"Best of BritBox" Collection Coming to HBO Max

HBO Max is back, baby! The largest of the current also-ran streamers restored the HBO to its name just after July 4, as the parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, splits into two "new" companies to be called... Warner Bros. and Discovery. (Groundbreaking.) The first act of business (or at least the first act of business we care about around here) was the renewal of The Gilded Age for Season 4, guaranteeing employment and benefits for a large swath of Broadway while providing the rest of us the sartorial joys of Bertha Russell. Its next move will be a two-month "pop-up" event, partnering with BritBox to bring its shows to HBO subscribers for free.

Anglophiles will dopubtlessly remember when the then-shorn-of-its-HBO Max did a similar two-month deal two years ago, in 2023, with AMC Networks, bringing over a selection of seven shows from the woefully underperforming AMC+ in hopes of helping build subscribership. At the time, HBO CEO Casey Bloys called it a nice experiment, but when it ended in October 2023, there was no follow-up. 

It's notable that now that Bloys has taken full control of HBO and HBO Max, one of the first acts is to rerun the trial to see how the results compare. However, this time, it will partner with the BBC's BritBox, which is not so much a struggling streamer as a niche one that's finally starting to take off after a couple of false starts. Moreover, BritBox will be sending over a much larger collection — 15 shows in all — many with multiple seasons that will be released month by month.

The two-month deal, which we should note is only for HBO Max in the U.S., because most of these shows are on various streaming services across the U.K., begins immediately, starting Friday, August 1, and running through Friday, September 29, 2025. Much like the AMC+ promotion, there will be a dedicated "BritBox app rail" (that's what HBO calls those lines of tiles where you scroll left to right) with the title “The Best of British TV by BritBox.” Over the next two months, a rotating selection of BritBox series will be available to HBO Max subscribers at no additional cost. 

Here is the full list of shows from BritBox that will be streamable on HBO Max, listed in order of arrival/departure.

Available from August 1-September 29:

• Agatha Christie’s Murder Is Easy
• Agatha Christie’s Towards Zero
• Agatha Christie’s Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?
• Blue Lights Seasons 1-2
• Father Brown Seasons 1 & 2
• Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators Season 1 & 2
• Silent Witness Seasons 26 & 27
• Sister Boniface Mysteries Seasons 1 & 2
• The Inspector Lynley Mysteries Seasons 1 & 2
• The Office Seasons 1 & 2
• The Office Christmas Special Parts 1 & 2
• The Sixth Commandment
• Three Little Birds

Available from August 1-August 30:

• Luther Season 1
• Sherwood Season 1
• Time Season 1 

Available from August 31-September 29:

• Luther Season 2
• Time Season 2