Dame Maggie Smith's publicist has clarified the actress' statements regarding her departure from hit period drama Downton Abbey, insisting the acting icon will be with the programme until the very end.

Speculation suggesting the popular series will end after a seventh season recently surfaced, and in a recent interview, Smith hinted she didn't think the show - or her character Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham - would be around for an eighth run.

She told Britain's Sunday Times, "They say this is the last one, and I can't see how it could go on. I mean, I certainly can't keep going... To my knowledge, I must be 110 by now."

Her remark made headline news around the world, prompting her publicist to release a statement clarifying the actress' comments.

It reads: "She (Smith) has always been on the record as saying she'll be with the show for as long as the show runs."

Her representative noted that Smith had been speaking lightheartedly in the interview.

The sixth season of the Emmy Award-winning series will begin filming later this year (15).