‘Downton Abbey’ season 4 notes: Maggie Smith and a surprising snub

Let’s start out this edition of “Downton Abbey” notes with what has to, at least from our perspective, be one of the bigger surprises that we’ve seen as of late: the show was completely snubbed from the BAFTA nominations across the pond. One of the finest award-shows out there for British television chose to go with a number of different series in all of the major categories, whether it be “The Girl,” “The Hour,” “Twenty Twelve,” or “Ripper Street.”

This is not to say that the series’ stars did not go completely unrepresented in other work, as Hugh Bonneville did receive some recognition for his work in “Twenty Twelve.” However, this still has to be considered an enormous surprise given that he and many of the show’s other stars have long been awards-show darlings, and even won the SAG Award for Outstanding Drama Series Ensemble just a matter of months ago, widely considered to be the show’s highest honor.

It’s also interesting that “Downton Abbey” was not alone in the snub, as “Mr. Selfridge” and “Doctor Who” were also completely ignored in major categories.

On a different note, who knew that Maggie Smith was an inspiration for the creation of artwork? The award-winning actress is now the subject of a piece of portrait art for 42-year old artist James Lloyd. In speaking about the piece (which you can see here), Lloyd admits that Smith was originally reluctant to take part, but it now has found a temporary place at the National Portrait Gallery.

Smith is now busy working on season 4 of the British drama, which is something that she did not sign on for until after the completion of season 3. Her role as the Dowager Countess has somehow managed to make her even more of a national treasure than she was previously.

Want to watch some new “Downton Abbey” viral videos? If so, you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: ITV