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The Hardacres

Courtesy BritBox

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Lynley

Courtesy BritBox

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BritBox has two new dramas ready to stream. They are both intriguing but completely different.

“Lynley” is a police drama with a very interesting main character. Leo Suter is DI Thomas Lynley. He comes from nobility and is the 8th Earl of Asherton, which he goes out of his way to keep secret. Instead of following his family’s traditions, he is happier being a police investigator. Educated at Oxford, this man has brains, great instincts, a top notch wardrobe, and is very good looking!

His new assignment from Scotland Yard has him paired with DS Sergeant Barbara Havers (Sofia Barclay), a working-class woman with her own family issues. She is a tough cop and at first is apprehensive about working with Lynley. As they get to know each other, they turn into a great team.

Lynley lives in a beautiful water-front house to go along with his impressive 1973 Jensen Interceptor automobile. It’s his pride and joy. And his house is equally impressive. His living circumstances afford him a nice life, which is completely opposite of Havers’ home and lifestyle.

Their boss, DCI Brian Nies (Daniel Mays), is not a fan of Lynley. They have a past but Lynley just wants to get on with his job and leave it all behind them. The trouble is, Nies cannot let it go, so he challenges Lynley at every turn.

There are only four episodes in this first season, and they are all available to stream. With interesting cases and even more interesting personal stories, this is a fun police drama. The series is based on the books by Elizabeth George.

A completely different show is “The Hardacres,” a literal rags to riches story. It takes place in the 1890s where the Hardacre family works tirelessly at the Yorkshire fish dock collecting, gutting, and doing everything in the herring business.

Tired of their life and with Sam Hardacre (Liam McMahon) injured on the job and not able to work, they set up their own fried herring business. For once in their lives they are their own bosses.

Sam’s wife Mary (Claire Cooper), his daughter Liza (Shannon Lavelle), their son Joe (Adam Little), and Mary’s mother (Julie Graham), soon discover their little business has garnered a lot of money. Their new business advisor tells them to buy a big house, worthy of their new financial standing, so they move from a shanty on the docks to a grand mansion.

Their story is akin to “The Beverly Hillbilly’s” in the sense that they are outsiders and actually looked down upon by not only their new staff, but also the neighbors. Mary desperately wants to become a fashionable lady and included in the social set, but she is met with resistance and barriers while she tries to climb the social ladder. They all learn that money does not make them accepted.

Sam soon buys the herring business they left to make life better for his friends there. But that is not as easy as he thinks.

After getting used to her new life, Liza decides she also wants to fit in with the younger set. That isn’t easy either.

And Joe is a difficult young man. He wants respect from his father, but must earn it and how he goes about doing that is quite shady. He is also attracted to their neighbor but her snooty mother will not let him near her, so he returns to his old girlfriend on the docks.

With so many tangled webs, sorting out their new lives is a tricky situation. Will they ever be welcomed among their neighbors or will they always have to prove that they are worthy of regard? It takes some time for the Hardacres to realize they don’t have to go out of their way to impress others.

There are six episodes in this first season. Season two has already begun filming.

BritBox is populated with many interesting dramas. The streaming service is now available as an add-on to a Prime membership.