Imelda Staunton is one-half of a British TV Emmy power couple: she’s nominated this Sunday (September 22) for her role as Alfred Hitchcock‘s wife Alma in HBO’s The Girl, while her husband of 30 years, Jim Carter, is up for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama for playing Mr. Carson on Downton Abbey. Staunton is proud of the huge British presence in American television and says that the U.S. TV has helped British telly improve in recent years.

“The writing in America has made us go, ‘C’mon now, let’s up our game,” she said at the BAFTA Los Angeles TV tea party yesterday (September 21). “With something like Downton, we’ve done costume drama, and the BBC with Cranford. That’s what we do very well. But now from Sherlock to Doctor Who having its rebirth and Broadchurch, all these new things, I think we’re upping our game.”

We also spoke with Staunton’s hubby, Jim Carter, about Brits who’ve made the trek to Hollywood. (Don’t expect him to be one of them.)