Downton Abbey‘s executive producer has spoken about aspirations for this year’s Emmys, making the show, and how long the series will last.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Gareth Neame touched on a wide range of subjects, giving several nuggets of interesting information and some hilarious little tidbits. In particular, he described how season 3 guest star Shirely MacLaine’s publicist declared they would quit if she turned down the offer of a role. He also speculated that the huge gap between Downton Abbey‘s British and American broadcast could lead to increased efforts of globalization amongst television networks.

When asked how long the period drama would continue, Neame said “We have to balance between continuing to make it for audiences around the world that adore it and making sure that we don’t take it too far… which is not now and not next year, but likely five years or six years, not 10 years.” While he was a bit vague on a precise timeframe, the producer went into greater detail on the process of making the show and his hopes for Emmy glory:

THR: Is there a difference between the notes process for British distributors compared to American distributors?
Neame: It’s possibly even more intense [in the U.K.]. There’s less volume and therefore there’s more attention to the individual shows. I don’t try and say we do things any better. We f— up slightly less often.
THR: And the price point for British shows is also lower…
Neame: Right, we don’t the splash the cash as much. I would like to think that we have the least money of the six [Emmy-nominated dramas], which is a statistic that English people love because English people love to say we made this wonderful thing for very little money. Americans couldn’t care less.
THR: Downton won the Emmy for miniseries last year. Do you think the competition is stiffer in the drama series category?
Neame: We knew we were going into the toughest category of all. But we feel confident of our show and we feel very proud of it and however it goes in that category, it’s up against the five best shows on television in an absolute golden age for TV dramas.
THR: You could be the show that breaks Mad Men’s Emmy streak. Thoughts?
Neame: I must say, I hope very much that we win. I think we have a good chance. But we couldn’t admire Mad Men more. And if we don’t win, I’m not going to cry into my cup.

Do you think that Downton Abbey could bag one of the top prizes in television this year?