Small Screen Scenes: Downton Abbey Season Three Preview from PBS
The Great War is over and the long-awaited engagement of Lady Mary and Matthew is on, but all is not tranquil at Downton Abbey as wrenching social changes, romantic intrigues, and personal crises grip the majestic English country estate. Shirley MacLaine joins the much-loved cast, which includes Dame Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern, Hugh Bonneville, Dan Stevens, Michelle Dockery, Jim Carter, Penelope Wilton and many others. “No family is ever what it seems from the outside,” observes Smith’s shrewd character.
Here's what Whom You Know thought of every episode in Seasons 1 and 2:
The Phenomenon Lives On!
Downton Abbey Season 3
The acclaimed cast returns with guest star Shirley MacLaine
Sundays, January 6 - February 17, 2013 on PBS
The Great War is over and the long-awaited engagement of Lady Mary and Matthew is on,
but all is not tranquil at Downton Abbey as wrenching social changes, romantic intrigues,
and personal crises grip the majestic English country estate for a third thrilling season. The
all-star cast, including Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess of Grantham, returns and
welcomes guest star Academy Award®-winner Shirley MacLaine.
Downton Abbey Season 3 airs over seven Sundays beginning with a two-hour premiere on
January 6 and concluding with a ninety-minute finale on February 17. The series' total
running time is 9 1/2 hours.
Written and created by Julian Fellowes, Downton Abbey Season 3 is a Carnival Films and
Masterpiece coproduction. Seasons 1 & 2 have together won nine Primetime Emmy®
Awards and a Golden Globe® for Best Mini-Series.
Executive Producer Gareth Neame remarks, "What a rollercoaster it has been to be part
of this truly global phenomenon. We couldn’t be more thrilled by the way American critics
and audiences have taken Downton to their hearts and I’m so excited to be showing them
season 3."
The press loved the second season, with USA Today marveling, “Lightning can strike
twice.” The Hollywood Reporter called the series “one of the great melodramas of the
modern television age.” And The Los Angeles Times styled it “big, beautifully acted, and
romantic.”
Viewers were no less passionate, with 17.1 million tuning in across the seven episodes,
making Downton Abbey, Season 2 the most-watched MASTERPIECE series on record. It
was also the most talked-about. “What sets Downton Abbey apart,” wrote Reuters, “is the
buzz the show is creating on new social media websites like Twitter and Facebook.”
And with today’s multitude of viewing options, a younger audience is being seduced by
Downton Abbey’s sumptuously spread-out plot, notes MASTERPIECE Executive Producer
Rebecca Eaton.
“In the excellence of its writing, acting, and production, Downton Abbey arrives at a perfect
time,” says Eaton. “Long-form episodic drama is the ideal fit for the way people watch
television today. With time-shifting, DVDs, and streaming, viewers have rediscovered the
joys of luxuriating in a sweeping story."
“MASTERPIECE has been committed to superb long-form drama since the beginning,” she adds. “We've never lost our audience,
and now we're attracting new and younger viewers, too.”
The returning cast includes Hugh Bonneville, Dame Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern, Dan Stevens, Michelle Dockery, Jim
Carter, Penelope Wilton, Joanne Froggatt, Brendan Coyle and a host of others, joined by Shirley MacLaine (Oscar® for Best
Actress, Terms of Endearment), who plays Martha Levinson, the very American mother of Cora, Countess of Grantham
(McGovern).
Years earlier, Cora rescued Downton Abbey with her New World riches by marrying Robert, Earl of Grantham (Bonneville). Now,
New World and Old World are about to clash as Cora’s mother locks horns with Robert’s redoubtable mother, Lady Violet, played
by Maggie Smith.
Last season closed with the reluctant heir to Downton, Matthew Crawley (Stevens), recovered from his war wounds and ready to
tie the knot with the eldest of Lord and Lady Grantham’s daughters, Lady Mary (Dockery). Meanwhile, Mary’s youngest sister,
Sybil (Jessica Brown-Findlay), has eloped to Ireland with the political-minded chauffeur, Branson (Allen Leech), and is expecting
a child.
A tantalizing glimpse ahead: Lovebird servants Anna (Froggatt) and Bates (Coyle) face new ordeals in their star-crossed marriage.
Downton’s impeccable butler, Carson (Carter), breaks in a new footman, who happens to be the nephew of the scheming lady’s
maid O’Brien (Siobhan Finneran). Following Matthew and Mary’s engagement, Robert sticks to his duty to maintain Downton
more firmly than ever—even as other great houses are crippled psychologically and financially in the wake of World War I.
In this changing landscape nothing is assured, and could it be that even the war-weary Crawleys must fight a new battle to
safeguard their beloved Downton?
Downton Abbey Season 3 is a Carnival/Masterpiece Co-production. It is written and created by Julian Fellowes. Gareth Neame
and Julian Fellowes are Executive Producers. The Co-Executive Producer is Nigel Marchant. The Producer is Liz Trubridge. The
first episode is directed by Brian Percival. Other episodes are directed by Andy Goddard, Jeremy Webb, and David Evans.
MASTERPIECE is presented on PBS by WGBH Boston. Rebecca Eaton is Executive Producer for MASTERPIECE. Funding for
the series is provided by Viking River Cruises and Ralph Lauren Corporation with additional support from public television
viewers and contributors to The MASTERPIECE Trust, created to help ensure the series’ future.
