Fans welcomed back to Downton with first-look images from A New Era

Fans have been offered a first look at the highly-anticipated sequel to the Downton Abbey film.

Hugh Bonneville, who stars as Robert Grantham, and Michelle Dockery, who returns as Lady Mary, are pictured on the stairs of the stately home.

It was confirmed earlier this year that Downton Abbey: A New Era will arrive in cinemas on March 18 2022.

Another image shows Sophie McShera’s Daisy and Lesley Nicol’s Mrs Patmore chatting over a stove in the kitchen of the fictional Yorkshire country estate.

Other characters including Bertie Pelham (Harry Hadden-Paton) and Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) are seen preparing for a tennis match.

Dame Maggie Smith, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter and Elizabeth McGovern will all be reprising their roles.

And Hugh Dancy, Laura Haddock, Nathalie Baye and Dominic West are joining the cast.

The hugely popular TV series aired on ITV from 2010 to 2015 and followed the fortunes of the aristocratic Crawley family and their downstairs servants.

Show creator Julian Fellowes is returning to pen the script while Simon Curtis, whose credits include My Week With Marilyn, is on directing duties.

The first movie, in 2019, followed a royal visit to the Crawley family and Downton staff.