Trouble in uniform: A number of dashing young officers will prove a distraction for the three Crawley sisters, along with a host of new charactersIt is the moment that ten million fans have been waiting for. Downton Abbey, the drama sensation of 2010, is heading back to our television screens.
The Mail on Sunday has obtained exclusive pictures of the new ITV series, which began filming at Highclere Castle in Berkshire, the show’s real-life inspiration and iconic location, last week.
As these pictures show, Downton regulars such as the scheming and ambitious Lady Edith Crawley, played by Laura Carmichael, and the beautiful Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham, played by Elizabeth McGovern, are joined by a host of new faces.
The eight-part series, to be screened later this year, continues to chart the lives and loves of the Crawley family and their retinue of servants but this time against the backdrop of the First World War.
The bloody military conflict will lead to personal tragedy for both masters and servants alike and will mean life in the great house will never be the same again.
It will also lead to the arrival of several dashing and eligible young officers who will break hearts and further complicate the tangled love lives of the three Crawley sisters.
Tea is served: One cast member, left, enjoys a break from filming at Highclere Castle last week while ambitious Lady Edith, played by Laura Carmichael, will be back to her scheming ways, rightOur pictures will ease the concerns of fans who had feared the advent of war would move the drama away from Downton Abbey and on to the battlefields of Europe.
In fact, some sources close to the production say the new series will draw on events that actually took place at Highclere Castle, which became a military hospital between 1914 and 1916.
The idea of turning Highclere into a hospital was the brainchild of Almina, fifth Countess of Carnarvon, a leading light of the Edwardian social scene who was keen to do her bit for the war effort.
A source said: ‘It wouldn’t be right to say Downton becomes a military hospital but there are similarities between what happened at Highclere at what happens at Downton.’
Costume drama: Fresh cast members join the returning Downton favourites for the much-anticipated second seriesThe introduction of several new characters above and below stairs will only exacerbate existing tensions in the house.
The growing friendship between Bates, the Earl of Grantham’s disabled valet, and Anna, the housemaid, is about to be shattered by the arrival of the ex-soldier’s scheming wife Vera Bates, played by the Irish actress Marie Doyle Kennedy.
This will be her first introduction to the show’s army of fans. Other new characters include Spooks star Iain Glen as Sir Richard Carlisle, a wealthy media magnate, Cal Macaninch, the star of Wild At Heart and Holby Blue, as a new valet called Lang, Zoe Boyle as Miss Lavina Swire, and Amy Nuttall as a flirtatious parlour maid called Ethel.
The new series of Downton is scheduled for September and will be followed by a Christmas special.
Real-life ‘angel of Downton’
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham (played by Elizabeth McGovern) could follow in the footsteps of her real-life predecessor, Almina, Countess of Carnarvon, who turned Highclere Castle into a military hospital in the First World War.
Almina, pictured above in her nurse’s uniform, made sure the injured men not only received the best medical care, but were waited on by footmen who supplied them with homemade beer. One recovering officer described Highclere as ‘Paradise’.
Inspiration: Almina, left, and Downton's Cora Crawley, rightSource:dailymail