James R | On 05, Apr 2021

Acorn TV has officially landed in the UK. The AMC Network platform, which specialises in British and international TV, has racked up more than 1 million subscribers in the US, and aims to find similar success on British soil by growing a bumper crop of crime and period dramas. The service launched in 2020 with the UK debut of Queens of Mystery, plus Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Partners in Crime and The Witness for the Prosecution and hit Welsh drama Keeping Faith.

As Line of Duty returns to our screens, Acorn serves up an extra slice of Adrian Dunbar with both seasons of the gripping psychological thriller Bloods. It’s joined by multiple seasons of Canadian cop drama 19-2, Spanish thriller The Plague, and mystery drama Exile, starring Jim Broadbent and John Simm.

Here’s what’s coming to Acorn TV in March 2021:

Blood: Season 2 – 5th April

Adrian Dunbar (Line of Duty, Broken) stars in the hit psychological thriller from award-winning writer Sophie Petzal (The Last Kingdom, Riviera). After the life-changing events of the first series, when Jim Hogan (Dunbar) is placed under suspicion for the death of his wife (Ingrid Craigie, Striking Out), by his younger daughter Cat (Carolina Main, Unforgotten), the Hogan family are still a long way from finding peace. Series Two sees Jim return after a year away to find his dutiful older daughter Fiona (Gráinne Keenan, Black Mirror, The Foreigner) is slowly succumbing to the same Motor Neurone Disease that afflicted her mother. When Fiona is involved in a catastrophic car crash, the family gather again at the bedside of a loved one, but a shocking revelation means the newly promoted Detective Dez Breen (Seán Duggan, Normal People, Clean Break) must delve into the tangled past of this troubled family once more in pursuit of the elusive truth. Could Fiona’s husband Paul (Ian Lloyd Anderson – Love/Hate, Herself) be caught up in a criminal enterprise, or is the past simply repeating itself? Either way, there is a dead body to contend with, and someone has Blood on their hands. This enthralling whodunnit will keep you guessing: is Blood really thicker than water?

19-2: Season 1 – 5th April

This critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning, Emmy®-nominated gritty Canadian police drama takes an alternative look at police life, going beyond the crimes and delving deep into the complicated lives of the crime fighters. Police officers Nick Barron (Adrian Holmes – Arrow, Continuum) and Ben Chartier (Jared Keeso – Falling Skies, Godzilla) have been thrust into an unwilling partnership after the devastating shooting of Barron’s last partner. Nick carries the weight of that shooting with him every day and isn’t planning on committing to the country boy who’s fresh to the city anytime soon.

The Plague: Season 2 – 5th April

The second series of this lavish and gripping Spanish historical crime-drama set in the late the Plague-riddled 16th-century, from creator-director Alberto Rodríguez sees Mateo (Pablo Molinero) now fighting to survive Chile’s harsh Patagonian winter.

The Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Season 1 – 5th April

Based on Charlaine Harris’s (True Blood) mystery books, this fun and charming series stars Candace Cameron Bure (Full House) as Aurora “Roe” Teagarden, a small-town librarian and avid member of the Real Murders Club. When her love for analysing true crime gets a little too real, it sparks her career as an amateur sleuth. Also stars Marilu Henner (Taxi) and Yannick Bisson (Murdoch Mysteries).

19-2: Season 2 – 12th April

We discover both Ben and Nick have secrets that cannot stay buried for long. Secrets that could tear the squad apart.

In Deep: Season 3 – 12th April

Heartbeat’s Nick Berry (Eastenders) and Wild at Heart’s Stephen Tompkinson (Marple) return for the third and final series as undercover detectives Liam Ketman and Garth O’Hanlon in this gripping BBC crime-drama. The committed pair must step up to the demands of a high-pressure career where even the slightest slip-up can mean disaster and their personal lives must take a back seat.

19-2: Season 3 – 19th April

Absorbing and authentic, this award-winning Canadian police drama follows first responders beyond the crime scenes and into their own messy lives. 19-2 reveals its heroes’ fears and failings while celebrating the triumphs and resilience of the human spirit.

Exile – 19th April

This gripping mystery drama stars acting greats Jim Broadbent (Iris, Moulin Rouge), John Simm (Life on Mars, Doctor Who), Olivia Colman (The Crown, The Favourite) and Timothy West (Gentleman Jack, Last Tango In Halifax). We follow journalist Tom Ronstadt (Simm) who, after losing his job in London, returns to his home town, after 18 years in exile. Returning to live with sister Nancy (Colman) and their aging father Sam (Broadbent) who has Alzheimer’s, we soon discover why he has stayed away so long. As Tom begins to unpack the scandal his father has been keeping hidden for decades, his investigations are hampered by his father’s deteriorating health.

Fighting Season – 19th April

This powerful Australian six part mystery drama follows the lives of soldiers returning from deployment in Afghanistan. These invisible men and women fight for their country, but what do they bring home from the war? What parts of them have they left behind? Some secrets must remain hidden. This compelling mystery sees a possible cover-up where the lines cross between killer and family man, hero and victim, truth and imagination. Stars Kate Mulvany (Hunters, The Great Gatsby), George Pullar (A Place to Call Home, Playing for Keeps) and Jay Ryan (It, It Returns, Offspring).

Lost Letters Mystery – 19th April

This heart-warming love story takes place a week before couple Norman and Rita’s wedding and follows the mystery of an undelivered package that could hold the key to solving the disappearance of a young woman’s mother. Eric Mabius (Scandal, Ugly Betty), Kristin Booth (The Kennedys), Crystal Lowe (Smallville), Geoff Gustafson (Primeval, New World) play the team of postal workers who turn detective to track down recipients of undelivered mail and the mysteries they hold.

The Advocates: Season 1 and 2 – 19th April

Gripping Edinburgh-set legal drama featuring an all-star cast including Michael Kitchen, Shirley Henderson, Siobhan Redmond, Rachel Weisz and Robert Carlyle. When a young prostitute is murdered by a deadly drug overdose, only the Doctor Joe Sangster, the medic who has been treating her at the local health clinic, suspects foul play. In the growing climate of fear over drugs and AIDS in the city, his clinic faces closure due to a local campaign. Sangster turns to Greg McDowell, an up and coming young lawyer who sees the case as a chance to make a name for himself.

19-2: Season 4 – 26th April

Absorbing and authentic, this award-winning Canadian police drama follows first responders beyond the crime scenes and into their own messy lives. 19-2 reveals its heroes’ fears and failings while celebrating the triumphs and resilience of the human spirit.

A Family Tale – 26th April

From the creators of The Young Pope, this gripping Italian family drama stars multi-Golden Globe winner Anna Galiena and Anita Kravos (The Great Beauty) and follows mother and daughter, Emma and Micol, whose relationship is far from traditional. Amid the unrest of a moving to a new city, history repeats itself as Micol becomes pregnant at 16, just as her mother did. Also starring Giancarlo Giannini (Casino Royale) and helmed by award-winning director Francesca Archibugi.

White Hot: A Sandra Brown Mystery – 26th April

This powerful TV film stars Shenae Grimes (90210, Degrassi) and John Schneider (Sleepover). After years away, successful interior designer Sayre Hoyle must return home to her estranged family in Louisiana, after the sudden death of her brother. But was it really an accident? Her relationship with her father Huff Hoyle, a corrupt and intimidating factory owner, is still as fraught as ever, but when she meets attorney Beck Merchant, things seem to be looking up. As Sayre delves deeper into her brother’s death, she starts to uncover a web of dark secrets, lies, cover ups and revenge plots. As she contends with family feuds, terrifying threats and the local police, will she discover the truth and who can she trust?

 

Acorn TV is available on Roku, Fire TV, Android and iOS and Apple TV, costing £4.99 a month or £49.99 a year.

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