A lot of the best television programming is coming to us from across the pond, and a great place to be able to see a lot of it would be the BritBox digital service.
A joint venture of BBC Studios and ITV, the BritBox service is cheaper than most, at only $6.99 a month – and among other things, you can find the largest streaming collection of Doctor Who and several British serieals very soon after their initial airing. Subscribe via their website and you can get a free one-week trial.
This summer at the Television Critics Association press tour, the 16-month-old BritBox previewed some new originals that can go on top of their library of classic series, with the comedy highlight surely being a series called Hold the Sunset starring the legendary John Cleese as a character named Phil, an older man whose plans of living happily ever after with an old flame named Edith are thwarted when her middle-aged son abruptly quits his job and his marriage to move back in with mom. You can see a trailer below; the show premieres September 12.
There’s also the sequel to The Bletchley Circle which has already premiered and takes place in San Francisco. Spoiler warning: It’s actually shot in Vancouver. This period piece has a really impressive look and the promotion is focused on the women in the show. Those of you missing Agent Carter might enjoy this.
Finally, there’s Bliss which might remind audiences a little bit of the American drama Lone Star which lasted for only two weeks. In this, a man (Stephen Mangan) has two separate lives – one in which he is married to a character played by Heather Graham. David Cross is a writer and director for the series which is also already streaming on the BritBox website.
You can learn more about BritBox and subscribe to the service at their website.