Show of the week: Masterpiece: Downton Abbey
The second season of this drama begins in January.
World War I is raging as this acclaimed drama begins it second season, the conflict roiling the lives of both the servants and the aristocrats residing at the series’s titular English estate. Thankfully, the cast is unchanged: Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, and the peerless Maggie Smith (all of whom recently received Golden Globe nominations) expertly play out the series’s rich narrative of romance and intrigue against an eye-filling backdrop of colorful costumes and period detail. Sundays, Jan. 8–Feb. 19, at 9 p.m., PBS; check local listings
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Today's political cartoons - April 20, 2025
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - Pam Bondi, retirement planning, and more
By The Week US
-
5 heavy-handed cartoons about ICE and deportation
Cartoons Artists take on international students, the Supreme Court, and more
By The Week US
-
Exploring the three great gardens of Japan
The Week Recommends Beautiful gardens are 'the stuff of Japanese landscape legends'
By The Week UK