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Filming for the new Downton Abbey movie moved to the North East this week, with cast and crew spotted at Beamish in County Durham.

On Wednesday, the Beamish Museum car park was already set-up as the unit base for the shoot and the open-air attraction - as well as Beamish Hall Hotel down the road - were braced for two days of action, Downton-style.

News that filming on the film adaptation of Downton Abbey was coming back to the region was being kept tightly under wraps as Beamish became the latest setting for the film adaptation of the much-loved period drama.

But on Thursday morning, work quietly got under way on scenes in the main street at Beamish while at the country house hotel local extras were also seen - dressed to impress - in readiness for a crowd scene.

The long-awaited confirmation in July of a Downton Abbey film delighted fans of the ITV series who are now eager to see how the lavish drama will translate to the big screen.

(Image: newcastle chronicle)

Now local followers are set to find how their home region will translate to the cinema too with new North East locations picked for the shoot.

Previous filming for the drama - an upstairs-downstairs-style story created by Julian Fellowes' about the Crawley family household - has included Beamish Museum as well as Alnwick Castle in Northumberland where Downton stars including Elizabeth McGovern, who plays Cora Crawley, the Countess of Grantham, and Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary) were snapped around the town.

The castle, renamed Brancaster, featured in festive specials of the drama, which ended in 2015 after six successful series, in a story which saw the central Crawley family travel north from their Downton home in Yorkshire - actually Highclere Castle in Hampshire - for a visit.

(Image: newcastle chronicle)

A spokeswoman for Alnwick Castle was unable to comment as to whether the castle might again feature again in the new storyline which is said to feature all the main cast including Hugh Bonneville as Robert Crawley, Laura Carmichael, who plays Lady Edith, and Dame Maggie Smith who had originally hinted she might not resume her role as the sharp-tongued Dowager Countess due to her character's grand age.

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The actress, who turns 84 herself in December, has however been spotted shooting earlier Downton Abbey film scenes in Bampton, Thames Valley, which doubles as the fictional village of Downton.

(Image: newcastle chronicle)

The delay in embarking upon the film is believed to have been due to difficulties in re-assembling the large cast, who found themselves tied up with several other filming commitments after the drama shot them to fame.

Lord Fellowes has described getting the cast back together as being like a very happy school reunion.

The film is also said to be welcoming new members to the cast, including familiar names Imelda Staunton - who is married to Jim Carter who plays Downton's Mr Carson - and David Haig as guest artists.

(Image: newcastle chronicle)

Besides central scenes shot back in Highclere Castle, the Downton crew will be shooting more scenes in Yorkshire after filming wraps up at Beamish.

Milk Publicity, representing Downton Abbey production company, did not respond to requests for a comment about the Beamish shoot.