Shirley MacLaine to star in Downton Abbey
Shirley MacLaine’s illustrious career comprises more than 50 feature films highlighted by an Academy Award® win and six nominations, six Emmy® Awards nominations and seven Golden Globe® Awards, including the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award. She is also an international best-selling author for her 2008 book, “Sage-Ing While Age-Ing” followed by her latest New York Times best-seller, “I’m Over All That – And Other Confessions,” released on April 5th, 2011.
Carnival Films’ Managing Director, Gareth Neame said, “My late grandfather directed Shirley MacLaine in Gambit in 1966 so it is a delight for me that she will be joining us on Downton Abbey. Julian has written another brilliant character in Martha Levinson, who will be a wonderful combatant for Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess and we are excited at the prospect of Shirley MacLaine playing her.”
Laura Mackie, Director of Drama at ITV said, “It is so exciting to have an actress of Shirley MacLaine’s stature joining our brilliant Downton Abbey cast for series three and a tribute to the show’s success on both sides of the Atlantic”.
The first series of Downton Abbey premiered on ITV in the U.K. and on MASTERPIECE on PBS in the U.S. to critical acclaim and collected a number of awards including six Primetime Emmys®, a Golden Globe® and a Producers Guild Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television. The second series increased its audience by 20% in the U.K. and is currently transmitting in the U.S. with an increase of almost 30%.
Downton Abbey, written and created by Julian Fellowes, is a Carnival/Masterpiece co-production. The producer is Liz Trubridge and the executive producers are Gareth Neame, Managing Director, Carnival Films, Julian Fellowes and Rebecca Eaton, Masterpiece.
Downton Abbey Season 2 on PBS Masterpiece
Airing January 8, 15, 22, 29 and February 5,12, & 19 on PBS
Downton Abbey’s Granthams and their family of servants have already weathered scoundrels, scandals, and a momentous succession crisis. But by November, 1916, the Great War has rendered everything — and everyone — changed. Even Downton Abbey itself, like its residents, has risen to the call of duty and transformed.
At the war front, life intensifies for Downton’s young men in the face of untold horrors. Meanwhile, at Downton, war makes new and often unjust demands. Some rise to its call for a stiff upper lip and a useful turn, and others see change as an opportunity for either growth or exploitation. Far from the trenches, there remains no shortage of scheming, meddling, and dangerous attractions.
As other great houses crumble, a diminished Downton Abbey struggles to prevail into a new era with its residents and its honor intact. Maggie Smith (David Copperfield, Gosford Park), Elizabeth McGovern (A Room With A View), Michelle Dockery (Return to Cranford), and Dan Stevens (Sense and Sensibility) return with an all-star cast to season two of Julian Fellowes’ Emmy Award winning drama, Downton Abbey.
Episodes - Cast
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Downton Abbey, Season 2: A Special Q&A with the Cast
Find answers to some of fans’ most popular questions in this special panel with the cast of “Downton Abbey,” filmed at a screening in New York City in Dec. 2011.
Downton Abbey cast do New York
Cast from the hit Masterpiece series Downton Abbey came to New York in December, 2011 to host a preview screening of Season 2 (starting on PBS January 8th), to take part in an audience Q & A, and to meet fans.
Downton Abbey Christmas
Sunday, 25 December 2011, 9:00PM - 11:00PM
Christmas 1919. Downton Abbey is hosting a lavish Christmas party, yet despite being the season of goodwill, tensions are rife and Bates’s arrest has cast a shadow over the festivities. Will he be a condemned man or will he be found innocent in time for the annual servants ball?
Mary has to consider her future with Sir Richard Carlisle following a contretemps at the shooting party and Violet has concerns about Rosamund, whose new suitor – the dashing but raffish Lord Hepworth, is not all he seems.
Full Details
Downton Abbey: Behind The Drama
Wednesday, 21 December 2011, 7:30PM - 8:30PM
Downton Abbey is THE hit drama series of the moment. It is the highest rating drama on British television for a decade. The fantastic scripts, great characters played by great actors and fabulous locations have made it event television. Following on from the second series and ahead of the Downton Abbey two hour episode on Christmas Day, its cast and creators will tell the story of the show from the inside in Downton Abbey: The Story by the Stars.
The actors talk exclusively about their characters and the gripping storylines across both series. They provide a real insight into the romance and conflict portrayed in the series, how they interact with each other and how they feel filming the crucial scenes for their character.
There will be behind the scenes footage at all the key locations, including the historic Ealing Studios in London where all the ‘below’ scenes are shot, the fabulous Highclere Castle in Berkshire, the site of most of the ‘above stairs scenes’, and the show is on location for the dramatic opening scene of the second series, set during the
Battle of the Somme and shot on location near Ipswich.
ITV commissions Downton Abbey series three
ITV announces the commission of eight new episodes of the immensely successful Downton Abbey written and created by Julian Fellowes.
Audience figures for the second series have increased by over 21 percent on the first series with a consolidated average of 11.5 million viewers watching the first six episodes of this current series – making it the most popular drama series on UK television for over 10 years.
The new series will be set in 1920 and 1921, and the drama will cover a period of 18 months in the lives of the Crawley family and the servants who work for them.
The globally successful series, produced by Carnival Films, a division of NBCUniversal International Television Production, debuted on ITV1 in September 2010. Since then the country has been gripped by the storylines that saw Downton at war during the second series and the house consumed by the Spanish flu pandemic of 1919.
After 15 episodes and with a Christmas special episode to look forward to on ITV1 in December 2011, the nation remains obsessed and riveted by Downton Abbey.
The cast returning will include [Read the rest of this entry...]
Episode 8
Sunday, 6 November 2011, 9:00PM - 10:30PM
Series finale:
With the wedding approaching there’s excitement in the air but will Branson’s plans rattle everyone? Spanish Flu reaches Downton and a desperate Thomas looks for a way to re-establish himself.
Ethel faces a dilemma when the Bryants return with a heartbreaking proposition and a decisive Anna forces Bates to think about their future.
Episode 7
Sunday, 30 October 2011, 9:00PM - 10:15PM
As the storms of war clear will life ever be the same again at Downton?
A new development stuns the family.
How long can Sybil and Branson keep their secret?
Carlisle puts Anna in a difficult position, Bates is reeling from the news about Vera and Thomas embarks on a new money making scheme.