Best Shows on BritBox
BritBox is a streaming service made for fans of British TV. It offers a rich selection of classic and new shows, such as the best British dramas and beloved, often ireeverant comedies. BritBox delivers quality entertainment you can stream anytime, so sign up and start enjoying the best shows on BritBox today. MORE
Frequently Asked Questions
While BritBox is known for its library of older British TV, it also brings in newer releases not long after they air in the UK. This means you can find fresh drama, recent crime series, new comedies, and plenty of up-to-date titles (alongside the classics that have stood the test of time).
Crime and mystery are the biggest draws, especially long-running British detective series (it’s something the Brits do well). But there’s also strong demand for period dramas and political comedies that feature sharp writing and slower-paced storytelling. BritBox has all kinds of genres with thoughtful plots and complex characters.
Most titles come with optional subtitles, which can be turned on while watching. This is especially useful if you’re watching in a noisy space or prefer to read along. Accessibility options may differ slightly depending on your device, but BritBox continues to improve its support across platforms.
BritBox doesn’t have a large catalogue of kids’ shows, but there are a few light-hearted comedies and older dramas suitable for general audiences. It’s mostly designed for adult viewers, so if you’re looking for content the whole family can watch, it’s a good idea to browse first.
Yes, BritBox lets you stream on multiple devices at once, which is handy if you’re sharing an account with others. It works across most platforms, including phones, tablets, smart TVs and web browsers, so switching between devices or watching in different rooms is no problem.
Many of BritBox’s shows are available in high definition, especially newer series and remastered classics. Some older titles may only stream in standard definition, depending on the original quality. But overall, the viewing experience is smooth, with most content looking sharp on modern screens.
Professor T
Crime•Drama•Mystery•Thriller
Overview
Professor Jasper Tempest, a genius Cambridge University criminologist with OCD and an overbearing mother, advises the police. British version of the Belgian crime drama of the same name.
Cast
Ben Miller
A Confession
Crime•Drama•Documentary
Overview
The story of how Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher deliberately breached police procedure and protocol to catch a killer, a decision that ultimately cost him his career and reputation.
Director
Paul Andrew Williams
Cast
Martin Freeman, Imelda Staunton, Siobhan Finneran, Daniel Betts, Joe Absolom
Unforgotten
Crime•Drama•Mystery•Thriller
Overview
London police detectives Cassie Stuart and Sunny Khan investigate historic cold cases involving missing persons, murder and long-hidden secrets.
Cast
Sanjeev Bhaskar, Sinéad Keenan, Carolina Main, Jordan Long, Pippa Nixon
Grace
Crime•Drama
Overview
Brighton based Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is a hard-working police officer who has given his life to the job, but his career is currently at rock bottom. He’s fixated by the disappearance of his beloved wife, Sandy, and running enquiries into long forgotten cold cases with little prospect of success. Following another reprimand for his unorthodox police methods, Grace is walking a career tightrope and risks being moved from the job he loves most.
Cast
John Simm, Richie Campbell, Brad Morrison, Amaka Okafor, Laura Elphinstone
Broadchurch
Crime•Drama
Overview
The murder of a young boy in a small coastal town brings a media frenzy, which threatens to tear the community apart.
Director
James Strong
Cast
David Tennant, Olivia Colman, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Mark Bazeley, Lenny Henry
Mr Bates vs The Post Office
Drama
Overview
The story of one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British legal history, where hundreds of innocent sub-postmasters and postmistresses were wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting due to a defective IT system.
Cast
Toby Jones, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Monica Dolan, Shaun Dooley, Ian Hart
All Creatures Great & Small
Drama•Comedy
Overview
The heartwarming and humorous adventures of a young country vet in the Yorkshire Dales in the 1930s. A remake of the 1978 series.
Cast
Nicholas Ralph, Samuel West, Anna Madeley, Callum Woodhouse, Rachel Shenton
Duration
46 minutes
Downton Abbey
Drama•Romance
Overview
A chronicle of the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the post-Edwardian era—with great events in history having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy.
Cast
Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Joanne Froggatt, Hugh Bonneville
Line of Duty
Crime•Drama•Mystery•Thriller
Overview
A drama about the investigations of AC-12, a controversial police anticorruption unit.
Cast
Martin Compston, Vicky McClure, Adrian Dunbar, Gregory Piper, Nigel Boyle
Ghosts
Comedy•Sci-fi•Fantasy
Overview
A cash-strapped young couple inherits a grand country house, only to find it is both falling apart and teeming with the ghosts of former inhabitants.
Cast
Charlotte Ritchie, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas
Call the Midwife
Drama•History
Overview
Drama following the lives of a group of midwives working in the poverty-stricken East End of London during the 1950s, based on the best-selling memoirs of Jennifer Worth.
Cast
Vanessa Redgrave, Helen George, Jenny Agutter, Judy Parfitt, Stephen McGann
Pride and Prejudice
Drama•Romance
Overview
Set in England in the early 19th century, Pride and Prejudice tells the story of Mr and Mrs Bennet's five unmarried daughters after the rich and eligible Mr Bingley and his status-conscious friend, Mr Darcy, have moved into their neighbourhood. While Bingley takes an immediate liking to the eldest Bennet daughter, Jane, Darcy has difficulty adapting to local society and repeatedly clashes with the second-eldest Bennet daughter, Elizabeth.
Cast
Colin Firth, Jennifer Ehle, Susannah Harker, Crispin Bonham-Carter, Benjamin Whitrow
Manhunt
Crime•Thriller•Drama•History•Mystery
Overview
The true story of London Metropolitan police detective Colin Sutton's manhunt for serial criminals.
Cast
Martin Clunes, Claudie Blakley, Sule Rimi, Steve Nicolson, Matthew Gravelle
Without Sin
Drama•Crime•Mystery•Thriller
Overview
Explores the relationship which develops between a grieving mother and the man she believes murdered her daughter.
Cast
Vicky McClure, Johnny Harris, Dorothy Atkinson, Andrea Lowe, Johann Myers
Duration
60 minutes
Death Valley
Drama•Comedy•Mystery•Thriller
Overview
Thrown together by the murder of John's neighbour, John and Janie are an odd, yet hilarious duo with opposing instincts. Every week, they get to the bottom of gripping murders, with various stunning Welsh locations providing a backdrop to their investigations.
Cast
Timothy Spall, Gwyneth Keyworth, Steffan Rhodri, Alexandria Riley, Melanie Walters
Would I Lie to You?
Comedy
Overview
A comedic panel show featuring team captains Lee Mack and David Mitchell plus two guests per side, hosted by Rob Brydon (formerly Angus Deayton). Each person must reveal embarrassing facts and outrageous lies during a series of different rounds including "Home Truths", "This Is My..." and "Quickfire Lies". It is up to the opposing team to tell tall tales from fantastic facts.
Cast
David Mitchell, Rob Brydon, Lee Mack
Karen Pirie
Crime•Drama
Overview
When a 25-year-old murder in St Andrews becomes the subject of a provocative true-crime podcast, DS Karen Pirie is tasked with heading up a review. Digging up the past, Karen uncovers fresh evidence and a potential perpetrator. But when suspects start coming under attack, the cold case turns into an active investigation. Can Karen find the killer before it’s too late?
Director
Gareth Bryn
Cast
Lauren Lyle, Emer Kenny, Chris Jenks, Zach Wyatt, Rakhee Thakrar
Duration
89 minutes
Beyond Paradise
Crime•Drama
Overview
After leaving paradise and seeking a quieter life, Humphrey has taken a job as Detective Inspector in his fiancée Martha's hometown. But with the high crime rate, maybe things will be louder than expected.
Cast
Kris Marshall, Sally Bretton, Zahra Ahmadi, Dylan Llewellyn, Felicity Montagu
Duration
58 minutes
Shetland
Crime•Drama•Mystery•Thriller
Overview
Created from the novels by award winning crime writer Ann Cleeves, Shetland follows DI Jimmy Perez and his team as they investigate crime within the close knit island community. In this isolated and sometimes inhospitable environment, the team have to rely on a uniquely resourceful style of policing.
Cast
Douglas Henshall, Alison O'Donnell, Steven Robertson
Duration
57 minutes
This Way Up
Comedy
Overview
A young woman puts her life back together after suffering from a nervous breakdown.
Cast
Aisling Bea, Sharon Horgan, Tobias Menzies
Silent Witness
Crime•Drama
Overview
Silent Witness is a British crime thriller series focusing on a team of forensic pathology experts and their investigations into various crimes.
Cast
Emilia Fox, David Caves, Alastair Michael, Aki Omoshaybi, Gavin Sibson
The Great British Sewing Bee
Reality
Overview
Amateur sewers take on challenges as they compete to be named Britain's best home sewer.
Cast
Guido Maria Kretschmer
Happy Valley
Crime•Thriller•Drama•Mystery
Overview
Happy Valley is a dark, funny, multi-layered thriller revolving around the personal and professional life of Catherine, a dedicated, experienced, hard-working copper. She is also a bereaved mother who looks after her orphaned grandchild.
Cast
Sarah Lancashire, Siobhan Finneran, James Norton, Rhys Connah, Charlie Murphy
The Replacement
Thriller•Drama•Crime•Mystery
Overview
A woman who goes on maternity leave becomes increasingly paranoid about the motives of the person covering for her.
Director
Joe Ahearne
Cast
Neve McIntosh, Navin Chowdhry, Kim Allan, Gilly Gilchrist, Siobhan Redmond
Here We Go
Comedy•Drama
Overview
Family life with no filter. The Jessops navigate life's everyday challenges - from changing jobs to kidnapping dogs.
Cast
Jim Howick, Katherine Parkinson, Alison Steadman, Tom Basden, Jude Collie
Duration
29 minutes
Midsomer Murders
Crime•Drama
Overview
Detective Chief Inspector John Barnaby is based in Midsomer, where he attempts to solve crimes involving the wealthy people who reside there.
Cast
Neil Dudgeon, Nick Hendrix, Fiona Dolman, Annette Badland
Absolutely Fabulous
Comedy
Overview
Set in the world of fashion and PR, immature fun-loving mother Edina Monsoon and her best friend Patsy drive Eddie's sensible daughter, Saffron, up the wall with their constant drug abuse and outrageous selfishness. Numerous in-jokes and heavy doses of cruel humour have made this series a cult hit in the UK and abroad.
Cast
Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, Julia Sawalha, June Whitfield, Jane Horrocks
Vera
Crime•Drama•Mystery•Thriller
Overview
A sharp detective with a messy life, DCI Vera Stanhope patrols her “patch” of northeast England, pursuing the truth in cases of murder, kidnapping, and blackmail. Vera is obsessive about her work and faces the world with caustic wit, guile and courage.
Cast
Brenda Blethyn
Spooks
Crime•Action•Drama•Adventure•Mystery•Thriller
Overview
Tense drama series about the different challenges faced by the British Security Service as they work against the clock to safeguard the nation. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, and the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a highly secure suite of offices known as The Grid.
Cast
Peter Firth, Nicola Walker, Max Brown, Lara Pulver, William Hope
Blackadder
Comedy
Overview
Through four series and a few specials, Edmund Blackadder and his greasy sidekick Baldrick conjure up cunning plans as Edmund tries to take advantage of desperate times. These situation tragedies had obvious parallels from the Dark Ages to Elizabethan times, the rule of mad George III, and The Great War.
Cast
Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Hugh Laurie, Tim McInnerny, Stephen Fry
Duration
30 minutes
Gavin & Stacey
Comedy•Romance•Drama
Overview
Gavin is an ordinary boy from Billericay, Essex. Stacey is an ordinary girl from Barry Island, South Wales. They’ve spoken on the phone every day at work for months but they’ve never actually met… until now.
Cast
Joanna Page, Mathew Horne, Alison Steadman, Ruth Jones, James Corden
The Bay
Drama•Crime
Overview
Family Liaison Officer Lisa Armstrong becomes a little too emotionally involved with a case (to the point where she might compromise it) concerning a pair of missing Morecambe twins to whose distraught parents she is assigned.
Cast
Marsha Thomason, Daniel Ryan, Erin Shanagher, Barry Sloane, Georgina Scholes
Mr. Bean
Comedy•Family•Kids
Overview
Mr Bean turns simple everyday tasks into chaotic situations and will leave you in stitches as he creates havoc wherever he goes.
Cast
Rowan Atkinson
Death in Paradise
Crime•Drama•Mystery•Thriller
Overview
A brilliant but idiosyncratic British detective and his resourceful local team solve baffling murder mysteries on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint-Marie.
Director
Richard Signy
Cast
Don Warrington, Élisabeth Bourgine
QI
Comedy
Overview
Comedy quiz show full of quirky facts, in which contestants are rewarded more if their answers are 'quite interesting'.
Director
Diccon Ramsay
Cast
Alan Davies, Sandi Toksvig
Poldark
Romance•Drama
Overview
Britain is in the grip of a chilling recession... falling wages, rising prices, civil unrest - only the bankers are smiling. It's 1783 and Ross Poldark returns from the American War of Independence to his beloved Cornwall to find his world in ruins: his father dead, the family mine long since closed, his house wrecked and his sweetheart pledged to marry his cousin. But Ross finds that hope and love can be found when you are least expecting it in the wild but beautiful Cornish landscape.
Cast
Aidan Turner, Eleanor Tomlinson, Heida Reed, Ruby Bentall, Jack Farthing
Maryland
Drama
Overview
Becca and her sister, Rosaline, have forged ahead with family lives and careers, growing distant through time and circumstance. But when the body of an older woman is discovered at sunrise on Laxey Beach in the Isle of Man, it brings devastating news for the sisters.
Director
Susan Tully
Cast
Suranne Jones, Eve Best, Stockard Channing, Hugh Quarshie, George Costigan
The Office
Comedy•Drama
Overview
Nightmare boss. Tedious colleagues. Pointless tasks. Welcome to Wernham Hogg. Fancy a tea break with David Brent? Classic comedy from the archive.
Cast
Ricky Gervais, Martin Freeman, Mackenzie Crook, Lucy Davis, Stirling Gallacher
Catherine the Great
Drama•History•War
Overview
This four-part historical drama follows the end of Catherine the Great's reign and her affair with Russian military leader Grigory Potemkin that helped shape the future of Russian politics.
Cast
Helen Mirren, Jason Clarke, Rory Kinnear, Gina McKee, Kevin McNally
Duration
59 minutes
The Thick of It
Comedy
Overview
Set in the corridors of power and spin, the Minister for Social Affairs is continually harassed by Number 10's policy enforcer and dependent on his not-so-reliable team of civil servants.
Cast
Chris Addison, Peter Capaldi, Rebecca Front, Joanna Scanlan, Roger Allam
Annika
Crime•Drama•Mystery•Thriller
Overview
The sharp, witty and enigmatic DI Annika Strandhed, as she heads up a new specialist Marine Homicide Unit (MHU) that is tasked with investigating the unexplained, brutal, and seemingly unfathomable murders.
Cast
Nicola Walker, Silvie Furneaux, Katie Leung, Jamie Sives
Doctor Thorne
Drama
Overview
The story of the penniless Mary Thorne, who grows up with her rich aunt/cousins at Greshamsbury Park estate.
Director
Niall MacCormick
Cast
Tom Hollander, Stefanie Martini, Harry Richardson, Rebecca Front, Richard McCabe
Shakespeare & Hathaway - Private Investigators
Comedy•Drama•Mystery•Thriller•Crime
Overview
Frank Hathaway, a hardboiled private investigator, and his rookie sidekick Lu Shakespeare form the unlikeliest of partnerships as they investigate the secrets of rural Warwickshire's residents.
Cast
Jo Joyner, Mark Benton, Patrick Walshe McBride
Duration
44 minutes
Father Ted
Comedy
Overview
Three exiled priests live and serve together on Craggy Island, a remote isle off the coast of Ireland, along with their nosy housekeeper.
Cast
Dermot Morgan, Ardal O'Hanlon, Pauline McLynn, Frank Kelly
Chasing Shadows
Crime•Drama•Fantasy•Mystery•Thriller
Overview
A socially awkward detective who deals better with data than people is assigned to work on a missing persons unit searching for lost souls.
Cast
Reece Shearsmith, Alex Kingston, Noel Clarke, Don Warrington, Adjoa Andoh
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Mystery•Crime•Thriller•Drama
Overview
From England to Egypt, accompanied by his elegant and trustworthy sidekicks, the intelligent yet eccentrically-refined Belgian detective Hercule Poirot pits his wits against a collection of first class deceptions.
Director
Richard Spence
Cast
David Suchet
The Hardacres
Drama
Overview
The sweeping rags to riches story of the Hardacres, a working-class family in 1890s Yorkshire who strike it rich and move from a grimy fish dock to a vast estate.
Cast
Liam McMahon, Claire Cooper, Shannon Lavelle, Adam Little, Zak Ford-Williams
Fear
Mystery•Thriller
Overview
Excited to make a fresh start away from London, Martyn and Rebecca move into a beautiful house in Glasgow with their two young children. At first, the new home seems idyllic, but when their neighbour Jan makes unnerving comments to Rebecca it turns out to be the start of something far more intimidating.
Director
Justin Chadwick
Richard Osman's House of Games
Comedy
Overview
Each week a group of four famous faces go toe to toe in testing their general knowledge skills in a variety of entertaining games.
Director
John Smith
Cast
Richard Osman
Duration
29 minutes