It’s getting steamy in Downton Abbey for Lady Mary!

Downton Abbey’s back and things look like getting steamy for Lady Mary.

The eldest of the Crawley sisters started last series in deepest mourning after the tragic death of husband Matthew.

But Michelle Dockery says she’s delighted her character’s looking for love again with a naughty weekend away with chief suitor Lord Gillingham (Tom Cullen) on the cards.

“She’s questioning why she can’t be with a man intimately before she settles down,” Michelle told The Sunday Post.

“Since the end of the First World War, in series two, women have been more liberated and had more choices. But the questions she’s asking herself are still quite shocking in the Downton scene.”

With other suitor Charles Blake (Julian Ovenden) still around there’s a bit of a love triangle in the offing. So, is there a sense of Mary stringing them along?

“Not intentionally, but I guess you could see it that way,” admits Michelle, whose own love life with financial PR John Dineen has been going well for the past year.

“She’s putting herself first. I think the audience loved Matthew and it just wouldn’t seem right to immediately settle down with someone. She’s playing the game it shouldn’t be easy, should it?”

Fun and bubbly, there’s no sign of Lady Mary’s icy stare and scathing put-downs as Michelle chats about this, the fifth, series of ITV’s number one drama.

But that feisty side is one reason Michelle, 32, is happy to be rolling the clock back to 1924.

“It’s like there’s a new chapter for Mary with a sense of fun but she’s got her wit back,” she says.

“I always liked that rebellious side and she was incredibly headstrong. There’s a bit of that old Mary back.”

Downton’s huge success has made the cast hot properties with Michelle now juggling Hollywood movies with her period drama life.

She starred alongside Liam Neeson in thriller Non-Stop and has filmed Selfless with Ryan Reynolds and Ben Kingsley, whose daughter she plays.

“It’s wonderful that this show has brought about more opportunities,” she admits.

“I was living in New York for three months and it’s certainly different doing a movie and working in a studio over there. But it’s lovely that you get the chance to challenge yourself with a different character.”

So, any clues as to what we can expect this series?

“I’m not telling you,” laughs Michelle. “I love Game of Thrones but if you told me what happened in an episode I hadn’t seen, I’d kill you!”