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"Downton Abbey will be switching over to the &amp;#039;Outstanding Drama Series&amp;#039; category at this year&amp;#039;s Emmy Awards.  The first season of Downton Abbey in America was cut to four episodes out of the original seven that aired on ITV, but the most recent season included all seven episodes - exceeding the six that constitute a miniseries at the Emmys.  The show, which airs on PBS in the US, earned an &amp;#039;Outstanding Miniseries&amp;#039; award at the Emmys last year.  TV Academy Awards chief John Leverence told Gold Derby: &amp;quot;After starting out as a miniseries, Downton Abbey caught fire and so now it moves over to the drama series category as it plans for future TV seasons. It follows the trajectory of previous shows like The Starter Wife that started out as a miniseries and then became a regular series.&amp;quot; Downton Abbey has enjoyed enormous success in the US, with this past season finale becoming one of the highest-rated television events on PBS.  The third season of the programme is currently filming, with the return of stars like Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville and Dan Stevens.  Shirley MacLaine has joined the cast as Lady Grantham&amp;#039;s mother.  Watch the stars of Downton Abbey below:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/downton-abbey/news/a367843/downton-abbey-to-join-drama-series-race-at-emmys/>