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"Dan Stevens has hinted that his Downton Abbey character Matthew Crawley may not survive the second series. The new episodes are set in World War I and Matthew has been sent to the front line. Stevens has now revealed that filming the trench scenes was &amp;quot;miserably cold and wet and muddy&amp;quot;. &amp;quot;The whole experience of filming in the trenches was extraordinary and overwhelming and very, very difficult,&amp;quot; he told the Radio Times. &amp;quot;Until we got there I found it impossible even to conceive what life could have been like, then we got on set and the atmosphere... the horrific conditions...&amp;quot; Stevens added that he has been researching the life of soldiers and was shocked by the average life expectancy of people sent to the trenches. &amp;quot;It is disturbing not only because of what these guys went through but also because my chances of surviving the war are not looking good,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;I haven&amp;#039;t seen the scripts for the end of the series yet - every time I see [writer] Julian Fellowes, I try to smile.&amp;quot; Stevens explained that he has signed up for the show&amp;#039;s Christmas special but added: &amp;quot;Whether I actually make it to Christmas in one piece - or at all - remains to be seen.&amp;quot; Downton Abbey&amp;#039;s executive producer Gareth Neame recently suggested that the drama could run for six series. The second will air on ITV1 later this year. &amp;gt; &amp;#039;Downton Abbey&amp;#039;: First impressions of season two "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/downton-abbey/news/a332874/downton-abbey-dan-stevens-matthew-might-not-survive-the-war/>