Makers of Downton Abbey plan to make prequel series focusing on young Lady Violet's racy love life - but who will play her?
With her withering put-downs and witty asides, the Dowager Countess of Grantham quickly became the stand-out character of Downton Abbey.
Now producers are hoping to capitalise on her popularity with a prequel series focusing on her racy love life, The Mail on Sunday has learnt.
Dame Maggie Smith, 89, has played Lady Violet Crawley until now, but work is set to begin on a series based on the Edwardian matriarch's younger years.
Top contenders for the role are likely to be Viola Prettejohn, the 21-year-old actress who played the young Princess Elizabeth in The Crown, Emily Carey, 21, from House Of The Dragon, and Ella Purnell, 27, who has previously appeared in Julian Fellowes' Belgravia series.
Viewers of the upstairs-downstairs drama have already been given a tantalising glimpse into the early years of Lady Violet, and TV bosses think there is ripe material for a new series.
Downton Abbey producers are hoping to capitalise on the Dowager Countess of Grantham's popularity with a prequel series focusing on her racy love life. Pictured: Dame Maggie Smith who plays Lady violet Crawley
In the running: Emily Carey, 21, from House Of The Dragon, could be one of the top contenders for the role in a prequel series
Ella Purnell, 27, who has previously appeared in Julian Fellowes' Belgravia series, is also an option for the new role
Despite being missing from our screens since its finale in 2015, Downton Abbey's two spin-off movies have grossed more than £200 million at the box office, and a third instalment is in production.
But the show's creators think there is plenty of appetite from audiences on both sides of the Atlantic for more aristocratic escapades.
Producers are particularly interested in shining further light on two of Lady Violet's past romantic dalliances.
In the most recent film, Downton Abbey: A New Era, audiences learned that a 22-year-old Lady Violet and the Marquis de Montmirail became very fond of each other while holidaying in the South of France in 1864, a secret that Lady Violet kept from her family for decades.
When Lady Violet's son, the Earl of Grantham, played by Hugh Bonneville, learns that the marquis was so in love with his mother that he kept a portrait of her and gave her a French villa, he becomes convinced that the marquis could be his father.
Even more fertile ground is Lady Violet's 1874 visit with her husband to Russia's Winter Palace, which fans of the show learned about in series five.
Viola Prettejohn, 21, is no stranger to playing aristocrats, having played the young Princess Elizabeth in The Crown
It was on this trip that she fell in love with Prince Igor Kuragin, and plans were made for them to elope on his yacht until the Russian prince's wife put a stop to it.
Lady Violet confesses she was 'a different person' back then, who was 'in love with love', blaming the lack of passion in her marriage.
'Every woman goes down the aisle with half the story hidden,' she once said.
