By Nolan Feeney
Downton Abbey is getting extra political this year: the fifth season of the hit period drama takes place in 1924, the year of Britain’s first Labour party government and, consequently, a year of dramatic social change at the Crawley estate.
Cast members such as Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Jim Carter and Laura Carmichael are all returning, while guest-stars Anna Chancellor and Richard E. Grant will introduce a few new characters into the mix.
Stray water bottles, however, are not expected to return.
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Write to Nolan Feeney at nolan.feeney@time.com