4. Sex, Scandal, Intrigue, Blackmail…and Muuuurder! Think those stuffy British aristocrats are prudes? As the Cockneys would say, fink again. In prewar Society With a Capital S, a girl's reputation is everything, and Lady Mary's one-night stand and its ever-expanding ripple effect threatens to destroy her future, her family and their self-sacrificing servants. Not to mention her paramour, who paid the ultimate price for seducing the young maiden.

5. Upstairs, Downstairs: Downton Abbey has not only nabbed half a dozen Emmys, but its creator and writer, Julian Fellowes, won an Oscar for Gosford Park(maybe that explains Downton's breathtaking cinematography and gorgeous costumes). Fellowes attributes his show's adulation to the "equal moral value" placed on the lives of both the servants and their posh employers. Generous Lord Grantham not only foots the bill for the cook's eye surgery—he also pays off the butler's blackmailer. The equal-opportunity employer hires a "lame" valet whose fealty approaches martyrdom. Even the bad apples— spiteful lady's maid O'Brien (Siobhan Finneran, whose real-life hotness is hard to reconcile with her severe sourpuss, and footman Thomas (Rob James-Collier)—are treated with more respect than they deserve. And crikey, the socialist revolutionary chauffeur (Allen Leech) is doing a bit more than driving with politically minded Lady Sybil.

What are you waiting for? Head to the drawing room, ring for your tea and watch Downton Abbey!