'This England' to Grace BritBox at the Start of November

When it was first announced there would be a TV series about Boris Johnson's role in dealing with COVID-19 in June 2020, it was decried as "too soon." After all, the crisis had barely started at that point; most people had only just realized that "ten weeks and then back to normal" was about to give way to two long years of lockdowns and testing, not to mention political fights over masking and vaccinations. When Kenneth Branagh was presented as Johnson six months later, it still felt too soon. However, by rushing to work on the series, by the time it made it to screen in the U.K. in September 2021, Boris Johnson's reign had only just fully collapsed from his COVID-era partygate scandal.

One might consider that fortuitous timing had Queen Elizabeth II not died two weeks before. The series premiere wound up so completely overshadowed on Sky TV as to be unnoticed in all the mourning and aftershocks of the new King Charles III, not to mention the here today gone tomorrow of Johnson's successor Liz Truss. However, their loss is America's gain. A year and change later, the series makes its way across the pond to BritBox, where it arrives just in time for audiences to be ready to look back with a knowing eye at how Johnson really handled it.

BritBox will bring all six episodes of the series as a binge just in time for November. Check out Sky TV's original trailer from last year.

Here's the series synopsis:

This England, the 6-part series based on Boris Johnson’s tumultuous first months as UK Prime Minister, traces the impact on the country of the first wave of the Coronavirus pandemic. The drama takes viewers inside the halls of power as Johnson grapples with Covid-19, Brexit, and a controversial personal and political life. The events in government are interwoven with stories from around the country, from the experts and scientists racing against time to understand the virus; the doctors, nurses, and care-home workers on the frontline working tirelessly and heroically to contain and overcome it; and ordinary people whose lives were thrown into turmoil.

Branagh surrounds himself with a high-profile cast playing real-life figures, including Simon Paisley Day (Brexit) as Dominic Cummings, Ophelia Lovibond (Rocketman) as Carrie Symonds, Andrew Buchan (COBRA) as Matt Hancock, Simon Treves (Unforgotten) as Prof. Sir Stephen Powis, Medical Director NHS England, Julia Farino (The End of the World) as Amanda Pritchard, Chief Operating Officer, NHS England, Simon Lowe (Downton Abbey) as James Slack, Shri Patel (Pennyworth) as Rishi Sunak, and Ben Lloyd-Hughes (Sanditon) as Ben Gascoigne.

The series was co-written and directed by Michael Winterbottom (A Mighty Heart) and Julian Jarrold from award-winning executive producer Richard Brown (Catch-22). The series was produced by Fremantle, Passenger, and Revolution Films.

All six episodes of This England will premiere on BritBox on Wednesday, November 1, 2023.