How BritBox Used ‘Crime and Corsets’ to Conquer Streaming

Thanks to streaming, it’s never been easier for Anglophiles in America to get their fix of British television — nor, arguably, has content from across the pond ever been so popular. “If you ask any person with taste what television shows they’ve watched in the past couple years, you’re going to hear about Adolescence and Baby Reindeer and Slow Horses and Black Doves and The Crown ,” says BritBox president Robert Schildhouse, who has no problem touting made-in-U.K. hits from much bigger platforms like Netflix and Apple TV. While those shows might not appear on his BBC Studios–owned streamer, their success — along with PBS’s 2011 U.S. launch of Downton Abbey — has helped obliterate old stereotypes about British TV being too stuffy or niche to break through with mainstream audienc