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Count the Days to January 5 for Masterpiece: Downton Abbey

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Celebrate the return of Downton Abbey and dust off your favorite lucky charm–the 2014 Masterpiece Sweepstakes is here! As in previous seasons, this year’s sweepstakes offers one person the chance to win a trip for two adults from the U.S. to Britain. And new this year—four monthly prizes of a $500 shoppbs.org gift certificate. 

Enter the 2014 Masterpiece Sweepstakes daily through March 15, 2014, for a chance to win a trip for two adults from the US or Canada to Great Britain! This 5-day, 4-night trip features a VIP reception at Highclere Castle (setting of Downton Abbey), hosted by Lord Carnarvon and Lady Carnarvon, author of Lady Catherine, the Earl, and the Real Downton Abbey. The trip also includes VIP tours of the Museum of London’s forthcoming Sherlock Holmes exhibit and the famous Selfridges & Co. department store. You will also attend the Tower of London’s evening Ceremony of the Keys and enjoy the annual “Battle Proms” concert with fireworks on the grounds of Highclere Castle. Travel must be from July 30-August 4, 2014. You may also win 1 of 4 monthly prizes—gift certificates to purchase PBS merchandise. No purchase necessary; winners will be selected by random drawing. Enter at http://www.pbs.org/sweepstakes

Downton Abbey, Season 4, begins with a two-hour premiere on January 5, 2014 on West Virginia PBS.

Viewership and social media buzz have been soaring since the series launched in January 2011. Season 3
reached a record 24.1 million viewers, more than any other drama in the history of PBS, and the season
had the highest Twitter buzz ever for public television. Join the conversation on Twitter at #DowntonPBS

The returning cast includes Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Brendan Coyle,
Michelle Dockery, Joanne Froggatt, Rob James-Collier, Lily James, Allen Leech, Phyllis Logan,
Elizabeth McGovern, Sophie McShera, Lesley Nicol, Dame Maggie Smith, Penelope Wilton, and a host of
others, joined by Shirley MacLaine (Oscar® for Best Actress, Terms of Endearment), who reprises her role as Martha Levinson, the forthright American mother of Cora, Countess of Grantham (McGovern). Martha again battles wits with Cora’s wickedly acerbic mother-in-law, Violet (Smith).

Among the new faces are Paul Giamatti (Sideways) as Cora’s playboy brother, Harold, who appears in
the season finale; Dame Harriet Walter (Little Dorrit) as Violet’s old friend Lady Shackleton; Gary Carr
(Death in Paradise) as jazz singer Jack Ross; Joanna David (Bleak House) as the Duchess of Yeovil; Tom
Cullen (World Without End) as the dashing Lord Gillingham, and Julian Ovenden (Smash, Any Human
Heart) as an unexpected houseguest.