ITV has announced that it has commissioned a fourth series of the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning drama, Downton Abbey,
Filming of eight new episodes, plus an extended special episode for Christmas 2013, begins at Highclere Castle and Ealing Studios in February. The opening and closing episodes will be feature length, as Series 4
Laura Mackie, Director of Drama at ITV, said, “We’re thrilled to welcome back a drama series that has become a much anticipated part of all our lives every autumn and achieved success around the globe.
And said Gareth Neame, Managing Director of Carnival Films, the show’s makers and Executive Producer of Downton Abbey, “Viewers can look forward to more drama, comedy, love, hatred, jealousy, rivalry, ambition, despair and romance.”
The third series was just broadcast in the UK, and a two-hour special premieres there on Christmas Day. “As ever, Downton will take its audience through a whole range of emotions. All of life’s experiences will feature in this episode,” noted Mackie. “This is one episode you will want to see live with millions of others, and best have the tissues ready.”
(Note: Spoilers ahead regarding Series 3.)
During the upcoming Christmas special, Lord and Lady Grantham and family take a summer break in the Highlands of Scotland, and leave most of their servants back at home. This annual visit to his Scottish cousins at Duneagle Castle, where the piper calls the tune for breakfast and dinner, is the highlight of Robert’s (Hugh Bonneville) year. Duneagle is the home of young, headstrong Lady Rose (Lily James), who was sent home in the last episode of Series Three after her dalliance with a married man. (The Scottish scenes were shot on location at Inveraray Castle, the ancestral home of the Duke of Argyll, Chief of the Clan Campbell.)
Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) discovers that newspaper editor Michael Gregson (Charles Edwards) also happens to be on holiday in Scotland and may not be there just for the sketching and fishing, while Matthew (Dan Stevens) and Mary (Michelle Dockery) disagree about Mr Gregson’s motives towards unlucky-in-love Edith.
Servants John Bates (Brendan Coyle), his wife Anna (Joanne Froggatt), Molesley (Kevin Doyle), and O’Brien (Siobhan Finneran) accompany the family on their trip north. O’Brien discovers a kindred spirit below stairs in the form of Susan’s lady’s maid, Wilkins (Simone Lahbib).
Meanwhile, back in Yorkshire, estate land agent Tom Branson (Allen Leech) has stayed behind at Downton with young daughter, Sybbie. In spite of the family’s attempts to integrate the former chauffeur into their world, he continues to live between the Crawleys and the servants below stairs. He’s still grieving for wife Sybil, who died after giving birth to their first child.
Butler Mr. Carson (Jim Carter) faces the task of keeping the household servants concentrated on their work polishing the silverware and cleaning the rooms, but with the family away, minds begin to wander to other things, including the forthcoming Thirsk Country Fair.
“While the cat’s away, the mice will play,” explained Neame. “The Granthams do not live at Downton Abbey twelve months of the year. They would go to London for the summer season and also go away on holidays like this. And when that happens, the domestic staff of Downton would remain. What will they get up to while the family is away?”
Downton Abbey: Series 3
Have a fab week!
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