EXCLUSIVE: Downton stars reveal how the cast, the costumes - and the Abbey - kept up with the changing style of the 1920s

As series three of Downton Abbey came to a close last Sunday night with scandalous antics - Lady Rose's dalliance with a married man, Branson's integration into the house and Lady Edith taking a job at a London newspaper - it was the clear that the Crawley clan were facing the challenge of the changing times.
And now, as the box set of the third series goes on sale this week, a behind-the-scenes video has been released to give an insight into just how life at Downton Abbey has evolved over the course of the series, whose eight episodes span the 1920s.
With interviews from the cast and crew of the hit period drama (which in the first series was set in 1912), the Downton team discuss the new social changes that the characters faced, along with the way the costumes adapted to the changing fashions of the years, and of course, the liberation afforded to the female members of the household with the arrival of the hoover and that electric toaster. 

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Alastair Bruce, an Historical Advisor for the hit ITV drama, explains in the video that 'anyone who watches Downton Abbey can see the huge divide between men and women.'
'Women have to work really hard in this house, scrubbing and cleaning, they're on their hands and knees, shaking out the dust.'

 

'The men just look beautiful in their footman's outfits, delivering messages to Lord and Lady Grantham.'
'So when something like the electric toaster arrives, what it hailed was that a woman wouldn't have to work quite so hard.'

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The cast reveal that the fashions are ever-changing too. Hemlines slowly rise over the series, and looser, less constricting shapes and lots of draping are introduced - a welcome addition, according to actresses Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary), Laura Carmichael (Lady Edith), and Elizabeth McGovern (Lady Grantham).
Costume designer Caroline McCall, says in the clip: 'Women have changed, and the clothes reflect that.'
'Hemlines have come up, the clothes have become more draped, and the girls are mostly wearing bandeau corsets and bust flattening bras.'
'There was this new sense of freedom in fashion, a new openness, which also hints at the social change.'
'It's really a beautiful period of history.'