David Farnor | On 10, Dec 2020

Acorn TV has officially landed in the UK, and it continues to build a library of exclusives this December.

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 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.

To full up those cold, dark December nights, Acorn has a host of intriguing titles lined up, from Channel 5’s Blood and satirical thriller Operation Buffalo, plus Swedish crime dramas Happy at Sea and Bäckström.

Here’s what’s coming to Acorn TV in December 2020:

Operation Buffalo – 7th December

Inspired by true events, Operation Buffalo is a satiric thriller with a dark edge, that shines a light on a little known and highly controversial part of Australia’s modern history – the British nuclear testing in the South Australia Outback at the height of the Cold War. This six-part series has its exclusive UK premiere on Acorn TV and tells the tale of undercover operations and questionable behaviour at a time where no one knew who to trust or what to believe. James Cromwell stars.

Blood: Season 1 – 7th December

Line of Duty favourite Adrian Dunbar stars in darker than dark drama. This psychological series sees Unforgotten’s Carolina Main deliver a standout turn as Cat Hogan, an estranged daughter who must return to the family home in rural Ireland, following the sudden, seemingly accidental death of her mother – but someone has Blood on their hands.

800 Words: Season 1 – 7th December

A drama drama that follows a recently widowed newspaper columnist, George Turner (Erik Thompson, The Luminaries), who makes a rash decision to start afresh by moving from the hustle and bustle of Sydney to a remote seaside town in New Zealand, dragging his grieving children with him. Stuck with a run-down home, two unhappy teenagers and disaster after disaster, George soon learns that life in Weld isn’t quite the paradise he had hoped for, especially when the locals catch wind that he’s writing about his new life in his column. Season 2 follows on 21st December.

Growing Up Gracefully – 14th December

This Australian comedy-documentary follows writer-director Hannah Reilly and her sister Eliza, two misguided 20-somethings, who after rediscovering the 1950’s teen-advice book ‘Growing Up Gracefully’, ask themselves as young women in 2017, how do we learn to grow up?

Undeniable – 14th December

25 years ago, Jane (Claire Goose, Waking the Dead, Unforgotten) saw a man killing her mother. Today, she’s a well-adjusted wife and mother herself, but while having a physical, she notices a doctor who looks exactly like the killer, but no one believes her report…except one cop (Peter Firth, Summer of Rockets, Victoria). Will the killer get away, or is justice really Undeniable?

Bang: Season 2 – 14th December

This BAFTA Cymru-winning, dual-language Welsh-English drama set in Port Talbot follows a brother and sister on opposite sides of the law. Criminal Sam (Jacob Ifan, Hinterland) and his ambitious policewoman sister Gina (Catrin Stewart, Doctor Who) face new challenges in this second series as Sam is due to be released from prison and Gina must track down what seems to be a serial killer. But could there be a personal motive that puts the troubled pair in danger? Season 1 is already available to stream.

Happy at Sea: Season 1 – 21st December

This Swedish comedy drama follows the trials and tribulations of the King family, who, after the loss of a loved one, are thrown back together for the summer. When their mother Maud dies, Klara and Thomas return home to support their father, with their own families in tow. They decide to stick around for the whole season, to spend the summer at the family paradise, among the rocks and cliffs of Stockholm’s archipelago. Three generations, one family and a lot of personalities. How will they manage together for five weeks?

Elizabeth I – 21st December

Helen Mirren (The Queen, Catherine the Great), plays the great eponymous monarch with aplomb in this 2005 miniseries. With a star-studded court that includes the stellar talents of Hugh Dancy (Hannibal), Toby Jones (Capital), Jeremy Irons (Watchmen), Eddie Redmayne (The Trial of the Chicago 7) and Ian McDiarmid (Star Wars), we delve in to both the public and private life of Queen Elizabeth I in her later years.

Lawless – 21st December

When an undercover cop is wrongly accused of murder, he enlists the help of friends from both sides of the law to prove his innocence and bring the real culprits to justice, in this New Zealand-based feature-length drama.

Secret State – 28th December

This four-part political thriller delves into the relationship between a democratically elected government, the military and big business. In the run up to a British election, an industrial accident at a factory run by a US chemical company sends ripples throughout the country, leading to a conspiracy at the heart of the political system being uncovered. Starring Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects), Charles Dance (Game of Thrones), Ralph Ineson (), Rupert Graves (Sherlock) and Ruth Negga (Preacher).

Very Small Business – 28th December

This Australian comedy sees smarmy, debt riddled, borderline con-artist Don Angel (Wayne Hope, Love in Lockdown, Upper Middle Bogan) team up with chronically depressed acclaimed journalist Ray Leonard (Kim Gyngell, Sunshine, The Librarians), in a bid to keep his niche magazine advertisers scam afloat.

 

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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