Imelda Staunton shares how she and Jim Carter maintain a successful marriage as actors

Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Imelda Staunton has opened up about how she and Jim Carter have made their marriage work amid their mutual success as Hollywood actors. I think we know how fortunate we are.” open image in gallery Jim Carter and Imelda Staunton at the 2023 BAFTA Television Awards Staunton explained that she and Carter had decided early in their relationship that their careers could not be prioritised over one another. Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for free In the 2019 film Downton Abbey, and its 2022 sequel Downton Abbey: A New Era, Staunton played the verbal sparring partner of Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess of Grantham. Although the second film grossed $92.7m worldwide, The Independent’s film critic Clarisse Loughrey likened it to “a dinner party guest that won’t shut up and go home” in a two-star review.