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NEWS: Acorn TV has announced a premiere date for season 4 of The Chelsea Detective. The new season will have four feature-length episodes, with one episode weekly beginning August 3rd. Both Adrian Scarborough and Vanessa Emme have returned to their leading roles for the new season.
Every June and July, we start getting emails asking where all the new British TV releases have gone. Unfortunately, it’s just the way summer seems to work. Just as the old cable networks used to save all their big premieres for autumn and winter, streaming services often dial back their offerings during the months when people are busy with outdoor pursuits and travel.
For those stuck indoors and running dangerously low on things to watch, we’ve decided to do a short series of emails with themed recommendations. In this one, we’ll look at British shows and movies with a bit of action and adventure. You’ll find the list a bit further down in the email, just below the “new this week” section.
British TV Streaming Guide: Wonky Copies
Curious about the British TV Streaming Guide, but looking for a bargain? With every shipment, we end up with a handful of copies with minor cosmetic defects - bent corners, dusty smudges, mis-aligned covers, etc. Rather than sending them back to be trashed, we put them up on the site at a significant discount. Want one? You can get it HERE.
What we’re…
Watching: Seeking Persephone - Based on Sarah M. Eden’s novel, this 2026 Regency-era period drama follows an impoverished woman who agrees to marry a Duke to save her family from ruin.
Reading: The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts by Robert Thorogood - Just released yesterday, this is the fifth entry in the series adapted into Marlow Murder Club. In this one, someone is killing local celebrities - and Judith, Suzie, and Becks are on the case.
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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 the 14th, season 2 of Return to Paradise will premiere.
On Acorn TV, the 6th brought us 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. On Monday (the 13th), they’ll add season 2 of True Crime Story: It Couldn’t Happen Here.
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.
BRITISH ADVENTURE SHOWS & MOVIES
Need something a little different from the usual mix of mostly crime dramas and manners-heavy period dramas? Today, we’ll take a look at some shows and films with a bit more action and adventure.
Britannia
Britannia (2018) - As Rome invades Celtic Britain in 43 AD, a ruthless general (David Morrissey) clashes with warring tribes led by warrior princess Kerra (Kelly Reilly) and vengeful Queen Antedia (Zoë Wanamaker), while sinister druids under Veran (Mackenzie Crook) pull the strings from the shadows. Part battle epic, part psychedelic folk-horror fever dream, it follows a young girl's rise toward a prophecy that could drive Rome from the island.
Shackleton (1983) - David Schofield (Hotel Portofino) stars in this four-part miniseries about the famed explorer. There’s also a 2002 take on his life starring Sir Kenneth Branagh, but for now it’s only available on DVD.
To the Ends of the Earth (2005) - Based on William Golding's sea trilogy, it follows Edmund Talbot (a young Benedict Cumberbatch, in his breakout leading role), an arrogant aristocrat sailing from England to Australia aboard a decaying warship in the early 1800s. With Sam Neill, Jared Harris, and Victoria Hamilton among the shipboard company, it's a literate, immersive naval odyssey that sits somewhere between Master and Commander and a Regency drama.
Black Sails
Black Sails (2014) - This prequel to Treasure Island is set in 1715 Nassau, following the fearsome Captain Flint (Toby Stephens) and an ambitious young John Silver (Luke Arnold) as pirates, thieves, and schemers battle England for control of the Bahamas - with formidable women like Eleanor Guthrie (Hannah New) and Anne Bonny (Clara Paget) shaping every power struggle.
Tutankhamun (2016) - This miniseries tells the story of Howard Carter (Max Irons), the stubborn, disgraced archaeologist who spends years scouring Egypt's Valley of the Kings, and his unlikely partnership with aristocratic patron Lord Carnarvon (Sam Neill), culminating in the most famous discovery in archaeological history - the untouched tomb of the boy king. It’s a more recent take on an old-fashioned expedition drama in the classic gentleman-explorer mold.
Our Flag Means Death (2022) - This is probably the lightest entry on the list - a pirate comedy loosely based on the true story of Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby), a pampered aristocrat who abandons his family for a life of piracy despite being hopeless at it - until his crew crosses paths with the legendary Blackbeard (Taika Waititi), and an unlikely bond becomes one of TV's most beloved slow-burn romances. Not strictly British (it's American-made, with an international cast that includes several Brits), but thoroughly British-flavored in cast and humor, with the likes of Con O'Neill and Minnie Driver aboard.
The Gorge
The Gorge (2025) - Two elite snipers - one American (Miles Teller), one Lithuanian (Anya Taylor-Joy, Endeavour) - are stationed in secret towers on opposite sides of a mysterious, mist-shrouded gorge they're ordered to guard without ever asking what's inside, and romance blooms across the divide before the horrors below emerge. It’s not strictly British, but it has strong British connections through London-raised star Anya Taylor-Joy (and a script full of transatlantic flavor).
Around the World in 80 Days (2021) - David Tennant stars as Phileas Fogg, a Victorian gentleman who impulsively wagers he can circle the globe in eighty days, setting off with his resourceful French valet Passepartout and ambitious journalist Abigail Fix, who's chasing the story of a lifetime. From runaway trains to desert crossings, riots, shipwrecks, and rescues, it's a fun reinvention of the Jules Verne classic. Prefer Pierce Brosnan? Amazon has the 1989 adaptation for rent/purchase, too. It’s also free on Plex if you don’t mind ads.
Fountain of Youth (2025) - This film is another that’s partly American, but it was directed by Guy Ritchie and the cast includes Domhnall Gleeson (Harry Potter, Frank of Ireland). The film’s action follows a disgraced archaeologist who convinces his museum curator sister to flee with him to go treasure hunting.
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965) - A blustering newspaper magnate (Robert Morley) stages a daredevil 1910 air race from London to Paris, drawing a motley field of international aviators in rickety, genuinely airborne period aircraft.
Abigail 'Fix' Fortescue: I just can't imagine Fogg being with a woman, can you?
Passepartout: [sighing] I'll try very hard not to.
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