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The Wedding of Lady Mary and Matthew Crawley
There are some options to see the Season 3 Downton Abbey episodes after they have played in the UK.  The first episode of Season 3 is scheduled to air on Sunday September 16, 2012.  See the information below to help find a potential way to watch these episodes.

1.  Tunnelbear.  Even the name is cute.  Tunnelbear is a VPN service that lets you use the internet as if you lived in a different country. The Little Bear version is free, but to watch the Downton Abbey episodes you will probably have to spring for the $4.99 a month version.  That may or may not be worth it to you, and there are other options that may be free.  After you install it, set the dials to On and UK. Make sure it is connected, it may take a bit.  Then go to http://www.itv.com/downtonabbey/  and watch the latest episode after it airs in the UK.  Episodes may only be available for a short time, so be sure to keep up with watching it.  Thank you to graspingforobjectivity.com for this tip!

2. Sidereel.  Last fall I used Sidereel.com to watch Season 2 before it aired in the US. I would go to the http://www.sidereel.com/downton_abbey page and click the "Search" button.  Other links would come up that I could then use to watch the episodes.  This is somewhat unreliable and subject to the links being taken down.  

3. Delishows.  Another web site with links to Downton Abbey shows is Delishows.  Click here to see what episodes are available after they air in the UK.

4. Google.   If the above fail trying searching on Google for other options. 

Edited 9/7/2012 to add: 

5.  Expat Shield. I have read of people using Expat Shield with success.  Download the free software, and enable it. It then gives your computer a UK IP address, so you could watch the episodes on ITV directly after they are uploaded, which is usually within 24 hours of airing.  Make sure to disable it after you are done watching or your will be automatically be redirected to UK sites when you open amazon.com or other web sites.  

Edited 9/10/2012 to add:

6. FastpassTV:  Cat (see comments section below) told us about FastPassTV.  This looks like another helpful site to try!

I'm glad everyone is getting so excited for Season 3!  I know I am!


Disclaimer:  This is meant as information. It is up to you to judge for yourself if there are legal and moral issues to watching these episodes online before they air in your own country.  This information is theoretical and may or may not work in your situation.  

 


Comments

Carl Johansen
09/06/2012 6:49pm

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cat
09/09/2012 7:52pm

http://www.fastpasstv.ms/tv/downton-abbey/

that is the best, most reliable site - sidereel doesn't always work, but fastpasstv does. nothing to download, nothing to pay

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VANIA
09/09/2012 9:34pm

We all did this because we're dying to see whats next! :)

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Denise
09/10/2012 1:40pm

I can't seem to get anything but ads on fastpasttv?!

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Denise
09/10/2012 1:42pm

I logged on and attempted to watch season 2 to test the site, but got ads or download messages :0

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Evelyn
09/12/2012 4:24pm

Tunnelbear seems to work fine. You do have to download and pay, for me it's worth it. I can't find any full length movies on itv right now. Hopefully they will come after Sunday :-). If not I can cancel my tunnelbear subscription anytime.

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Julie
09/13/2012 10:30am

How can this be illegal? I'm going to watch it again in January on PBS, and then over and over again on Netflix and Hulu Plus, as I have with seasons 1 & 2. I'm not going to sell it, and I will happily watch all the commercials. I just want to see it now and not have to wait. I don't understand how just watching it is wrong, can someone explain that?

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Kathy
09/18/2012 6:38pm

I agree Julie. For one thing, what is shown on PBS is not even the whole thing, but cuts are made. Therefore we have to buy the full British versions later if we want to see the whole thing. I will buy the blu-ray when it comes out, but I just don't see waiting 4 months for an inferior version/showing on PBS. I will likely watch it, but I am always bothered when I know they are cutting things out. If they didn't want people to peek, they should have shown it earlier and not made changes.

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I tend to agree with you Julie. The model of "you can't watch it until we say you can watch it" just doesn't fly anymore. I will buy it on iTunes like I did Season 2 as soon as it was available. I watch Season 1 on NetFlix, over, and over, and over again! I will donate to PBS like I have in the past. It isn't illegal for us to watch it. The Tunnelbear and Expat Shield systems are not illegal, as far as I can tell. We are still watching it on ITV, with any commercials they choose to give us. I don't mind this. I'm just playing the Dowager Countess and making my way around the system until I get accomplished what I need to get accomplished, like she did to get William back to Downton Abbey when he was dying. Hello, Shrimpy?

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cat
09/13/2012 5:07pm

the season 1 & 2 episodes that are currently still showing on fastpasstv are not necessarily still active, since they are from last year. so don't worry if those old links don't work. i can't say with absolute certainty that it will work as well as it did for the first two seasons, but I'm hoping it does..... in my experience, they had each episode up online by about 10 pm Sundaynights, Eastern time in the us .

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Tiphaine
09/16/2012 3:54pm

Abt the Expat Shield, I'm using it for over a year now, and you can also watch it live on ITV Live Player. Enjoy! :)

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Houston, TX
09/16/2012 5:23pm

Thanku very much!

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Donna
09/16/2012 6:54pm

What did you choose on the ExpatShield site? I went there but there were a number of options to chose from. Could you give intructions please? Thanks.

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candy
09/16/2012 8:57pm

Expat shield worked great!! DOWNLOADED AND READY TO WATCH!!!

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GiftsforFansofDowntonAbbey
09/16/2012 10:10pm

TunnelBear worked great tonight! So excited for this season!

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Amanda
09/17/2012 12:36pm

Just used delishows and it worked great!!!! Thanks for the link :) Now I just have to hope it will work for the rest of the season to come!!!

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Julie
09/20/2012 11:20am

For those of you who use the Expat Shield, how do you disable it again? I don't see any place on the page. It's popping up at the top of most of my web pages now, and I'm thinking about uninstalling it until next Sunday.

The show was fab, though, and I know I'm going to watch it many times, maybe even buy the discs when they are released.

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Tina
09/22/2012 8:16pm

Does anyone know a site that will work with Macs? All of the others recommended seems to be Microsoft friendly. I need my fix! Thanks.

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09/22/2012 8:39pm

Try this link - thanks to a Facebook page on Downton Abbey Series 3 for the link

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4ge8O9ORSzKZnowMmhiUVVWWFU/edit

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09/23/2012 6:51pm

This one worked GREAT!!!! Thank you!!! What site would I go to in order to see this week's episode?

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Nina
09/23/2012 7:46pm

Here's this week's! :) On the same FB page, mind you.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BywNfbvpJAA7eUxlaVBweVl4WHc/view?pli=1&sle=true

Sheba
10/07/2012 3:53am

can someone please add episode 3 and 4 in the google docs? it really worked for me. thank you so much!

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10/08/2012 7:38am

Episode 3 is here https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4ge8O9ORSzKR3pyZjR6bE9QYlk/edit

Episode 4 is here https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4ge8O9ORSzKdDVpQVVKSklOcUk/edit?pli=1

These episodes are uploaded thanks to the moderator of this Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Downton-Abbey-Series-3-2012/316020848414660

She puts up alternative google doc links when these get too busy, so you can check there.

Have fun!

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Tonya
10/14/2012 6:59pm

Is episode 5 available in the Google doc site? Other links require a download and I just spent 30 min cleaning off unwanted weather applications etc from my PC. I won't download viewers anymore. Thank you SO much for the Google doc links.

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Amanda
10/17/2012 9:52pm

Looks like the Episode 3 link you have listed here actually goes to Episode 4.

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Amanda
10/17/2012 9:54pm

A link to Episode 3 from the Facebook page...

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7djk0iIGhxYcDQyZWdjX1ExNFk/edit

Sheba
10/09/2012 12:04pm

thank you very much!

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11/04/2012 11:18am

Thanks for these links!!! Does anyone have the links for episode 5 and beyond?

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Sorry it took me a bit to find these from the Downton Abbey Series 3 Facebook page

Episode 5
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2CQ-I55ZlTQc2tXbjhLMDdmalk/view?sle=true

Episode 6
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7djk0iIGhxYczE4Z0wzNzRhQ3M/edit

Episode 7 https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4ge8O9ORSzKdG1uVE50T0hNRTA/edit

Episode 8
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BywNfbvpJAA7MVIzVFRlQXR6dU0/edit?pli=1

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Christi
01/13/2013 3:43pm

All of these links worked and I was able to watch every episode except Episode 9 The 2012 Christmas special :((( Do you have a docs.google link for that Episode? I have tried all the other sites listed on this blog with no luck of finding one that will play the episode on my computer. Thank you for giving these links!!!!

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Christi
01/13/2013 7:45pm

I found the 2012 Season 3 Christmas episode:
http://www.watch-tvseries.net/series60/Downton-Abbey/season-03-episode-09-Christmas-Special

11/30/2012 10:55pm

Thaaaaaaank Youuu for posting the links. Soooo enjoyed watching this early. It was a feast for the eyes.

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Nicole
12/14/2012 9:00am

Thank you so much for the links! Season 1 and 2 I watched using the ITV1 player from here in the states each year. I only had to pay 4.99 for a proxy! I am saddened to see ITV is now charging to view the past two seasons and not even offering season 3 yet :( So once again THANK YOU!!

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katherine
12/25/2012 3:53pm

Is there a link to watch the Christmas show?

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Jim
12/29/2012 7:52pm

Jimall of you are awesome

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Shelly
01/02/2013 1:52pm

It has been such a great Christmas treat to find this link and be able to watch the episodes so easily. I struggled with so many others with streaming and connection issues and spam. Thank you again and I will check here for additional links. You are appreciated.

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01/09/2013 3:05pm

you can get all of season 3 by using tv-links.eu and clicking on
vidbull.com even the 2012 christmus special all for free

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Ron
01/31/2013 3:17am

Anyone have more google.doc links after episode 8? I tried the Facebook page suggested but I can't even find the ones listed here on that page let alone the additional ones after episode 8. Any help is really appreciated

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