North America’s most popular and largest streaming service focused on British and international television
Premieres the newest show from the creators of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries,
an Acorn TV Original Irish thriller, a new BBC One drama,
the final seasons of award-winning cop dramas 19-2 and George Gently,
and the return of Acorn TV’s most popular series Doc Martin and A Place to Call Home
Silver Spring, MD – Acorn TV, North America’s most popular and largest streaming service focused on British and international television, announces its packed Fall 2017 slate filled with must-see new dramas and returning favorites. Following a summer slate filled with first-rate dramas, including Vera, Series 7 (8/7), Hunting the KGB Killers (8/14), and The Good Karma Hospital (8/21, Trailer), Acorn TV’s fall slate features the final seasons of intense, award-winning cop drama 19-2 and hit BBC One detective drama George Gently; plus new Kay Mellor BBC One drama Love, Lies and Records, Irish thriller Acceptable Risk (Acorn TV Original), and Aussie legal drama Newton’s Law; as well as exclusive new seasons of several of Acorn TV’s trademark series, including addictive Aussie period drama A Place to Call Home, New Zealand detective drama The Brokenwood Mysteries, and Acorn’s most popular series, Doc Martin starring Martin Clunes.
Called a “glorious streaming service…an essential must-have” (The Hollywood Reporter) and “Netflix for the Anglophile” (NPR), Acorn TV continues to curate the very best in international television and remains North America’s largest streaming service for international television by far. From RLJ Entertainment (NASDAQ: RLJE), Acorn TV is also the greatest value in streaming at only $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year. Acorn TV exclusively premieres several new international series and/or seasons every month from Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and Canada.
Mark Stevens, President of Acorn Brands at RLJ Entertainment, noted, “Acorn TV remains laser-focused on searching the globe for masterful productions, award-worthy acting, and stellar scripts, and our fall slate is no exception. We’re excited to show our subscribers much more of what they’ve been craving with the final seasons of two of their favorites, 19-2 and George Gently; new seasons of addictive dramas A Place to Call Home and Doc Martin; as well as first-rate new dramas with BBC One’s Love Lies and Records, Aussie legal drama Newton’s Law, and Acorn TV Original Series Acceptable Risk.”
Watch the 2017 Acorn TV trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUKYjanPcGE&feature=youtu.be
2017 Exclusive Fall U.S. Premieres
September 2017
19-2, Season 4
The final season of the Canadian Screen Award-winning drama and International Emmy-nominated cop drama premieres. Called “One of the best cop dramas ever” (Tribune News Service) and “Makes the genre seem new again…exciting in a wholly new way.” (The Wall Street Journal), this intense, character-driven drama stars Canadian Screen Award winning actors Adrian Holmes (Arrow) and Jared Keeso (Falling Skies) as partners in the MontrealPoliceDepartment. In Season 4, as the pair work to avenge the death of Nick’s sister, they find themselves pulled into an escalating gang war that will see the whole squad pushed to their limits, forced to depend on each other more than ever before. A season of personal growth and terrible tragedy, as the storm that rages around Nick and Ben threatens to engulf the whole squad – and not everyone will make it out. (Friday, Sept. 22, 8 EPS, Series Trailer)
NEWTON’s LAW
From the team behind international hitMiss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, this new Aussie legal drama stars Starring Claudia Karvan (Jack Irish). Fast-paced and sparkling with wit, Newton’s Law centers around a suburban solicitor who attempts to return to her briefly glorious career at the Bar. (Monday, Sept. 11, 8 EPS, Trailer)
BLACK WIDOWS, Series 2 (Foreign Language)
The return of the Scandinavian drama starring Synnöve Macody Lund, Cecilia Forss, and Beate Bille as three girlfriends who conspire to kill their husbands. (Monday, Sept. 18, 8 EPS)
THE GOVERNOR, Series 1 and 2
From the creator of Prime Suspect, this 1995-1996 British drama makes its U.S. debut. Two-time Oscar®-nominee Janet McTeer stars as Helen Hewitt, the first woman put in charge of Barfield, a maximum security prison that had been nearly destroyed by a disastrous riot. Despite being greeted with open hostility by inmates and little enthusiasm by prison staff, she is determined to clean up the place. The series co-stars Oscar®-nominee Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda), Eamonn Walker (Chicago Fire, Oz), and Idris Elba (Luther) in one of his first roles. (Friday, Sept. 1, 12 EPS)
October 2017
DOC MARTIN, Series 8
One of Acorn TV’s and ITV’s most popular series returns. BAFTA winner Martin Clunes (Arthur & George, Men Behaving Badly) offers an uproarious lead performance as a tactless, self-centered, and uptight doctor in a quirky seaside town in Cornwall. After having therapy to save their marriage in the last series, Doc Martin and Louisa face the challenge of living happily together with their baby, James Henry. Set in the fictional town of Portwenn, the series also features Caroline Catz (Murder in Suburbia) as his wife Louisa and Dame Eileen Atkins (Upstairs, Downstairs, Cranford) as the Doc’s formidable Aunt Ruth. (Premiere date TBD to coincide with ITV debut, 8 EPS)
ACCEPTABLE RISK (Acorn TV Original Series)
A gripping international conspiracy thriller starring award-winning actress Elaine Cassidy (The Paradise, No Offence) and set in the high stakes world of big pharmaceutical. When an Irish marketing executive for a pharmaceutical company is murdered while on a business trip to Berlin, his wife begins to believe that the firm is covering up details about his killing. As she does so, she becomes aware that both her dead husband and herself were the object of an intense surveillance operation that has been tracking their every move. Overnight, her secure, comfortable, upper-middle-class lifestyle has been shattered. (6 EPS)
November/December 2017
GEORGE GENTLY, Series 8
The final two feature-length episodes of the EDGAR®-winning BBC One detective series. Called “Great, bordering on brilliant” (Esquire) and an “excellent BBC detective series” (Los Angeles Times), Tony® nominee Martin Shaw returns for his final cases as North of England’s most upstanding detective, George Gently, again assisted by his trusted partner, Detective Inspector John Bacchus (Lee Ingleby, Line of Duty S4), and Detective Sergeant Rachel Coles (Lisa McGrillis). Richard Harrington (Poldark, Hinterland) guest stars.
LOVE, LIES and RECORDS
The new BBC One drama series from the pen of BAFTA award-winning writer Kay Mellor (The Syndicate) and starring Ashley Jensen (Agatha Raisin, Catastrophe). The six-part series follows Registrar Kate Dickenson (Jensen) as she tries to juggle her personal life with the daily dramas of births, marriages and deaths and the impact they have on her. The series co-stars Adrian Bower (Granchester, The Last Kingdom), Kenny Doughty (Vera, Stella), Rebecca Front (Doctor Thorne, War & Peace, Humans) and Mark Stanley (Dark River, Dickensian).
A PLACE TO CALL HOME, Season 5
Called an “instantly irresistible saga…captivatingly filmed, deeply romantic drama of immense intelligence distinguished by a uniformly superb cast” by The Wall Street Journal, Acorn TV’s addictive Aussie period drama returns starring Marta Dusseldorp (A Place to Call Home, Jack Irish) and Noni Hazlehurst (Little Fish). Against the backdrop of post-World War II Australia, A Place to Call Home follows Sarah Adams, a nurse who becomes involved in the affairs of the wealthy Bligh family. Dealing with themes such as anti-Semitism, sexuality, and social class, this rich and meaningful, high-quality production has been hailed as one of the best television series of 2015 by The Wall Street Journal. (12 EPS)
THE BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES, Series 4
Called “Must-see TV…Awesome… Mike Shepherd is an immensely likable guy…Easygoing, intelligent, and depending on the situation, funny or downright witty.” (British TV Place), Acorn TV’s New Zealand detective series is filmed amid the beautiful landscape of New Zealand’s North Island, and returns with four feature-length, standalone mysteries featuring compelling characters, dry humor, and piquant wit. After transferring from a big city to the small town of Brokenwood, Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Shepherd (Neill Rea, Go Girls) works cases alongside methodical young assistant, Detective Kristin Sims (Fern Sutherland, The Almighty Johnsons).
Acorn TV’s international distribution partners include Endemol Shine International for A Place to Call Home; Content Media Corporation for 19-2, Soho Moon for Acceptable Risk, DRG for Doc Martin and Black Widows, ABC Commercial for Newton’s Law, All3Media International and Rollem Productions for Love, Lies and Records, and All3Media International for The Brokenwood Mysteries, George Gently and The Governor. The UK-based development division for RLJ Entertainment’s Acorn brand, Acorn Media Enterprises, is the U.S. co-production partner for Acceptable Risk, George Gently, Series 8, and Love, Lies and Records.
Acorn TV’s highly bingeable summer slate features the first ever TV adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s classic comedy DECLINE AND FALL (BBC), starring comedian Jack Whitehall, David Suchet (Poirot) and Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives); DELICIOUS, a new four-part drama about food, love and infidelity in Cornwall; charming Australian medical dramedy THE HEART GUY; “Acorn’s superior legal drama” (TV Guide)JANET KING, Series 3; atmospheric Acorn TV Original LOCH NESS (ITV) starring Laura Fraser (Breaking Bad, The Missing) and SiobhanFinneran (Happy Valley, Downton Abbey); smash hit British detective drama VERA, Series 7 (8/7); gripping and timely documentary HUNTING THE KGB KILLERS (8/14); and seductive medical drama THE GOOD KARMA HOSPITAL (8/21) set in a coastal town in tropical South India and starring Amrita Acharia (Game of Thrones), Amanda Redman (New Tricks), Neil Morrissey (Striking Out, The Night Manager), and Phyllis Logan in her first role since Downton Abbey.
WATCH: Acorn TV’s exclusive fall premieres will be added to the press watch site, https://acorn.tv/press, as they become available (mirror to your TV via Apple TV or Chromecast) with DVDs available upon request.
To read our recent press releases, please visit our Corporate Press Room:
http://www.rljentertainment.com/press-room/
Acorn TV Press Contact: Chad Campbell, ccampbell@acorn.tv
About RLJ Entertainment
RLJ Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ: RLJE) is a premium digital channel company serving distinct audiences primarily through its popular OTT branded channels, Acorn TV (British TV) and UMC (Urban Movie Channel), which have rapidly grown through development, acquisition, and distribution of its exclusive rights to a large library of international and British dramas, independent feature films and urban content. RLJE’s titles are also distributed in multiple formats including broadcast and pay television, theatrical and non-theatrical, DVD, Blu-ray, and a variety of digital distribution models (including EST, VOD, SVOD and AVOD) in North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Additionally, through Acorn Media Enterprises, its UK development arm, RLJE co-produces and develops new programs and owns 64% of Agatha Christie Limited. For more information, please visit RLJEntertainment.com, Acorn.tv, and UMC.tv.
SOURCE: RLJ ENTERTAINMENT (NASDAQ: RLJE)
