Have you ever wanted to have
your own TV
station that ran nothing but British television? I did!
For years the best way
to achieve this would be through watching programs that came up
on your local
PBS station. There was a nice variety of programs that ventured
between Comedies,
Mystery or just amazing drama as seen on Masterpiece Theater.
In some areas,
seeing these British television gems on TV are become scarcer
but luckily Acorn
Media has come to the rescue!
Acorn Media just recently launched a service
for
streaming episodes of British television called Acorn TV that
will satisfy the
appetite of many of us fans of British television. I am on
record as a guy who
loves his physical media. I love DVDs and Blu-rays. I love
looking on my
shelves and see the library of rich British television that I
can view at any
time I want. That being said, the times are changing. Looking at
the bulging
shelf space available to me at home, I can see there would be a
reason to maybe
see what other options are available and Acorn TV offered a
great solution.
Acorn TV allows viewers to
connect to their
service via such devices as Roku or Apple TV and they offer a set
group of British
television series to stream. (The first episode in every series is available for free, but you'll need the premium service to see episodes beyond that. Premium accounts cost only $2.99/month or $29.99/year and include other perks such as free shipping on Acorn DVDs and Blu-rays.) Series range from Upstairs
Downstairs to I
Claudius. I love this service and I realized that Acorn TV
is a great way for
me to look at programs that maybe I have heard of before but
never chose to get
watch for a number of reasons.
What fascinated me most about
this process is
that I am a novice to the world of streaming video. Yet, I
consider myself of
some advance technical skill. I am a life-long enthusiast of
British television
and perhaps a bit of a purist. Even though I am from the US and
live in the US,
I import the majority of my British television DVDs and Blu-rays
from the UK. I
watch them back on a TV that plays back PAL and I see it in
native PAL.
Remember, the PAL system is the way UK viewers watch standard
definition
programs and us folks from the US watch in NTSC. I have never
streamed anything
before and I generally hate watching stuff from my computer. I
knew that to do
this justice, I would need to stream it into my TV. So, I
invested into a Roku.
Actually, let me back this up a little further. I started with
Apple TV. I was
lucky enough to get an Apple TV as a gift and I started to
stream Acorn TV.
Now, Acorn TV is not listed as one of the channels through Apple
TV but you can
stream it via Apple Air. This means that you need to go through
a Apple device
such as an iPhone or and iPad and stream it to the Apple TV.
This worked fine
but the version I have of Apple TV is HD 720p and I wanted to
see Acorn TV work
in 1080p. The obvious solution for me was to get the Roku. Plus,
Acorn TV has a
channel on Roku so it is easy to get access to plus it was in
1080. Of course, the
current model of Apple TV is in 1080 now but the Roku seemed to
be the best
option for me to get Acorn TV. Not to worry, I have many other
great uses for
my Apple TV.
Setting up Roku and then Acorn
TV was pretty
simple. In no time, I was set up to start watching some programs
but that's
when it all got really complicated. Where do I start? I am faced
with hours,
and hours of British television. The selection is salivating.
Going through the
selection that was being offered was daunting but in a good way.
The Acorn TV
service, for me, is a way to look at programs I have never seen
before. A lot
of what Acorn TV offers is more current TV, which is great for
me. My
background and expertise is more on the older British television
series. Much
to my shame, I am not quite so up to date as I should be.
Ultimately, I decided
on watching an episode from a series I have been interested in
checking out for
a long time. Foyle's War. (Note: Acorn TV will be running all 22 feature-length episodes of Foyle's War during the month of October. It's a great way to catch this series for those who like to bing-watch their favorite shows.) Foyle's War started on
ITV in 2002. It was
created by Anthony Horowitz who wrote for such series as Poirot,
Robin of
Sherwood, Midsomer Murders, and Injustice.
Foyle's War originally takes place
during World War II but, as usual, I was late to the party and I
viewed one of
the later episodes that takes place after the war. The episode I
watched is
from series 7 called The Russian House. Broadcast on ITV
in 2010, it was the
first episode of the season. The end of the war is still fresh
with everyone.
There are Russian Prisoner of War soldiers in the UK who had
been rounded up to
be sent back to Russia. In some cases they will be killed. There
are two
factions of soldiers, Red Russians and White Russians. The Red
Russians are
pretty easy to figure out what the stand for but the White
Russians belong to
the Russian Liberation Movement. The White Russians are avoiding
to be sent
back to the USSR. How does Foyle get involved? Well, his old
commanding officer
from the First World War, Brigadier Wilson, stops by to ask
Foyle to help him
find an escaped Russian. Unfortunately for Brigadier Wilson,
Foyle is not
someone who just follows orders blindly. After Foyle starts
digging into the
disappearance of the Russian, Foyles realizes there is a lot
more to the story.
The case eventually leads Foyle
to London where
he finds out there is a place where the "White" Russians go for
sanctuary. On
the other side of these developments, there is the Brigadier.
Once he realizes
that Foyle is getting more information than the Brigadier wants
him to have, he
now has to start moving Foyle away from the case.
This is not a fast moving
series. That is also
a very good thing. It is a series that unfolds at a pace that
kept me
interested in what was going on. As I mentioned earlier, I had
no idea what was
going on in the series. I only knew that Michael Kitchen played
Foyle and that
was about it. I had no idea that characters I had seen through
out this episode
were actually main characters to the series. In a way that was
nice. The story
held up very well without me knowing their back-story. In fact
for the
characters, much was new for them too. The war was over and many
of these
characters that had close bonds with Foyle moved on with their
lives in new
directions. Samantha Stewart used to be Foyle's driver but now
was working for
a well-known artist. Her story and Foyles story crosses over
each other as the
artist is killed but the mystery is not only who killed him but
what happened
to the young Russian man living there. Then there is Milner.
Milner recently
became Detective Inspector after spending years being mentored
by Foyle.
Unfortunately, things become strained almost from the start
between Foyle and
Milner as Milner wants to make a name for himself and is
frustrated when he
sees Foyle on the scene of his first big case. This is all the
more unfortunate
as Foyle was there for a completely different reason. Milner
assumed that Foyle
would butt in but that was not the case.
From a directional standpoint
this episode is
gorgeous. As previously mentioned, this episode takes place
after the war. When
Foyle goes up to London, there is bomb-damage from the nightly
blitzing all
over the place. Buildings are bombed out. This is clearly all
done in
post-production but looks authentic. It is a nice touch that is
kept mostly in
the background. These bombed out buildings are not the set piece
of the scenes;
they are in the background as a constant reminder of what a
costly horrible war
it was for everybody.
Michael Kitchen plays Foyle.
Everything I have
seen him in has been understated. Another favorite role for me
that he has
played was the King in To Be The King. In Foyle's
War, when Foyle means business,
you see it. Like Brigadier Wilson, it probably is very easy to
think, based on
Foyle's demeanor, that he is quiet and easily guided. That is
not the case at
all and that is why he is so good. It is worth watching these
episodes just for
that.
Watching this episode has made
me a convert of
this series. I am going to actively seek out this series and
watch more
episodes. Watching it through Acorn TV is good. When watching
the first few
minutes, I noticed a lot of artifacts or blocks on the scenes. I
was worried
this would stick out through out the whole episode but no, that
was not the
case. As soon as I got into the episode, I didn't notice it
anymore.
AcornTV is a very affordable and
great way to
watch programs you have not seen before or watch your favorite
programs
anywhere you have an Internet connection and computer. I love
British
television and am thrilled to find an outlet online completely
dedicated to
these amazing programs.
Remember, if you are a member of
Acorn TV, it's
not a matter of watching whatever you want when you want, the
schedule changes
monthly. For every series below, you have an opportunity to
watch one episode
for free to try it out.
Here is the current schedule for Acorn
TV:
Demob - Episodes 1-6
(ends 10/28/12)Murder in Suburbia -
Episodes 1-6 (ends
10/28/12)The Grand Series - 1 Episodes 1-8/Series 2
Episodes 1-10 (ends
10/28/12)Midsomer Murders - Sets
6-9 (ends 9/30/12)The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes
Series 2 (ends
9/30/12)Blue Murder - Series 1
(ends 10/21/12)Murdoch Mysteries -
Series 1 (ends 10/21/12)Vera - Series 2 (ends
10/14/12)Poirot - Series 1 (ends
10/14/12)Reggie Perrin - Series 1
& 2 (ends
10/14/12)Marple - Series 1 (ends
10/7/12)Pie in the Sky - Series 4
(ends 10/7/12)Poldark - Series 1 (ends
10/7/12)Thomas & Sarah -
(ends 9/30/12)George Gently - Series 2
(ends 9/30/12)A Fine Romance - Series 1
(ends 9/30/12)Vexed - Series 1 (ends
9/23/12)Single-Handed - Series 2
(ends 9/23/12)Touching Evil -
Series 2 (ends 9/23/12)Coming Soon:Trial & Retribution -
(starts 9/24/12)The Making of the President
- (starts 9/24/12)Upstairs Downstairs -
(starts 9/24/12)Foyle's War - (starts
10/1/12 - all 22-episodes will be running through the month of October)Rosemary & Thyme -
(starts 10/1/12)Cadfael - (starts
10/1/12)The Last Detective -
(starts 10/8/12)Island at War - (starts
10/8/12)
