Everything British for PBS Viewers to Stream in July 2024

July is just around the corner, and with it, the U.K.'s highly anticipated snap election on July 4, ironically, America's Independence Day. For PBS fans, PBS News will have the usual Wednesday News Hour episode with updates on how the voting has gone and any confirmed results. Results will be reported on BBC News and BBC News America for those whose local PBS channels carry BBC World News or BBC News. But otherwise, it'll be A Capitol Fourth as usual. 

As for the rest of the month's British programming, July used to be the changeover from Endeavour to whatever followed, but since that's over, all three of the PBS mysteries that started in June are in carryover mode. Professor T Season 3, Grantchester Season 9, and D.I. Ray Season 2 continue on the PBS app and the PBS Masterpiece Channel with new episodes streaming on Sundays through the end of the month. Meanwhile, those who didn't get COBRA Season 3 as an early binge on PBS Passport in May can start streaming it when it begins its linear airing on Thursday, July 25, 2024.

Most of the rest of July is a little sleepy, with a few Acorn TV and BritBox favorites arriving at the top of the month for PBS Passport members and the usual Walter Presents titles every Friday. And there's one special debut at the very end of the month for drama fans with the return of Hotel Portofino. 

Let's run down everything coming to PBS on streaming for July 2024.

Beloved British comedian Alan Carr is one of the millions of British children for whom Agatha Christie mysteries are served along with tea and devotion to the monarchy, and like a surprisingly large group of her devoted fans, his career has intertwined with her work. His Alan Carr's Adventures with Agatha Christie, tracing this personal journey, debuted in the U.K. in August 2022 and then came to BritBox in July 2023, exploring the legacy she's left behind and those who carry it forward. Now, it lands on select PBS Passports for members to stream.

Alan Carr's Adventures with Agatha Christie debuts with all episodes on select PBS Passports and PBS linear channels on Monday, July 1, 2024. Check your local listings and streaming services.

Acorn TV initially debuted The Madame Blanc Mysteries in November 2021. A joint commission with Channel 5, the series was conceived by British actor Sally Lindsay (Mount Pleasant), who also writes and stars as its lead character, Cheshire antique dealer Jean Whit; the series revolves around "Madame Blanc," as the locals refer to her, who becomes a crime solver when she's forced to move her operation to the fictional village of Sainte Victoire after her husband's mysterious death. The series has become so popular it now gets yearly Christmas specials and has run three seasons, with a fourth expected soon—the original first season debuts on PBS Passport for members on the first of the month. 

The Madame Blanc Mysteries Season 1 arrives with eight episodes on select PBS Passports on Monday, July 1, 2024. Check your local streaming services.

The award-winning Estonia series Litsid literally translates as The Whores, but Walter Presents renamed the series after the show's lead, Mrs. Kukk (Merle Palmiste), aka Madame K. Season 1, set in 1939, initially aired in its home country in 2018 and arrived on PBS Passport in January 2023. The follow-up series, which aired on Estonia's TV3 in 2021, was actually titled The Women's War (Naiste Sõda), but for the sake of continuity, Walter Presents is sticking with Madame K Season 2. It's now 1941 in Estonia's capital, Tallinn, and Madame K's elite brothel is still thriving despite neutrality being completely ignored by the greater powers surrounding them. 

All ten episodes of Madame K Season 2 debut on PBS Passport and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel on Friday, July 5, 2024.

The French-Belgian 2022 miniseries Revival (Renaissances) starring pop icon turned TV fixture Claire Keim was initially planned to be a story about adoption; however, sometime between the production announcement and the series airing, the whole thing changed, and it wound up airing under the title Enquête à Cœur Ouvert on TF1. (It took hunting through quite a number of Beyonce tracks and YouTube history videos before I finally figured this out, by the way.) The finalized plot is a story about a woman researching the origins of the heart that was donated to her when she starts having nightmares that suggest it comes from a murder victim. 

All six episodes of Revival debut on PBS Passport and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel on Friday, July 12, 2024.

Most of the recent Walter Presents series that are not continuations have been from the 2020s, but not so for Betrayal (Traición), a Spanish miniseries that aired on TVE's La 1 over the Christmas and New Year's break in 2017/2018. Originally titled Indicios, Leyes de Familiar (literally "Indications of Family Law"), it is a soap opera about the powerhouse Fuentes family, whose patriarch, Julio, has built one of the most influential legal firms in the country, staffed by all four of his sons. But when the yearly family get-together reveals Julio is dying of a terminal illness, the fight over succession quickly leads to murder as long-buried secrets start spilling out.

All nine episodes of Betrayal debut on PBS Passport and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel on Friday, July 19, 2024.

I've never been sure if Sky actually means for COBRA to be satirical or if it just accidentally wound up as such, but either way, Robert Sutherland's Cabinet of Crises is back for its third (and most likely final) season. Season 3 has been on PBS Passport for members as an early binge since May 2024, but now it comes to linear, and with that, streaming on the PBS app and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel. Please note that, unlike most British fare, COBRA won't be a Sunday night series; it has been demoted to Thursdays, the night that no local station has bothered to follow the national schedule since Mystery! ended in 2008. I guess this is one rebellion that isn't planning for the televised portion to be a ratings hit.

COBRA Season 3 will stream weekly on the PBS app and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel starting Thursday, July 25, 2024, at 10 p.m. ET. However, most local stations will probably not air it on Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET, so check your local listings if you want to watch it live on air. The series will stream weekly on Thursdays through the end of August.

The Sketch Artist (Portrait-Robot) Season 1 had a split debut. Canadians who subscribe to the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel got the first ten episodes in February, while Americans had to wait until May 2024. Luckily, there are no such shenanigans for Season 2 of the French-Canadian police procedural set in Montreal. Rachel Graton returns as Eve Garance, a sketch artist with a gift for reading people and five more two-part cases. Season 3 is already greenlit and will most likely come to Walter Presents in 2025.

All ten episodes of The Sketch Artist (Portrait-Robot) Season 2 arrive on PBS Passport and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel on Friday, July 26, 2024.

Last but certainly not least, fan-favorite Hotel Portofino is reclaiming its place as PBS' main non-mystery release that arrives in mid-summer. One of the only Eagle Eye Drama series that isn't an English-language remake from sister company Walter Presents, Hotel Portofino has quietly built itself into a soapy, fun, escapist fantasy on the Italian coast. However, Season 3 brings the series to the end of the 1920s and the bottom falling out of the economy, just as Bella's dream starts taking flight.

Hotel Portofino Season 3 premieres on most PBS stations and streams on the PBS app and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel on Sunday, July 28, 2024, at 8 p.m. ET. PBS Passport members will have access to all six episodes on premiere day to watch as a binge. As always, check your local listings. The series will air/stream weekly on Sundays through the beginning of September.