New cast members join series 5 of Downton Abbey

Carnival Films and ITV today announced have announced Richard E. Grant, Anna Chancellor and Rade Sherbedgia will be joining series 5 cast of Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning drama, Downton Abbey.
 
Richard E. Grant (Girls, Dom Hemingway, Gosford Park and Withnail and I) is joining the cast as Simon Bricker who visits Downton Abbey as a guest of the Granthams.
 
Anna Chancellor (The Hour, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Spooks) fresh from her West End role in Private Lives also joins as a guest role, playing Lady Anstruther.
 
Internationally acclaimed actor Rade Sherbedgia (Eyes Wide Shut, Snatch, The Saint, Taken 2) will play a Russian refugee, Kuragin who has fled the Russian revolution after the First World War.
 
Dame Harriet Walter and Peter Egan will reprise their roles as Lady Shackleton and Lord Flintshire respectively.
 
Downton’s Executive Producer Gareth Neame, the Managing Director of Carnival Films, said, “We are delighted to welcome these talented actors to the world of Downton. The characters they play are set to bring yet more excitement and intrigue to the show”

Existing cast returning for series 5 are: Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Elizabeth McGovern, Jim Carter, Penelope Wilton, Phyllis Logan, Samantha Bond, Laura Carmichael, Lily James, Allen Leech, Brendan Coyle, Joanne Froggatt, Lesley Nicol, Sophie McShera, Rob James-Collier, Ed Speleers, Kevin Doyle, Raquel Cassidy, David Robb, Tom Cullen, Julian Ovenden, Daisy Lewis, Douglas Reith, Jeremy Swift and Andrew Scarborough.
 
Downton Abbey is a Carnival/MASTERPIECE Co-Production, executive produced by Gareth Neame, Julian Fellowes and Liz Trubridge.

The fifth series will return for eight new episodes and a Christmas feature length episode.