The season premiere of the beloved period drama Downton Abbey is about to hit PBS this Sunday.  But, with half the season and a Christmas special already broadcast across the pond, impatience among fans is growing. Some are even finding alternative ways of getting to see their favorite show and, let’s face it, with torrenting and streaming sites abundant on the net, getting to see Julian Fellowes' Downton before it airs stateside really isn’t all that difficult.

Still, it looks like hope is far from lost for the network as a lot of people are still tuning in to watch the show the old-fashioned way. In its first season in the US Downton Abbey averaged 5 million viewers for episode – an unexpected success for the sometimes soapy, always stuffy period drama about the original “first-world problems.

And for those viewers, who do decide that they want to play by the rules and actually see the show as it airs on PBS, avoiding spoilers is becoming something of a challenge, as forums and social networks are filled with spoilers about the lives of the fictional inhabitants of Downton Abbey and the people who serve them. Well, the wait will be over very soon and, according to the reviews, the twists and turns in this third season will be well worth the wait.