by Thinus Ferreira
When Britbox launches on 6 August in South Africa viewers will be able to watch thousands of hours of classic British TV content, as well as new seasons of shows, exclusive new series, and a new feature-length documentary, Wedding of the Century, with carefully restored HD footage of Prince Charles and Diana's 1981-wedding with new interviews.
Britbox as a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service will launch on 6 August as the latest international video streaming service to become accessible to local audiences at a cost of R99.99 per month and can be accessed at britbox.com on Android and Apple mobile devices and tablets, FireTV, AppleTV, Samsung Smart TV and LG Smart TV sets.
New content for South African viewers on BritBox will include series like Annika starring Nicola Walker, Deadwater Fell with David Tennant and The Larkins with Bradley Walsh, as well as Michael Apted's multi-award winning documentary series Up, from 1964's Seven Up all the way to the most recent 63 Up.
BritBox will also have the second season of Manhunt with Martin Clunes, Unforgotten season four, Endeavour season eight, Vera season 11, Grantchester season six and The Syndicate season four.
Classic library series on BritBox will include Blackadder, Absolutely Fabulous, Inspector Morse, Top Gear, Poldark, Fawlty Towers, Keeping Up Appearances and Midsomer Murders.
The 6th season of the police drama series Line of Duty will be on BritBox in which Kelly Macdonald is guest-starring as DCI Joanne Davidson, the senior
investigating officer on an unsolved murder whose unconventional conduct raises
eyebrows at the AC-12 anti-corruption unit.
Expect cliffhangers and plot twists as cast regulars Martin Compston, Vicky McClure and Adrian Dunbar return
in their quest to bring "bent coppers" to book while fighting their own flaws.
Professor T is an exclusive new drama series on BritBox, with Ben
Miller as Professor Jason Tempest, a
brilliant but unorthodox criminologist at the University of Cambridge, and Emma
Naomi as DI Lisa Donckers, a detective facing an
uphill battle to get the eccentric professor's help with a challenging case.
South African BritBox subscribers will also be able to watch Wedding of the Century, a feature-length documentary about Prince Charles and Princess Diana's 1981-wedding, showcasing carefully
restored high-definition footage with interviews with key
professionals from behind the scenes.
"We're really excited to be bringing BritBox into South African homes and are
confident viewers are going to love our programming, which offers a mixture of
brilliant classic and contemporary content, plus the biggest collection of
British box sets, all in one place," says Neale Dennett, BritBox
International's new markets launch director.
BritBox CEO Reemah Sakaan says "It's quality content that's effortlessly watchable. British TV and film has grown exponentially as a cultural export in recent years, with productions and talent frequently scooping BAFTAs, Emmys and Oscars, and regularly recognized as some of the best in the world for quality and escapism".
"Our TV is no longer niche but has come
firmly into the mainstream, plus there's a definite rise in nostalgia viewing,
which is finding completely new audiences. It's a rich time to be in British
TV."
