Ellie Hutchings
Published November 22, 2025 6:00am
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Binge five episodes of Line of Duty on the lesser-known streamer (Picture: BBC)
Key Points
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- Acorn TV offers a wide selection of British crime dramas and mysteries for £4.99/month.
- The service is praised as a budget-friendly alternative to major platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
- Subscribers can enjoy Acorn Originals and Scandi noir titles with a 14-day free trial available.
Between Apple TV Plus’ Slow Horses, Amazon Prime Video’s The Assassin and their incessant presence in the Netflix chart, it’s clear British crime thrillers are a popular genre.
But all those subscriptions can be a drain on your bank account.
If you’re a fan of British dramas and are on a budget, we might have found the perfect streaming service for you: Acorn TV.
The platform specialises in the genre and is home to critically acclaimed dramas such as BBC hit Line of Duty, which has been described as ‘the best police procedural show in TV history’ and just got renewed for a seventh season.
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Comment now Have you used Acorn TV? Tell us what you think in the commentsComment NowThere’s also Ellis, a Channel 5 detective drama hailed as ‘better than Vera’. It stars Sharon D. Clarke as the tenacious DCI Ellis, who is parachuted into towns across the north of England to help solve failing investigations.
Viewers can also enjoy World War Two detective drama Foyle’s War, Channel 5 police procedural Suspects and ITV’s Safe House, starring Christopher Eccleston.
Sharon D. Clarke stars as DCI Ellis in the crime drama Ellis (Picture: Channel 5)
Line of Duty is perhaps the best-known British drama available on Acorn TV (Picture: BBC)
With all that on offer and much more, Acorn TV has received glowing reviews.
NPR dubbed the streaming service ‘Netflix for the Anglophile’, while The Hollywood Reporter called it ‘glorious’.
And at just £4.99 per month, or £49.99 annually, Acorn TV is less than half the price of a standard Netflix subscription, which costs £12.99 per month.
Meanwhile, other big streaming services Prime Video, Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus are all priced at £8.99 per month as standard. That makes Acorn TV considerably cheaper.
Free streaming services to try
Fed up of paying for multiple subscriptions? We’ve rounded up the best free streaming services to try.
- Tubi – Probably the best-known free streamer, Tubi boasts 97 million monthly users and is known for its selection of horror and thriller titles.
- Pluto TV – Operated by Paramount, Pluto offers over 150 live channels in the UK and over 1,000 TV shows and movies to stream.
- Plex – This service allows users to store their own video files and organise them into a library, but it also offers free-to-stream live TV channels.
What to watch on Acorn TV
With many of the British dramas available on Acorn TV also streaming on the likes of BBC iPlayer, ITVX and Channel 5, you might wonder whether the lesser-known streamer is worth investing in.
However, there are plenty more shows to discover that can’t be found on other streaming services.
Victorian drama Dead Still is a popular Acorn Original (Picture: Acorn TV)
These include Acorn Originals such as Dead Still, a drama set in Victorian Ireland that follows a renowned memorial photographer who becomes drawn into murder investigations.
The series has an impressive 89% Rotten Tomatoes score, and one impressed Google reviewer called it ‘refreshingly different,’ praising the ‘wonderful characters and compelling storyline’.
Meanwhile Irish Blood, starring Alicia Silverstone, landed on Acorn TV.
Alicia Silverstone stars in new Acorn Original Irish Blood (Picture: Acorn TV)
The Clueless actress plays an LA divorce attorney who travels to Ireland after receiving a parcel that appears to be from her estranged father. She soon finds herself entangled in a web of family secrets in a drama that has been described as ‘cosy’ and ‘quirky’.
Acorn TV also boasts a treasure trove of foreign language gems, including several Scandi noir titles (and seasoned drama fans will know that this part of the world has mastered the craft of gripping television).
How to watch Acorn TV
Users can purchase an Acorn TV subscription by visiting uk.acorn.tv.
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If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can also get Acorn TV on Prime Video for £4.99 per month.
The streaming service is compatible with smart TVs, PCs, tablets and smartphones — just search for Acorn TV on your app store to install it, or visit uk.acorn.tv to watch on a computer.
And if you’re not sure whether you want to fork out for the streamer yet, you can try Acorn TV’s 14-day free trial too.
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This article was originally published on August 15, 2025.
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