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If you’ve been online much in the last week, you’ve probably heard the sad news about the death of Dame Penelope Keith. Anyone who’s watched British TV for any real length of time will be familiar with her impeccable sense of both decorum and comedic timing - and some will also be aware of her enormous contributions to charity (especially animals) and the acting community.
You can read the BBC’s announcement on her passing HERE - and if you haven’t had the privilege of watching her perform, or you’d just like to do so again, we strongly recommend The Good Life (aka Good Neighbors) and To the Manor Born as your first stops. Sadly, BritBox has recently removed both of these absolute classics, but you CAN find them on DVD and they’re both very re-watchable.
If you’re looking for something you can actually stream right now, she did a brilliant series on lovely English villages - we recommend starting with Hidden Villages before moving on to Britain’s Hidden Coastal Villages and then Britain’s Village of the Year with Dame Penelope Keith.
You can also watch her in the delightful 2003 film Margery & Gladys.
Her death is a huge loss to the British acting community, and our thoughts are with her friends, family, and colleagues.
British TV Book Updates
For those who’ve been asking about when various books would come back in stock - we have a few quick updates:
Cassocks & Cobblestones: A 1950s Cotswolds Coloring Book (inspired by Father Brown) - Now back in stock
British TV Variety Puzzles - Now back in stock
Everyone Here Should Be Dead Now: An English Village Adult Coloring Book (inspired by Midsomer Murders) - Now back in stock
British TV Streaming Guide: US Edition, Summer 2026 - Now back in stock
British TV Word Search Book - Now back in stock
Dreaming Spires & Dead Dons: A 1960s Oxford Adult Coloring Book (inspired by Endeavour and Inspector Morse) - Available for pre-order, expected in stock within the week
A Disheveled Detective’s Northumberland: Adult Coloring Book (inspired by Vera) - Available for pre-order, expected in stock within the week
What we’re…
Watching: My Unique B&B - This lifestyle series visits strange and wonderful B&B accommodations around the UK, which has had the effect of filling our future trip wish list - but it’s also fun because it’s narrated by John Nettles (Bergerac, Midsomer Murders), who has been (deservedly) pretty much retired for almost a decade now. It’s not as good as seeing him on screen, but it’s better than nothing.
Reading: Agatha Raisin & the Quiche of Death by MC Beaton - I’ve read all these before (even the newer ones since Beaton’s hand-off to Rod Greene), but I’m going back through now and listening to all of them in audiobook format. Nearly all the books are available with Dame Penelope Keith’s readings, and they’re infinitely more enjoyable for it (plus there are a few moments where the content feels at odds with Keith’s usually very posh characters, and that adds a bit of fun).
The Wild World of the Van Gogh Truthers
In 1990, after years of practicing medicine and reviewing Van Gogh’s case history via his hundreds of letters, Arenberg published a paper in JAMA diagnosing Van Gogh as suffering not from epilepsy, as the artist’s physician claimed a century earlier, but from Ménière’s disease, an inner-ear affliction that can cause vertigo, of which Van Gogh complained, and tinnitus, a persistent ringing in the ears. Ménière’s, to Arenberg, could better explain Van Gogh’s decision to slice off his ear. After retiring, in 2017, Arenberg recommitted himself to studying Van Gogh and became convinced that art historians had made an even more alarming mistake: Van Gogh had not committed suicide. He’d been murdered.
Read the article for free on Air Mail, a lively digital read for the world citizen, with stories both foreign and domestic that you won’t find anywhere else, written by some of the world’s finest journalists.
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THIS WEEK IN BRITISH TV
On BritBox, new episodes of Beyond Paradise continue weekly through July 14th (Tuesdays). On July 10th, they’ll be adding a new season of Escape to the Country.
On Acorn TV, today (the 6th) brings us new episodes of season 19 of Murdoch Mysteries, season 5 of Harry Wild, and Summertide. Today also marks the premiere of season 2 of Inspector Ellis. Next week, they’ll add season 2 of True Crime Story: It Couldn’t Happen Here on the 13th.
On PBS Masterpiece and PBS.org, new episodes of the final season of Grantchester (11) continue weekly on Sundays through August 2nd.
On Netflix, July 1st brought the premiere of Enola Holmes 3 (featuring Millie Bobby Brown as Sherlock’s younger sister - with Henry Cavill as Sherlock himself).
On Apple TV+, look for season 5 of Trying on July 8th. New episodes will drop weekly until August 26th.
Summers are always a bit slower - but we expect to see much beefier premiere lineups by August or September.
“The first time you walked in, you said "Good morning, Mister Dee-ELL". First bugger that ever got my name right. First time. Unforgivable, that is. "Smartarse", I thought. I was right.”
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