Devised by Upstairs, Downstairs script editor Alfred Shaughnessy, The Cedar Tree chronicles the shifting fortunes of a fictional aristocratic family, the Bournes of Larkfield Manor, through the turbulent years leading up to the Second World War.

This third series begins in January 1938, as England stands on the cusp of a metamorphosis. Even for a traditional landowning family, change has taken place: Arthur Bourne's elder daughter Elizabeth is now a qualified doctor with a sharpening awareness of social inequalities; her sister Victoria, studying music at the Royal Academy, is romantically involved with a young German, Klaus von Heynig - offering a stark insight into developments in Central Europe; and the widowed Arthur is facing increasing financial pressure - and even the unthinkable prospect of losing Larkfield...