Downton Abbey Returns For Series Three

DOWNTON ABBEY is returning to our screens for series number three tomorrow night (September 16th), with the series ready to begin life in peace time after the First World War came to an end in the last series.

Howeever, if any of the teaser trailers for the new series of the hit period drama are anything to go by then war is most certainly not over, at least not between the feuding grand dames of the series. So far, the snippets have revealed that Shirley Maclaine, who plays Martha Levinson, will be turning up from the US to do battle with the doughty Countess Violet Crawley, who is played by the ever wonderful Dame Maggie Smith. It will be a skirmish to see which of the old women will be gifted with all the best lines, as their domineering demeanours do battle.

Also hinted in the previews to series three is that his lordship Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville) may be about to fall on hard times after losing a sizeable chunk of his massive wealth. However if the show is to continue it's run for more than three series we doubt the mighty will have fallen for long.

After suffering a drop in ratings last season, blamed largely on the less than idyllic scenes set fighting in the trenches, the show looks to recapture it's massive ratings pull with promises of more über-retro glitz and glamour and forbidden love, as well as focusing on the servants that surround the Crawleys, that won it so many fans in the first place.

The first episode of the new series will air on ITV at 9pm tomorrow night.