Huddle around your HDTV screens this December with Acorn TV’s mighty multi-course feast for your entertainment this holiday season, featuring returning series chestnuts, comfort food dramedies and bittersweet comedies.
AMC Networks’ leading streaming service for Britain and Beyond has a wide range of for the offering:
· Award-winning Canadian series MURDOCH MYSTERIES will unroll a brand-new season with more whodunnit intrigue and its trademark engaging stories (Dec. 25)
· THE HEART GUY Series 4 brings on the latest exploits of Australia’s charismatic but volatile cardiac surgeon, Dr. Hugh Knight and company in this long-running hit series (Dec. 9)
· FROM FATHER TO DAUGHTER, a multigenerational Italian saga starring Alessio Boni, whom Italian Vanity Fair calls “perfection” in his role as the arrogant, domineering patriarch (Dec. 23)
· MOUNT PLEASANT, the heartwarming early-2010s UK dramedy starring Coronation Street’sSally Lindsay and Black Sea’sDaniel Ryan, about a tight-knit family in Manchester. Season 4 will stream starting Dec. 2. (Seasons 1-3 just made available Nov. 2019)
· SLINGS & ARROWS (Streaming Exclusive), the final season of the adored cult fav series starring Paul Gross, Sarah Polley, and Mark McKinney (Superstore), on a troubled yet very talented Shakespearean theater workshop. Season 3 will stream starting Dec. 16 (Seasons 1 and 2 just made available Nov. 2019)
Finally, in December, Acorn TV adds the following:
· MIDSOMER MURDERS, Series 21, the latest episodes of the British mystery institution starring Neil Dudgeon (Dec. 1)
· THE ART DETECTIVES, Series 4, where art historians Bendor Grosvenor and Emma Dabiri examine some of the lesser known works among Britain’s largest collections
· CARE, starring Sheridan Smith as a single mom struggling to raise her two kids in the aftermath of a family tragedy in this riveting drama
· THE VICTORIAN HOUSE OF ARTS & CRAFTS, a UK 2019 documentary series about reviving traditional craftmanship
· AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’, a lighthearted World War II drama starring Robson Green (Grantchester) and Jerome Flynn (Game of Thrones)
· FRAGILE HEART, a BAFTA award-winning medical drama starring Sir Nigel Hawthorne.
· RELATIVE STRANGERS, an award-nominated Irish series starring Brenda Fricker (My Left Foot) and Adrian Dunbar (Line of Duty, Blood)
WATCH NOW: Premieres will be added as they become available, https://acorn.tv/press. Mirror to your TV via Apple TV or Chromecast. DVDs available upon request.
Sunday, December 1
MIDSOMER MURDERS, Series 21
Homicide, blackmail, greed, and betrayal are just a taste of what goes on behind the well-trimmed hedges of Midsomer County in this deliciously sinister series starring Neil Dudgeon. The suspense doesn’t let up in the upcoming episodes: things run awry at the annual “Paramount Dance Extravaganza,” where there are deep running feuds and passions behind the sequins and smiles; in another episode, a prolific real estate agent is murdered in front of a crowd at the unveiling of a doll house collection at Midsomer Museum. (4 EPS, 2019)
Monday, December 2
MOUNT PLEASANT, Series 4 (Exclusive U.S. Premiere)
“Irresistible… underneath all the raucousness there’s anappealing warmth, light but steady insistently outrageous farce” - The Wall Street Journal
This long-running heartwarming UK dramedy hit, which originally aired on Sky, depicts the lives of a tightly knit family in suburban Manchester, including their everyday struggles. Starring Sally Lindsay (Coronation Street, Scott & Bailey), Daniel Ryan (Black Sea), Ainsley Howard (Mum & Dad, The Village), and Neil Fitzmaurice (Going Off Big Time). (8 EPS, 2014)
AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’ (Drama)
This lighthearted wartime musical drama stars Robson Green (Grantchester, Wire in the Blood) and Jerome Flynn (Game of Thrones, Ripper Street) as two bandsmen and their misadventures with gangsters, romance and black marketing in blitz-time London in 1940. Starring Julia Sawalha (Absolutely Fabulous, Press Gang) as the gorgeous Dolly Nightingale, whom Green’s character falls in love with. (3 EPS, 1997)
Monday, December 9
THE HEART GUY, Series 4 (Exclusive U.S. Premiere)
In this smash-hit Aussie drama from Oscar nominee Tony McNamara (The Favourite), Rodger Corser (The Doctor Blake Mysteries) plays Dr. Hugh Knight, a rising star in the Sydney heart-surgery ranks. Hugh is gifted, charming, and seemingly infallible, but after an incident involving drugs and alcohol, he's forced to practice as a GP in his rural hometown of Whyhope-and to deal with his complicated family situation. Series 4 focuses on Hugh as he faces the fight of his life after serving out his probation– for love, career and family. Will Whyhope’s naughtiest doctor have the right stuff, or will he self-destruct and lose everything? Also starring Nicole da Silva (Wentworth) and Ryan Johnson (Rake). (10 EPS, 2019)
THE ART DETECTIVES, Series 4
At any one time, over 80% of Britain’s publicly owned art collection is locked away in storage. Historians Bendor Grosvenor and Emma Dabiri reveal the stories behind some exciting lesser-known works among Britain’s largest collections, located in local museums and country houses: they uncover a Madonna and Child painting in the stores of the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff and investigate whether it was by iconic early Renaissance “The Birth of Venus” artist Botticelli, or a follower of his; the duo investigate a roughly painted woodland scene catalogued as ‘After’ Thomas Gainsborough at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, studying evidence that it may be a preparatory sketch for the painter’s last great landscape: one of his picturesque ‘Cottage Door’ series. (3 EPS, 2019)
Monday, December 16
SLINGS & ARROWS, Season 3 (U.S. Exclusive)
“Outrageously Entertaining” – NPR
“Absolutely addictive” – The New York Times
“Can make you both LAUGH and CRY…don’t miss it.” --Chicago Tribune
"It's the kind of show that makes me feel better about television and also maybe a little bit better about humanity" --Vox
This universally adored, cult-favorite series chronicles the backstage shenanigans of a troubled theater company as they embark on a production of Macbeth at a Shakespeare festival. Paul Gross (Due South) returns as washed-up actor and artistic director Geoffrey Tennant. The series also stars Stephen Ouimette (Mentors), and Mark McKinney (Kids in the Hall, Superstore), who is also the co-creator/co-writer. The series was nominated for 50 awards in three seasons and won 22 awards for acting, writing, direction and more. (6 EPS, 2006)
CARE (Drama)
From Emmy®-winner and multi BAFTA award-winning writer Jimmy McGovern (The Street, Broken), this BBC drama stars International Emmy Award®-nominee Sheridan Smith (Cilla) as a single mother struggling to raise her two children in the aftermath of a family tragedy. After her husband’s departure, Jenny (Smith) is fully reliant on the childcare her mother Mary (Alison Steadman, Hold the Sunset, Gavin & Stacey) provides. But when Mary suffers a devastating stroke and develops dementia, Jenny’s world comes crashing down, as everything changes for her and her sister Claire (Sinead Keenan, Little Boy Blue, Being Human). Finding herself torn between her own life and the wellbeing of her mother, Jenny soon discovers that another way could be possible - but she’ll have to fight for it. (90 min., 2018)
Monday, December 23
FROM FATHER TO DAUGHTER (Exclusive U.S. Premiere, Foreign Language, Italy, Di Padre in Figlia)
This captivating family saga is richly told through the historical changes experienced in Italy from 1958 to the 1980s, including its economic boom and women empowerment. Di padre in figlia is the epic story of the Venetian Franza family, the owners of a distillery in Bassano del Grappa, and focuses on the patriarch Giovanni Franza (Alessio Boni, The Best of Youth, The Tourist), who stakes everything on his son, as well as on his three enterprising daughters who want to conquer the world. One of the three female heirs, played by Cristiana Capotondi (The Worst Week of My Life, Notte prima degli esami), will go on to carry on the family business, as she faces struggles to survive in a male-dominated world and tries to hold her own against all odds. (4 EPS, 2017)
THE VICTORIAN HOUSE OF ARTS & CRAFTS (Series, Documentary)
In this landmark living history series from the BBC, a late 1800s Victorian Arts & Crafts commune in the Welsh hills is painstakingly brought back to life as a group of six 21st century crafters - three men and three women (including potter/ceramic designer Keith Brymer Jones and dealer/expert Patch Rogers) move in to experience the highs and lows of living and working together as a creative commune. Over their month-long stay the crafters are set to renovate four of the key spaces in the house. (4 EPS, 2019)
Wednesday, December 25
MURDOCH MYSTERIES, Season 13, Episodes 1 and 2 (Exclusive U.S. Premiere)
In this beloved, award-winning Canadian series, Detective William Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) solves turn-of-the-century Toronto's most intriguing mysteries with the help of Constable Crabtree (Jonny Harris, Still Standing); Dr. Julia Ogden (Helene Joy); and Inspector Brackenreid (Thomas Craig). In the season 13 premiere, “Troublemakers,” Murdoch investigates an explosion at a suffrage rally attended by Dr. Talbot and Dr. Ogden, after a man dies. In episode 2, “Bad Pennies,” a man is found murdered and an innocent man is first arrested and subsequently released with the murderer posed to kill again if not arrested first. (2 EPS, 2019)
Monday, December 30
MURDOCH MYSTERIES, Season 13, Episode 3 (Exclusive U.S. Premiere)
In this beloved, award-winning Canadian series, Detective William Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) solves turn-of-the-century Toronto's most intriguing mysteries with the help of Constable Crabtree (Jonny Harris, Still Standing); Dr. Julia Ogden (Helene Joy); and Inspector Brackenreid (Thomas Craig). In episode “Forever Young,” a young woman is found murdered with no explanation as to why she looks the same age that she disappeared two years earlier as if she was a Sleeping Beauty. (1 EP, 2019)
THE FRAGILE HEART
Created by Paula Milne (the award-winning series The Politician’s Wife), this BAFTA award-winning series stars Nigel Hawthorne (The Madness of King George) as a cardiac surgeon at the height of his career facing a professional and personal crisis: how to heal others - and himself. He plays Edgar Pascoe, a man seemingly in control of his life who finds his world beginning to cataclysmically fall apart during a visit to China. Heading a top-flight medical delegation with a view to exploiting the possibilities of telemedicine and globalization, he is asked to perform a convert cardiac operation on a high-ranking Communist Minister. Confronted by an ethical dilemma over the abuse of human rights, Edgar is forced into a painful moral awakening which proves to affect every area of his life. The series also stars Dearbhla Molloy (Coronation Street, Casualty), Helen McCrory (The Queen, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2) and Dominic Mafham (Ophelia). (3 EPS, 1996)
RELATIVE STRANGERS (Series) – NEW DATE
This Irish drama series stars Academy Award-winning actress Brenda Fricker (My Left Foot, A Time to Kill) as an Irish nurse and happily married wife of 24 years living in Germany with her two bright teenage kids, whose life changes forever when her husband dies tragically. Maureen learns many new things about him, including his debts - and a second wife and family in Dublin. She travels there to meet the other family, only to find out they have troubles of their own. Furious and deeply hurt by her husband's betrayal, Maureen puts aside her own dark and raw emotions to confront the final issue one she can hardly bear: the second wife’s son has leukemia and because of his rare blood type, needs help from her own children to survive. Directed by Giles Foster (The Lilac Bus), this series earned two Irish Film and Television Awards nominations: Best Television Drama and Best Leading Performance for Brenda Fricker. Also starring Adrian Dunbar (Line of Duty, Blood). (4 EPS, 1999)
UPCOMING IN 2020 (dates subject to change)
January 6, 2020: Brokenwood Mysteries, Series 6 (new episodes every Monday)
January 13, 2020: Ackley Bridge, Series 3
February 2020: Agatha Raisin, Series 3, starring Ashley Jensen (Catastrophe, Ugly Betty) as the amateur sleuth based on the bestselling comedic mystery novels by M.C. Beaton (3 movies)
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About Acorn TV: Called a “glorious streaming service… an essential must-have” (The Hollywood Reporter) and “Netflix for the Anglophile” (NPR), AMC Networks’ Acorn TV is North America’s largest streaming service specializing in British and international television and is now serving more than one million paid subscribers in the U.S. and Canada. Acorn TV adds exclusive new programs every week with a deep library of mysteries, dramas, and comedies with no set end dates or commercials. Subscribers can stream many of their favorite international series and discover new and classic programs previously unavailable to U.S. audiences. In 2019, Acorn TV features several commissioned series including British crime drama London Kills, fun British mystery Queens of Mystery and the final Series 2 movie of Agatha Raisin (Series 3 to premiere in late 2019 and early 2020); new episodes of fan favorites Line of Duty from Jed Mercurio, British sensation Doc Martin, Welsh sensation Keeping Faith, medical drama The Good Karma Hospital, Paul Abbott’s No Offence, Aussie dramedy The Heart Guy, and Canadian hit Murdoch Mysteries; along with several new series, including British crime drama Manhunt, Lucy Lawless’s My Life is Murder, BBC One Wales family drama Pitching In, New Zealand crime drama Straight Forward and Dutch drama The Oldenheim Twelve; and a growing catalog of popular bingeable dramas A Place to Call Home, Blood, Mystery Road, Detectorists, Jack Irish, George Gently, and Foyle’s War; among much more. Acorn TV is available via Apple TV, Roku, iOS, YouTube TV, Chromecast, Amazon Fire, Comcast/Xfinity, Android, among many other devices and offers a free trial and thereafter is just $5.99/month or $59.99/year. Facebook: OfficialAcornTV - Twitter @AcornTV
