Screenwriter Julian Fellowes is keen to pen a prequel to his award-winning drama Downton Abbey.

The Oscar winner has achieved huge acclaim for his quaint series, set in an English stately home in the early 20th Century.

Julian Fellowes wants a prequel now for the record-breaking series of Victorian gentlefolk

The show's lead characters include Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern, who play the Earl and Countess of Grantham, and Fellowes wants to look back at their love story in a new spin-off.

He says, "I do actually have an idea of doing a prequel of the courtship of (Earl and Countess) Robert and Cora, when all those American heiresses were arriving in London."

The Countess Dowager is on a role...

Downton Abbey is in its third season, and Dame Maggie Smith picked up an Emmy Award for her portrayal of acid-tounged aristocrat, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, last week.

Series Three continues on Sunday. Here are some sneaky pics...

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