DOWNTON ABBEY SERIES 2 BEGINS ON ITV 1 SUNDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2011

UK | ITV 1 | 60 minutes | AIRDATE: Sunday 18 September 2011@ 9.00pm

Writer: Julian Fellowes | Season 2 Episode 1

The worlds most popular show returns for it’s very much anticipated second series and all the major players are back with it, not only that but the action has moved on two years to 1916.

The new series begins in 1916, two years after the outbreak of war. Robert, Earl of Grantham, is now Lord Lieutenant of the County but remains disillusioned that he has not been selected for service at the front. William feels bad that he has not joined up, having promised his widowed father not to, and his shame increases when he and Branson are presented with white feathers.

The Downton heir Matthew Crawley, on the other hand, is in the thick of the fighting. When he returns on leave, he brings someone with him – his new fiancee. Back in France, Matthew runs into Thomas, who is desperate to get out of the army – but will his schemes succeed? Meanwhile, Lady Sybil  tries to help the war effort by enrolling as a volunteer nurse, and she receives unexpected support from her grandmother, the dowager countess Violet. Lady Mary thinks she has found a new suitor in the form of newspaper proprietor – and war profiteer – Sir Richard Carlisle, but does she still have feelings for Matthew? Below stairs, Bates faces trouble with the arrival of his wife Vera, and new housemaid Ethel Parks does not prove popular with the other servants.

cast

Hugh Bonneville as Robert, Earl of Grantham

Thomas Howe as William

Allen Leech as Branson

Dan Stevens as Matthew Crawley

Rob James-Collier as Thomas

Maggie Smith as Countess Violet

Jessica Brown Findlay as Lady Sybil

Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary

Brendan Coyle as Bates

Amy Nuttall as Ethel Parks

Iain Glen as Sir Richard Carlisle

Maria Doyle Kennedy as Vera