Best TV shows on BritBox in July 2021

Get a look at Daniel Craig before he was Bond, and Christopher Eccelston before he was The Doctor, with this nine-part drama. Our Friends in The North follows a group of four people across the span of several decades, encountering how they struggle both in their personal lives and the changing political landscape of both Newcastle and London.

We do love our classic comedies here at Tech Advisor, and this show is one of the top dogs. Following the rude and stress-head landlord Basil Fawlty (as played by the masterful John Cleese), this show will make you split your sides of over the bizarre events that take place in this rundown guest house in Torquay.

Be kept on the edge of your seat with this mystery crime-drama. There’s three seasons to enjoy on Britbox, but the first is undoubtedly one of the best series of UK telly, in which two detectives (played by Olivia Colman and David Tennant) work together to discover who murdered a young boy in a sleepy seaside town.

Keep up with all current affairs (but in the most satirical way possible) with Have I Got News For You. With a rotating panel of comedians, celebrities, broadcasters, and politicians, we get a weekly reflection on what’s happening right now in the news, along with some light-hearted games for a different angle on what’s going on in the world.

You can’t get any more British than by watching an Agatha Christie drama. David Suchet stars as Poirot, a Belgian detective who is known for his twirly moustache, snappy dress sense and quirky personality. The series gets darker over time – with the older episodes being a little more absurd and camp – but both the old and new are just as enjoyable.

Though Jodie Whittaker has just returned for another series as the thirteenth Doctor, Britbox has over 26 series worth of classic Who. Sure, the CGI and effects are a little sketchy, and some of the acting is… questionable. However, any Whovian who is looking to expand their knowledge of the universe will have plenty to watch, and eight generations worth of Doctors to enjoy (Tom Baker is a favourite for many).

Featuring one of the standout roles for John Simm, Life on Mars follows a detective who gets into a car accident and wakes up in the year 1973. Throughout, it leaves the audience trying to grasp whether or not he has actually travelled through time, or if he his trapped within his own mind. It’s funny, nostalgic, and includes some great detective cases every week.

Another crime classic, Midsomer Murders is the UK’s longest-running contemporary detective show, and is due another season this year. Usually taking place in small villages, the show follows DCI Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) for 13 seasons, who is later replaced by his cousin, John (Neil Dudgeon). There are splatterings of dark humour throughout, so it’s not all doom and gloom.

It’s an oldie, but a goodie. Only Fools and Horses follows a group of cockney geezers, headed up by Del Boy Trotter (played by the renowned David Jason) who try to get rich quick by dealing in the black market trade, which often leads to many sticky situations.

This classic BBC comedy couldn’t get made any more – not because it’s too risqué, but just because its skewed vision of political life feels a little more mundane in our new post-Trump, post-Brexit world. That doesn’t get in the way of how consistently brilliant The Thick of It is though, highlighting the hypocrisies and confusions of our political class in a way that feels disconcertingly genuine even at its silliest moments.