Graham Norton’s murder mystery, a bizarre true-crime yarn and the ‘reel’ history of British cinema 

It’s a year since BritBox launched in South Africa, bringing you the best of British telly to stream at your leisure. And to celebrate this milestone, we have three new and exclusive titles launching in August, featuring some of the leading names working in British entertainment today.
 
The darkly funny murder mystery Holding, starring actor Conleth Hill, highly recognisable from his role as Varys in Game of Thrones, is a four-part adaptation of TV talk show host Graham Norton’s witty debut novel of the same name. A compelling drama with memorable, quirky characters, it explores themes of grief, community, family, and various shades of love.
 
Meet Anne and John Darwin, an ordinary couple who hatched an extraordinary plan to commit insurance fraud. Their bizarre true-crime tale – and how it unravelled in spectacular fashion – is told in the BritBox Original The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe, starring the immensely talented Eddie Marsan and Monica Dolan. You’ll need to see it to believe it!
 
Fans of classic cinema will be captivated by Reel Britannia, a BritBox Original documentary series that traces the illustrious history of British cinema from the 1960s to the 2010s, complete with archive footage and interviews with award-winning British directors. 
 
Plus, one of the most audacious crimes in history that captured the public imagination is dramatised in the rollicking two-part film The Great Train Robbery – showing this historic heist from the perspective of both the robbers and the police who hunted them down.
 
Rounding off the fresh content this Women’s Month is an adaptation of David Walliams’ The Boy in the Dress – a celebration of being different and embracing individuality – and Little Boy Blue, a true-life crime drama detailing the tragic murder of a young football fan in Liverpool in 2007.

We have plenty of birthday treats lined up for South African subscribers to mark our one-year birthday – we hope you enjoy them!
 

BritBox South Africa highlights in August

 
Holding (new & exclusive)
Limited series
Thursday 11 August 2022
Set in the insular fictional village of Duneen, West Cork, on the edge of Ireland, a place with its own climate and rhythms, Holding is a darkly comic murder mystery adapted from TV presenter Graham Norton’s funny and tenderly perceptive best-selling debut novel.
 
Olivier Award-winning actor Conleth Hill (Game of Thrones, Dublin Murders, Vienna Blood) plays police officer Sergeant PJ Collins, a gentle soul who hides from people and fills his days with comfort food and half-hearted police work. When the body of long-lost local legend Tommy Burke is discovered, PJ is called on to solve a serious crime for the first time in his career, and he finally has to connect with the village he has tried hard to avoid.
 
Also starring leading Irish actors Siobhán McSweeney (Derry Girls), Oscar-winner Brenda Fricker (My Left Foot, Veronica Guerin), Charlene McKenna (Ripper Street, Peaky Blinders), Helen Behan (The Virtues), and Pauline McLynn (Father Ted, Shameless), Holding is directed by award-winning director, producer and actor Kathy Burke (Nil By Mouth, Elizabeth, Pan).
 
“A charming adaptation of Graham Norton’s novel … Kathy Burke directs a take on the murder mystery that has wit, warmth and compassion.” – The Guardian

Reel Britannia (new & exclusive BritBox Original)
Season 1 
Thursday 18 August 2022
From Alfie, Get Carter and Chariots of Fire, to A Clockwork Orange, Trainspotting and The Full Monty, this visually striking documentary series tells the colourful story of modern British cinema.

Decade by decade, across four episodes spanning 1960 through to 2010, it portrays how British cinema held up a mirror to society, reflecting the youth revolution of the 1960s, the grit of the 1970s, the social divide of the 1980s, the new hope of the 1990s and the disillusionment of the noughties.

Created by director Jon Spira and producer Hank Starrs (Hollywood Bulldogs: The Rise and Falls of the Great British Stuntman, also available on BritBox), and narrated by actor and comedian Nick Helm,

Reel Britannia explores the stories that shaped Britain’s filmic identity. It features new interviews with a range of award-winning directors, including Terry Gilliam, Mike Leigh, Ken Loach, Hanif Kureishi, Mike Newell, Simon Beaufoy, David Leland and Terence Davies, and archival interviews, alongside behind-the-scenes footage.

“Essential viewing … illustrating how influential UK-based cinema has been for untold generations.” – Yahoo! Movies

The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe (new & exclusive BritBox Original)
Limited series
Tuesday 23 August 2022
BAFTA winner Monica Dolan (Appropriate Adult, W1A, A Very English Scandal) and British Independent Film Award winner Eddie Marsan (Ray Donovan, Sherlock Holmes, Happy-Go-Lucky) play Anne and John Darwin in this extraordinary and compelling true-crime mini-series. It tells the real-life story of how John Darwin (Marsan) faked his own death to claim life insurance and avoid bankruptcy, while Anne Darwin (Dolan) became complicit in her husband’s deception. 
 
Anne set about convincing the world, their family and friends, the police and insurance companies that he had gone missing in 2002 while canoeing, but the deception increasingly took its toll on her as she continued to lie to their devastated sons while her husband secretly lived in a bedsit next door – hiding in plain sight – until eventually, their massive fraud was uncovered.
 
“Quirky, offbeat, hard-hitting and truly memorable.” – Radio Times

Just added to BritBox

The Great Train Robbery
Two-part film (2013) 
Thursday 4 August 2022

Sixty years ago, on 8 August 1963, Britain awoke to the news of the biggest and most audacious robbery in the country’s history. The hijacking of a train 55km from central London left the country stunned and avid for details on who did it, and just how they managed to pull it off. This two-part character-driven period drama stars Jim Broadbent, James Fox, Luke Evans, Martin Compston and Neil Maskell.

Part one, titled A Robber’s Tale, is a classic heist movie filled with wit, suspense, action and a joyous sense of period, following Bruce Reynolds (Evans – The Alienist, The Pembrokeshire Murders) and his team of mid-level criminals in a major theft that baffled the police and thrilled the general public.
 
Part two, A Copper’s Tale, is told from the perspective of Tommy Butler (Oscar winner Broadbent – Iris, The Gathering Storm, Downton Abbey) and his elite team of investigators, as they try to crack one of the biggest crimes of the post-war period, conducted in the full glare of public and media scrutiny. In a race against time, can they put the criminals involved behind bars before they flee the country – and where’s the money?
 
“What it does so beautifully is to explore the dynamic of a gang of men – the power struggles, mistrust, paranoia, boredom, camaraderie and loyalty. Loads of humour too.” – The Guardian
 
The Boy in the Dress 
FIlm (2014)
Thursday 18 August 2022
Based on the best-selling children’s book by beloved actor-turned-author David Walliams(Little Britain), The Boy in the Dress is a celebration of creativity, difference, football and fashion.
 
This family comedy tells the story of Dennis, an ordinary boy who lives in an ordinary house in an ordinary street with his dad and brother, who is increasingly frustrated by the boring, grey world he inhabits. However, as he discovers, transformation can happen in the most unexpected of places. 
 
In Raj’s newsagent, a fashion magazine seems to be calling him. Aided by Lisa, the coolest girl in school, Dennis creates a whole new persona and puts it to the test: can a boy wear a dress, and what will the headmaster, his dad and his friends on the football team think? 
 
With an all-star cast including BAFTA winner Jennifer Saunders (Absolutely Fabulous, French and Saunders), James Buckby (The Inbetweeners), David Walliams (Little Britain, Come Fly With Me) and supermodel Kate Moss.

“A celebration of being different … heartwarming.” – Independent

Little Boy Blue 
Limited series (2016)
This four-part crime drama set in Liverpool is based on the tragic true story of 11-year-old schoolboy Rhys Jones, who was shot dead while walking home from football practice in 2007. Stephen Graham (Snatch, Line of Duty, Peaky Blinders) stars as Detective Superintendent Dave Kelly, the man in charge of tracking down Rhys’s killer.
 
In addition to tracing the tragic true story of a boy’s violent death, the series follows the criminal investigation and the pressure the police were under to find evidence and deliver results. Also starring Sinéad Keenan (Unforgotten, Being Human).
 
“An emotionally raw and powerful account of Rhys Jones's murder.” – The Telegraph
 

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