Downton Abbey... welcome home

How we’ve missed it. Too grand to be a mere soap opera, too compelling to be a stuffy period drama, Downton Abbey was telly perfection, served on gilt-edged bone china by a footman in white kid gloves.

And now it returns, with the original cast including Hugh Bonneville as amiable traditionalist Lord Grantham, Dame Maggie Smith as his acid-tongued mother, Elizabeth McGovern playing Cora, his calm and perceptive American wife, and Michelle Dockery and Laura Carmichael as the Downton daughters, Mary and Edith.

But the nation’s favourite landed gentry have gone up in the world. No longer confined to the small screen, their comeback is cinematic, with a two-hour extravaganza re-creating their world with a big-budget lavishness that suits it perfectly.

The interlocking stories of all the characters centre on a royal visit to the grand country house – an inspired notion, since Highclere Castle (the real-life stately home in Berkshire where the exterior shots are filmed) really is the Queen’s favourite... a rural mansion owned by the Carnarvon family which has often served Her Majesty as a secluded retreat.

To help you relish every moment of the film, we’ve selected glorious photographs reflecting an era when costumes, cars, furnishings and traditions were all at their most elaborately beautiful. If you hunger for a more immersive experience, savour our guide to Downton-style dining on pages 6870. And for the grand finale, the Dowager Countess treats us to her acerbic wit as she opens her astonishing photo album on page 78.

Downton Abbey, the movie, whisks us back to the 20s, a decade of peace between two wars, when it seemed everything that was best about England would last forever.

For everyone who loves gripping stories and sumptuous costumes, this will be a thrilling treat. Step inside to discover more...

The Earl and Countess of Grantham, King George V and Queen Mary in the film, with Mr Molesley in his finest livery