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surfered

(3,095 posts)
Sun Sep 29, 2024, 10:43 AM Sep 29

We are enjoying Britbox streaming...

It has all your usual murder mystery suspects plus comedies. We especially enjoyed Upstart Crow, where David Mitchell stars as a self-important Shakespeare in a funny, fictionalized sitcom about the Bard's beginnings, family life in Stratford, and the theater business in London. Original air dates: 2016 - 2020.

You don't have to know much more about Shakespeare than your high school experience to get the jokes. Most episodes center around his current play or one he's planning to write. There are continuing themes like stealing material from others, complaining about public transportation between Stratford and London, the misogyny of the day (women were not allowed to be actors so men played women's roles), dealing with the vanity of the actors, the Reformation, and the final episode in 2020 which compares the Plague years with the Covid pandemic.

You may be surprised by the real meaning behind what you read in high school. It's obvious the writer studied a lot of Shakespeare. Warning: it can be a bit bawdy at times, but most curse words are completely made up: bastables and bitchingtons. We've watched the entire series several times, using closed caption to get past the English accents, and to more fully understand the comedic references. We always found something new and funny. My wife and I highly recommend the series as it is an extremely clever comedy.

Enjoy and Cheers!
For the record, we have no financial interest, we just enjoy the programs.

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We are enjoying Britbox streaming... (Original Post) surfered Sep 29 OP
Me too XanaDUer2 Sep 29 #1
Me too! SallyHemmings Sep 29 #2
Same here. We signed up for Britbox a month ago and love it. Firestorm49 Sep 29 #3
Same here. Prairie_Seagull Sep 29 #4
I don't watch much TV but my wife does and BritBox is her go to rurallib Sep 29 #5
I alternate between Britbox and Acorn. I Luciferous Sep 29 #6
I completely forgot about Upstart Crow! Different Drummer Sep 29 #7
Does BritBox streaming have "Vicious"? Different Drummer Sep 29 #8
I don't think so surfered Sep 30 #9
Thanks for the suggestion! HeartsCanHope Sep 30 #10
Do they have Midsomer Murders? Wicked Blue Sep 30 #11
No. That's on Acorn and Ovation surfered Sep 30 #13
Thank you Wicked Blue Oct 1 #15
I subscribed when I saw that they feature the complete BBC/Time Life Shakespeare Series Montauk6 Sep 30 #12
My wife was the high school English teacher surfered Sep 30 #14
We got it again XanaDUer2 Oct 11 #16
Check out Upstart Crow surfered Oct 11 #17

rurallib

(63,198 posts)
5. I don't watch much TV but my wife does and BritBox is her go to
Sun Sep 29, 2024, 05:30 PM
Sep 29

she really loves the mysteries.

BUT as a bonus it looks to me like all their shows are in 4K. When I do watch I am simply amazed at the clarity and colors.

Different Drummer

(8,578 posts)
7. I completely forgot about Upstart Crow!
Sun Sep 29, 2024, 08:31 PM
Sep 29

One of the two PBS stations in the Atlanta metro used to run it on Saturday nights, but they haven't shown it in quite some time.

HeartsCanHope

(736 posts)
10. Thanks for the suggestion!
Mon Sep 30, 2024, 04:06 PM
Sep 30

We love Britbox. In fact, we watch more British TV shows than anything else. We have Britbox and AcornTV. Take care.

Montauk6

(8,617 posts)
12. I subscribed when I saw that they feature the complete BBC/Time Life Shakespeare Series
Mon Sep 30, 2024, 06:38 PM
Sep 30

My fondest memories as an English major back in the 80s.

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