With stay at home orders and social distancing, we have had at least two threads involving Acorn TV (available on Prime Video) shows. Here are some Additional British and Aussie Shows I have found there:
Mystery Road (Aussie): One season. Story about an indigenous Aboriginal detective sent from “central headquarters” to help the local 3-member police force solve the disappearance of two young men, one of whom is an Aboriginal rugby star. Good show which certainly does not glamorize life or racial divisions in this small ranching town in NW Australia between Alice Springs and Darwin. The plot contains considerable twists and surprises. I pride myself on seeing twists coming, but this show constantly surprised me. There have been two movies made about this detective and the TV show apparently always was seen as just a one season, limited series.
Striking Out (Irish) Two seasons. Might appeal more to me as I can identify with a lawyer who leaves a large, prestigious firm to strike out on his/her own doing primarily family law. Although the similarities end there. The lawyer is female, pretty and leaves the big firm because two weeks before her planned wedding, she discovers her fiancé, a partner and son of the founder, in bed with another female attorney at the firm. She also comes from an upper class family and her father is a powerful judge, far different than my background. My favorite character on the show is Ray, who starts as a pro bono legal case for her and ends up becoming her indispensable legal assistant. It’s 50% good drama and 50% tripe soap opera, so it’s not a show all will enjoy.
Lovejoy (British) Seven seasons. A very strange premise for a mystery. The title character, played by Ian McShane, Al Swearingen in Deadwood, is an antiques dealer in a village in East Anglia. The show is from the 1980s. Some of the episodes are very good; a few are real stinkers. Not a show for binge watching; I’ve been watching occasionally for a few weeks and I’m only on season 2. The cleverest episode so far also incredibly guest stars three British actors each of whom went on to star much later in another popular British detective show: Neil Dudgeon (Midsomer Murder Mysteries), Warren Clarke (Dalziel and Pascoe) and Brenda Blethyn (Vera).
Sharpe (British) Seven seasons. I had high hopes for this one. It stars Sean Bean (Boromir in Lord Of The Rings and Eddard Stark in Game of Thrones) as Richard Sharpe, who rises from enlisted man to Colonel in Wellington’s army. It is dreadful. The acting is universally awful, the dialogue stilted and the action scenes pitiful. Save yourself and ignore it.
MI-5 (British) Seven seasons. Counter espionage unit in British legal system. Good plots and acting but it’s now dated. The enemies when it was made 15-20 years ago aren’t necessarily the enemies today. I enjoyed the first two seasons but it lost me completely in season 3.
Mystery Road (Aussie): One season. Story about an indigenous Aboriginal detective sent from “central headquarters” to help the local 3-member police force solve the disappearance of two young men, one of whom is an Aboriginal rugby star. Good show which certainly does not glamorize life or racial divisions in this small ranching town in NW Australia between Alice Springs and Darwin. The plot contains considerable twists and surprises. I pride myself on seeing twists coming, but this show constantly surprised me. There have been two movies made about this detective and the TV show apparently always was seen as just a one season, limited series.
Striking Out (Irish) Two seasons. Might appeal more to me as I can identify with a lawyer who leaves a large, prestigious firm to strike out on his/her own doing primarily family law. Although the similarities end there. The lawyer is female, pretty and leaves the big firm because two weeks before her planned wedding, she discovers her fiancé, a partner and son of the founder, in bed with another female attorney at the firm. She also comes from an upper class family and her father is a powerful judge, far different than my background. My favorite character on the show is Ray, who starts as a pro bono legal case for her and ends up becoming her indispensable legal assistant. It’s 50% good drama and 50% tripe soap opera, so it’s not a show all will enjoy.
Lovejoy (British) Seven seasons. A very strange premise for a mystery. The title character, played by Ian McShane, Al Swearingen in Deadwood, is an antiques dealer in a village in East Anglia. The show is from the 1980s. Some of the episodes are very good; a few are real stinkers. Not a show for binge watching; I’ve been watching occasionally for a few weeks and I’m only on season 2. The cleverest episode so far also incredibly guest stars three British actors each of whom went on to star much later in another popular British detective show: Neil Dudgeon (Midsomer Murder Mysteries), Warren Clarke (Dalziel and Pascoe) and Brenda Blethyn (Vera).
Sharpe (British) Seven seasons. I had high hopes for this one. It stars Sean Bean (Boromir in Lord Of The Rings and Eddard Stark in Game of Thrones) as Richard Sharpe, who rises from enlisted man to Colonel in Wellington’s army. It is dreadful. The acting is universally awful, the dialogue stilted and the action scenes pitiful. Save yourself and ignore it.
MI-5 (British) Seven seasons. Counter espionage unit in British legal system. Good plots and acting but it’s now dated. The enemies when it was made 15-20 years ago aren’t necessarily the enemies today. I enjoyed the first two seasons but it lost me completely in season 3.
