London, Sep 24 (IANS): "Downton Abbey" stars Elizabeth McGovern and Allen Leech say Maggie Smith used a cane to maintain her personal space on the sets of the show.

During an appearance on "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen", the stars revealed Smith would use her cane to fend off any over-enthusiastic assistant director, reports "dailymail.co.uk".

"She always has the cane and obviously it's for the character but there was one first AD' who would always get too close," said Leech, adding that it was also an indicator of Smith's bad mood.

"Literally, she would have the cane there and, as she would see him coming she would go, 'Here he f***ing comes'. Then, before the poor guy could get too close, Smith would thrust the cane out to form a physical barrier saying, 'That's far enough, that's far enough'," Leech added.

Smith plays Dowager Countess Crawley in the franchise, which has now transferred to the silver screen.