Everything Coming to BritBox & Acorn TV in August 2026

February may be nasty, brutish, and short, but for my money, and with apologies to T.S. Eliot, August is the cruelest month. Not only is it oppressively hot across most of America (and nowadays most of Europe as well), but it’s extra long, with both July and August running 31 days, an utterly unnecessary insult to injury. Even worse, despite the TV season no longer formally constrained to the September-May schedule that once dominated the industry, August is still a time when there aren’t that many debuts (or the titles arriving are throwaways). Everyone’s focused on promoting shows that are still six weeks away, leaving the end of summer relatively empty.

For niche services like BritBox and the AMC Global federation of streaming apps, this is a month with little competition from the bigger services, and it’s fascinating how different the response to that opportunity can be from one platform to another. BritBox is following the pattern of the larger platforms (and its own BBC parent) by letting August run out shows that premiered earlier in the summer. Acorn TV (and AMC+) on the other hand, is using this stretch to debut both fan favorites and brand new series.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, both MHz Choice and National Theater at Home are also loading up with titles that will draw in American viewers. Frankly, if every August brought more debut lists like this, it would go a long way towards making the month just a bit more bearable.

Let’s review everything coming to the dedicated niche streaming services in August 2026.

As usual, Acorn TV debuted a brand new series, The Ridge, towards the end of July, which will continue with new episodes all month.

The Chelsea Detective Season 4

The Chelsea Detective has been one of Acorn TV’s sleeper hits of the 2020s, steadily growing its fan base the longer it stays on the air. Adrian Scarborough reprises his role as Detective Inspector Max Arnold, with Vanessa Emme returning as his partner, Detective Sergeant Layla Walsh, with four new cases.

The Chelsea Detective Season 4 premieres on Acorn TV on Monday, August 3, 2026, and streams new episodes weekly through the end of the month.

The Vampire Lestat: One Night Only LIVE

Since AMC+ decided to go whole hog on the Anne Rice Universe in a last-ditch attempt at a streaming-service-defining franchise, its flagship, Interview with the Vampire, has been far better than it has any right to be. Season 3, retitled The Vampire Lestat, has been a wild hit, with Sam Reid promoting the show by putting on a rock concert in character. The footage from that show is now a brand new special worth your time, even if it’s only British-ish.

The Vampire Lestat: One Night Only LIVE will stream on Sunday, August 23, 2026 on AMC+.

Blue Murder Motel Season 1

Acorn TV is wasting no time in checking into Blue Murder Motel. The New Zealand-set series is about a pair of cops who retire from the Australian police force and move six hours southeast to the Kiwi coast, only to find themselves called on to solve crimes in between running their seaside hotel.

Blue Murder Motel Season 1 premieres on Acorn TV on Monday, August 24, 2026, and will stream weekly episodes through mid-October.

The Assassin Season 1

In a significant move, The Assassin, which originally premiered on Sundance Now and AMC+, is moving, bag and baggage, to Acorn TV ahead of Season 2. Considering Acorn TV is going all in, giving the show a weekly release as if it never debuted on this side of the pond before, we’ll take it as a sign that Season 2 will also most likely end up on Acorn.

The Assassin Season 1 premieres on Acorn TV on Monday, August 31, 2026, and streams weekly episodes through mid-October.

BritBox actually doesn’t have a lot of carryover into August 2026, just the finale episodes of both the 1984 and the reboot version of A Woman of Substance, plus the conclusion of Gone, all in the first week.

The Hardacres Season 2

Based on the novels by C.L. Skelton, The Hardacres is sort of a cross between Downton Abbey and All Creatures Great & Small, mixing heartwarming storytelling and a wholesome feel with the social stresses of life among the Yorkshire elite. Season 2 goes all in on modernity, as our newly wealthy family experiences the luxuries wealth can buy.

The Hardacres Season 2 premieres Wednesday, August 5, 2026 on BritBox, with new episodes to follow weekly through the beginning of September. All episodes are already streaming for BritBox Premier subscribers.

I Literally Just Told You Season 4

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Season 14

Pointless Celebrities Season 8

BritBox continues to pad out its comedy panel shows and game shows with new-to-us seasons of I Literally Just Told You, 8 Out of 10 Cats, and my personal favorite, Pointless Celebrities, which is a fascinating exercise in seeing which parts of American culture penetrate the British consciousness and which don’t. (Spoiler alert/example: The Jennifer Lopez category absolutely stumped every single panelist.)

All three shows arrive on BritBox with all episodes on Monday, August 10, 2026.

The Good Ship Murder Season 3

PBS’s Ridley walked so The Good Ship Murder could run. Paul Matthew Thompson’s second run at a “Singing Detective series” is set on a cruise ship in the sunshine, starred singer-turned-actor Shayne Ward, and focused on future romantic possibilities in a will-they-or-won’t-they relationship. Season 4 is already greenlit with major casting shakeups coming, so now’s the time to get caught up. 

The Good Ship Murder Season 3 will be available as a binge for BritBox Premier subscribers starting Monday, August 10, 2026. The series will premiere for regular BritBox subscribers starting Tuesday, August 25, 2026, with weekly episodes through mid-October.

Antiques Roadshow Season 49

In July, we noticed all the BBC Select documentaries worth watching were docuseries. This was not a one-time fluke; the BritBox Premier extra is changing tactics. This month, the documentary channel picks up the current season of Antiques Roadshow, which it will stream weekly through the end of the year.

Antiques Roadshow Season 49 debuts on BBC Select for BritBox Premier subscribers with two episodes on Thursday, August 20, 2026, followed by one a week on Thursdays through mid-December.

Other BBC Select Documentaries

• Thursday, August 6: Ancient Treasures with Bettany Hughes Season 5 (5 episodes)
• Thursday, August 6: Mayhem! The Scandalous Lives of the Georgian Kings Season 1 (4 Episodes)
• Thursday, August 27: Where the Wild Men Are with Ben Fogle Season 7 (12 episodes)

Reminder that Zorro continues with new episodes through the end of August.

Das Boot Season 2

It’s okay if you don’t remember that Germany partnered with Sky TV during the height of streaming madness to make a high-budget television sequel to Das Boot, continuing the story of Wolfgang Petersen’s 1980s-era hit. Season 1 streamed as an unmarketed binge dump on Hulu in 2019. When it failed to magically become a hit, the American network abandoned it, even though the series continued for three more seasons. Now, nearly a decade on, MHz Choice has gotten its hands on those seasons and is debuting them with weekly episodes.

Das Boot Season 2 debuts on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, and will stream weekly through mid-October. Seasons 3 and 4 are planned to follow. Season 1 is available now.

Our Town 

National Theater at Home blesses us with two new debuts for August, an exciting development now that the Hadestown pro-shot is doing gangbusters in theaters. First up, the inaugural production of Our Town from the newly opened Welsh National Theater, starring the venue’s artistic director, Michael Sheen.

Our Town will start streaming on National Theater at Home beginning Tuesday, August 4, 2026.

The Authenticator

A gripping gothic psychological thriller, The Authenticator is the new work from writer Winsome Pinnock, directed by Miranda Cromwell (Death of a Salesman), that ran at the Dorfman Theatre in the spring of 2026. The three-hander stars Rakie Ayola (The Pact), Cherrelle Skeete (Pierre), and Sylvestra Le Touzel (Dalgliesh) in a play about the legacy of the U.K.’s colonialist past.

The Authenticator will start streaming on National Theater at Home beginning Tuesday, August 11, 2026.

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