Jean Marsh

Co-created (with actress Eileen Atkins), her most memorable series Upstairs, Downstairs (1971) which ran from 1971 to 1975. The two actresses later co-created The House of Eliott (1991) for BBC TV.

[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.