Plus, Mary gets a special visit from another handsome suitor! Has Matthew’s replacement arrived at last?
Anna (Joanne Froggatt) has worked tirelessly to keep her rape a secret from Bates (Brendan Coyle), but on the Jan. 26 episode of Downton Abbey, her tragic ordeal was brought to light — and it went just about as badly as she thought it would.

O’Brien? More like No-Brien! The actress confirms she won’t be appearing on the show’s fourth season.
Were you hoping Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) would eventually learn the truth about how O’Brien (Siobhan Finneran) caused her miscarriage, resulting in an epic confrontation? Sorry to disappoint you, but Siobhan has confirmed to The Huffington Post UK that everyone’s least-favorite bang-sporting maid will not be on Downton Abbey when the show returns for season four.

These new shots from the show’s upcoming fourth season put the ‘down’ in ‘Downton.’
The Downton Abbey cast is back to work, filming the British period drama’s fourth season — but it’s not exactly a cause for celebration. This new batch of on-set photos reveal the Crawley family and its associates gathering to mourn the loss of the fan-favorite character who died in the third season finale.

Plus, what’s to come of the victim’s spouse in season 4? (Warning: spoilers ahead!)
“Why?!” That was the word on every Downton Abbey fan’s mind — well, the U.S. fans anyway — when one of the show’s main characters was killed in a car accident on the Feb. 17 season finale. And “why” is the question executive producer Gareth Neame answers in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly. As it turns out, the explanation is two-fold.

Sadly, Thomas’ first encounter with Jimmy didn’t exactly go as planned. Could he be fired from the abbey?
Bates (Brendan Coyle) returned to Downton Abbey a free man on the Feb. 10 episode, but in true Downton fashion, his return was interrupted by scandal of a most scandalous nature.

On the Jan. 27 episode of ‘Downtown Abbey,’ one beautiful new life was created, while another shocking death rocked the entire series. Dr. Linda Burke-Galloway spoke to HollywoodLife.com EXCLUSIVELY to reveal the details behind the illness and why it killed a beloved Crawley family member.
Downton Abbey is nothing if not shocking — and episode four of season three caught everyone off guard when one of the Crawleys suffered a shocking death that no one saw coming.

The Crawley family was changed forever, as the show’s most dramatic season yet took another dark turn.
On the Jan. 27 episode of Downton Abbey, Anna (Joanne Froggatt) discovered a way to prove Bates’ innocence, Edith (Laura Carmichael) finally found a small amount of self-worth, and Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay) gave birth to a perfectly healthy baby girl. But wait, this is Downton Abbey, right? Cue the unexpected, horrific tragedy…

Prince Will-who? Kate Middle-what? The Crawleys threw the wedding of the millenium on the long-awaited season premiere. Tears were shed. Shade was thrown.
Oh, Downton Abbey, how we’ve missed you. The show’s Jan. 6 season premiere brought back the entire Crawley clan — along with a super-sassy Shirley MacLaine as Cora’s mother — for a wedding event full of tears, drama, and of course, bitchy old-world asides from Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess. (“An aristocrat without servants is as useful to the county as a glass hammer.”)