Downton Abbey star Elizabeth McGovern feels ‘liberated’ to be able to focus on music career

Elizabeth McGovern says starring in Downton Abbey has been a “mixed blessing” and that she feels “liberated” to be able to focus on her music career.

The American star, who plays Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham, is about to start work on a fourth album with her six-piece folk band Sadie And The Hotheads, who play Bush Hall on October 30.

The final series of Downton is airing on Sunday nights ahead of a Christmas special finale. McGovern, who has been with the ITV drama since it started in 2010, told the Standard: “You just don’t want it to go on for ever and ever, it’s just not natural.

"I feel like we made the most out of what we had with the characters and the stories.

“We all grew fond of each other as a cast so it’s sad to say goodbye, but ... I’m loving the liberating feeling I’m having working on the music. It’s just so exciting to concentrate on that one thing and not be split in half all the time. [Downton has been] a mixed blessing.”

McGovern, 54, who lives in Chiswick with her British director husband Simon Curtis, said her band’s new material is “really a reflection of what is going on with me and my life right now. The songs are about getting older.”

She added: “We’ve started to get people who are really there for the music. It used to be very much weighted in the other direction — everyone was a Downton fan.”