Downton Abbey

About 5 million viewers watched Downton Abbey's four episodes — which followed the lives and loves of the family living in the titular British estate and the staff that serves them — when they aired on PBS? Masterpiece in early 2011. ''People who discovered it embraced it as their own because it was harder to find and not shoved down your throat,'' says Elizabeth McGovern, who stars as Downton's ? Cora Crawley, the lady of the house who presides over it with husband Robert, as Countess and Earl of Grantham. ''That's very gratifying.''

Though it had originally been conceived as a miniseries, Downton's runaway success, both here and in the U.K. (where it now stands as the most popular drama of the last eight years), earned it a second season, with ?a third set to film in February.

The action has jumped two years to 1916. World War I is raging, and Downton's most eligible bachelorette Mary has set her sights on a publishing magnate (Iain Glen) — despite being in love with Matthew, the estate's heir presumptive. ''Matthew doesn't want her,'' explains Downton creator Julian Fellowes. ''She's not going to wait around forever.''

The dowager Violet (Maggie Smith, touching up her makeup on set), and her daughter-in-law, Cora, bond this season when Matthew's mother, Isobel (Penelope Wilton), suggests they turn Downton into a convalescent home for soldiers. ''Neither of them like that,'' explains McGovern.

Highclere Castle in Berkshire stands in for Downton Abbey in many exterior and interior shots. ''It's almost like a character in the show, a very imposing character,'' says actor Brendan Coyle (Mr. Bates) of the 1,000-acre estate. ''There's something like 200 bedrooms. It's quite easy to get lost in there.''

Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens), the dashing third cousin once removed of the Earl of Grantham, became the heir presumptive to Downton Abbey when Lady Mary's suitor sank with the Titanic. Though he becomes taken with Lady Mary, she doesn't realize she loves him until it's too late?so he finds a new fiancée in season 2.

On set at Downton Abbey

On set with some of the "wounded soldiers."

Reside over the kitchen as cook and kitchen maid

The lord of the ring of servants, Mr.Carson, suffers a mild case of getting old this season, which sends him to his sickbed at some crucial moments, much to his chagrin.

The valet and the housekeeper get comfortable.

Bates' wooing of Anna (Joanne Froggatt) has made him a fan favorite. ''All my female friends find it quite hilarious that I'm this kind of sex symbol,'' says Coyle. ''But hey, I'll take it where I can get it.''

Robert and his wife, Cora, stay out of the matchmaking business this season when it comes to eldest daughter Mary and the potential inheritor of Downton, Matthew. Says McGovern of her character, ''It's part of the inexorable journey that she is going into a more modern age where she becomes less of a manipulator of their marital futures.''

While the show is set in the early 1900s, the set of Downton isn't exactly immune to modern technology — whether that's using downtime to catch up on email, as actresses Laura Carmichael and Jessica Brown-Findlay (who play sisters Edith and Sybil) do here, or fending off paparazzi so eager to capture the action they'd hide in the bushes around Highclere.

On a music and coffee break

On their marks