Just what is Lady Edith up to? Exciting preview from Downton Abbey's fourth series will whet fans' appetites

PUBLISHED: 19:52 EST, 18 September 2013 | UPDATED: 19:52 EST, 18 September 2013

For fans of the hit series Dowton Abbey, its return can not come round soon enough.

But while UK viewers will be able to watch the new series this Sunday, for US viewers it will not return to screens until January 5, 2014.

Luckily the Mail Online can give a tantalizing glimpse into the show's fourth series, set in 1922 just as the roaring twenties are getting underway.

Lady Edith Crawley is set to come out of her shell for the fourth series

And it seems like the changing times will affect several characters' behaviour in the new series.

The last time Lady Edith Crawley was on screen, viewers saw her resist the urge to fall in love with her married newspaper editor.

But now she has now clearly decided to throw caution to the wind as she leans in to kiss one Michael Gregson in new images from the forthcoming series of Downton Abbey.

Edith: Laura Carmichael looks as elegant as ever as the Lady

But while Lady Edith shows her more illicit side, her older sister Lady Mary Crawley is struggling to come to terms with the death of her husband Matthew.

It marks a switch in character for the two sisters, who were first introduced to the ITV audience as the free-willed eldest Mary whose first time in the sack with a man ended with his death, while Edith quietly pined for the future heir of the Abbey.

But with so many changes, loves and loss leading to their present day in 1922, the roles have reversed for the two women as they negotiatie life in a new decade.

Twenties: Lady Edith will morph into a jazz age belle

Romance: Lady Edith and Gregson share a kiss

Viewers will watch Lady Edith transform from dowdy to glamorous as she embraces her new life and romance in London as a newspaper columnist.

In the previous series, a despairing Edith, played by Laura Carmichael, had appeared to resist the charms of Mr Gregson, played by Charles Edwards, insisting there could be no future for them as a couple after discovering his secret – a wife in a mental asylum whom he cannot divorce.

However Gregson refuses to give up and in the news series which starts later this month he pursues Lady Edith.

The pair enjoy a rendezvous at St Pancras station, London, in the first episode before embarking on their romance as they enjoy dinner in a London restaurant.

In contrast Lady Mary, played by Michelle Dockery, is now a widow with a baby after her husband Matthew was killed in a car crash.

Lady Mary will be comforted by equally grief stricken Tom Branson

Grieving: Michelle Dockery returns as Lady Mary

And while new male characters have been introduced as potential love interests for the eldest daughter of Lord and Lady Grantham, from the initial photos, it looks as though no man could tempt her in her widowed state.

However she will find some solidarity in Tom Branson, played by Allan Leech, who also lost his wife and Mary's sister Sybil, and is now the single parent of a little girl.

Dockery has opened up about this series, revealing Lady Mary Crawley 'will never move on' from Matthew Crawley's death.

Michelle doesn't expect her alter-ego to ever be the same again following the shock death of her husband - who was played by Dan Stevens - in a car crash on Christmas Day last year, despite revealing her character spends the ITV period drama's forthcoming fourth series trying to find a new husband.

Sombre: Anna Bates helps Lady Mary who will 'never move on from her grief'

She told BANG Showbiz: 'To begin with she's much in grief but for the full series she's just trying to live with what's happened and move on, but I don't think she'll ever move on. She's recovering, I guess, from what's happened.

'She's encouraged to meet new people because inevitably she does have to look for a husband again because of the position she's in as the heir to Downton.

'There are new potential suitors that arrive throughout the series.'

Disguise: It seems as though Lady Rose has dressed up as a servant to gain access to her lower class lover

Stolen kiss: The two lovers have a secret rendez-vous

Femme fatale: Lady Rose seems to adopt the role of temptress in the upcoming series

The brunette beauty enjoys playing a grief-stricken Mary in the upcoming series because her character has gone back to having a similar 'cold exterior' to how she did when the show first started.

She added: 'I feel she's reverted back to the person she was in series one again, through the grief. She has that cold exterior again, which I do like playing. She has a bit of a sting in her tail. It can be more fun to play.

And the Countess of Grantham's headstrong great-niece, Lady Rose MacClare, is seen frolicking and sharing an illicit kiss with a lowly gardener in the new series of Downton Abbey.

Care to dance? Lady Rose and Sam Thawley share a dance

Rebellious: Lady Rose seems like she is headed for trouble

Upstairs downstairs: Lady Rose is seen fraternising with the help

It appears that she disguises herself as a maid to entice her beau into the passionate embrace.

In a storyline that has echoes of D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, the flirtatious aristocrat, played by Lily James, is seen sharing an intimate moment with Sam Thawley (Jonathan Howard) in the grounds of Downton just hours after they meet at a tea dance.

Returning for season four are Lord and Lady Grantham - played by hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern, as well as the downstairs staff favourites.

Downton Abbey series four will premiere on Sunday, September 22, 2013 on ITV in the United Kingdom while PBS will begin airing the latest season in the United States on Sunday, January 5, 2014.

Elizabeth McGovern will return as Lady Grantham

All the downstairs favourites are back for the fourth series

Old favourites: Dame Maggie Smith will return as the Countess of Grantham while Hugh Bonneville will once again play Lord Grantham