Downton Abbey Set for Third Season

LONDON: ITV has locked in a third season of the hit period drama Downton Abbey, with the new installment of the Julian Fellowes drama to launch in fall 2012.

The final episode of the second season is to air this Sunday on ITV. The current season has been averaging around 9 million viewers on ITV on Sunday nights. The third season will cover 18 months in the lives of the Crawley family, from 1920 to 1921. The second season will premiere in the U.S. on PBS’s Masterpiece Theater on January 8, 2012.

Fellowes said: "I am extremely grateful to ITV for this. I have grown very fond of my Downton family and I certainly do not want to say goodbye to them quite yet."

Laura Mackie, ITV’s director of drama commissioning, added: "We’re absolutely delighted to be bringing Downton Abbey back for a third series, as we follow the inhabitants of Downton as they move into the roaring 20s.

"It’s rare to find a drama that the audience connects with so strongly and we’re extremely proud to have commissioned a series that has become such a phenomenon."