Ready to fill your August with travel, gripping drama, and baffling murder mysteries? Acorn TV’s end-of-summer lineup for the month is full of all that and more. Some highlights include what the LA Times calls “the perfect summer series, ” My Life is a Murder starring New Zealand actress Lucy Lawless. Back for season 2, fearless and unapologetic detective Alexa Crowe uses her unique skills and insights allow her to unravel the truth behind the most baffling of crime in this acclaimed contemporary mystery-of-the-week series.
ACORN TV – AUGUST 2021 – FULL SCHEDULE
Monday, August 2
Jack Irish, Season 3 (Acorn TV Exclusive) (4 of 4 Episodes) – SERIES FINALE
Knowing she’s made a serious mistake, Linda (Marta Dusseldorp, A Place to Call Home)refuses to help Jack Irish (Guy Pearce, Mare of Easttown) investigate, as Evie and Sami leave for the country. Jack follows a hunch and returns to Khoury’s boat, where he has a revelation. As the Great White payday approaches, more people come into the line of fire, and Jack must lay to rest the ghosts of the past—or risk losing everything all over again. (1 EP, 2021)
Hinterland, Season 1 – Exclusively available in U.S., also available in Canada
What Wallander is to Sweden, Hinterland is to Wales: a dark and harrowing detective drama with compelling characters and suspenseful stories, which has won six BAFTA Cyrmu Awards. Richard Harrington (The Crown, Lark Rise to Candleford) is DCI Tom Mathias, a brilliant, brooding loner on the run from his past; Mali Harries (Foyle’s War, Keeping Faith) is smart, hard-working DI Mared Rhys, a local girl who knows the land and its people. Together they confront a series of mystifying murders. Filmed on location in the bleakly beautiful coastal town of Aberystwyth. (4 EPS, 2012)
Missing, Seasons 1 and 2 (Acorn TV Exclusive)
In this compelling investigative series, DS Mary Jane “MJ” Croft (Pauline Quirke, Broadchurch, Birds of a Feather) heads a team at a busy Missing Persons Unit in Dover to solve disappearances, reuniting families or bringing closure to those left behind, as they are often forced to question how well they know their loved ones. Whether it’s a secret from the past or an affair in the present, every Missing Person case prompts questions about how well we know the people we love. Also starring Mark Wingett (The Bill, Eastenders), Siân Phillips (Keeping Faith), Felix Scott (Grantchester) and Pooja Shah (Bend It Like Beckham.) (15 EPS, 2009-2010)
Monday, August 9
Hinterland, Season 2 – Exclusively available in U.S., also available in Canada
The first series of Hinterland reached its bloody climax with DCI Tom Mathias’ future hanging in the balance. Now, weeks later, our troubled detective is forced to return to the front line after an arson attack on an isolated farmhouse leaves a mother and child fighting for their lives. Drawn into a community of failing farms and long-standing feuds, Mathias and his partner DI Mared Rhys will be pushed to the brink as they try to solve this disturbing case. (5 EPS, 2014)
Adrian Dunbar’s Coastal Ireland
One of UK’s top TV stars, Adrian Dunbar (Line of Duty, Blood) reconnects with his roots as he travels the wild and rugged west and north coasts of Ireland. Covering over 600 miles, Adrian visits breathtaking locations, drives beautiful coastal roads, sees fantastic feats of engineering, and tastes amazing cuisine. He meets up with old friends and makes new ones along the way. Adrian shares some of his favorite places and fulfills ambitions as he makes it to locations he’s always wanted to see. The series is filled with fascinating history, unrivaled beauty and astonishing landscapes and traditions, showing the Irish Coast really is like nowhere else. (2 EPS, 2021)
Fallen Angel
Starring Charles Dance (Bleak House, Foyle’s War) and Emilia Fox (Silent Witness, The Pianist), Fallen Angel is based on the internationally acclaimed trilogy of crime novels “Requiem for an Angel” by Andrew Taylor. This riveting series reinvents the crime genre, by revealing a murderer and then rewinding back through her life to show us how and when she became so twisted. Set in contemporary London, we meet Wendy, whose granddaughter Lucy is abducted by a sinister woman known only as ‘Angel’. Having shown the full horror and evil Angel is capable of, our trilogy then rewinds back in time to see Angel’s past, growing up in the idyllic English countryside – set in 1991 and 1979 when Wendy knew her as a teenager and then as a toddler. We ultimately discover that Wendy is motivated by guilt – having covered up Angel’s first terrible murder, many years before. (3 EPS, 2007)
Monday, August 16
Hinterland, Season 3– Exclusively available in U.S., also available in Canada
DCI Mathias is thrown back into an old case that threatens to drive an irreconcilable rift through the team. As he delves into the past, his colleague DS Sian Owens’ focus is on a current case as she searches for the perpetrator of the arson attack on Mathias’ home. (4 EPS, 2016)
Monday, August 23
Republic of Doyle, Season 1
Crime-solving adventures and tumultuous relationships abound in this fresh, contemporary comedic drama revolving around the deliciously dysfunctional Doyle family as they try to make it all work running a father and son private investigative agency. Set against the spectacularly rugged backdrop of Newfoundland, this stand-out Canadian series is created by and stars Allan Hawco (ZOS:Zone of Separation) as the roguish and irreverent P.I. Jake Doyle, alongside award-winning actor Sean McGinley (Richard Attenborough’s Closing The Ring, Bleak House) as father and business partner Malachy. (12 EPS, 2010)
Walking Through History, Season 1
Tony Robinson embarks on spectacular walks through some of Britain’s past. Tony discovers the hidden stories to many of the country’s landmarks and infuses each walk with an appreciation of some of the striking landscapes and geographical features Britain contains. Highlights include walks through the beautiful countryside of the Weald in Kent and East Sussex to discover its rich Tudor heritage, hikes into the dramatic Kintail region of the west Scotland Highland, a 40-mile walk through the glorious Peak District and a visit to the site of the world’s first factory which would lay the foundations for today’s skyscrapers. (4 EPS, 2013)
Monday, August 30
My Life Is Murder, Season 2 (Acorn TV Original) – SEASON PREMIERE, Episodes 1 and 2
Building on the warmth, intrigue, and humor of its acclaimed first season based in Melbourne, My Life Is Murder moves to Auckland, New Zealand for its new 10-episode season. Award-winning Kiwi actress Lucy Lawless (Xena: Warrior Princess, Spartacus) returns as fearless and unapologetic detective Alexa Crowe, whose unique skills and insights allow her to unravel the truth behind the most baffling of crimes. In this contemporary mystery-of-the-week series, Alexa finds herself back in her home country for the first time in years and can’t help herself when she is asked to look into a bizarre unsolved murder. Joined again by her partner-in-crime-solving, Madison Feliciano (Ebony Vagulans) as well as series newcomers, the charismatic detective Harry (Rawiri Jobe), and café owner Reuben (Joe Naufahu, Game of Thrones), she quickly finds herself investigating other murder mysteries in surprising, glamorous worlds filled with intriguing characters who are hiding dangerous and deadly secrets. Among many guest stars in the new season include William Shatner, Martin Henderson, Michelle Ang, Sara Wiseman, Bill Bailey and more to be announced. New episodes of season 2 through October 25. (10 EPS, 2021)