Eva Longoria stars in the British comedy Decline and Fall, one of five new exclusive U.S. premieres coming to Acorn TV in May.
The former “Desperate Housewives” star plays Mrs. Margot Beste-Chetwynde, a widow who woos her son’s impressionable young teacher in the three-part satiric comedy. It is the first television adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s classic, which is considered one of the greatest comic novels of all time.
Acorn also offers its subscribers the tasty drama “Delicious,” about a chef who cheats and the women who love him. The streaming service will present Season 3 episode of the comedy “Count Arthur Strong,” about a comic trying to make a comeback, in conjunction with their weekly British airings.
Fans of HBO’s buzz-worthy hit “The Night Of” can check out the British show that inspired it. Acorn presents the first two seasons of “Criminal Justice” in May.
Check out the rest of Acorn TV May calendar below.
Acorn TV May calendar
Monday, May 1
Criminal Justice
Series 1 and 2 (10 episodes each), 2008-09
In the first season of this acclaimed BBC series that inspired the HBO miniseries “The Night Of,” a night out on the town turns into a waking nightmare for 22-year-old Ben Coulter (Ben Whishaw). It won the BAFTAs for best drama serial, best actor and best writer.
Series 2 follows Juliet Miller (Maxine Peake), an outwardly happy stay-at-home mom with a wealthy husband (Matthew McFayden). After an evening at home goes terribly wrong, Juliet must face a jury if she’s ever to see her daughter again. Sophie Okonedo co-stars in a BAFTA-winning role. Oscar-nominee Ruth Negga, Pete Postlethwaite and David Harewood also co-star.
Edward & Mrs. Simpson
7-part miniseries, 1979
While still the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VIII (Edward Fox) meets the married American socialite Wallis Simpson (Cynthia Harris). Their relationship causes furor in the palace and in parliament, especially when King George V dies. Based on Fox’s maternal aunt Frances Donaldson’s biography of the “King, Edward VIII.” It won the 1980 Emmy for outstanding limited series and BAFTA Awards in 1979 for best actor, best design, best costume design, and best series or serial.
Monday, May 8
The Flame Trees of Thika
7-part miniseries, 1981
Based on the beloved memoir by Elspeth Huxley, this BAFTA-nominated drama stars Hayley Mills, David Robb and Holly Aird as members of a British family who relocate to British East Africa (now Kenya) in order to set up a coffee plantation. Shot on location, this engaging series explores the trials and tribulations of the Grant family as they face everything from deadly animals to tensions with other colonists.
Rake
8-episode Series 3, 2014
As the third season of this acclaimed Aussie drama opens, Cleaver Greene’s (Richard Roxburgh) life is once again heading south. Clients are rejecting him and he struggles to find anything resembling a case. He takes on a mid-range drunk-driving charge that he tries to make into a cause célèbre but which ultimately gives him little to celebrate. As Cleaver fights to reestablish himself, he encounters everything from government corruption to a hoax heist.
Monday, May 15
Decline and Fall
3-part miniseries, 2017; exclusive U.S. premiere
“Decline and Fall” follows Paul Pennyfeather (comedian Jack Whitehall) as an inoffensive divinity student at Oxford University in the 1920s. He is wrongly dismissed for indecent exposure after becoming the victim of a prank by The Bollinger Club. “Poirot” star David Suchet plays Dr. Fagan, the headmaster of Llanabba, an obscure public school in Wales where Paul first finds employment and works with fellow teacher Grimes (Douglas Hodge). It is at the school that he meets a beautiful South American woman, the Honourable Mrs. Margot Beste-Chetwynde (Eva Longoria), who is the mother of one of the pupils. For Paul it is love at first sight, but little does he know the surprises that lie ahead of him when he agrees to tutor her son over the summer holidays. The BBC One series gained critical acclaim earlier this year.
The Yorkshire Vet in Spring
10-episode Series 2, 2016; exclusive U.S. premiere
Documentary cameras return to the original practice of Alf Wight (James Herriot was his nom de plume) in Thirsk, North Yorkshire. All vets at Skeldale have been trained to deal with any animal, whatever its size. From alpacas to piglets, cats to cows, hamsters to horses, bulldogs to bullocks, no animal is too big or too small for this truly rural practice.
Monday, May 22
Count Arthur Strong
7-episode Series 3, 2017; exclusive U.S. premiere
New episode every Monday through July 3 to coincide with BBC One broadcast
Steve Delaney writes and stars in this BBC One sitcom inspired by “Count Arthur Strong’s Radio Show!” Delaney plays the title character, an elderly, pompous, out-of-work actor with delusions that he is a show-business legend. In Series 3, Arthur continues to pursue his dreams of stardom no matter how much chaos he causes along the way. Michael (Rory Kinnear), the son of Arthur’s former comedy partner, does his best to limit the damage to the world around them and his own sanity. Series 1 was nominated for three British Comedy Awards, including best sitcom and best new comedy. Also, check out a viewer’s review of the show at the bottom of this page.
Lorna Doone
movie, 1990
Clive Owen, Polly Walker and Sean Bean star in a sumptuous adaptation of the classic novel of romance, revenge and adventure. R.D. Blackmore’s beloved tale of forbidden love in lawless 17th Century England, has been celebrated since its publication in 1869. Lavish costumes, dazzling scenery and a stellar supporting cast round out this splendid adaptation of one of the greatest love stories ever told. The British period drama presents Owen and Walker in their earliest roles as John Ridd and Lorna Doone. John was just a boy when the villainous Carver Doone callously murdered his father. Now a young man, John has two driving passions: his thirst for revenge against the outlaw Doones, and his love for the beautiful Lorna, daughter of his sworn enemies.
Time Team
13-episode Set 12; exclusive
Tony Robinson returns as the leader of Time Team, a band of archaeologists, historians, surveyors, geophysicists and other assorted experts determined to unearth mysteries concealed by topsoil and time.
Friday, May 26
Delicious
4-episode Series 1, 2017; exclusive U.S. premiere
A drama series about food, love and infidelity in Cornwall. Chef Leo Vincent (Iain Glen) has more than a few secrets. He stole most of his recipes from his ex-wife Gina (Dawn French), who he cheated on for years. Now married to “the other woman” (Emilia Fox), Leo is having yet another affair … with Gina. After a shocking death, Gina is forced to evaluate her closest relationships.
Monday, May 29
800 Words
8-episode Series 2, Part 2, 2017; exclusive U.S. premiere
The heart-warming Aussie-New Zealand dramedy continues the saga of George Turner (Erik Thomson), a man looking to make a new life for himself and his family in a strangely beautiful and quirky New Zealand coastal town. Acorn TV also has the first season of the award-winning series. PBS currently airs the first season.
Macbeth
movie, 1979
Film, theatre and television greats Sir Ian McKellen and Dame Judi Dench star in this BAFTA-nominated Royal Shakespeare Company production filmed for TV.
Mozart in London
documentary, 2016
Lucy Worsley traces the forgotten and fascinating story of the eight-year-old Mozart’s adventures in Georgian London in 1764. In telling the tale of Mozart’s strange and unexpected encounters, Lucy reveals how life wasn’t easy for the little boy in a big bustling city that promised an unrivaled musical opportunity.
London was a lot for a child to take, from the demands of a Royal performance to a near fatal illness. Mozart also dealt with the humiliation of playing keyboard tricks in a London pub and being heckled on the streets. But London would prove pivotal for the young Mozart. He made his musical breakthrough there, blossoming from a precocious performer into a powerful new composer.
Lucy reveals that it was on British soil that Mozart composed his first ever symphony. And she explores how Mozart’s experiences in London inspired his colossal achievement. But what should have earned him rapturous applause and the highest acclaim ended in suspicion, intrigue and accusations of fraud.
Acorn TV viewer gives his NSFW review of Count Arthur Strong
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