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It's not often women get the chance to swoon over tweed and ­dickie bows, but brace yourselves ladies – Downton Abbey has three dashing new gents.

As fans eagerly await series four of the show, bosses have lined up something extra ­special – a lord, a jazz star and a hunky aristocrat.

Tom ­Cullen, 28, hits the Abbey as Lord Anthony ­Gillingham, a friend of the Crawleys.

(Image: Carnival Films)

Discussing his first scenes, he said: “It was absolutely terrifying.

“I stepped on to set and it was the weirdest experience, it’s a bit like stepping into a dream.

“Seeing all these living, breathing characters walking around and I’m in the middle of it, not knowing what the hell I’m doing there. Very weird.”

But he revealed he had been welcomed on the show by being taken on a night out by the female stars. He said: “They are some of the best dancers I’ve ever seen, and they are all really good craic.”

After Matthew Crawley was killed off last season, fans will be hoping widow Lady Mary gets a new ­leading man.

(Image: Nick Briggs)

Gary Carr, 26, will play American jazz singer Jack Ross.

He said of his character: “He’s a ­celebrity of the time so there is a ­confidence about him and a suaveness. He’s very ­charming.”

Meanwhile Julian Ovenden, 37, arrives as aristocrat Charles Blake.

Dad-of-two Ovenden has real-life posh credentials – he went to Eton and is the son of Canon John ­Ovenden, the chaplain to the Queen.

Maybe now he has bagged a role in the hit drama he will step up to new heights, as TV royalty.