Dame Maggie reprized her role for the two Downton Abbey films. In 2022’s Downton Abbey: A New Era, her character died from the illness she revealed at the end of the 2019 film.

Co-star Dame Harriet Walter told BBC Radio 4’s PM program that she excelled in comedy and drama.

“She was a real comedian, but I’ve also seen her play some incredibly heartfelt, deep, sad roles, which is the enormous range of an actress like her,” she said.

“If she had only been funny or only tragic, she wouldn’t have made such an impression.”

Michelle Dockery, who played Dame Maggie’s granddaughter Lady Mary Crawley on screen, told the BBC: “There was no one like Maggie.

“I feel extremely fortunate to have known such an outlier. She will be greatly missed and my thoughts are with her family.”

Lesley Nicol, who played Downton Abbey’s cook Mrs Patmore, told BBC Radio Ulster: “It’s a really close group of people so we’re all devastated to think she’s gone.”

Downton Abbey creator and writer Julian Fellowes told Variety magazine, external she was “a joy to write for, subtle, multi-layered, intelligent, funny and heartbreaking”.

Downton followed the success of 2002’s Gosford Park, which earned Dame Maggie both Oscar and Bafta nominations for playing the Dowager Countess of Trentham.