Britbox

BritBox streaming review 2023: Price, features, content

Stream to your heart's content with episodes of major UK TV shows like Doctor Who and Gavin & Stacey.

3.7 ★★★★★ (120 reviews) Write a review
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Alex Shea
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★★★★★
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Viewers felt like they got great value for money.
Some viewers felt like the platform needed to add new content more frequently.

BritBox is a joint streaming service courtesy of the BBC and ITV. It’s available for streamers in the UK, the US, Australia and Canada and offers exclusive British shows. These include classics like Doctor Who, Gavin & Stacey, Love Island and Spitting Image, but there are new shows too.

How do I sign up to BritBox?

On the create account page, enter your name and email address, type your password, then click “Create Account” to proceed to the next step. Choose between a monthly or an annual subscription, then add your credit card information. You may want to select the seven-day free trial before you commit, and if so, no money will be taken from you until your free trial has ended and you have agreed to proceed.

What can I watch with BritBox?

Scroll through a curated collection of titles in BritBox’s on-demand library, including:

Comedy highlights

  • All Creatures Great and Small
  • Are You Being Served?
  • Fawlty Towers
  • Keeping Up Appearances
  • One Foot in the Grave
  • Only Fools and Horses
  • Spitting Image
  • The Vicar of Dibley
  • Waiting for God

Costume drama highlights

  • Brideshead Revisited
  • Cranford
  • Downton Abbey
  • Emma
  • The Forsyte Saga
  • Lark Rise to Candleford
  • Persuasion
  • Pride and Prejudice
  • The Royal

Crime highlights

  • The Fall
  • Line of Duty
  • Miss Marple
  • Poirot
  • Rosemary & Thyme
  • Shetland
  • The Sweeney
  • Unforgotten
  • Vera

Reality highlights

  • Britain’s Next Top Model
  • Celebrity Ex on the Beach
  • The Circle
  • Geordie Shore
  • Hunted
  • Love Island
  • Made in Chelsea
  • The Only Way is Essex
  • Sam Faiers: The Baby Diaries

BritBox originals

  • The Beast Must Die
  • The Dry
  • Feel the Noise
  • Hotel Portofino
  • Lambs of God
  • Magpie Murders
  • Murder in Provence
  • Sandition
  • Secrets of the Spies

What features does BritBox offer?

Aside from offering exclusive British content that other popular streaming services don’t have in countries like Australia and the US, BritBox has a few other features.

  • Parental controls. Set restrictions for your kids by setting parental controls with a four-digit PIN from your account.
  • Watchlist. Save your place in a program or keep tabs on programs you find interesting by adding them to your watchlist.
  • Curated to what you like. Like most streaming services, BritBox provides selections that are similar to what you’ve watched with its “More like this” feature.
  • Newsletter. Stay up-to-date on what’s new and what’s being removed from the platform.

Which devices is BritBox compatible with?

The way you sign up with BritBox determines the devices you can use to watch. We’ve broken down a few ways you can sign up here and the ways you can stream it.

Apple App Store

  • iOS iPhones and tablets
  • Mac OSX

Google Play

  • Android phones and tablets

Apple TV

  • Smart TVs

Amazon Prime Video

  • Game consoles
  • Fire TV Stick and voice remote
  • Smart TV, Chromecast

Amazon App Store

  • Fire TV Stick and voice remote
  • Fire game controller

Roku

  • Smart TVs
  • Roku player

How much does BritBox cost?

A standard subscription costs £5.99 monthly and offers 1,000+ hours of British TV in a wide range of genres without ads. If you want to save around £12, you can opt for an annual subscription for £59.99.

Free trial

Get a 7-day free trial before you have to choose to cancel or continue with a subscription.

What Internet speeds does BritBox recommend?

While we couldn’t find any recommended Internet speed to stream BritBox confidently, it has been noted as a rival to Netflix and offers both SD and HD titles. A rule of thumb for Netflix customers is to have an Internet connection of at least 3Mbps. Because of the titles it offers and its comparison to Netflix, BritBox might also need an Internet connection close to 3Mbps.

We found patterns of complaints on Reddit regarding buffering and connectivity issues with the BritBox app. Frustrations that their phone VPN interferes with the video quality of BritBox was also mentioned. In a response, BritBox told customers that it tends to see issues during certain times of day and on mobile devices. It suggests its best streaming is found on Amazon Prime Video.

How much data does BritBox use?

BritBox doesn’t mention the exact amount of data it uses, but check the data guidelines from your Internet provider and turn off the app when you’re not watching. Going over the standard 1Tb of data, which is the equivalent of spending 16 hours a day watching TV, isn’t possible unless you leave your app running in the background.

BritBox Pros and cons

Pros

  • No ads. Hours of content without the interruption of ads.
  • No contract. Opt to pay monthly and you’re not tied in, so if you get bored of British TV, you can cancel and walk away when it suits you.
  • Exclusive. More content available than streaming services like Hulu, and plenty that’s brand new and original too.
  • On demand. Both live and scripted TV, including soap operas.

Cons

  • Can be glitchy. Current customers have commented about unreliable streaming features.
  • Online only. There’s no option to download content and watch offline.

The verdict: Is BritBox any good?

Yes. By drawing on BBC and ITV’s extensive back catalogue, the library of content is practically impossible to beat. Plus it all comes at a price point that’s better than several of the rival services. The originals might not be Netflix-standard, but there’s plenty of older and nearly-new content that’s first rate.

Frequently asked questions

TV streaming ratings

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★★★★★ — Good
★★★★★ — Average
★★★★★ — Subpar
★★★★★ — Poor

Our customer satisfaction scores ("Customers say") are based on a survey of 2,459 customers carried out in December 2022.

Learn the details of our methodology and scoring.

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