Dear Anglophiles: Acorn TV is an amazing outlet for watching some of Britain's top television programs, and I want to make sure you're aware of this online site.

Acorn is an online streaming video service that curates some of Britain's top television shows and offers subscriptions for viewing this content on demand, commercial free.  Acorn's subscription prices are amazingly low, and you can subscribe for a year or a month (with a 3-month minimum required).  The cost: $29.99/year or $2.99/month.  [July 2017 update: Cost is currently $4.99/month.]

Subscribers gain instant access to the television shows upon signing up.  They can view Acorn's selection of top British mysteries, dramas, etc., anytime they wish, 24/7--and can watch any program repeatedly (i.e., they're not limited to a one-time viewing).  Please note, however, that Acorn does not offer top current programming--such as famed Downton Abbey or DCI Banks.  But most of the top "oldies" are available.  Also, the service is currently available only in the US and Canada--though it may expand to other countries in the future.    

Acorn TV is accessible on computers, iPhones, iPads, Apple TV, Google TV, and Roku (a device that allows the media content to play on your television set).  The service offers over 125 hours of programming at any one time, including full seasons of 18 different shows--and new titles rotating into the schedule each week.   

Acorn also sells DVDs of their programming, and if I have any complaint at all about the service, it's that they give quite a bit of space on their site to the selling of these DVDs.  On the other hand, it's easy enough to ignore this content if one has no interest in it and wishes to only watch streaming video online. 

Go to: BRITISH TV
Go to: BRITISH RADIO
Go to: BRITISH NEWSPAPERS
Go to: HOMEPAGE

As an Anglophile, It's exciting to see the U.S. going gaga over Britain's Downton Abbey.  Even people who don't watch Downton are aware of the television series.  A year ago, the number of British programs airing on NYC's local PBS stations was slim, but now, during prime-time, Brit shows are popping up like mushrooms.  DCI Banks, Lark Rise in Candleford, Pie in the Sky, Death in Paradise, Shakespeare Uncovered.  A new British Invasion, I say!  And you understand, dear Anglophiles, we are on the forefront of this cultural phenomenon....

I heartily thank my local PBS stations, WNET and WLIW, for listening to viewers' choices, and I hope that all of us who watch these channels dutifully make our contributions.  Is your local PBS station showing an uptick in British programming?  I hope so!

In the video below, the Downton cast talks about encountering fans across the world.

I love hearing the Downton cast give behind-the-scene comments.  Here,  Elizabeth McGovern chats about her character "Cora."  (If you've not seen Season 3, Episode 5, then do not watch this video!  SPOILER ALERT!

Below, the Downton cast talks about the arrival of Cora's mother (Shirley MacLaine) to Downton in Season 3, Episode 1.  (SPOILER ALERT here, too!)

The series Murder in Paradise was a complete surprise for me--and a lovely one, too!  A London detective on a Caribbean island...what an interesting twist.  The video below is a short promo.

Peter Robinson, author of the DCI Banks books, chats about his famous creation.  The TV show DCI Banks, based on his books, is one of the best British detective series I've ever watched--and that is saying a lot!

All right, dear Anglophiles, if you've not seen this week's  Downton Abbey (i.e., Season 3, Episode 4), do not read any further!   SPOILER ALERT!



Well, this week's episode was certainly a game-changer, wasn't it?!  The media is abuzz...is positively on fire...talking about the demise of poor, dear Sybil.  I've received early morning phone calls from people who do not even own TVs who are beside themselves over this event.  And I can only say to Downton Abbey's lead writer, Julian Fellowes, Job well done, sir! 

I read an Examiner article in which Fellowes claims (promises, actually) that he will not get into the habit of killing off characters--and we thank him for that.  But I do agree with a Huffington Post editorial I read that raved about how the killing off of beloved Sybil did infuse the show with new tension and excitement.  I think far too many of Downton's problems were being remedied within an episode or two, and such predictability can be a death knell for a series.  So, good-bye, dear, sweet Sybil.  Know that you were loved and that you were sacrificed for the greater good of the show.  And I personally hope that someday, somehow, you'll be able to return to Downton...perhaps in a ghostly form?  (Hey, that could work, right?  A ghost at Downton?!  Julian Fellowes: I'll have my people call your people.)

To gorge yourself on the latest Downton Abbey news and commentary, try these links:

• LOS ANGELES TIMES

• VANITY FAIR

• HOLLYWOOD LIFE

• WALL STREET JOURNAL

• CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

Rejoice, dear Anglophiles!  How to Live Like a Lord Without Really Trying by Shepherd Mead, author of the highly successful How to Succeed in Business Without Really trying, is now in re-print--by Oxford University Press, no less.  The charming book was penned by Mead after he and his family moved to England and originally published in 1964.  It was written as a satirical "guidebook" for fellow Americans who planned to move across the pond.   Though the book is comedic, light reading, it does chronicle a vanishing way of life in Britain--that of the manor--thus the book's importance to British history.   

And yet more lighthearted amusement for the Anglophile.... 

BBC has produced a new 6-part, period comedy for TV called Blandings, based on PG Wodehouse's Blandings Castle stories.  The half-hour episodes, set in 1929, features the follies of the aristocratic Emsworth family, owners of Castle Crom.   The show, staring Timothy Spall and Jennifer Saunders, was filmed in Fermanagh County, Northern Ireland, and began airing this month on BBC1.  If PBS or BBC-A decide to offer it on this side of the pond, I'll be sure to let readers know.

Trailer for first episode of Blandings--"State of Emergency"

ANGLOPHILE ALERT!  

Dear stateside Anglophiles: Don't forget--tonight Downton Abby's Season Three premiers on PBS at 9:00 ET.  We finally get to see Shirley MacLaine!  

If you like Call the Midwife, I'm nearly certain you'll also like Bramwell.  And as Anglophiles, we should be aware of these two riveting, British-made, television shows.  A reader of Anglophiles United alerted me to Bramwell, and I'd like to share its first episode with you (below).

Stateside Anglophiles, familiar with Call the Midwife, fervently await its second season--airing March 31 on PBS.  If you're uninitiated...Call the Midwife is a medical drama set in 1950's East London, featuring the nuns and nurse midwives of Nonnatus House, a charitable organization catering to the poor.  The TV show garnered extremely high ratings since it first aired in the UK and received critical acclaim on our shores too.

Bramwell--like Call the Midwife--is a medical drama, but set in Victorian London.  The show aired in Britain from 1995-98, then aired in the U.S. on PBS from 1996-2001.  It features Dr. Eleanor Bramwell, a female doctor who serves the poor.  In the opening episode, Dr. Bramwell tries making a go of it in general surgery, but the good ol' boys of the established, Victorian-era, medical society give her a hard time, compelling her to open her own clinic.   Dr. Bramwell's wealthy, medical-doctor father is appalled by her slum clinic, but Eleanor loves her work..and we love her for loving it.

If you have free time this weekend, you may enjoy watching this first episode of Bramwell, which I have provided to you, below.  As you probably know: Youtube forbids the uploading of entire movies or TV shows, limiting the uploads to 10-minute segments, thus, my 6 segments below for this one TV show.

Enjoy!  I certainly did!

Peruse Bramwell DVDs (with North American formatting) HERE 
Peruse Bramwell DVDs (with UK/European/Japanese/Middle-Eastern formatting) HERE


Go to: BRITISH TV
Go to: BRITISH MOVIES
Go to: BRITISH NEWSPAPERS
Go to: HOMEPAGE

Dear Anglophiles: Lucky us!  Tonight PBS is presenting a Holiday Special of Call the Midwife!  The show airs on PBS at 7:30 p.m., EST.

(Note: Call the Midwife, Season Two, begins March 31, so mark your calendars!)

Here is a trailer for tonight's episode....

"Doctor who?"  For those living outside the UK and Commonwealth countries, that statement is not unusual.  But for those in the UK--and for sci-fi aficionados the world over--Doctor Who is a cultural phenomenon.  This top-rated, award-winning, BBC television show has aired for a remarkable 50 years.  And nowadays, it may be more popular than ever.  By all means, if you call yourself an Anglophile, you need to know and understand the basics of Doctor Who.  Toward that end, I offer you two tools--an article and a video--both of which give viewers all the background info they need to jump on the Doctor Who bandwagon and share a rollicking good time with the rest of us!

In March, the Royal Mail will release its new Doctor Who stamp collection, marking the 50th anniversary of the immensely successful sci-fi TV show, Doctor Who, and saluting the actors who have played the famed role.

All eleven actors who've played Doctor Who will grace a first-class stamp...and four of the show's top villains will appear on a set of second-class stamps. 

ANGLOPHILE ALERT!  
Don't forget: The Doctor Who Christmas special The Snowmen airs tonight on BBC-A at 9 p.m.  (And airing up until that time slot is a Doctor Who marathon!)

Enjoy, dear Anglophiles!