For many Downton Abbey fans, the wait is over… the trailer for the movie version of the hugely popular TV series has arrived and it promises even more drama.
The first full-length trailer offers confirmation that the latest installment in the fortunes of the Grantham clan and their adoring lackeys involves the run-up to a royal visit, with George V and his wife, Mary, coming for lunch sometime in 1927.
The trailer reintroduces a range of favourite characters from the TV series, including Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville), Violet Crawley (Maggie Smith), Mary Crawley (Michelle Dockery), Anna Bates (Joanne Froggatt) and Cora Crawley (Elizabeth McGovern).
Dame Maggie Smith is acting royalty and she’s as sharp as ever in the trailer, dishing out plenty of her famous acerbic wit and pithy repartee.
“I never argue, I explain,” she sternly tells her son, the Earl of Grantham, in one scene.
In the trailer it appears that Lady Mary’s marriage to Henry Talbot (Matthew Goode) is still going strong – he’s certainly keen, dashing up the stairs full pelt to steal a kiss in one trailer scene.
The visit of George V and his wife also sends the staff, who must clean the country estate from top to bottom, into a panic while the residents gossip in anticipation of the royal visit.
The Downton Abbey movie is written by Julian Fellowes who created the original TV series.
Downton Abbey is set to hit the big screen on September 12.