Could "Downton" be headed for Hollywood?

The Sun newspaper in Britain is reporting that the Masterpiece Classic hit Downton Abbey could be in for a movie treatment. After Downton's win for best mini-series at the Golden Globes on Sunday (Jan. 15), creator Julian Fellowes "was virtually mobbed at the event's after-party at the Beverly Hilton, with actors and movie bosses wanting to know whether there was a film on the cards."

"Julian was explaining he would have to give the idea a lot of thought and that lots of people have already asked him about film rights," the paper reports. "Insiders suggested any film is likely to deal with a single event that engulfs the Abbey and its characters that won't detract from the ongoing TV narrative."

Fellowes won a screenplay Oscar for the 2001 British film Gosford Park, which starred Downton's Maggie Smith.

Meanwhile, writing in Newsweek, Simon Schama, Columbia University history professor, calls Downton "cultural necrophilia." Well.