North America’s biggest streaming service focused on British and international television premieres more Agatha Raisin, Murdoch Mysteries and The Brokenwood Mysteries as well as new Irish drama Blood and Irish comedy Finding Joy
November 13, 2018 - Following this month’s world premiere of Acorn TV’s first sole commission with the return of AGATHA RAISIN (Nov. 19, Trailer), Acorn TV announces one of its biggest months yet with a December slate featuring six exclusive U.S. Premieres including three Acorn TV Originals, three returning favorites, and a new acclaimed foreign-language drama. Premieres include new psychological crime thriller BLOOD (Trailer) starring Adrian Dunbar (Line of Duty); RTE’s highest-rated new comedy of the year FINDING JOY (Trailer) from creator/star Amy Huberman; another fun new mystery with AGATHA RAISIN AND THE FAIRIES OF FRYFAM starring Ashley Jensen; and lavish Portuguese period love story VIDAGO PALACE (Trailer); as well as new seasons of the hit period mystery series, MURDOCH MYSTERIES and hit New Zealand detective series THE BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES.
December 2018 Acorn TV Calendar
Monday, December 3
FINDING JOY (Exclusive U.S. Premiere, Trailer, Acorn TV Original Series)
“Huberman brings traces of Sarah Silverman, Kristen Wiig and Anna Faris… deceptive sweetness full of gleeful, nasty surprises” – Irish Times
“Charmer… Huberman has warm, almost effortless likeability in spades.” -Independent
RTE’s Highest-Rated New Comedy of the Year
Created, written and starring IFTA Award Winner Amy Huberman (Available for INTERVIEWS, Striking Out, The Clinic), Acorn TV’s new risqué Irish comedy follows a single woman, Joy (Huberman), after a painful breakup, who looks for happiness in all the wrong places. Finding Joy premiered on RTÉ in Ireland in October and is their highest-rated new comedy of 2018. Finding Joy is a warm, irreverent show with a lot of heart and laughs as Joy struggles with life, her friends and her world. The series co-stars popular stand-up comedian Aisling Bea (The Fall, Hard Sun), Lochlann O’Mearain (Outlander), Jenny Rainsford (Fleabag), Catherine Walker (Acceptable Risk, Versailles), Paul Reid (Vikings), and Mark Doherty (Moone Boy).
VIDAGO PALACE, Season 1 (Foreign-Language, Exclusive U.S. Premiere)
Hailed as the first drama production between Portugal’s RTP and Spain’s TVG and achieving the highest primetime ratings for RTP in three years, this new lavish, award-winning Portuguese romantic drama is set in 1936 Portugal. With the innocence of her twenty-two years, Carlota de Vimieiro, a beautiful, educated, heiress of the most highly ranked aristocratic families of Portugal, represents the clash between a new and old society. Bankruptcy threatens the Vimieiros future and the marriage of Carlota to César da Silva, son of the wealthy owners of vast cacao plantations in Brazil is their only solution. But Carlota’s life is about to change, a few weeks before she falls for Pedro, the Hotel concierge. In the meantime, in Spain across the border, a Civil War is breaks out. Against the glamorous backdrop of the luxury hotel and health resort in Vidago, Portugal, two young people of different classes who long to be together must overcome many obstacles that are thrown in their path. Vidago Palace is the awakening of a girl, and her quest to conquer not only what her heart dictates but, beyond what is expected of her, evolving from an obedient child into a woman fighting to control her own destiny. In a world that is collapsing, changing and swarming in danger, she chooses to stand up for herself. It is the story of Carlota, a woman ahead of her time. (6 EPS, 2017)
THE BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES, Series 5, Episode 1,Scared to Death (Exclusive U.S./Canada Premiere)
“Must-see TV…Awesome… Mike Shepherd is an immensely likable guy…Easy-going, intelligent, and depending on the situation, funny or downright witty.” -British TV Place
Acorn TV’s New Zealand detective series is filmed amid the beautiful landscape of New Zealand’s North Island, and returns with four feature-length, standalone mysteries featuring compelling characters, dry humor, and piquant wit. After transferring from a big city to the small town of Brokenwood, Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Shepherd (Neill Rea, Go Girls) works cases alongside methodical young assistant, Detective Kristin Sims (Fern Sutherland, The Almighty Johnsons). In Series 5, the detectives investigate a death on a ghost train ride at a carnival, a bride found dead following her bachelorette party, a suspicious death of a cyclist, and a murder at an old mental health asylum. (TV Movie)
Monday, December 10th
SECRET DAUGHTER, Series 1 & 2
A feel-good Australian drama series focused on a part-time country pub singer Billie Carter (Singer and actress Jessica Mauboy), who finds herself in hot water with the local hood and pretends to be the secret daughter of a wealthy city hotelier. From a small country town to a five-star city living, Billie soon finds that her decision comes with whole new set of issues. (2016-2017, 12 EPS)
QUEEN ELIZABETH’S BATTLE FOR CHURCH MUSIC
“Fascinating…to magnificent life” -Independent
BBC Four Documentary (2017). Presenter Lucy Worsley unpacks the curious history of Choral Evensong, which but for the direct intervention of Elizabeth I, might have vanished forever during the turmoil of the Reformation. When Elizabeth took power she was determined to find a religious compromise - she resurrected the protestant religion of her brother but kept the music of her beloved father - music that she too adored. And it was in the evocative service of choral Evensong that her ideas about religious music found their ultimate expression. (1 EPS)
THE BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES, Series 5, Episode 2,Bride Not to Be (Exclusive U.S./Canada Premiere)
New Series 5 episode of the fan-favorite New Zealand detective drama series
Monday, December 17th
BLOOD (Exclusive U.S. Premiere, Acorn TV Original)
“There are plenty of reasons to watch Blood, from its fine casting of unfamiliar faces to its supple command of plot and pace” –Irish Times
“A well-made, handsome piece of work, and the acting is exemplary” – The Irish Independent
“Dunbar is chilling” – Irish Examiner
New six-part psychological crime thriller starring BAFTA and IFTA nominee Adrian Dunbar (Available for INTERVIEWS,Line of Duty, The Hollow Crown) and newcomer Carolina Main (Unforgotten, Granchester) in the intimate family drama and psychological crime thriller about family, memory, and the impact the past can have on the present. When a daughter begins to notice discrepancies in her father’s stories, she suspects he may have been involved in her mother’s death. The audience will constantly question whether Cat is paranoid or has in fact discovered a terrible truth about her father.
LORDS & LADLES, Series 1
Three of Ireland’s top chefs – Derry Clarke, Catherine Fulvio, and Paul Flynn – gather at opulent country manors to recreate banquets of the past. (6 EPS)
THE BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES, Series 5, Episode 3,Tontine (Exclusive U.S./Canada Premiere)
New Series 5 episode of the fan-favorite New Zealand detective drama series
Monday, December 24th
MURDOCH MYSTERIES, Season 12, Ep 1 & 2 (U.S. Premiere)
One of Acorn TV’s most popular series returns for a new season. Garnering more than two dozen Gemini® nominations and the sole 2016 ‘Fan’s Choice Award’ at the Canadian Screen Awards for Yannick Bisson (Available for INTERVIEWS), Murdoch Mysteries has found a huge audience in North America for its period charm, entertaining mysteries, and likeable characters. Set in Toronto in the late 1890s and early 1900s during the age of invention, the mystery series centers on Detective William Murdoch, a methodical and dashing detective, who enlists radical new forensic techniques like fingerprinting, ultraviolet light, and trace evidence to solve some of the city’s most gruesome murders.
AGATHA RAISIN AND THE FAIRIES OF FRYFAM (Exclusive WORLD Premiere, Acorn TV’s first sole commission)
“My favorite show of the summer…comic mystery with delightful Ashley Jensen” -The New York Times
Emmy®-nominated actress Ashley Jensen (Available for INTERVIEWS,Catastrophe, Extras, Ugly Betty) returns in the adaptations of MC Beaton’s best-selling novels. The series follows a London PR whizz turned amateur sleuth, who becomes entangled in mischief, mayhem, and murder when she opts for early retirement in the country. In The Fairies of Fryfam (Movie #2 of 3 in Series 2), in a desperate attempt to avoid her ex-lover, James Lacey (Jamie Glover, Waterloo Road), whose return to Carsely is imminent, Agatha escapes to the remote and seemingly idyllic village of Fryfam, under the guise of writing “her big novel.” But it isn’t long before Agatha’s nose for trouble ensnares her in a maelstrom of jealousy and dangerous liaisons, when all is not as it seems in this eerie forgotten village, and when it leads to murder, there’s only one person who can solve it. (TV Movie)
A MOODY CHRISTMAS + THE MOODYS
ABC Australia’s six-part comedy series A Moody Christmas and its follow-up eight-episode series The Moodys focuses on the loveable, yet seasonally dysfunctional, Moody family. The series stars Ian Meadows (Dead Lucky, Rake), Jane Harber (Offspring), Patrick Brammall (Glitch, No Activity), Tina Bursill (The Heart Guy),Phil Lloyd (Sando), and Sacha Horler (Sando). (2012-14, 14 episodes)
THE BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES, Series 5, Episode 4,The Dark Angel, Season Finale (Exclusive U.S./Canada Premiere)
New Series 5 episode of the fan-favorite New Zealand detective drama series
Monday, December 31st
HENRY IX (British comedy)
A classic story of a forty-something man suffering a mid-life crisis and looking to escape from his current situation - the twist being that this forty-something man also happens to be the King of England (or more accurately Great Britain and the Commonwealth). Set in the entirely fictional, but contemporary court of King Henry IX, the series sees Henry (Charles Edwards) struggle to make changes to his life in the face of centuries of tradition and a Royal household who are fairly sure they have his - and if not, certainly have their own - best interests at heart. Co-starring Sally Phillips, Annette Crosbie, Don Warrington, and Colin Salmon. (3 EPS, 2017)
THE REAL DOCTOR ZHIVAGO
BBC Four Documentary, 2017. Dr Zhivago is one of the best-known love stories of the 20 century, but the setting of the book also made it famous. It’s a tale of passion and fear, set against a backdrop of revolution and violence. The film is what most people remember, but the story of the writing of the book has more twists, intrigue and bravery than many a Hollywood blockbuster. In this documentary, Stephen Smith traces the revolutionary beginnings of this bestseller, to it becoming a pawn of the CIA at the height of the Cold War. Writing his book for over twenty tumultuous years, Boris Pasternak knew it could result in his death. It did result in his mistress being sent to the Gulag twice, but he had to have his say. This is the story of the writing of perhaps the bravest book ever published. It’s the untold story of the real Dr Zhivago - Boris Pasternak. (1 EPS)
WILD DECEMBERS
In Edna O’Brien’s adaptation of her romantic novel, Wild Decembers, a centuries old feud flares up, threatening the happiness of two young lovers. When Michael Bugler (Matt Ryan,Legends of Tomorrow) inherits his uncle’s farm in rural Ireland, his appearance in the community stirs up long-dead passions, changing the lives of brother and sister, Joseph (Owen McDonnell, Killing Eve, Single-Handed) and Breege (Lara Belmont, The War Zone) forever. Also featuring Sean McGinley (Shetland, Republic of Doyle). (Feature-length, 2009)
MURDOCH MYSTERIES, Season 12, Ep 3 (U.S. Premiere)
New Season 12 episode of the smash hit period mystery series
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About Acorn TV: Called a “glorious streaming service… an essential must-have” (The Hollywood Reporter) and “Netflix for the Anglophile” (NPR), Acorn TV continues to curate the very best in international television and remains North America’s largest streaming service for international television. Emmy®-nominated Acorn TV adds exclusive new programs every week and features a deep library of mysteries, dramas, and comedies with no set end dates. Subscribers can stream many of their favorite international series and discover new and classic programs previously unavailable to U.S. audiences. Acorn TV is available via Apple TV, Roku, iOS, Chromecast, Android, among many other devices and offers a free trial and thereafter is just $4.99/month or $49.99/year. Facebook: OfficialAcornTV - Twitter @AcornTV
WATCH NOW: Premieres will be added as they become available. https://acorn.tv/press . Mirror to your TV via Apple TV or Chromecast. DVDs available upon request.
Acorn TV Press Contact: Chad Campbell, ccampbell@acorn.tv
