--- description: 'Downton' continues to rank as PBS’ most popular show of all time title: 'Downton Abbey' Returns to 10 Million U.S. Viewers image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6f9bf177ebd12763/6987785f2dce011a339dcc9d/downton-abbey.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _Downton Abbey_ Returns to 10 Million U.S. Viewers by [James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 6, 2015 6:10 PM CUT  The cast of Downton Abbey The cast of Downton AbbeyNick Briggs—Carnival Film & Television Ltd by [James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 6, 2015 6:10 PM CUT _Downton Abbey_ returned a massive audience and came thisclose to setting a new ratings record. The fifth season premiere had 10.1 million viewers Sunday night, which is huge for a PBS drama. The number is just shy of the show’s all-time peak U.S. viewership of 10.2 million viewers for its fourth season premiere. “We’re incredibly excited that _Downton Abbey_’s fans came out in force for the premiere of what has become a cultural phenomenon,” said PBS chief programmer Beth Hoppe. “We’ll also be looking at time-shifted and online viewing over the next few weeks as the season progresses.” “America has whole-heartedly embraced the Crawley family and those who serve them since the first season of _Downton_ and we are very appreciative,” added executive producer Gareth Neame. “We’re thrilled to have season five, of which we are quite proud, off to such a strong start.” _Downton_ ranks as PBS’ most popular show of all time. The premiere picked up Crawley family melodrama in 1924 and EW’s Melissa Maerz gave the episode an A-. [You can check out her review here](http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20883948,00.html "undefined"). _This_ [_article_](http://insidetv.ew.com/2015/01/06/downton-abbey-ratings/ "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://www.ew.com "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3656103/downton-10-million-viewers/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3656103/downton-10-million-viewers/"},"headline":"Downton Abbey Returns to 10 Million U.S. Viewers","datePublished":"2015-01-06T18:10:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:19:56.923Z","description":"'Downton' continues to rank as PBS’ most popular show of all time","url":"https://time.com/3656103/downton-10-million-viewers/","keywords":["Television","downton abbey","pbs"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6f9bf177ebd12763/6987785f2dce011a339dcc9d/downton-abbey.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6f9bf177ebd12763/6987785f2dce011a339dcc9d/downton-abbey.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"downton-abbey","caption":"Downton Abbey, Season 5 on MASTERPIECE on PBSSundays, January 4 - March 1, 2015 at 9pm ETJIM CARTER as Mr Carson, ROBERT JAMES-COLLIER as Thomas, RAQUEL CASSIDY as Baxter, KEVIN DOYLE as Molesley, LAURA CARMICHAEL as Lady Edith Crawley, PENELOPE WILTON a","creditText":"Nick Briggs—Carnival Film & Television Ltd","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3656103/downton-10-million-viewers/","name":"Downton Abbey Returns to 10 Million U.S. Viewers"}}]}] ```