Masterpiece .

In the climactic battle of the war, Matthew and William go over the top to an uncertain fate. Vera plays a cruel endgame with Bates and Anna. And Daisy faces the severest test of her life.

Devastating news from the front rocks the very foundations of Downton Abbey, and it is up to the Dowager Countess to buck bureaucratic protocol and bring Downton’s men home. In an unwelcome return, Vera Bates threatens to make public the scandalous story of Lady Mary’s ill-fated indiscretion. Desperate to contain the story, Mary appeals to the savvy opportunist Sir Richard Carlisle.

Mary is not the only woman to consider hard sacrifice. Some will make it against their will, some will be denied a chance, and some will refuse. Daisy may buckle from its pressure, while Lavinia desperately wishes for such a burden. Sybil must push back. And Cora, preoccupied with the running of the home, cannot see that a sacrifice may already have been made.

Watch Sunday, January 29, 2012 at 8pm.

Watch Downton Abbey, Season 2: A Scene from Episode 4 on PBS. See more from Masterpiece.

New Documentary Goes Behind the Glittering Facades to Discover What Life Was Really Like in the Great Houses of Edwardian England

A hundred years ago, the world of the British manor house was at its height. It was a world of luxury and privilege that has provided a majestic backdrop to a range of movies and costume dramas to this day, most recently in the popular MASTERPIECE “Downton Abbey.” But what was really going on behind those stately walls? Find out when this program looks beyond fiction to the truth of the lives lived in these ancient British houses, and shows how mounting financial, political and social pressures were poised to bring momentous changes.

Watch Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 7pm.

Read the PBS Press Release.

Watch Secrets of the Manor House – Preview on PBS. See more from Secrets of the Manor House.