Everything British Streaming on PBS for May 2026
Our monthly rundown of everything British coming to PBS and PBS Passport for May 2026.
The Forsytes Season 1 may have concluded as PBS rounds into May, but the 2026 spring lineup isn’t over, not by a long shot. Both of PBS’s other Sunday night shows, Call the Midwife and The Count of Monte Cristo, still have two more episodes to go as we head into the new month, both of which are solid anchors for the rest of the lineup. Call the Midwife is quite possibly PBS’s most stable Sunday night offering, bringing faithful viewers in year after year, but Monte Cristo has also turned out to be a surprise hit... Too bad it’s The Forsytes that Masterpiece trebled down on for two more seasons.
However, this May has a few oddballs in the mix. For one thing, there is no major Great Performances production at the end of the season, as there usually is. The pattern was disrupted in 2025 due to renovations at The Delacorte Theater space in Central Park, delaying the usual outdoor Shakespeare offering until November. It’s not clear whether late autumn will be the new spot for it here on out, but either way, the lack of British theatrical offerings is notable.
But that doesn’t mean PBS is lacking in the British offerings department. In fact, the rollback of public media funding has merely driven everyone to be more creative with what it already has, which is why May 2026 will arrive with some really great watches – and rewatches – to fill the void.
Here’s the list of May 2026 British premieres heading to most PBS stations and their various streaming outlets.
Dalgliesh Season 2
PBS’s current deal with Acorn TV to port over the streaming service’s exclusive shows to local stations benefits both networks, giving PBS more shows to air and showcasing Acorn’s best programming to attract potential subscribers. It’s also for viewers, who now get new seasons of shows that were only available behind a paywall on a yearly basis. For May, the biggest title arriving from Acorn is the Bertie Carvel remake of Dalgliesh, which ran three seasons. Season 1 arrived in May 2025; now Season 2 is here, only one year later.
All six episodes of Dalgliesh Season 2 will be available to stream on select PBS Passports beginning Friday, May 1, 2026. As always, check your local listings.
Whitstable Pearl Season 2
Dalgliesh isn’t the only major Acorn series to port over Season 2 to PBS for May. Cozy crime series Whitstable Pearl, starring Kerry Godliman and Howard Charles, also arrives with a second season, 13 months after Season 1 debuted in April 2025. Unlike Lucy Lawless or Jane Seymour, Godliman’s series never picked up a hardcore following in the U.S. while it was on Acorn; however, with another round of episodes airing on PBS Passport (and two more seasons to come), this is the show’s time to shine.
All six episodes of Whitstable Pearl Season 2 will land on some PBS stations and select PBS Passports starting Friday, May 1, 2026. Check your local listings & streaming services.
Martin Clunes: Islands of America
If that weren’t enough, PBS viewers also get the latest in the Martin Clunes travelogue series, where he visits various Islands around the world. Having exhausted both seasons of his previous offering, Martin Clunes: Islands of the Pacific, this year, PBS is bringing over his next series in the franchise, Martin Clunes: Islands of America.
All episodes of Martin Clunes: Islands of America debut on some PBS linear stations and select PBS Passports on Friday, May 1, 2026. As always, check those local listings and streaming services.
The Nordic Murders (Der Usedom-Krimi) Season 6
On top of all that, the first of the month is a Friday, which means May kicks off with a new show from Walter Presents. This month starts with The Nordic Murders (Der Usedom-Krimi, technically The Usedom Mysteries, but also aired under the title Baltic Crimes). It’s been a hot minute since the series last debuted new episodes in October 2024, but that’s because Walter Presents caught up to what was available with what it called “Season 5.” (Network ARD does not break the show into seasons – it’s just been debuting a few episodes every year since 2014.) Now that the show has five more episodes (which debuted in 2024 and 2025), there are enough installments for “Season 6.”
All five episodes of The Nordic Murders Season 6 arrive on Friday, May 1, 2025, on PBS Passport and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel.
MaryLand
Since The Forsytes was a couple of episodes shy of its 8 and 10 p.m. counterparts, Masterpiece is squeezing in an encore presentation of the Suranne Jones series, MaryLand, from 2024. The series was Jones’s first crack at script-writing, and stars her and Eve Best as two estranged sisters who make peace when they discover the screwed-up secrets their late mother kept from them were way worse than anything they ever did to each other.
MaryLand debuts Sunday, May 3, 2026, at 9 p.m. ET on most PBS stations and the PBS app and will air/stream weekly through mid-May. All episodes are already streaming on PBS Passport and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel.
Life On Earth: Attenborough’s Greatest Adventure
David Attenborough has achieved a feat even Queen Elizabeth II couldn’t – he lived to 100. Public Media’s favorite British nature presenter will be given accolades across the BBC, with specials on Acorn and Netflix as well. PBS has acquired the main special from the BBC, the documentary series Life On Earth: Attenborough’s Greatest Adventure, a look back on his seminal achievement, the Life on Earth series, which celebrates 50 years since the start of production, along with Attenborough’s centenary
Life on Earth: Attenborough’s Greatest Adventure will premiere on PBS stations, the PBS app, and the PBS Documentary Prime Video Channel as part of the long-running NOVA series on Wednesday, May 6, 2026.
Velvet Collection Season 2
After the success of Spanish-language series Velvet (Galerías Velvet) on local PBS stations, Walter Presents is now bringing over the two-season sequel, Velvet Collection (Velvet Colección). Season 1 debuted in February 2026, and Season 2 is now here. There was also a Christmas special double episode finale, which is not included in this batch, so there’s one more round waiting in the wings.
All ten episodes of Velvet Collection Season 2 will debut on PBS Passport and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel starting Friday, May 8, 2026.
Carpe Diem Season 1
A brand new series that debuted at the end of 2024 on France’s TF1, Carpe Diem, featuring Walter Presents favorite Samuel Le Bihan (The Mountain Detective) in a brand new series. Le Bihan stars Tom Villeneuve, exonerated after 17 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Having dedicated his time away to studying law, he opens a practice defending the wrongfully accused, living by the rule “Carpe Diem” - seize the day. The series has already been renewed and is currently in production, so there should be more to come in 2027.
All episodes of Carpe Diem Season 1 will debut on PBS Passport and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel starting Friday, May 15, 2026.
Downton Abbey Season 1
There are only two episodes left of Call the Midwife and MaryLand’s, but MaryLand runs three. If you think that’s just an awkward way the chip fell, you’d be wrong, because MaryLand’s finale airs the same night Masterpiece brings back the show that made it relevant for the 21st century: Downton Abbey. PBS is doing a continuous run of the show’s first three seasons from May through September, as they were originally broadcast in America. That means Season 1 is the four-episode weirdo truncated version, not the seven-episode version everyone streams on Netflix, but that just makes us more curious to see how viewers react to it.
The four feature-length episode version of Downton Abbey Season 1 debuts Sunday, May 17, 2026, at 10 p.m. ET on most PBS stations and the PBS app, and will air/stream weekly through mid-June. All episodes are already streaming on PBS Passport and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel.
Murder in the Mountains (SOKO Kitzbühel) Season 3
We were on hiatus when the second season of Murder in the Mountains (SOKO Kitzbühel) debuted in November 2025. Just as Luna & Sophie (now airing under Partners in Crime: Potsdam Homicide) is the renamed version of Germany’s CSI-like SOKO franchise, SOKO Potsdam, Murder in the Mountains is actually SOKO Kitzbühel, which ran 20 seasons in its home country. However, each original season was 6-7 episodes, and Walter Presents is bringing it over in 13-14 episode batches, so this is actually Seasons 5 and 6 of the original series.
All 13 episodes of Murder in the Mountains Season 1 (which is actually SOKO Kitzbühel Seasons 5+6) debut on PBS Passport and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel on Friday, May 22, 2026.
The Wagner Method (César Wagner) Season 4
Lastly, but by no means least, Walter Presents closes the month with Season 4 of The Wagner Method (CésarCésar Wagner). The French blend of Professor T and The Nordic Murders stars Gil Alma as the titular DCI César Wagner. Season 4 had not been greenlit when Season 3 arrived in June 2025, so we’re not too worried about the fact that Season 5 is not yet confirmed. This show is too popular not to continue.
All three episodes of The Wagner Method debut on PBS Passport and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel on Friday, May 29, 2026.
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