No more than 24 hours has passed since we got news that Downton Abbey would be coming to an end after its sixth season, but it seems the show will live on it some capacity. Executive producer Gareth Neame said he and creator Julian Fellowes would be "very interested" in a movie spin-off.

Downton AbbeyDownton Abbey welcomed a number of guest stars including George Clooney and Paul Giamatti [centre]

"It would be a wonderful extension. Julian and I would be very interested if we could get our ducks in a row," he told Deadline.

"It's something we've been contemplating for a while but while we're still making the TV show it's not something we've had the opportunity to work on," he added, to the Guardian.

More: Downton Abbey to end for good after sixth season

On Thursday, Neame and Fellowes announced that the sixth series of the drama would be the last. The final episode will be aired on Christmas Day, bringing to an end the TV story of th Granthams, which has been a huge hit for ITV.

It made Hollywood stars of Lily James - who  plays Cinderella in Kenneth Branagh's new movie - and Dan Stevens, who has been cast in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Dame Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern added to the star power, while Michelle Dockery and Laura Carmichael became household names playing the Crawley daughters.

More: George Clooney to star in special episode of Downton Abbey

Speaking on Good Morning Britain on Friday, Bonneville said he was amazed the series managed to make it past the first season.

"Those who follow the show might remember at the end of series one there was a slightly odd feeling because some of it was wrapped up in case the show never returned and some of it was left open in case it did - so there was no guarantee the show was going to continue," he said.

The series has pulled in an average audience of 11 million episode and is broadcast in 250 territories.