CBS SUNDAY MORNING Goes Behind the Scenes of DOWNTON ABBEY Today

The drama, the intrigue, a castle, stunning period wardrobes and more greeted CBS SUNDAY MORNING WITH Charles Osgood correspondent Martha Teichner as part of the first U.S. TV network news broadcast ever to be allowed behind the scenes for filming of the third season of the international television hit "Downton Abbey." Teichner's inside report from the set will be presented on CBS SUNDAY MORNING to be broadcast today, Dec. 9, 2012 on the CBS Television Network.

"Downton Abbey" is an international TV phenomenon seen in 170 countries, centered around a British Earl, his American wife and life at their country manor. The program has been nominated for 27 Emmy Awards and has won nine, a level of success even the producers never imagined, Teichner reports.

"No one is prepared for this extraordinary kind of whirlwind that took place, and if you expected it, you'd be a fool," show creator Julian Fellowes tells Teichner.

Teichner and a CBS SUNDAY MORNING crew visited the Highclere Castle, the home of a real Earl in the English countryside southwest of London, where the show is shot. There, Teichner interviews cast members Hugh Bonneville, Brendan Coyle, Joanne Froggatt, Dan Stevens, Michelle Dockery, historical advisor Alastair Bruce and Rebecca Eaton, executive producer of PBS' "Masterpiece," which nearly passed on "Downton Abbey." The new season gets underway in the United States on Jan. 6.

Bonneville tells Teichner that people on the street expect him to be just like the guy he plays on TV. "I think people expect me to behave like a lord and have a Labrador at my heels all the time," he says. "I don't… I go to the supermarket in my jeans and my sweatshirt."

Teichner's report on "Downton Abbey" will be broadcast today, Dec. 9, 2012 on CBS SUNDAY MORNING (9:00 AM, ET) on the CBS Television Network. Rand Morrison is the executive producer.