The site has instructions on how to change your DNS settings so that your Internet address does not identify your location as the United States. You can change your Netflix service to the UK version and get tons of content not available in this country. They offer a seven day free trial, after which the charge for the service is $4.95 per month. The ITV website keeps shows up for about a month after they've aired, I think. The first Downton season 3 episode aired in mid September, so it is still up, as is last week's. (And another one coming up this weekend!) Both new episodes are great, although I am personally disappointed in Shirley MacLaine and would have preferred almost any other actress in that role. She totally phoned it in, IMO.

I am looking forward to the next season of Sherlock, which is taking a while because Benedict Cumberbatch is actually filming another series.

I particularly would like seeing the uncut version!

Thanks for the info on ITV!

Acorn media also has a streaming service for about $40 per year that includes a lot of old content--- Prime Suspect, Blue Murder, The Commander, The Last Detective, George Gently, and the Poirot and Marple series as well as others. They rotate shows every month or so, and they also sell DVDs of those shows. They have all the Doc Martins, although unlike Netflix they don't show everything all at one time.

We got rid of our television at home about 15 years ago. I disliked most of what aired and loathed commercials with every fiber of my being. This was before tivos, obviously, but we got out of the habit of just watching on a nightly basis. We always had a projector system and movies, even in the mid 1990s, so we didn't really miss out on anything. And now that everything streams from netflix to a screen without any tv service necessary, and with the unblock-us service, we can pretty much watch whatever we like. Last week we just finished the outdoor movie screen, a motorized, remote controlled, heavy white vinyl drop curtain that is 8ft x 8ft. We had a small fixed sunbrella awning made to go over it (matches our upper deck awning) that completely hides the mechanism when the screen is up. That, with an outdoor projector with an ipad dock and an additional wireless speaker for better sound, and we are all Downton Abbey outside. It may be incongruous to sit in a spa and watch an Edwardian drama, but oh, so fun!

And there is a "Free Bates" board on Pinterest!