Downton Abbey series 5: Watch first trailer for new season
Trailer introduces Richard E Grant's new character Simon Bricker
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Your support makes all the difference.The first full-length trailer of Downton Abbey series five has been released by ITV.
Scroll to see trailer
The one-minute clip shows Downton in flames as an unidentified blonde is scooped up into a man’s arms, and a terrified Earl of Grantham despairing that Lady Edith’s daughter will be snatched away from them.
No further hints are given about Anna and John Bates’ relationship following her controversial rape in series four, but the trailer shows the two worlds of above and below stairs coming together more than ever before, to the extent that Isobel Crawley even says: “Surely servants are human beings too?”
The Dowager Countess, who is rumoured to have a major storyline in series five, replies with a typically acerbic one-liner: “Yes, preferably on their days of.”
Elsewhere, the clip shows the Downton household struggling to get to grips with the changing times in 1924.
The clip ends with Mrs Hughes telling Carson: “Downton is catching up with the times we live in,” to which he replies: “That is exactly what I am afraid of.”
The trailer also gives a first look at new characters Simon Bricker and Lady Anstruther, played by Richard E Grant and Anna Chancellor.
Downton Abbey returns to ITV on Sunday 21 September at 9pm.
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