Jean Marsh reprises her role as Rose Buck, who becomes housekeeper of the re-established household, with Ed Stoppard and Keeley Hawes playing its new owners Sir Hallam and Lady Agnes Holland.
Rose also mentions that a silver teapot, seen in some scenes of the first episode, was given to her as a gift by Lord Bellamy in appreciation of her years of "impeccable" service to the family.
In August 2010, the BBC announced that the planned two 90-minute shows would instead be three hour-long episodes, with Keeley Hawes, Ed Stoppard, Eileen Atkins, Anne Reid, Claire Foy, Adrian Scarborough, Art Malik, Ellie Kendrick, Blake Ritson, and Nico Mirallegro joining Jean Marsh in the cast.
[5] The three episodes were picked up by overseas broadcasters, including ABC in Australia, NRK in Norway, Sky in New Zealand, DR in Denmark, YLE in Finland, IBA in Israel, and TV4 in Sweden.
[6] BBC1 commissioned six 60-minute episodes of the drama to be broadcast in 2012,[7] with Stoppard, Hawes, Reid, Foy, Malik, Ritson, Mirallegro, Scarborough and Jackson all returning to the series.
Sarah Gordy and Alexia James, introduced during series 1 as Hallam's sister Pamela, who has Down's Syndrome, and the household's Jewish ward Lotte, respectively, also continue to appear on a recurring basis.
Other new additions to the cast include Alex Kingston as Blanche Mottershead, the younger half-sister of Maud, and Laura Haddock as maid Beryl Ballard.
Special guest stars in the series include Kenneth Cranham as Sergeant Ashworth, Michael Landes as American multimillionaire Caspar Landry, Emilia Fox as Blanche's lover Lady Portia Alresford, and Sarah Lancashire as Violet Whisset, a love interest for the butler Mr Pritchard.
Sir Hallam Holland, a young diplomat, moves into the townhouse along with his wife, Lady Agnes, in January 1936 shortly before the death of King George V. They engage former parlourmaid Rose Buck, now running her own agency for domestic servants, to find them staff as they renovate the house to its former glory after its years of being mothballed.
Added to these stresses are the still-painful memory of Lady Agnes's past miscarriage, a mystery surrounding Sir Hallam's sister, who died very young, and a surprise foster-child whom they feel obliged to maintain.