Everything British Worth Streaming in August 2025

Here in the U.S., the summer weather has been worse than usual, which is to say heading towards our new normal of extreme heat and oppressive humidity. (The air is so thick you can chew it, is what I'm saying.) Most Europeans still haven't clocked that air conditioning isn't optional when you start getting these sorts of conditions — it's the only reason most people can live in the American South. It's also why summer reruns were never going to survive climate change; too many people, huddling at home away from code red air quality and needing new shows to watch.

August is no longer the doldrums of summer on the small screen. Although, as the streaming wars iron out, September and October have been slowly returning as the primary points in the calendar year when new shows debut. You can see it in this month's listings: Netflix is rolling out a few films as its Trainwreck series wraps up, HBO is letting The Gilded Age continue to be its main series for the month, while the small-time streaming services take advantage of the light schedules elsewhere to premiere shows they're not certain would survive in a more competitive part of the landscape.

However, the most fascinating listing for this month is BritBox, which is preparing for the new signups it hopes to see as a result of its HBO Max deal and its most aggressive TV season lineup yet. There's so much coming to BritBox that I almost made it a standalone list, until I realized nothing debuts until August 15. We'll have to see how the next few months play out, but BritBox is aiming to reach a new level of critical mass for the 2025-2026 season, and we're rooting for its success. Until then, let's run down everything British streaming around the apps for August 2025.

The Newsreader Season 2

A little-marketed drop on AMC+ from Australia, the 1980s-set The Newsreader's first season arrived on AMC+ and Sundance Now in December 2024. Now Season 2 debuts on AMC+ less than a week into August 2025, a fact AMC Networks announced... four hours after this post was initially published. Lucky for them, the series stars Fringe’s Anna Torv and Interview with a Vampire’s Sam Reid, and would be the next Down Under cult hit if it were only streaming somewhere that was not Sundance Now or AMC+, so I added it at the last minute. Two episodes premiere on Thursday, August 7, 2025, with one a week to follow.

Irish Blood

Acorn TV ended up on the "British-ish" end of the spectrum with its newest detective series, Irish Blood. Like Art Detectives, Harry Wild, My Life is Murder, etc., Irish Blood is a series that takes a 1990s-era TV star and puts them at the center of a British cozy crime series. However, in this case, the headliner is American actress Alicia Silverstone, who travels to her father's homeland of Ireland to uncover a long-buried family secret. Two episodes debut Monday, August 11, 2025, on Acorn TV and air on Wednesdays on Sundance starting August 13, 2025. Both networks will follow a one episode a week schedule into September.

Kidnapped: The Chloe Ayling Story

The BBC true crime docudrama Kidnapped: The Chloe Ayling Story stars The Spanish Princess's Nadia Parkes as the real-life model Chloe Ayling, who was booked for a fake photoshoot in 2017 and subsequently kidnapped. The six-part drama is about as trashy as it sounds and yet also better than it has any right to be. Two episodes debut on Thursday, August 28, 2025, with one episode to follow each week.

Chief of War

Half-naked Jason Momoa? Half-naked Jason Momoa. I don't understand why Apple isn't just selling Chief of War, a Hawaiian historical period drama set in the 1700s with what red-blooded lovers of men want to see. The series is a passion project for Momoa, who is of Native Hawaiian heritage, and is deeply highbrow in its conception — the entire first installment is entirely spoken in the Hawaiian language, with subtitles focusing on the real-life feuds between the different clans on the islands before the arrival of pale-faced invaders. Also? Half-naked Jason Momoa. Two episodes will arrive on Friday, August 1, 2025, with one episode to follow each week.

Celebrity Escape to the Country Season 1

BritBox continues its quiet expansion of its reality show roster with more of the kind of show referred to in the industry as "lean back TV." (As in, the type of shows you put on and then lean back, only half paying attention.) This round brings the first season of the U.K.'s answer to HGTV's House Hunters franchise, Escape to the Country, celebrity edition. Celebrity Escape to the Country debuts on BritBox on Friday, August 15, 2025, and airs weekly through the end of September.

Sister Boniface Mysteries Season 4

The creators of Father Brown did not initially believe in the idea of a Sister Boniface Mysteries spinoff when it was first pitched, which is why the series airs on UKTV instead of on the BBC, and it took until Season 3 for the parent show to finally make a backdoor pilot. By then, Sister Boniface didn't need any help, and BritBox is now proving that by separating the two series, which until now aired back-to-back in the early part of the year. Will Sister Boniface do well as a fall series? Somehow, I think the Vespa-riding nun will take it in stride. Two episodes debut on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, with one episode to follow each week through September.

Playing Nice

A quartet of high-profile British names comes together for the "every parent's worst nightmare" style thriller series, which follows two couples who discover the hospital sent them home with the wrong babies in Playing Nice. James Norton, Niamh Algar, James McArdle, and Jessica Brown Findlay are two couples from different walks of life, suddenly yoked together as everyone tries to figure out how to handle this as sensitively as possible... or are they? Two episodes debut Tuesday, August 26, 2025, with one a week to follow.

The Sally Wainwright Collection

BritBox is prepping to be ready when Sally Wainwright's newest series, Riot Women, debuts this fall, as well as enticing new sign-ups to watch older favorites with the debuts of two of Wainwright's most popular series, Last Tango in Halifax and Happy Valley. Last Tango has been in limbo for a minute, but Happy Valley was over on Acorn TV, so this is yet another reminder that AMC Networks isn't doing well. All five seasons of Last Tango arrive Tuesday, August 26, 2025. Happy Valley's seasons will debut in sequential order, with Season 1 on August 26, Season 2 on August 27, and Season 3 on August 28.

The Best of BritBox Collection

The reason BritBox is cleaning house and coming correct is that the network is engaging in a similar deal to the one AMC+ did with HBO Max two years ago, in 2023, where HBO Max hosts a selection of shows from the niche service for its subscribers to test drive. We have a separate post outlining what from BritBox will be on HBO Max and when. Most of the shows on offer will be available starting Friday, August 1, with additional seasons of shows arriving on Sunday, August 31, 2025.

My Oxford Year

There's no Bridgerton for 2025, but will you accept a modern British romcom, My Oxford Year as a substitute? Netflix sure hopes so. The film is about an ambitious American exchange student who gets into Oxford University, her childhood dream, only to have her life derailed when she meets a charming and clever local who profoundly alters both of their lives. The film debuts Friday, August 1, 2025.

Hostage

Suranne Jones' follow-up to MaryLand is her new political thriller series, Hostage (formerly The Hostage, formerly The Choice, and some other working title before that). Jones stars as the British Prime Minister, whose husband is kidnapped, forced to work with the French president (Julie Delpy) when she starts receiving threats. As things escalate, both leaders must face an impossible choice. All episodes will be released on Thursday, August 21, 2025.

The Thursday Murder Club

Netflix's biggest British title for August is the heavily marketed The Thursday Murder Club, based on the best-selling novels by Richard Osman and starring a who's who of British talent, including Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie. If the film is as successful as Netflix hopes, I would expect this to turn into a franchise, as Osman is already up to Book 5. The movie debuts on Netflix on Thursday, August 28, 2025.

The Great American Baking Show: Celebrity Summer

Roku remains the home of everything Great British Baking Show (excluding content already acquired by Netflix), including The Great American Baking Show. The U.S. edition of the show will launch its next celebrity special as a teaser ahead of GBBO's expected return in the fall. The special debuts on Saturday, August 16, 2025.

Outlander: Blood of My Blood

Finally, last but not least, Starz returns to our monthly listings with the spinoff Outlander: Blood of My Blood. The series, which managed to find four people who really look like they could be the parents of Outlander leads Jaime and Claire, will tell a prequel story of the previous generation's love stories and how Jaime's parents and Claire's parents accidentally changed the courses of each other's lives. The series debuts with two episodes on Starz on Friday, August 8, 2025, with one episode released each week thereafter.