Shirley MacLaine is joining the cast of the popular British TV series “Downton Abbey” next season.

The 77-year-old actress will play the mother of refined Lady Grantham, portrayed by Elizabeth McGovern.

The hit period drama won both the Golden Globe and the Emmy prizes this year for Best Miniseries and has become an obsession for audiences on both sides of the Atlantic, a rare feat for a TV show.

Gareth Neame of Carnival Films, which produces the show, said that MacLaine’s character will be a “wonderful combatant” for Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess.

The first two seasons of the series have garnered large numbers of fans in Britain, the US and elsewhere.

MacLaine will start filming with the cast next month.