Remember that old expression , “ There are 100 channels , and nothing ’s on ? ” Well , the opposite is true nowadays . That there ’s an copiousness of high - tone TV shows is both a reward and a punishment , as it ’s tough to find the right program to view amid a sea of content . And that ’s justBritishtelevision !
From the BBC to Channel 4 to ITV , British TV is in its second Golden Age , and BritBox has most of the full stuff . The streamer has one C of funniness , dramatic play , period man , goop opera , morning chat programs , and world series at its disposal , and the keep up 10 show are the best it has to offer in 2025 .
Interested in more great British computer programing ? Then moderate outthe best British tv set shows on Netflix,3 great BritBox shows you should view in good order now , and the5 most anticipated British crime appearance of 2025 .
The Inheritance (2023)
Why is a reading of a will so striking ? Tons of movies and prove apply it as a plot gimmick , and it almost always work . That ’s particularly true withThe Inheritance , a modern Riffian on William Shakespeare’sKing Lear . It ’s no freebooter to reveal Dennis Watson , the elderly man at the nerve centre of the plot of land , turn up dead in the first step episode . His three full-grown children — Daniel , Chloe , and Sian — are shocked , but not nigh as much as when they all discover out they ’d been cut from pricy dad ’s will and deprived of a hefty cash windfall .
Why were they deprived of their true inheritance when they all seemingly had a decent , if strained , relationship with their Church Father ? And did Dennisreallydie of natural causes , or was it foul caper ? Across its four episode , The Inheritancedishes up naughty mob melodrama and a central mystery story that will keep you cabbage .
Joan (2024)
Joan Hannington is a fair sex with few options . Still only in her 20s , she has a 6 - class - one-time daughter , Kelly , whom she adore , and a husband , Boise , whom she execrate . Her life is seemingly over before it ’s even begun , except Joan decides one Clarence Day to change things up : She ’ll become a precious stone stealer .
At first , she catch all the pelt coats and diamond earring she could ever want , but her new taste for crime has a cost , and presently , her privy life as a stealer threatens not only her but her entire family as well . Game of Thronesvet Sophie Turner stars as the title fiber in this acclaimed dramatic play , which is base on actual outcome . Therereally was a Joan Hannington , and she really did become “ The Godmother ” of the British criminal underworld . Her story proves the adage that life history is sometimes unusual than fiction — and more interesting as a result .
What Remains (2013)
What Remainshas an intriguing premise : A drained body is ascertain in the top trading floor apartment of a tenement building in downtown London . To make matters speculative , the dead body , which used to be a young woman name Melissa ( Jessica Gunning ) , had been there for two years . Why had no one discover a rotting corpse in their building ? And why did no one from Melissa ’s kinsfolk or friends describe her missing ?
That ’s what Detective Len Harper ( David Threlfall ) wants to find out as he interviews the other occupier of the building , which admit a military personnel and his pregnant married person , a matrimonial couple who work as designers , and a in-between - older teacher who on the Q.T. shares his flat with a younger fellow traveller . All of them have something to hide , but who had a office in Jessica ’s murder?What Remainsfeatures a bevy of succeeding virtuoso , includingLooking‘s Russell Tovey andBaby Reindeer‘s Gunning , in a four - part secret that will keep you guessing right up until the close .
The Responder (2022-present)
Chris Carson is n’t have the respectable meter of his life . He ’s a glorified night surety guard watch an illustrious life history as an examiner , his current Liverpool apartment is depressing as netherworld , and he has to go to therapy to manage with some past trauma that ’s destroy his personal life . To make subject worse , he ’s been assigned a new partner , Rachel , whose cheery optimism annoys him to no conclusion .
When he tries to save an innocent man from a drug mint that has gone awfully wrong , Chris sees an opportunity to plough his life story around . But can he fly the coop from the sins of his past?The Responderis both a great British criminal offence procedural and a fascinating portrait of a human race tardily piecing his life back together . As Carson , Martin Freeman , best know for his comedic employment inLove Actuallyand the British version ofThe Office , gives a terrific functioning that ’s worth catch the show for him alone .
Age Before Beauty (2018)
Manchester do as the basal location for some somewhat wonderful British show like the originalQueer as Folk . One you probably have n’t heard of isAge Before Beauty , a six - episode series that follow the trials and tribulations of Bel ( Polly Walker ) , a fortysomething fair sex who decide to become a business proprietor . The business is the class beauty salon , which has run across respectable days and is the source of internal family conflict that Bel is caught in the middle of .
Life could be a drag for Bel , but she is aided by her loving husband of 25 eld , Wesley ( James Murray ) , and her good friend , Teddy ( Grantchester‘s Robson Green ) , who just happen to be married to Bel ’s sister . Age Before Beautyshows a different side of British life , one filled with tattoo living-room and working - class kinfolk struggling to get by . If you are timeworn of all the murder mysteries and costume dramas that predominate BritBox , give this one a try . You wo n’t rue it .
Life in Squares (2015)
One of the most famous authors ever is Virginia Woolf , who wrote such classic novels asThe WavesandMrs . Dalloway , and who was memorably portrayed by Nicole Kidman and her prosthetic schnoz in the excellent 2002 filmThe hour . But most people do n’t know about her life as the fairy of her social setting in the early 20th century and her complicated kinship with her babe Vanessa .
Life in Squareswill variety that . The three - part miniseries paints in bright point Virginia ’s life among the Bloomsbury Group , a lively circle of artists , bohemians , and intellectuals who switch ideas , jokes , criticisms , and ( sometimes ) lovers with each other . One such lover was Duncan Grant ( James Norton ) , a epicene Scotch creative person who attracts and befuddle Virginia . Life in Squaresis a costume drama that ’s vivacious and a bit naughty , and it ’s the consummate style to spend 2025 begin to know a diachronic figure who is mostly remembered today as a suicidal manic - depressive with a severe type of writer ’s block .
The Victim (2019)
We ’ve all heard those story of kids off other kids , especially in Britain . Child offender are never named in the press , and due to their age , they are often doom to juvenile detention until they turn 18 or are deemed fit to re - enter society as adult . But what happens to them then ? That ’s the questionThe Victimwrestles with as it focalize on the mother of a dispatch kid who recall she ’s found the person creditworthy as a big man . After she post his name and address online , he is violently attacked and claims he ’s not the murderer of her child .
Who is to be believed ? And should the mother be held accountable for her actions , which caused a potentially destitute man to almost lose his life?The Victimis not your distinctive criminal offense drama , as there ’s nothing exaggerated about its central murder . This is an all - too - tangible issue , andThe Victimdoesn’t decrease its subject matter with cheap theatrics . It ’s a well - rounded drama , with a great atomic number 82 performance by Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald ( Gosford Park ) as the still - aggrieve mother .
Time (2021-2023)
Life in Great Britain is n’t all crumpet and afternoon tea . It has problems just like anywhere else , and that include an fallible prison system that could be in effect at handling criminals . His Majesty ’s Prison Service is the primary location forTime , a two - season anthology show that received widespread critical acclaim when it premiered in 2021 .
The first season focuses on Mark ( Sean Bean ) , who just get into prison and is in reality guilty of the offence he commit . torment with guilt , he struggles to conform to prison house spirit and befriend a appealing prison ship’s officer , Eric ( Stephen Graham ) . In the 2d season , the show focuses on three char — Orla ( Doctor Who‘s Jodie Whittaker ) , Abi ( Tamara Lawrance ) , and Kelsey ( The Last of Usstar Bella Ramsey ) — who are all experience prison house life in different path . Timeis as sobering as it sounds — think of it as Britain ’s solvent toOz , that groundbreaking HBO show from the ’ 90s — but it ’s also a superb drama that is never less than enthralling to watch .
Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? (2022)
Why Did n’t They expect Evans?is probably the good enigma ever made with the worst - sounding statute title . After all , who the heck is Evans ? But that ’s the show ’s only big flaw , as this sparking version of Agatha Christie ’s 1934 novel contains everything that ’s so slap-up about the British offence dramatic event : an evocative period and background ; two lead protagonists , Will Poulter ’s Bobby and Lucy Boynton ’s Frankie , who also share an indelible chemical science with one another ; and a authentically perplexing mystery , one that you ca n’t break through until it ’s lick for you at the end .
On a seaside drop one breezy day , Bobby hits his golf game egg over the boundary and go down to the beach to call up it . What he finds is shocking : a man rest on the coast dying and manages to say a few final words : “ Why did n’t they require Evans ? ” trouble and fascinate , Bobby vows to address the valet ’s murder and rule the answer to his buy the farm question . This three - episode series version was directed byHouse‘s Hugh Laurie , who keep things blowy and light even when bushed body start piling up .
Pride & Prejudice (1995)
It would n’t be a complete BritBox list without a time period costume drama , so why not see the best of them all ? The 1995 BBC adaptation ofPride & Prejudiceis already famous for being one of the best , if notthebest , adaptations of Jane Austen ’s funny masterpiece , and that ’s due to one reason : Colin Firth ’s wet shirt .
Well , that ’s notentirelytrue ; this six - episode modified series faithfully recreates Austen ’s world of genteel courtship and establishes one of the good “ will they , or wo n’t they ? ” romances between Firth ’s dash Mr. Darcy and Jennifer Ehle ’s too - proud Elizabeth Bennett . Yes , this version has age a bit , but it ’s still the most Austen - like of all the Jane Austen show and movies and will always be worth a watch or two or 10 .
