"Downton Abbey" to return for a fourth season

"Downton Abbey" season 3. / Carnival Film & Television Limited

The residents of "Downton Abbey" will be back for a fourth season.

U.K. TV's ITV confirmed Friday that the award-winning has been renewed. Filming of eight new shows, plus an extended special episode for Christmas 2013 special, will get under way in February 2013, according to a press release.

The fourth season will continue the story of the Crawley family and their servants in the early 1920s.

Gareth Neame, managing director of Carnival Films, the show's makers of "Downton Abbey" said, "Viewers can look forward to more drama, comedy, love, hatred, jealousy, rivalry, ambition, despair and romance."

The drama just wrapped its third season on ITV1 earlier this month. The network will air a new two-hour special on Christmas Day this year in the U.K. Season three will premiere Jan. 6 on PBS in the U.S.