Apparently, there really is no upper limit when it comes to Downton Abbey parodies. We’ve had clips featuring musicals, Sesame Street, One Direction, a Nintendo game and the zombie apocalypse, so it would stand to reason that this latest addition to the Downton Parody Pantheon isn’t even that that far outside of the realm of normal.

Except possibly when you consider the guy that made it. It turns out that P. Diddy (otherwise known as Puff Daddy and/or Sean Combs), the business mogul-rapper-actor-designer-whatever, is a fan of the show. Enough that he staged a (kind of really weird actually) Twitter hoax claiming he’d joined that cast, which turned out to be a promotion for his new clip the always hilarious site Funny or Die. In this particular spoof, Diddy proclaims himself the actual first black actor to be part of the show – rather than Death in Paradise star Gary Carr, who’s joining the cast for Series 4.

Anyway, P. Diddy sets out to prove this assertion by way of a spoof called Downton Diddy, in which he repeatedly calls it “Downtown Abbey” and has cleverly inserted himself into existing footage from the show by way of some sort of CGI-fueled wizardry. It’s pretty clever, even if some of the jokes are going to make you roll your eyes a bit. 

It’s official: the highly-anticipated fourth series of blockbuster costume drama Downton Abbey has an American premiere date! The series is set to return to Masterpiece on Sunday, January 5, 2014 and will run for eight weeks, concluding on February 23. So, if you’ve been waiting for confirmation to get started making your elaborate Series 4 countdown calendars, party hats or other paraphernalia, well, now you know.

Series 4 will feature the return of series regulars Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Michelle Dockery, Jim Carter, Joanne Froggatt, Brendan Coyle, the indomitable Dame Maggie Smith and more. Several new guest stars are also set to join the fray as well, including Gary Carr, Tom Cullen, Nigel Harman, Joanna David, Julian Ovenden, Dame Harriet Walter, and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.  Oh, and Shirley MacLaine will also be back as Cora’s mother Martha and newcomer Lily James is sticking around as wildchild Cousin Rose. So you know, looks like there’s still plenty of drama in store for us this year. 

Though it's now several months later, the exit of popular leading man Dan Stevens still has Downton Abbey fans reeling the world over. Even Downton creator Julian Fellowes doesn’t seem to be doing a lot better, since even he doesn’t seem too thrilled by the way that certain events at the end of Series 3 shook out.  

In a new interview with UK paper The Express, Fellowes contends that he did everything he could to get keep Stevens on the show, but, alas, it was just not to be.

This particular Amazing Internet Thing will be of special interest to those of you are Game of Thrones fans in addition to being British television lovers. And, really, there’s so much Awesome British Talent appearing in the HBO series on a weekly basis that it’s practically got honorary Brit TV status anyway.

For those of you who don’t know, Game of Thrones tells the story of several warring families/factions battling for control of a kingdom called Westeros in a time period that sort of looks like the Middle Ages, but isn’t quite. It’s very high fantasy and it’s also very enjoyable, if a bit violent and life ruining because basically every character you ever care about will have something extremely horrible happen to them.

Anyway, Thrones recently introduced the matriarch of House Tyrell, a sassy grandmother named Lady Olenna (also known as the Queen of Thorns) who bears a more than passing resemblance to another acid-tongued head of household from a slightly different time period. Yes, this is basically what Downton Abbey’s Dowager Countess might look like if she were transported back in time to lead her family during violent times of political backstabbing and war. And, much like her Edwardian counterpart, Lady Olenna is also played by another British luminary, Dame Diana Rigg. They’re pretty much the same character, and it’s kind of amazing. 

Downton Abbey parodies are basically a dime a dozen on the internet these days, and most of them are actually pretty awesome, but there are some that are just on another level of amazing. This is one of those things.

This ten-minute parody imagines creator Julian Fellowes finally cutting us Americans a break and putting on a stage version of the first episode of Series 4, to stop us complaining about being behind the UK broadcast. The twist? It’s a musical episode.

Yes, this is as close as we’re ever going to get to the real Downton: The Musical, so just enjoy every perfect second you can.

Since we’ve seen virtually other sort of parody imaginable about megahit Downton Abbey, something like this was probably inevitable. In today’s really quite amazing internet thing: Downton Zombey mashes up the costume drama with AMC’s horror hit The Walking Dead.

After all, what could possibly go better together than Downton and zombies? (Honestly, hasn’t the body count begun to feel like the equal of a zombie thriller lately?) Surprisingly, this actually works, other than the unfortunate absence of English accents, mostly because it’s very funny.

Plus, who knew the Crawleys had brain tongs in the kitchen?

(If you still haven’t seen Series 3 of Downton yet for whatever reason, there be spoilers below.)

Though the end of Downton Abbey Series 3 is only a couple of weeks in our collective rearview mirrors, most everyone has already moved on to speculating/panicking/ardently wishing for the arrival of Series 4. Sadly, the new season of Downton has only just started filming in England, and won’t make its way to America until January of next year. (Is it too early for a countdown calendar? Probably not, right?)

The waiting game has brought us one bright spot, however – with the start of production on Series 4, this means that we’ve finally got some news about what the next season of everyone’s favorite costume drama will look like – and who we’ll see in it (as well as some tidbits about who we won’t).   

Here be spoilers, obviously, so proceed at your own risk.

So, this new trend of making spoken word mash-up versions of hit songs using popular figures from pop culure is a bit strange and silly (and I totally blame President Obama and Carly Rae Jepsen for making it a thing in the first place), but it’s hard to resist something that’s as cute as this particular version turns out to be.    

Most Downton Abbey fans are in need of a bit of a pick me up after the emotional devastation of the Series 3 finale, and this bit of ridiculous fluff is pretty much exactly what the Dowager Countess ordered. Comedian Richard Sandling has put together a pretty epic video mash-up of the Crawley clan and all their servants performing One Direction's (ridiculously catchy) hit song “What Makes You Beautiful”. 

Cobbling together bits of footage from all three seasons and both Christmas specials, Sandling actually gets the Downton crew through every single line of the song, save one, which gets a slight Edwardian update. All in all, it’s pretty fun. 

And, as usual, Mr. Carson absolutely steals the show. 

Series 3 of Downton Abbey wrapped up a week ago with what is arguably the biggest twist/cliffhanger/shock in the show’s history and fans everywhere are reeling (and not in the Anna-and-Rose-dancing-at-a-Scottish-ball adorable kind of way).

We’ve got months ahead of us to debate the wisdom of Series 3’s final minutes – but with Series 4 filming kicking off in England sometime in the next few weeks, many around the internet have already started speculating about what the next iteration of Downton will – and ought to – look like. Here’s my attempt to sort through some of my (apparently quite complicated) thoughts on the subject – I imagine some of you have also been mentally brewing over similar themes.

Obviously, there be spoilers here, so tread with caution if you haven’t seen the conclusion of Series 3 yet.

Previously, on Downton Abbey: Bates (FINALLY) got out of prison, Thomas made a move on the Hottest Footman in Northern England and got shot down, sending the house into a tailspin of drama, Bates saves the day by blackmailing O’Brien with her ladyship’s soap, Matthew and Tom join forces to run the estate, Mary has some unidentified surgery for some unidentified lady problem, Edith finds out Dishy Editor has Mr. Rochester syndrome, and also there’s a cricket match.

How is it possible we’ve reached the end of Series 3 already? It seems like we just started! The finale will take us through a time jump, a trip to Scotland and what’s possibly one of the most shocking moments in Downton to date. Obviously, we’re going to have a lot to talk about. So, let’s go.