Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery has revealed that Lady Mary will find it "very difficult" to get over Matthew's death in Series 4.

The actress told EW: "I imagine Mary will not be able to move on very quickly. It will be very difficult to replace the love of her life. The thing is that for the third [season] Mary was largely happy and content and they got the money to save Downton."

Dockery added: "I find myself smiling more often as the character and my guess is that I will not being that smile again for awhile. I’m sure she won’t come out of mourning too quickly."

Executive producer Gareth Neame previously teased: "...what we’ve been able to do is reset [Lady Mary]. She has to start again, and that will be much more interesting."

The fourth series begins filming soon.

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