11 Best BritBox Originals, Ranked

Cary Grant was born Archibald Alec Leach, and as its title indicates, this biopic series depicts the personal life of the man behind the movie-star persona. Jason Isaacs disappears into the role of the Golden Age of Hollywood actor, and it’s quite a convincing Charade.

Cush Jumbo and Jared Harris lead the cast of this tension-ratcheting thriller, playing the mother of a hit-and-run victim and the man she holds responsible… as she befriends him and plots his death. (You know what they say about revenge!)

A spinoff of the BBC hit Death in Paradise, this crime drama follows the fan-fave DI Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall) as he moves to the West Country hometown of his fiancée Martha (Sally Bretton). Call it heresy, but some viewers even prefer Beyond to its predecessor.

An estimated 750 million people around the world watched Princess Diana and then-Prince Charles tie the knot in 1981, but they never saw it this clearly. This doc features wedding footage upgraded to 4K resolution, giving viewers the feeling they were right there in St. Paul’s Cathedral.

British talent aligned across generations as Hugh Laurie wrote and directed a screen adaptation of a 1934 Agatha Christie novel. The title is the final words from a man whose demise sends a vicar’s son and his socialite friend headlong into an investigation.

Comedian Lenny Henry channeled his mother’s life story into this award-winning story of three Jamaican women starting a new life in England in the 1950s. By honing in on the Windrush generation — named after a passenger ship on a Caribbean-to-Europe route — Henry shines a light on underexposed history.

To her many supporters, the case of Ruth Ellis — the last woman to be executed in the United States — was a case of cruel punishment. In the title role of this series, Lucy Boynton shines as a woman victimized by her boyfriend and by a particularly unsympathetic time for criminal justice.

Of all the television productions filmed remotely during the early pandemic months, David Tennant and Michael Sheen’s was one of the most inspired. Across three seasons, the two actors play fictionalized, arrogant, bickering versions of themselves as they try to create lockdown-era art.

In a first season and a performance that both earned BAFTA TV Awards, Sean Bean plays a man dealing with his new reality in prison in his production. Season 2 added even more starpower and pathos with cast additions Jodie Whittaker, Tamara Lawrance, and Bella Ramsey.

BritBox helped rescue this series after its ITV cancellation, much to the relief of period-drama fans. Andrew Davies, a master of the genre, adapted an unfinished Jane Austen manuscript into a romantic tale about a fishing village-turned-seaside resort and its comely inhabitants.

She’s a Catholic nun, she’s a winemaker, she’s a Vespa rider, she’s a forensic scientist, and, most of all, she’s a hit with audiences. Lorna Watson’s beloved Father Brown character gets a well-deserved close-up in this exemplar of British television’s cozy mysteries.