Acorn TV has been on a commissioning spree, a move that seems at odds with parent company AMC Networks, whose financial picture has been a disaster for 2024. The streaming service has three brand new shows for 2025, including Art Detectives and Irish Blood, both in the vein of Harry Wild, plus returning favorites The Chelsea Detective, Hidden Assets, The Madame Blanc Mysteries, and Recipes for Love & Murder. But the most interesting of the group is the potential for a Father Brown-like hit with the most recent series, Murder Before Evensong, the first-ever adaptation of the opening novel from the Canon Clement Mysteries, authored by celebrity vicar* Reverend Richard Coles. Acorn TV is co-producing the series with Channel 5 and has now revealed that the lead role will feature a veteran of Channel 5’s hit All Creatures Great & Small, Matthew Lewis.
(*Yes, Celebrity Vicars are a real thing in the 21st century. Maybe Grantchester will cover that aspect of the clergy when it reaches Season 40.)
Lewis, part of the generation who came up on the Harry Potter franchise films, learned the craft from such greats as the late Maggie Smith and Michael Gambon. Since graduating from those films, his career has been one of the more successful of that group, with turns in dramas like Ripper Street and Happy Valley, plus comedies like Girlfriends and his current role in Avoidance. However, in all of those roles (and all in All Creatures), Lewis has played second fiddle to others, landing supporting roles rather than leading ones. Murder Before Evensong marks his first headlining series; combined with the novel’s best-seller status in the U.K., the fame of its author, and the show airing on Channel 5 there and Acorn TV here, a streaming service that lives on its cozy crime shows, and this is as close to a surefire hit as TV gets.
That being said, 2025 is looking to be a rough year for Acorn TV’s parent company, even though the platform (and, to a lesser extent, horror streamer Shudder) have been bright spots in the AMCN constellations of niche streamers, bringing in 700K subscribers in the past few months. That’s peanuts compared to the competition and does little to offset the continuing decline of cable channels. The focus on greenlight shows for Acorn might seem like a sign that it is the most stable of the group; however, it also makes the streaming service more attractive to potential buyers. Hopefully, if Aocrn TV does not make it to the end of next year, the series will still find a home on streaming.
