She’s best known as the lovable Mrs Patmore in the hit ITV drama Downton Abbey, having played the character for 15 years. As the doors open to the iconic stately home for one final time in the new film Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, Lesley Nicol sits down with Woman’s Weekly to chat about what lies ahead for her away from the franchise, and how it feels to be saying goodbye.

‘It was amazing to be reunited with the cast,’ says Lesley, who turned 72 in August. ‘I think we're all united by the fact we have been through a really unusual experience together. It feels like we're a very tight-knit group because this whole Downton thing is not normal.’

She explains, ‘It’s not what you expect to happen. When I got that job, if somebody said there will be 15 years of this, I'd have said, “Are you joking me?” We thought it would just be a few episodes!’

Lesley admits she didn’t expect the show and the subsequent films to be such a hit. ‘Honestly, none of us knew how big of a deal Downton was going to become,’ she says. ‘I was so thrilled to get the job because being in something with the late Maggie Smith was so cool, apart from anything else.’