The drama will return early next year with 22 new episodes.

Series 9 will see “all the regular Chatsworthians return”, along with several new characters.

Angeline Ball (The Commitments) and Stephen Lord (EastEnders) will join as feisty siblings Gloria, a hairdresser, and Dominic Meak, a “very lapsed Catholic priest”. Kari Corbett (The Royal) will play 21 year old Maguire niece Ruby Hepburn – a “post Lads Mag ball of trouble” – while Morwenna Banks (Skins) has been cast as ruthless project consultant Carmen Kenaway.

> Buy the Series 1-7 boxset on Amazon.

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