The 2012 PBS Masterpiece Classic Season features Downton Abbey and The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Each winter and spring, PBS Masterpiece Classic features signature period dramas. Masterpiece, the longest-running most honored drama series on primetime television, which actress Laura Linney hosts has recently announced their 2012 season schedule with a few new (and not so new) period dramas.

One of those dramas I highly anticipate and can't wait to see in the 2012 season schedule is Downton Abbey's Season 2 starring Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Dan Stevens, , and more. It premieres January 8th, 2012! Just 37 more days!!!

In the official press release, PBS stated that their Masterpiece series will celebrate Charles Dickens with the Masterpiece/PBS co-production of the two-part “Great Expectations,” on Sundays, April 1 and 8 at 9:00 p.m., and their production of the Dickens classic based on his final, unfinished novel “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” will air Sunday, April 15 at 9:00 p.m. Read a BBC Press Release for its cast announcement here! Also, read this: PBS Announces Air Dates Of ‘Great Expectations’ & ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’, Plus See The First Images
   


Viewer Favorites Return to Masterpiece Classic
Watch encores of two beloved programs this December on Masterpiece. Judi Dench and Claudie Blakley stars in Return to Cranford, December 4 & 11, 2011, and the Primetime Emmy Award® winning Downton Abbey season one returns December 18 & 25, 2011 and January 1, 2012. (Check local listings.)

Highlights from the 2012 Masterpiece Classic Season

• Downton Abbey Season 2
  January 8 to February 19, 2012
  Downton Abbey season 2 resumes the story of aristocrats and servants in the tumultuous World War I era. The international hit is written by Julian Fellowes and stars Maggie Smith, Penelope Wilton, Elizabeth McGovern, and Hugh Bonneville, plus a drawing room full of new actors, portraying the loves, feuds, and sacrifices of a glittering culture thrown into crisis.as Isobel Crawley
  The voraciously-anticipated second season of the hit series from Primetime Emmy Award® winning writer Julian Fellowes returns to Masterpiece on PBS in January, 2012. Watch exclusive interviews with the Downton Abbey cast, download a complete schedule and get the latest news on all things Downton!
  April 15, 2012
• The Mystery of Edwin Drood - Tamzin Merchant as Rosa Bud
   
  An adaptation and completion of Charles Dickens' last novel left unfinished at the halfway mark at his death, The Mystery Of Edwin Drood is a psychological thriller about a provincial choirmaster's obsession with 17-year-old Rosa Bud and the lengths he will go to to attain her. Cast includes Matthew Rhys (Brothers & Sisters), Freddie Fox (The Three Musketeers 3D, Any Human Heart, St. Trinians II) Tamzin Merchant (Jane Eyre, Pride & Prejudice) and Julia MacKenzie (Miss Marple).