Happy 100th birthday BBC! Now when the hell is BritBox coming to Aotearoa?

BritBox

Blakes 7 is just one of the many shows available to stream on BritBox that are not currently available on any service in New Zealand.

James Croot is the editor of Stuff to Watch.

OPINION: October 18 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the BBC.

While it didn’t begin its television service until 14 years later and none of its programming featured on the opening night here on June 1, 1960, by mid-October of that year Aucklanders could enjoy dramatic delights such as Spy-Catcher, The History of Mr Polly and Our Mutual Friend.

Thus began more than 60 years – and counting – of “the Beeb” entertaining Kiwi audiences, beaming slices of British life (both real and fantastical) into our homes, as well as inspiring local productions of some of its long-running shows. Mastermind, University Challenge, Praise Be, Spot On – all were either licensed lifts, or riffs, on programmes that have been broadcast on the BBC for more than half a century.

But while the company still provides us with a regular supply of quality shows such as Sherwood, The Responder, This is Going to Hurt, Industry and The Tourist, split mainly between TVNZ and Sky, the latter also boasting four dedicated channels (BBC UKTV, CBeebies, BBC Earth and BBC World News), we in Aotearoa are grossly under-served in comparison with our Australian cousins.

BBC

The BBC was formed on October 18, 1922.

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They can stream multiple seasons of classic BBC shows such as The Good Life; Dad’s Army; Fawlty Towers; Yes, Minister; Luther; Blakes 7; All Creatures Great and Small; The Thick of It; and The Young Ones. That’s in addition to virtually the entire runs of beloved hits such as Doctor Who (only seven of the 39 seasons are available to New Zealand viewers) and Call the Midwife.

But we’re left looking out for one-off episodes on UKTV and scrabbling to find what DVDs might be left lying about in JB Hi-Fi or available to rent from Alice’s or Aro Video, or to buy from overseas.

The reason for such disparity? They have BritBox. A joint venture between the BBC and ITV (yes, it has thousands of hours of programming from the Beeb’s great rivals as well), the streaming service debuted in Australia on “Doctor Who Day” – November 23, 2020.

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Luther, Open All Hours and The Young Ones are among the beloved BBC shows that are easy to stream in Australia but almost impossible to find in New Zealand.

For just A$9 a month (or A$90 a year), subscribers can reacquaint or introduce themselves to the adventures and antics of DCI Gene Hunt, Richard Richard, DI Jack Frost or Albert Arkwright. A similar option is open to those in eight other countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Sweden, Finland, South Africa, Denmark and Norway. However, the company appears to have no such plans to expand to our side of the Tasman.

I’ve no doubt there are “rights issues”. For example, ITV’s Coronation Street plays on UKTV in Australia, while it has always been homed on TVNZ here.

But much of the Sky channel’s content is the same as its Aussie counterpart and indeed the programming and operation is actually run out of BBC Studios in Sydney (don’t get me started on our lack of their other channel, BBC First, on our shores). So if UKTV and BritBox can happily co-exist in “the lucky country”, why the hell can’t they offer it here? Particularly when most of the shows we’re missing out on are anywhere from 20 to 50 years old.

So happy birthday, BBC – but a BritBox for Christmas should be the anniversary gift you give to us.

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BritBox launched in Australia in November 2020.

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Blackadder: A comedy with brilliant one-liners and plots so cunning you could pin a tail on them and call them weasels.

Blackadder (Prime Video)

Although inexplicably missing the second and best series (featuring a sublime Miranda Richardson as a wicked Elizabeth I), these 18 episodes still offer up Rowan Atkinson’s finest hours (Mr Bean fans and Johnny English-lover John Key be damned).

As he played various members of the Blackadder household at various, significant times in British history, each episode was packed with terrific verbal and visual gags, scene-stealing cameos from comedy greats, brilliant one-liners and plots so cunning you could pin a tail on them and call them weasels.

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Kate Winslet, Ben Stiller, Samuel L Jackson and Ross Kemp were among the stars joining Ashley Jensen and Ricky Gervais on Extras.

Extras (TVNZ+)

While many favour Ricky Gervais’ earlier workplace comedy, The Office, it’s hard not to love the allure of celebrities sending themselves up on this mid-noughties series. Gervais and Ashley Jensen are two actors barely paying the bills with employment as background artists in a succession of film and television productions.

The real joy, though, is in their hilarious interactions with the likes of David Bowie, Daniel Radcliffe, Kate Winslet and Sir Ian McKellen.

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Eric Idle as a contestant in Monty Python’s famous Upper Class Twit of the Year sketch.

Monty Python’s Flying Circus (Netflix)

The seminal grand-daddy of British comedy – the spectacular and quite often surreal sketch series that, more than 50 years on, is still eminently memorable – and quotable. John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin and Eric Idle combined for an increasingly eclectic four-season run.

Scenarios end without warning, jokes unexpectedly reoccur, and the sextet constantly break the fourth wall and push the boundaries of what was “acceptable” in British society circa 1970.

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Adrian Dunbar, Martin Compston and Vicky McClure are the heart, soul and moral conscience of police procedural Line of Duty.

Line of Duty (TVNZ+, AMC+)

While the state broadcaster was late to the party on this addictive police procedural, only recognising its potential when the sixth series debuted last year, it has now gone all in on the tense, often fraught investigations of the Anti-Corruption Unit 12.

As well as the superb central trio of Vicky McClure, Martin Compston and Adrian Dunbar, the show has also featured a host of brilliant “guest stars” including Lennie James, Keeley Hawes, Kelly MacDonald, Thandiwe Newton, Daniel Mays and Stephen Graham.

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Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson and James May were Top Gear’s hosting trio between 2003 and 2015.

Top Gear (Prime Video, TVNZ+)

Whatever your favourite line-up of presenters, there’s plenty to enjoy as this series has found increasingly inventive ways to road and off-road “test” vehicles and “discuss” motoring issues during the past two decades. (While it was rebooted into its current more anarchic format in 2002, it was actually first broadcast in 1977.) In each episode, it’s guaranteed you’ll laugh and maybe learn just a little more about cars.

TVNZ+ has the two most recent seasons, while Prime Video boasts 25 from the “classic” May, Hammond, Clarkson era.