Hugh Bonneville as Lord Grantham in Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale

After six seasons, 15 Emmys, four Baftas and now a full trilogy of spin-off movies, the doors of Downton Abbey are now closing for the final time.

What started in the early 2010s as a cosy Sunday night ITV drama soon blossomed into an international TV phenomenon, culminating in The Grand Finale, the final film in the franchise, which completes the story and arrived in cinemas earlier this week.

Over the years, Downton’s expansive ensemble cast has grown and changed, but at the centre of it all has always been Hugh Bonneville as the dependable Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham, and head of the central household.

Even 15 years after Downton first premiered, Hugh admits he’s still surprised at the series’ longevity. Indeed, it might have grown into a cultural institution over time, but it’s easy to forget that, when the show premiered, it was written off by many critics.

“We were pretty much told – certainly by the press, and by the mood of the time – that the period drama was dead and no one wanted to watch this sort of stuff,” he recalls to HuffPost UK. “And then, as they say, the rest is history.”

Hugh says that even one Downton Abbey film felt like an impossibility when the original show came to an end. “When we did the final scenes of the TV show 10 years ago, I thought that was going to be that,” he explains. “I thought they’d never get all of us together again.”

And he’s similarly amazed that the production team was able to assemble the Downton Abbey cast’s sprawling for one last hurrah with this third movie, given how many moving parts there are to consider.

Hugh Bonneville at the New York premiere of Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale earlier this week

“Trying to herd whatever we are, a 12- or 14- or 15-person cast, is quite an extraordinary thing,” he says. “To get us all finally over the line to actually turn up and do it… it was not without obstacle, to be honest. Timings and everything wasn’t easy. Everything had to fall into place. So, all credit to Gareth Neame and Liz Trubridge [the film’s producers] for getting us there.”

If there’s one member of the Downton cast who could be credited with helping put Downton on the map, it would be the late Dame Maggie Smith, whose performance as the Dowager Countess gave the legendary Britsh star one of her most recognisable characters even as her career entered its seventh decade.

“She had two Oscars, and any number of Baftas and awards – I think she did find it quite weird that it was Harry Potter and Downton Abbey that sort of made her get stopped in Sainsburys, and not playing Desdemona to Laurence Olivier’s Othello,” Hugh jokes.

The Grand Finale is the first Downton project without Dame Maggie’s involvement after her iconic character, the formidable Violet Crawley.

“Her character passed away in the second movie, and then we filmed the third without her. And then she passed away a few months after we finished filming,” he recalls. “So, de facto, the final film has become a tribute to her, as well as a farewell to the show. It all seems rather sort of timely in a way.

“We did wonder whether there’d be a Maggie-shaped hole in the middle of it. But the Dowager is referred to enough, with great affection, and there’s enough wit and fun in the rest of the story that her presence is felt, but there’s not a gaping hole.”

The cast of Downton Abbey, including the late Maggie Smith in the first movie in the franchise

Hugh reveals how certain scenes........

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