ITV

Watch: The final Downton Abbey trailer

Hugh Bonneville as Lord Grantham in the final episode of Downton Abbey

Julian Fellowes's award-winning period drama Downton Abbey finally draws to a close this Christmas.

As Mary settles into married life with Henry, he is still scarred by his best friend's Charlie's tragic death on the race track. Meanwhile, it looks like Thomas will finally be saying goodbye to Downton.

Watch the trailer below to get a glimpse of what else is to come in Downton's finale.

Airs Christmas Day, 8.45pm on ITV

CPL to produce Ann Summers drama

CPL Productions logo

A new drama series focusing on the domestic lives of four Ann Summers party planners has been commissioned by ITV.

In what promises to be a “fresh, frank and funny” series, Brief Encounters follows four unlikely entrepreneurs whose lives are revolutionised by selling exotic lingerie.

Set in the early 1980s, Brief Encounters is inspired by the early chapters of Good Vibrations, the memoir of Ann Summers’ CEO Jacqueline Gold.

It is the first drama to be made for ITV by award-winning indie CPL Productions.

The Secret of the Soaps

 At last month's The Secret of the Soaps event, the masterminds behind Coronation Street revealed to RTS audiences the inside secrets of what has made the show last for 55 years

The panel starred actor Tina O'Brien, writer Debbie Oates, producer Stuart Blackburn and ITV's Creative Director of Serial Dramas John Whiston. The session was chaired by former ITV Director of Entertainment and Comedy  Paul Jackson.

ITV commissions new series from Griff Rhys Jones

Griff Rhys Jones Great Welsh Adventure

Actor and presenter Griff Rhys Jones is following the success of A Great Welsh Adventure with Griff’s Great Britain, produced by Modern Television for ITV.

The eight part series will see Rhys Jones explore Britain’s landscape, from downs and wolds to coasts and highlands, unearthing quirky facts along the way.

Each week, he will encounter a new, and often bizarre, challenge, from finding a golden eagle to hunting a vampire.

Yorkshire Student Awards

Anyone with concerns about the future of the TV industry may have found comfort at the Yorkshire Centre’s Student Awards at York Racecourse in November.

Presented with great aplomb by ITV News Calendar’s Sally Simpson, the theme of the evening seemed to be “quality not quantity”. As several of the judges who attended the event commented; while the number of entries might have been down, the quality was up.