In 2014, Downie starred in an episode of Suspects as Fiona Sullivan, and appeared as Lady Sinderby, mother of Atticus Aldridge, in series five of Downton Abbey.
[1] In 2016, Downie played Home Secretary Rose Kenter in American action thriller London Has Fallen, and portrayed Janet Lee Bouvier, mother of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the Pablo Larrain-directed historical drama Jackie.
[citation needed] She also appeared on television in British-Canadian co-production Houdini & Doyle as Mrs. Sulzbach, and featured in three episodes of the 2016 BBC1 espionage drama The Secret Agent, where she played Lady Blackwood.
[3] Downie is an associate artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company, where she has played roles such as Lady Anne in Richard III in the 1984 production featuring Antony Sher in the lead, and Hermione and Perdita in The Winter's Tale.
She appeared in the premiere of Nick Dear's play The Art of Success in Stratford in 1986 and later at the Barbican Theatre, London, alongside Michael Kitchen and Simon Russell Beale.
[4] In 2008, she played opposite David Tennant and Patrick Stewart as Gertrude, in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Hamlet which was subsequently adapted for BBC television and aired in late 2009.