Warning: Contains mild spoilers

The start of season five is so close we can almost smell Mrs Patmore’s cooking already.

With just days until the first episode airs on September 21, fans who can’t wait are being treated to a sneaky first look at the start to the series. Carson told us in the trailer that change is coming, referring to the political climate. But could it mean much more than that for the residents of the Abbey?

1. Thomas assisting a very unsteady-looking Lady Edith. Is it one night cap too many, or does the fire raging through the Abbey have something to do with it? Wait – is Barrow showing a caring side?




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2. Lady Edith visits the farm on the Downton Abbey estate where her secret daughter is being raised. But the emotional reunion tugs at her heart strings. Can she keep her own secret?

3. We know that the Dowager finds herself a suitor in season five. Could this be the brave man?

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4. Baxter is harbouring a deep dark secret that could cost her her job if it gets out. But with Barrow in on the confidential matter, there’s not a chance in hell it will remain private.

5. With all the change that’s going on, Sarah Bunting is not the most welcome of faces at Downton, and she and Lord Grantham come to some serious blows at the dinner table.

7. Lord Merton has designs on Isobel Crawley, but Lady Shackleton may have other ideas…

8. And Molsley attempts a new look in episode one with the aid of some boot polish as hair dye. But not everyone is taken with the new him.

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