SCENES ON GRANTHAMS MOVIE..

SHOCKING BEHAVIOUR The TV series was known for its big reveals and the movie will be no different.

We will have to wait to see if a big name shuffles out of the big-screen drama permanently – but there is definitely a shock in store.

Julian Fellowes reveals: “Everyone was taken aback, especially at the readthrough.” Imelda Staunton adds: “You’re going along with the story then, pow.”

Allen Leech, who plays Tom Branson, right, has also warned fans to bring the hankies. ON LOCATION The focus is on Downton Abbey, which is actually Highclere Castle in Berkshire, but two other Grade I-listed country piles make a grand entrance.

Harewood House, above, near Leeds in West Yorkshire, is used as the residence of Henry Lascelles and Princess Mary, the daughter of George V and Queen Mary.

But the grand ball scenes were filmed at Wentworth Woodhouse, near Rotherham in South Yorkshire, which has the widest facade in Europe and boasts at least 365 rooms. SOLDIERS ON PARADE On a break from Trooping the Colour, the King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, were used for the spectacular King’s Parade.

It took three days to film the scenes in the village of Lacock, Wilts, with camp being set up in a field for 80 horses and 125 troopers. The Troop, below, were camera-ready as “their guns and uniforms are basically identical to the 1920s”, says producer Gareth Neame. Geraldine James and Simon Jones taking centre stage in the Downton Abbey movie as Queen Mary and George V IT STRICTLY TAKES TWO… TO DANCE Between takes, Imelda Staunton and Allen Leech amused themselves by marking the couples’ dance moves out of 10.

Allen laughs: “We would walk up to the couples and judge them like on Strictly.

“Michelle Dockery is an amazing dancer – if anyone could do Strictly, it’s her. Men had to wear long socks – and Hugh Bonneville has incredible calves.”

But Simon Jones, as King, “spent most of his time on the Queen’s toes”. TRAILER BLAZER Allen Leech’s romantic moonlit dance, which can be seen at the end of the film’s trailer, with newcomer Tuppence Middleton, below, as lady’s maid Lucy Smith – was not originally scripted.

Leech reveals: “I had finished all my scenes and was back in London when I got a call saying, ‘We need you back’.

“One producer had an idea of filming a scene outside Harewood.

“Tuppence and I learnt that dance in an hour-and-a-half.” MIND YOUR Ps AND Qs Historical adviser Alastair Bruce was minder of the cast’s diction and making sure they pronounced words correctly.

The word “room” was problematic. “Many tended to accentuate the ‘o’s when, it fact, it should be shortened, so they sound very nearly like a ‘u’,” he explains.

Teaching Michelle Dockery, right, how to be a lady had spectacular results. He laughs: “I am proud that she now has incredible poise – you never see a curve in her back.” RISING HEMLINES Costume designer Anna Robinson, with Downton since season five, showed how fashions had changed by 1927.

She reveals: “That year hemlines were shortest but, given the events of the film, it would have been inappropriate to have knees on display.”

The grand ball involved 200 costumes with Lady Mary, right, wearing a 1920s gown Anna found in a West London market.