Everything Coming to BritBox & AcornTV in May 2026

This month’s major news in the niche streaming space is the corporate rebrand of AMC Networks, parent company of Acorn TV, AMC+, BBC America, etc, to AMC Global Media. Announced in the company’s SEC filing on April 8, 2026, the new name is intended to reflect a shift in its portfolio. Until the pandemic, AMC was a company whose revenue mainly came from linear television with a couple of money-losing streaming services. But in the past three years, that has irrevocably shifted to a company where those streaming services are what make ends meet, despite the bloodbath-level losses caused by owning cable channels in this economy.

Longtime readers will recall that AMC had been teetering on the precipice of total collapse when the 2020s began, something that mostly went under-reported because it’s hard to notice a few trees looking like they’re about to topple when an entire Mountain of Content was collapsing, avalanche style, next door at Paramount. That mountain is now relatively stable (state media, but stable!). In the interim, AMC pulled off a small miracle, turning itself around from a failing company in desperate need of rescue into an attractive asset that would add value to whichever major service eventually buys it up.

Meanwhile, BritBox continues to thrive, and while National Theatre at Home doesn’t have any British debuts this month, MHz Choice decided to remind us of its existence, with a new addition that fans of Walter Presents on PBS Passport will want to check out.

Let’s review everything coming to the dedicated niche streaming services in May 2026.

Welcome to the new AMC Global logo, which looks enough like the AMC Networks logo that you probably wouldn’t have even noticed. (It’s fine.) This month is all Acorn all the time, as the streaming service brings back “Murder Mystery May” after it was a massive success in 2025, with both new weekly series and a set of binge drop shows. AMC+, meanwhile, only has the American series The Terror: Devil in Silver; despite starring Dan Stevens, even Lacy had to admit it wasn’t really our lane. As for the rest, here are May’s debuts.

Dead & Buried

First up in the weeklies, there’s Dead & Buried, which looks like your run-of-the-mill psychological thriller at first glance. However, the Northern Ireland-set Annabel Scholey-Colin Morgan is more of a post-Troubles allegory, focusing on the cycle of violence and how hard it can be to break it, find forgiveness, and face a peaceful future.

Dead & Buried debuts on Monday, May 4, 2026, and will continue with new episodes through the end of the month exclusively on Acorn TV.

An t-Eilean (The Island) Season 1

We regret to announce that, after the long wait for Scotland’s first Gaelic language big-budget series to cross the pond, it’s arriving as a binge. An t-Eilean (The Island) is a murder mystery set in the Outer Hebrides, focusing on the four Maclean siblings who return to their family home after their mother, Lady Mary, dies, with their father as the prime suspect. Season 2 is already in production, so maybe if enough people watch it, we’ll get a weekly release when that arrives next year.

All episodes of An t-Eilean (The Island) arrive on Monday, May 11, 2026, exclusively on Acorn TV.

You’re Killing Me

In 2025, Murder Mystery May was anchored by the arrival of Harry Wild Season 4. For 2026, it’ll be anchored by Acorn’s foray into a new variation on its cozy crime fare, You’re Killing Me, where the series isn’t set in England, Wales, Ireland, or Scotland, but in New England here in the U.S. Brooke Shields stars as Allie, a mystery writer who solves crimes in a quiant little villiage that could almost pass for being in the English countryside, if it weren’t for the Massachuttes-style accents.

You’re Killing Me will premiere on Monday, May 18, 2026, on Acorn TV, with new episodes to follow weekly through mid-June.

Summerwater

As always, Acorn TV can’t resist having a weekly show debut at the very end of the month for carryover. Based on the book of the same name by Sarah Moss, Summerwater is a thriller set in a rural Scottish holiday camping ground. An all-star cast of actors, led by Dougray Scott (The Crow Girl), Valene Kane (Gangs of London), and Jamie Sives (Guilt), star as five families who find themselves trapped together when the situation around their holiday lets goes south.

Summerwater premieres on Acorn TV on Monday, May 25, 2026, and will stream weekly on Mondays through the end of June.

Murder Mystery May Movies & Series

AMC Global is also using “Murder Mystery May” to slide an entire phalanx of shows and movies from where they were languishing unwatched on Sundance Now. Let’s hope they’ll do better on Acorn TV.

• May 1: The Limehouse Golem (2016)
• May 4: The Murders 
• May 8: Kaleidoscope (2016)
• May 15: The Best Offer (2013)
• May 18: The Bridge Seasons 1-2 
• May 22: Cold Weather (2010)
• May 25: Wisting Seasons 1-5  
• May 29: The Nightingale (2018)

SOKO Linz Season 1

I got to make an MHz Choice logo banner! Exciting! It’s all thanks to the roaring success of Luna & Sophie (now releasing new episodes under the title Partners in Crime: Potsdam Homicide), which everyone outside the U.S. knows as SOKO Potsdam. The SOKO series is Germany’s variant on the “franchise procedural” (think CSI or NCIS in the States), and there are nearly a dozen spinoffs set in various cities across the country. MHz Choice is jumping aboard the train by bringing over one of the newest additions, 2023’s SOKO Linz, which is set in Austria. The show is already up to Season 3, and MHz has confirmed more seasons will follow.

SOKO Linz debuts with two episodes on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, and will follow with two episodes a week on Tuesdays through the end of June, concluding with a three-episode finale.

Longtime fans will notice that the 2026 BAFTA TV Awards will not be simulcast on BritBox this year, though it’s not clear if people weren’t into watching red carpets and award shows in the middle of a May afternoon, or if it’s related to the extraordinarily shocking incident at the Film BAFTAs in February, in which the white men at the BBC showed their entire asses. Either way, it’s probably the correct choice all around. As for what will arrive, here are May’s debuts.

Twenty Twenty Six

In a rare move, BritBox is sharing the binge release of World Cup-set comedy Twenty Twenty Six with Tubi, the FAST network streaming the actual World Cup. The follow-up to the London Olympics-set parody Twenty Twelve and its successful spinoff W1A, the series brings back Hugh Bonneville as Ian Fletcher, The Man Who Always Fails Up, alongside David Tennant narrating Fletcher’s amazing ability to ruin whatever he’s assigned to do. For those who can’t afford BritBox (or don’t know it exists), putting the newest iteration on Tubi for free is an excellent decision for all.

All episodes of Twenty Twenty Six will debut on Friday, May 1, 2026, on both BritBox and Tubi.

The Other Bennet Sister

BritBox has had so many shows that should have been its big breakout hit, vaulting it into the mainstream conversation: Sherwood, Time, Line of Duty, Beyond Paradise, Outrageous... the list is endless. Will The Other Bennet Sister, the BBC’s biggest debut in a long time, join that list as another “shoulda been a contender,” or will this finally be the show that breaks through? Stay tuned.

The Other Bennet Sister will premiere on BritBox on Wednesday, May 6, 2026, with three episodes. The series will then continue with one episode a week on Wednesdays, through mid-June.

I Literally Just Told You Season 3

BritBox continues quietly bolstering its reality-and-game-show section with two new additions in May. First up is the newest season of Channel 4’s recently hit, I Literally Just Told You. Hosted by Jimmy Carr, the quiz show is technically just the usual knowledge questions, but the real trip-ups start when the host casually throws in memory-based questions based on moments from earlier in the episode.

All episodes of I Literally Just Told You Season 3 will debut on Monday, May 11, 2026, on BritBox.

QI Series W/Season 24

Fans of QI will rejoice that BritBox is bringing over the latest season, known as “Series W.” (Season 24 for those who prefer their TV seasons numbered like normal people.) Hosted by Sandi Toksvig, the new season considers everything a member of the National Association of W Lovers could want, from Wales to Wheels to Wings to Whatnot.

All episodes of QI Series W will debut on Monday, May 25, 2026, on BritBox.

BritBox Premier Documentaries

As always, BritBox Premier subscribers also get access to BBC Select documentaries. Here is a curated selection of what’s arriving in May that’s worth checking out.

• May 1: The Real Spies Among Friends (2022)
• May 4: Queen Victoria: Secret Marriage Secret Child? (2025)
• May 5: The Race for Ancient Egypt in Color (2026)
• May 7: Scotland: 1000 Years of History (2021)
• May 14: Fake or Fortune Season 13 
• May 21: Stonehenge: The Lost Circle Revealed (2021)
• May 28: Rob & Rylan’s Passage to India (2025)

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