April 1st, 2011 by Lisa McGarry. No comments ‘Downton Abbey’ has proved so popular that it has been picked up by TV channels in 100 different countries. The ITV1 period drama was been a huge hit with British viewers – commanding an audience of up to 11 million people, and is now proving popular internationally, with it already becoming the US Masterpiece channel’s highest-rated show in years. Other countries which have signed up to screen the show include Australia, Israel, Japan, New Zealand and Albania. The show – set in a country house before World War I and charting the lives of a wealthy family battling to protect their inheritance from a distant relative – picked up the award for Best Drama Series at the UK Broadcasting Press Guild Awards last month. The show’s writer, Julian Fellowes, also picked up the award for Best Writer. The show’s all-star cast includes Dame Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Dan Stevens and Michelle Dockery. A second eight-part ITV1 serie...