The Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning Downton Abbey will return to ITV1 in 2013 for a fourth series. Filming of eight new episodes for the third quarter of 2013 plus an extended special episode for Christmas 2013, begins at Highclere Castle and Ealing Studios in February 2013.

In Asia, NBCUniversal has expressed interest in picking up the fourth series for DIVA Universal. Season 3, meanwhile, will premiere in January 2013 on the channel. Marianne Lee, Programming Director, Asia Pacific, Universal Networks International, tells TV ASIA Plus, “We will continue to bring the latest seasons of Downton Abbey first and exclusively in Asia on DIVA Universal.”

The opening and closing episodes will again be feature length with series four continuing the story of the Crawley family and their servants in the early 1920s.

Gareth Neame, Managing Director of Carnival Films, the show’s makers and Executive Producer of Downton Abbey, said well-loved characters both above and below stairs will return along with the arrival of some new faces. “Viewers can look forward to more drama, comedy, love, hatred, jealousy, rivalry, ambition, despair and romance.”

The critically acclaimed drama is produced by Carnival Film & Television, a division of NBCUniversal International Television Production.