Two brilliant detective shows as only the Brits can make them – Grace and The Chelsea Detective – plus the BritBox Original Stonehouse, lead a choice range of exclusive series kicking off 2023 in style this January.
Launching on BritBox hot from British screens and starring real-life husband-and-wife Matthew Macfadyen (Succession, Pride and Prejudice) and Keeley Hawes (Line of Duty, Bodyguard, The Durrells), Stonehouse is based on the true story of a high-flying UK Labour MP who faked his own death with disastrous consequences.
You can also treat yourself to some great British entertainment this month as the second season of Richard Hammond’s Workshop launches, which sees the former Top Gear presenter continuing his lifelong dream of restoring classic cars – but with an array of entertaining roadblocks thrown in!
Peter James’s best-selling detective novels are brought to life in Season One of Grace, with two feature-length episodes set on the Brighton coast and featuring a critically acclaimed lead performance by John Simm (Doctor Who, Life on Mars, Cracker) as an unorthodox detective in search of redemption.
Can’t get enough of UK crime dramas? Neither can we! Moving to one of London’s poshest neighbourhoods, The Chelsea Detective stars Adrian Scarborough (The King’s Speech, Killing Eve) as a houseboat-dwelling detective solving crimes among the upper crust.
All of these titles are new to South African viewers and exclusive to BritBox – enjoy!
BritBox South Africa Highlights in January
The Graham Norton Show Season 30
New Year Special *** Express from the UK ***
Sunday 1 January
A special New Year episode of the BAFTA-award-winning talk show will help start 2023 in style, featuring the biggest celebrities and the brightest conversation on television.
Together on Graham’s festive sofa for his New Year special are Oscar-winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite, The Crown, Broadchurch) and BAFTA rising star Micheal Ward (Top Boy), discussing their roles in Sam Mendes’ powerful romantic drama Empire of Light; musician, writer and comedy great Hugh Laurie; actor and award-winning stand-up Romesh Ranganathan; one of the sporting stars of 2022, footballer Leah Williamson, who captained England’s Lionesses to victory in the Euros; and the stars of Cabaret, Callum Scott Howells (It’s A Sin) and Madeline Brewer (The Handmaid’s Tale), who chat and perform two numbers from the hit West End revival.
Plus, of course, end-of-year stories from the audience in Graham’s world-famous Big Red Chair. You can also binge all previous episodes of The Graham Norton Show Season 30 on BritBox.
Richard Hammond’s Workshop (new & exclusive to BritBox)
Season 2
Thursday 5 January 2023
Richard Hammond’s Workshop is back for a second season, following the presenter’s progress as he gets to grips with the classic car restoration business that he set up more than a year ago. The first season, also available to stream on BritBox, showed Hammond fulfilling a lifelong ambition of starting his restoration and repair workshop, The Smallest Cog, near his home in Herefordshire.
Striving to learn the business from the ground up, Richard teamed up with car “wonder family” Neil, Anthony and Andrew Greenhouse. These all-new episodes will see the team get a crash course in racing and follow Richard as he tries to impress prospective clients at a high-end car event. We’ll also see Richard’s wife, Mindy, investigate her husband’s business management skills, leading to some tricky conversations, plus the dad-of-two will be taking on one of his biggest challenges yet as he tries to teach his daughter, Willow, how to drive.
Episode one sees Richard forced to deal with some unwelcome furry guests in his workshop and throwing himself into a classic car rally The Herefordshire Trials, where things get very muddy … and a little bit stuck.
Grace (new & exclusive to BritBox)
Season 1
Thursday 12 January 2023
Peter James’s award-winning novels, which have sold more than 21 million copies worldwide, are brought vividly to life in this compelling, fast-paced detective drama by acclaimed screenwriter Russell Lewis (Endeavour). Starring John Simm (Doctor Who, Life on Mars, Cracker) as DS Roy Grace, alongside Richie Campbell (Top Boy, Liar) as DS Glenn Branson, two feature-length films see the tenacious detective doggedly pursuing the truth behind some of Brighton’s most complex cases.
The drama opens with Grace’s career at rock bottom. Fixated by the disappearance of his beloved wife, he’s in the last-chance saloon, running enquiries into long-forgotten cold cases with little prospect of success. Following another reprimand for his unorthodox police methods, Grace is skating on thin ice. But when a stag night prank appears to go wrong and the groom goes missing, Grace doggedly probes his disappearance and becomes uneasily close to the bride-to-be … Also starring Zoë Tapper (Liar, The One) as Cleo Morey and Craig Parkinson (Line of Duty) as DS Norman Potting.
“This adaptation of Peter James’s crime novel is full of immensely satisfying action – plus a star lead performance.” – The Guardian
Stonehouse (BritBox Original) *** Express from the UK ***
Limited series
Tuesday 17 January 2023
A three-part drama based on the extraordinary rise and fall of UK MP John Stonehouse.
As a high-flying member of Harold Wilson’s Labour government and a seemingly devoted family man, Stonehouse’s perfect life spirals out of control in the early 1970s amid rumours of fraud and espionage. It turns out that while Stonehouse (Emmy Award winner Matthew Macfadyen – Succession, Pride and Prejudice, Spooks) has been climbing the political ladder, he’s also been forging secret relationships – with his secretary Sheila Buckley (Emer Heatley – Showtrial) and shadowy figures in Prague – that will threaten him personally and professionally.
As the drama unfolds, suspicion from his wife Barbara Stonehouse (Keeley Hawes – Crossfire, Bodyguard, Spooks) and the media grows. Stonehouse embarks on an outlandish escape plan that will lead him to Miami, Melbourne and eventually – hand-in-hand with Sheila – the dock of London’s highest criminal court. All this, while Prime Minister Wilson’s (Kevin McNally – The Crown, Unforgotten, Pirates of the Caribbean) slender majority hangs in the balance.
Written by John Preston (The Dig, A Very English Scandal) and landing on BritBox express from British screens, Stonehouse is a story inspired by sensational true events, that explores the price of ambition, the pressures of politics and how attitudes towards mental health have changed in the last 50 years.
The Chelsea Detective (new & exclusive to BritBox)
Season 1
Thursday 26 January 2023
Created by Peter Fincham, The Chelsea Detective stars Adrian Scarborough (The King’s Speech, Killing Eve, 1917) as Detective Inspector Max Arnold, who lives on a battered houseboat at the end of Chelsea’s Cheyne Walk – a far cry from the affluent elite whose crimes he sets out to solve in this upmarket London neighbourhood.
Across four feature-length episodes, Max and DC Priya Shamsie (Sonita Henry – Luther, Krypton) investigate a wide range of crimes at locations ranging from a stonemasons’ workshop at Brompton Cemetery to a fashionable school for international students and a local garden centre with links to Chelsea Football Club hooligans. A hit with UK and international audiences, The Chelsea Detective has already been commissioned for a second season.
“Detailed storytelling and fine acting … Four mystery stories capture the essence of the posh London locality of Chelsea, from teenagers to high life to football.” – Firstpost
*** Coming to BritBox in February – Express from the UK ***
Happy Valley (New & exclusive to BritBox)
Season 3
Thursday, 9 February 2023
A global hit with critics and viewers alike, Sally Wainwright’s gritty multi-BAFTA winning crime drama Happy Valley returns for a final six-part instalment, launching on BritBox express from the UK, and featuring Sarah Lancashire (Last Tango in Halifax) in her award-winning role as Sergeant Catherine Cawood. Season three sees Catherine discovering the remains of a gangland murder victim in a drained reservoir, sparking a chain of events that unwittingly leads her straight back to the manipulative Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton – Grantchester, War & Peace, McMafia).
A strong supporting cast includes Siobhan Finneran as Catherine’s troubled sister Clare, plus newcomers Jack Bandeira (Sex Education) and Anthony Flanagan (Gentleman Jack). Seasons one and two will also be available to binge-watch from 9 February exclusively on BritBox.
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