PR: Masterpiece: Downton Abbey Season 4 on DVD & Blu-ray Jan 28

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Release Date: December 20, 2013, 8:03 am
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The most-watched drama in PBS history enters its fourth gripping season with the whole world waiting to learn how the beloved characters deal with a shocking tragedy. The acclaimed ensemble is back, together with returning guest star Shirley MacLaine and new guest star Paul Giamatti. Also joining the cast are Harriet Walter, Gary Carr, Joanna David, and Tom Cullen, as the legend continues...

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Masterpiece: Downton Abbey Season 4

COMES TO DVD AND BLU-RAY THIS JANUARY

Available on DVD and Blu-ray from PBS Distribution January 28th

Features Returning Guest Star Shirley MacLaine and New Guest Star Paul Giamatti



Arlington, Va. - December 19, 2013 - PBS Distribution today announced it is releasing Masterpiece: Downton Abbey Season 4 on DVD and Blu-ray January 28, 2014. The most-watched drama in PBS history enters its fourth gripping season with the whole world waiting to learn how the beloved characters deal with a shocking tragedy. The acclaimed ensemble is back, together with returning guest star Academy Award(R)-winner Shirley MacLaine and new guest star Paul Giamatti. Also joining the cast are Harriet Walter, Gary Carr, Joanna David, and Tom Cullen, as the legend continues in Masterpiece: Downton Abbey Season 4.

Masterpiece: Downton Abbey Season 4 airs Sundays on MASTERPIECE on PBS from January 5, 2014 to February 23, 2014. The DVD SRP is $49.99 and the Blu-ray SRP is $54.99. The run time is approximately 8.75 hours on three discs. The DVD and Blu-ray sets contain all of Season 4, including the finale. The DVD and Blu-ray feature the original U.K. edition of Season 4 and more than 30 minutes of bonus video. The program will be available for digital download.

Written and created by Julian Fellowes, Masterpiece: Downton Abbey Season 4 is a Carnival Films/MASTERPIECE Co-Production. Carnival is a division of NBCUniversal International Television Production. The series' many accolades include 10 Emmys(R), two Golden Globes(R), and a coveted Screen Actors Guild Award(R) for the ensemble cast.

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.

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(R) 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.

All who tuned in last season know that Matthew Crawley - heir to Downton Abbey, husband to Lady Mary (Dockery), and brand new father to a baby boy and successor - lies dead on a country road next to his overturned roadster. On top of this, the family is still grieving over the death in childbirth of Sybil, Mary's youngest sister, who also left a baby behind.

Season 4 opens six months later. Although it is the 1920s, Britain still observes mourning rituals that are almost Victorian in their solemnity. Nonetheless, the Crawleys are beginning to snap out of it: Robert, Lord Grantham (Bonneville), must manage the estate without his canny son-in-law; Cora suddenly faces a staffing crisis; Violet, who has seen enough tragedy, knows how to recoup quickly; Isobel (Wilton), Matthew's mother, may never recover; Edith (Carmichael), who was jilted at the altar, tempts scandal with a new beau; and Mary now finds herself the most desirable widow in Yorkshire.

The servants also pick up, buck up, and get on with it - with new arrivals, departures, rivalries, and betrayals among the downstairs staff. Life goes on at Downton Abbey.

Written and created by Julian Fellowes, Masterpiece: Downton Abbey Season 4 is a Carnival Films/MASTERPIECE Co-Production. The series is executive produced by Gareth Neame, Julian Fellowes and Liz Trubridge. Nigel Marchant is co-executive producer. Rupert Ryle-Hodges is the producer. The first episode is directed by David Evans. Other episodes are directed by Catherine Morshead, Philip John, Edward Hall, and Jon East.

About MASTERPIECE
Rebecca Eaton is Executive Producer for MASTERPIECE. MASTERPIECE is presented on PBS by WGBH Boston. Funding for the series is provided by Viking Cruises and Ralph Lauren Corporation with additional support from public television viewers and contributors to The MASTERPIECE Trust, created to help ensure the series' future.

About PBS Distribution
PBS Distribution is the leading media distributor for the public television community, both domestically and internationally, extending the reach of these programs beyond broadcast while generating revenue for the public television system and our production partners.

PBS Distribution's offers a diverse range of programming to our customers, including Ken Burns's films, documentaries from award-winning series such as NOVA, FRONTLINE, AMERICAN MASTERS, NATURE, and AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, dramas from MASTERPIECE, as well as films from independent producers and popular children's programming. As a multi-channel distributor, PBS Distribution pursues wholesale/retail sales, consumer and educational sales through PBS-branded catalogs and online shops, and international broadcast and video sales. PBS Distribution is also a leader in offering programming through digital platforms including internet and mobile devices.

Masterpiece: Downton Abbey Season 4
Street Date: January 28, 2014
Genre: Drama
Run Time: Approximately 8.75 hours on 3 Discs
SRP: DVD $49.99, and Blu-ray $54.99
Format: DVD and Blu-ray
Kait Calabro

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News Editor December 20, 2013, 8:03 am