Downton Abbey actress Elizabeth McGovern has taken a swipe at Madonna following her recent topless photoshoot.

The Material Girl peeled off for a spread in Interview magazine, prompting criticism of the 56-year-old mother-of-four, but McGovern is adamant the pop queen has been embarrassing herself as far back as 1990 when she sported her famous cone-shaped bra.

The actress tells the UK's Daily Mail Weekend magazine the singer was trying to recapture her youth.

"It smacks of trying to be younger in an attempt to be sexy. That to me that is the road to nowhere.

"There's something so fantastic about being in your fifties and beings sexy at that age, rather than trying to come across as a sexy 20-year-old," she said.

"Women of my age know what we're doing; we've had a lot of practice! And the fun hasn't stopped for us. Look at Annie Lennox a woman in her late fifties who brings all her life experience to her work without trying to recapture her youth. Look at Helen Mirren, into her 60s and as sexy as hell."