It has been more than three-and-a-half years since the antics of the Crawley family and their below-stairs staff gripped TV audiences across the UK.

But now Downton Abbey fans can get a feature-length fix of their favourite
aristocrats as the long-awaited movie is released later this month.

Stars of the period drama appeared on the red carpet in London’s Leicester Square last night for the world premiere of the film.

Actress Michelle Dockery sparkled in a glittering gold gown as she joined co-stars Elizabeth McGovern and Laura Carmichael ahead of the screening.

Also wowing crowds were Hugh Bonneville – who plays Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham –  series creator Julian Fellowes and actress Phyllis Logan. Allen Leech, who portrays radical socialist Tom Branson, appeared with his wife, actress Jessica Blair Herman, and revealed she is five months pregnant.

Ms Dockery, who plays Lady Mary Crawley, said she was dazzled to be filming for a movie, and felt a “real buzz” on set.

“It felt like we had never left, there was this real buzz because we were making a movie,” she said.

“It feels like such a privilege. We did the show for so long and now filming a movie, there was a lot of excitement, like we had never been away.”

She added: “In those first 20 minutes we were like ‘We are doing a film.  Our faces are going to be much bigger’ – but we mustn’t treat it any different.

“It is an extension of the show, but turned up a notch. It was important that it didn’t feel too different.”

Carmichael said: “I had the initial nerves of being back and it’s a movie, how is that different? But that lasts about 20 minutes and we relaxed again, it feels like coming home, as cheesy as it sounds, it did feel like that.”

The big-screen plot centres on a royal visit by King George V and Queen Mary to the stately home of the Crawley family, causing a stir among both those upstairs and downstairs.

Many of the original cast members appear in the film, but there are also a few new faces – including Imelda Staunton, who takes on the role of Lady Maud Bagshaw.

Ms Staunton, whose husband Jim Carter has played butler Carson throughout the ITV series, said she felt she had to live up to expectations.

She said: “I have had Carson coming home every night for many years, I did feel at ease but I hoped that I didn’t let the side down.

“You don’t want to come in under, you want to come in absolutely at a par and bring in more if you can.

“I would have got it in the neck from Carson at night if I hadn’t.”

She added that she thought at first that she would be downstairs, but was “very happy being upstairs with Geraldine James’s company (who plays Queen Mary) and Maggie (Smith), that is like being with Federer and Nadal”.

The film, also written by Fellowes, is set for release in the UK on Friday.