I have both Netflix and Acorn and IMO, there is a lot more British TV programs on Acorn than Netflix. Or maybe I should qualify that as more British drama/comedy. Netflix has a lot of DIY, househunting and design stuff and the Great British Baking series, but Acorn seems to focus on the comedy and police/detective/thriller series. And other than shows like Midsomer Murders and Doc Martin, I don't find there is much duplication between them.

If I was really interested in British TV programming, I'd pick Acorn over the others :-) Not familiar with BritBox so can't really comment on that....although the programming appears very similar to Acorn.

I was just looking into this topic today.

Acorn is my choice also.

Thanks for all the input, much appreciated! Sounds like Acorn is the way to go.

I have Acorn, and I really enjoy British tv shows. It started with all the British V shows on PBS, and then I wanted more. Look up the lists of programs for each and read about them.

I have Acorn and Britbox. Watch more on Acorn but Britbox had a show I wanted to see and they also had 2 seasons of Vera that were missing from Acorn TV.

I had Acorn and will probably get it again, but Britbox has Shetland (season 4), Maigret (old and new), and Scott and Bailey. A lot more than Netflix and regular Amazon Prime Video have now. I also subscribe to MHz via Amazon, it has a lot of other foreign TV shows, including my very favorite from France, Spiral.

LOL!! MY sister uses closed captioning when she watches any British shows on TV....usually PBS. She says she can't understand what they are saying otherwise because of the accents. Which I find to be rather funny as our parents were British and with very noticeable accents all their lives!!

I often have to "translate" for her :-)

I'm looking at getting either Acorn or Britbox. I don't have their app pre-loaded on our Sony smart TV and don't see it available for download to my TV from Google Play. Must you have Chromecast to "cast" from a phone or tablet or a Fire stick to watch either?

TIA

Diane and Gale, I've never heard of MHz, thanks for mentioning it. Both hubby and I love to watch mysteries.

Gardengal, we use closed captioning for most shows, but especially British, Scottish or Irish ones. :)

jrb451, I checked into both and here's what I found:

Acorn TV is available in your browser, and there
are standalone apps for both iOS and Android. It also works on three
set-top boxes: Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV. It’s also Chromecast compatible. BritBox is also available in your browser, on iOS and Android, and on Roku, Chromecast, and Apple TV.

Smart TV apps are poor performers and are limited. A Roku streaming device is the best streaming device on the market.

Kathsgrdn, It was funny to read your post, as I just signed up for a free week of Britbox last night in order to see Vera season 4. I already watched seasons 1-3 on Hulu. Then it looks like I'll have to go to Acorn for seasons 5-7, and back to Britbox for season 8! I have never seen a show divvied up like this before.

Brushworks Spectacular Finishes, I am with you on the love for Roku.

I get BritBox through the Amazon Video app on my smart (LG) TV. On my Fire Stick, the shows come up like the rest of the Amazon content.

Got Acorn 2 months ago. Haven't used Netflix since. DH and I are so addicted. Only problem is, not all the programming offers closed captions and DH, who is deaf in one ear, is having a devil of a time. I've found the easiest for him to understand are those from England and Australia. Anything Irish or Scottish and he's lost. I watch Vera by myself. He can't understand most of it. Even though it's English, the Northumberland accent is tough on him.

I'm through half the seasons of Where the Heart Is. It grabbed me from the first episode. Absolutely loved A Place to Call Home. This isn't guy fare. Strictly girly soap operas.

There are so many excellent series that will never see the light of day in the US. The Brits don't take the intelligence of the viewer for granted. The surrounding area is as much a character as the people are.

We loved the heck out of Agatha Raisin. It's set in the Cotswolds. What an incredibly beautiful area. We're re-watching the Republic of Doyle. DH doesn't mind repeats. I do, but this show is enjoyable enough that it isn't bothering me to see it again.

I loved A Place to Call Home so much that when I saw two other series that starred Marta Dusseldorp, I had to watch. Crownies, which is the prequel to Janet King, are both worthwhile viewing.

We haven't even scratched the surface of what this service has to offer.

Besides Vera, I watch Agatha Raisin, Girlfriends and Delicious....I'm waiting for the next season on all these shows! Anyone know when they start back? I keep going back to check, so right now I'm only watching Midsomer Murders. Luckily there are years of shows for me to watch still.

Kath, traditionally the UK shows film every other year. So, I'm assuming Agatha won't return until 2020. They do that so that the actors don't burn out. It also gives them the flexibility to do other projects.

That seems to be the stumbling block over here. The actors won't to try other things, so a whole show gets shut down.

If you like Agatha Raisin, you might enjoy Pie In The Sky. Light mysteries that move along well. Each stands on it's own, so you can't get lost.

Oh, that's not good. Thanks for letting me know.

clearwaters,

How do you stream Acorn? Devices like Apple TV and Roku have a settings to choose closed captions, sound system, etc.

I've had Acorn for years along with Netflix and Amazon Prime which is enough TV for me so I haven't even looked at Brit Box. The last time I renewed Acorn they offered an extra month if you paid for an entire year.

I use closed captioning on some and I finally started to keep a list of how many episodes or seasons of each show I've watched. With the time lag between seasons I sometimes forget how many I've watched. Plus there are times when they simply cancel the show and I find that I keep looking for new episodes - that just don't exist.

Just by dumb luck we bought a Samsung tv with a smart hub. Our older tv died. A friend who works at our cable company recommended we buy Samsung.

Then I started seeing ads for Acorn, not realizing it has limited streaming avenues. I do know they are working on expanding the distribution;, but for now we can get it on the tv in the family room.

BTW, for those of you following Vera from service to service, season 8 is the final season. Brenda Blethin has moved on.

Husband had a dickens of a time trying to re-configure our old(ish) roku, turns out it is no longer supported. I also checked into the amazon firestick and one has to be a prime member to access acorn. So we are going to buy a new roku and test out both acorn and britbox and some other options.

I don’t think you have to have Prime membership to access Acorn on a Firestick.

We watched The Girlfriends on the weekend. It's really good! Only 6 episodes and we watched 3 of them.

I think it was that Raisin one, Martha Raisin? The dialect was so strong, we couldn't understand a word.

jrb, this is what it says: "Prime Video Channels is the Prime benefit that lets you choose your channels. Only members can add Acorn TV and 100+ more channels—no cable required. Cancel anytime."

Maybe the above only applies to amazon streaming via tv and not firestick?.

But we now have the roku stick (and acorn's 1 week trial) and it's very easy to set up and use, so we are going to forego the firestick.

Jasdip, is it Agatha Raisin? Sure hope it has subtitles, we always use those for British shows. Will check out Girlfriends too, thanks for the tip.

That refers to adding Acorn via Amazon Prime. Amazon has a separate Acorn app that can be used with the Fire Stick without Prime.

For those of you who love Vera, there IS a season 9!! Apparently only 4 episodes but about 90 minutes each. And are currently available only on Britbox shortly after they air on British TV. Both episodes 1 & 2 are now showing, and 3 will appear in a week or two.

And the newest Murdoch Mysteries season is available on Acorn. New episodes every Monday, through April.

I have both services. The new Vera episodes are very good.

I've had Acorn for a few years years and all of a sudden I had a 'this video is unavailable at this time' message on the TV whenever I tried to watch. I could still watch the videos on my laptop.

So I checked their help section and discovered that they were no longer able to show content on Samsung Smart TVs because "Samsung has migrated to a new operating system that Acorn doesn't support."

I do have Prime so I'll cancel my Acorn subscription and add it to Prime.

I was going to get them on my Roku, but not paying for yet another television streaming service. I already pay for cable, Netlix, Crave and Prime

For those of you who liked Where the Heart Is, Britbox is now offering The Royal. A similar series based in Yorkshire in the 60's at a small, country hospital. Entertaining story line, great cast and wonderful 60's music!!

^^ We're in season 4 of Where the Heart is. Husband loves it, but it's too soapy for me. :) I'll let him know about The Royal, thanks for the tip.