Quotes

[on Downton Abbey (2010)] I think we were all surprised. The new Upstairs, Downstairs had been in the works for about three years. We were trying to sort out... 40 years of rights and then it also started - Downton Abbey - in the Edwardian era, which Upstairs, Downstairs did. So it might be a coincidence and I might be the queen of Belgium.

[asked if she owns a piece of Maîtres et valets (1971)] I get a residual for the idea as much as I get a residual for the acting. It's a very low fee. I think I got something like $100 an episode initially for the idea, and my royalty is based on that rate. I've got a saying: "If it had been made in America I'd be Mary Tyler Moore. As it is, I'm Mary Tyler Less."