Behind BritBox’s ‘Outrageous’ New Programming Slate: Crime, Corsets, and a “Darker Version of ‘The Crown’”

In just the last week, BritBox has launched the boldly political period drama Outrageous, announced they would be making the first ever Agatha Christie adaptation to be set in modern times, and unveiled the full star-studded cast for their first foray into Jane Austen, The Other Bennet Sister. All of these big programming moves are coming right when many other streamers are slowing down. In their recent profile of FX chief John Landgraf, Vanity Fair went so far as to point out that “Peak TV has peaked and most streamers are scrambling for safety.” Not BritBox. Not in the slightest.

The streamer that started off as a service for British expats to watch their fave BBC and ITV shows in the States is in the middle of deploying an aggressive new content strategy, one that Head of Programming John Farrer described to DECIDER last week as the third phase of BritBox’s growth. The streaming service is hoping to go beyond its second wave audience of Anglophiles in the hopes of attracting two passionate types of genre fans.

“One of the sort of phrases that I use a lot with the team is ‘crime and corsets,’” Farrer said. “You have to think where we want to be putting lots of our money over the next few years. It’s crime drama, particularly mystery, and it’s corsets, in terms of period drama. And those two are going to be a real big focus for us going forward.”

This year alone, BritBox has launched the buzzy new cozy mystery show, Ludwig, to stellar reviews, put Anjelica Huston and Matthew Goode front-and-center in Agatha Christie’s Towards Zero, and premiered the aforementioned Outrageous at the prestigious Tribeca Festival.

“I’ve been in this role just over a year and one of my observations is we need bigger IP. We need bigger talent. We need buzzier concepts,” Farrer said. “We’ve got to keep blasting out noise into the market because we’re comparatively smaller compared to a Netflix or a Hulu. So we’ve just got to shout that a little bit louder.”

Some of those “buzzier” projects BritBox now has in the pipeline include The Lady, a show starring film festival darling Mia McKenna-Bruce as Jane Andrews, who infamously went from working class to dressing Sarah Ferguson in the palace to brutally murdering her lover. The aforementioned Other Bennet Sister features Bridgerton Season 3 scene-stealer Ella Bruccoleri as Elizabeth Bennet’s overlooked sibling Mary, alongside Richard E. Grant as Mr. Bennet, Indira Varma as Mrs. Gardiner, and up-and-coming studs Laurie Davidson and Dónal Finn as her love interests. And while BritBox hasn’t officially cast its new Tommy and Tuppence, Farrer calls the two favorites’ recent chemistry test “electrifying.”

“I want to make sure we’ve got the right programs on BritBox, that you will come to BritBox to get your mystery fix there,” he said. “The same with period as well.”

So what else can BritBox fans expect from the service in the future? What new projects might convince you to add BritBox to your streaming rotation if it’s not already there? Here’s what Farrer had to say about a potential Outrageous Season 2, what Austenites can expect from The Other Bennet Sister, and the influences of Fleabag, The Crown, and Sherlock on the slate…

DECIDER: I’ve been covering streaming now for over a decade and there have been definitely what John Landgraf called the times of “Peak TV,” where everyone was ordering crazy amounts of programming. Now most of them have been contracting, I guess, and cutting down on series orders. But Britbox seems to be putting a lot more investments into these really bold, interesting new projects, whether it be Outrageous or the recently-announced contemporary take on Agatha Christie’s Tommy and Tuppence. I’m just curious why you guys feel now is the time to really make these bold moves.

JOHN FARRER: Partly because everyone else is pulling back, so let us be ballsy. I think the reality is that we have always been offering the best of British programming out to our North American fans. You’ve always been able to get some British content elsewhere in the market. Other streaming services and networks are buying British programs. That’s sort of scaling back a little bit at the moment and actually that just creates a real opportunity for us to think, “Okay, the market is in our favor.” In order to really make the most of that, we can place a few bigger bets. We can maybe invest a little bit more than we’ve done previously on certain shows to really, really cut through and I think it’s really working. I mean, we’ve just had double-digit subscriber growth over the last year and I think our slate over the next year is even stronger.

And you’re absolutely right about those big bets. I’ve been in this role just over a year and one of my observations is we need bigger IP. We need bigger talent. We need buzzier concepts. We’ve got to keep blasting out noise into the market because we’re comparatively smaller compared to a Netflix or a Hulu. So we’ve just got to shout that a little bit louder. So one of my areas of focus is how can we find projects that just are a bigger, blarier noise out into the market.

Speaking of which, Outrageous is very interesting to me because this is a period drama, but there’s also something very timely about it. There’s something potentially controversial about these characters and their political leanings. It’s not your paint by numbers cozy murder mystery, nor is it just a typical Jane Austen or Dickens adaptation. Why did you feel like this project fit your brand in 2025?

I think sort of two things. One is that just generally, we want to do more period drama. So when you look at the sort of areas and the genres that are associated with British programming, period rises right to the top. And I felt that we just didn’t have enough big, noisy period drama on our service. So there was a sort of open brief for more period drama.

Why this one in particular? Partly for the reasons you mentioned. I think it works on two levels. So, at its heart, it is a family drama. It’s the story of six brilliant siblings. The producer described them to me as “They’re six ‘Fleabags.’” And they kind of are. They’re all sort of idiosyncratic and have their own brilliance, but they just shoot off in all these directions. And then inevitably, those directions start to split the family apart. So it’s a classic tale of a family sort of pulling apart and trying to be held together and how that sort of plays out over the season, but hopefully future seasons as well. But of course, it’s against this backdrop of a gathering storm and the outbreak of World War II.

There are real parallels, unfortunately, with the chaos and the disorder that we’re seeing in the world at the moment. I think it’s a really interesting way to reflect on that. And I think, sort of crucially for us, we’re not sympathizing. We’re not moralizing or judging, but what we are doing is showing how, in that time of great change and uncertainty, people can be susceptible to extreme beliefs. When you follow Unity’s journey, which is the most shocking, there are glimpses of it in the first few episodes, where she attends one of the Nuremberg rallies. Anyone who is familiar with the story of the Mitfords know that she grew close to him and became part of his entourage. It explores the fascination that people feel in times of uncertainty with these extreme views and is trying to understand how seemingly normal people can go down that route. So it felt like a timely and, dare I say, important story to say at the moment.

You mentioned how there’s a hunger for more period dramas on the slate. Obviously, there’s so many that are in the public domain you could pick up on, but you guys have gone for The Other Bennet Sister. You announced the full cast list this morning. It’s a very impressive cast. I’m curious why you wanted to do a newer title and if you can give any hints as to the tone that you hope that this period drama will take.

If we have a blank sheet of paper and we say, “Okay, we want to be doing period drama,” Jane Austen is where you start. I mean it really is. I think she is so beloved and just gets more beloved with each year. Obviously this year we get the 250th anniversary and so she’s going to be very front of mind.

Why this project in particular, and why not do a straight adaptation of one of her books? We love the fact that this is a new way into that world. It’s taking the most sort of unloved and sort of inconsequential of the siblings, Mary Bennet, and putting her center stage and going, “Okay, what if you tell her story?” There’s two things about it, that sort of pull against each other, is where I think is going to make the show really work. So her story is a real modern story because it’s not the story of, “I need to find love in a relationship to be happy in my life.” Actually, where she gets to is, “I need to learn to love myself to be happy in my own life.” So that journey of self-love, self-acceptance just feels like a real modern theme.

So it’s a way of bringing Austen and Pride and Prejudice up to date in that respect, but the way it’s going to be shot, the way Bad Wolf are gonna be filming, it is really heartland. It’s really traditional. It’s going to feel bucolic and it is going to be comforting and warm and lovely. It’s been a deliberate stylistic choice that we don’t want to go Bridgerton and we don’t want to go, I don’t know, maybe the Sofia Coppola approach to period drama, where you put a modern soundtrack behind it and everything is sort of cut quickly and is modernized. We want it to feel very heartland, very traditional, but ultimately the journey and the central theme of the show is a very modern one, very contemporary.

Speaking of not wanting to go modern or keeping things classic, I got the announcement yesterday about Tommy and Tuppence. It’s the first contemporary adaptation of Agatha Christie. So I’m assuming you’re taking those characters, putting them in modern times. Why do you think now is the time to take those classic characters and take them out of their milieu, so to speak?

Well, I think when we sort of look at Agatha Christie — we are the biggest provider of Agatha Christie in North America — and we’ve had a lot of success over the last few years with her stories, which have all been a sort of fairly traditional approach. So I think, when you sort of think of BritBox’s approach to Agatha Christie, it’s almost that portfolio approach. We’re doing these stories which are taking a more classical approach. Those are working really well. What can we do that gives the audience something different? So a different flavor, a different texture.

The reference point for us is always gonna be how Hartswood and BBC just reinvented Sherlock fifteen years ago. They put the characters into the modern London, gave them a more modern sensibility, and really just breathed new life into it. It’s a reference point that we talk about a lot with Tommy and Tuppence. They’re actually very modern characters. How can we put them in a modern setting that maybe will speak to an audience that aren’t currently watching Agatha Christie on Britbox? But for our existing audience, they’ve got a whole range, a whole sort of portfolio of different interpretations of her work. So we sort of see it sitting within that broader context.

Any hints as to casting, what kind of actors you’re looking for for those parts, in terms of age or race or ethnic background?

Yeah, so we have offers out at the moment. We want it to be a diverse casting. That’s really, really important to us on this one. There is a role, Aunt Ada, which is the big sort of matriarch figure who will be in it for the first season. We’re looking at some really exciting stunt casting for that. So nothing I can announce in terms of actual names. The two actors for the leads, I saw a chemistry test of them last week and they are electrifying. I mean, it’s just, it gonna be so fun.

I know you guys have The Lady in production. Leading lady Mia McKenna-Bruce is one of those rising stars. She’s a great get, but also I’m curious about the tone of this one. It could go The Crown, it could go salacious true crime. What about that topic, that story that do you hope BritBox audiences latch onto?

Given that it comes from Left Bank, given that comes from the producers of The Crown, I sometimes think of it as the late night version, a darker version of The Crown. The sort of tale that the show dared not tell, but actually, it’s a true story.

This is the story of Sarah Ferguson’s dresser, Jane Andrews, who was a very working-class girl from Grimsby in the north of England who was wanting to improve her social status, which is, you know, in the UK, unfortunately, is a thing. She found herself in Buckingham Palace working for Sarah Ferguson, assuming the role for herself as this high society woman. She wanted to marry someone of equal standing, who ultimately rejected her, and rejected her because of her class. And she killed him. So it’s quite an incredible story.

I think for me, the Royal Family and Sarah Ferguson is the backdrop. The story is really Jane Andrews’ story. Yes, it’s full of scandal. I imagine it’s the sort of story that would have been a long read in Vanity Fair. But also, because it’s a real story, we want to treat it sensitively as well. The relatives of the victim are still alive and we’ve been speaking to them during the production and we want to handle it sensitively.

This is a story with a royal backdrop from the producers of The Crown, but this is an astonishing true crime story that is very British in that, ultimately, it’s the story of class. It’s a story of someone not able to reach the status that they thought they were and not being able to take that and doing the worst thing possible as a result.

Pulling back, I’m just curious as of right now, what do you think or consider demographically to be the average BritBox subscriber? and is there a demo that you’re trying to like move into to expand the umbrella?

Yeah, we are broad. I think it’s fair to say our demographic is slightly older than the streaming average. And if you look at some of our commissions that we’ve got, and I’m just sort of thinking about Riot Women, that is coming through in October from Sally Wainwright, which is about a sort of group of women, post-menopause, frustrated with everything that’s happening in their lives. They express that anger and that frustration by forming a punk band. It’s such a good show, but I think what excites me about that show is it reflects the demographic of our target audience, and hopefully will reflect some of their life back to them.

So when I think of our sweet spot, it tends to be sort of middle-aged, maybe 45+, a slight female skew, but we appeal to both male and female. In terms of where the growth is coming from, look, I tend to think of it less in terms of demographics. I think the way I’m thinking about it at the moment is almost that BritBox has gone through three phases. So the first phase, you know, which was a very quick one early on, was expats living in North America. You know, easy to get. The second one, and it’s a phase that we’re still going through now, is Anglophiles. So people who love British culture, love British programming. But I think the next phase, and the one that’s going to be sort of more challenging but sort of interesting is genre fans. By that, I think particularly I look at mystery and I look period drama and I think fans of those genres, if they’re not watching BritBox, we need to get them. When I look at the landscape and I look at those amazing mystery shows that there have been over the last few years, like Only Murders in the Building or Poker Face or Knives Out, and those aren’t British shows, but they are mystery shows. I think the Brits do mystery better than anyone else. And I think if you are a mystery fan and you’re enjoying those shows on Hulu or Netflix or wherever they are, I want to make sure we’ve got the right programs on BritBox, that you will come to BritBox to get your mystery fix there. So that’s sort of less about a specific demo — you know, is it younger, is older, is more female? — but it’s really sort of targeting those viewers. The same with period as well.

This is quite reductive in terms of our content strategy, but one of the sort of phrases that I use a lot with the team is “crime and corsets.” You have to think where we want to be putting lots of our money over the next few years. It’s crime drama, particularly mystery, and it’s corsets, in terms of period drama. And those two are going to be a real big focus for us going forward.

Going back to Outrageous, how does Outrageous have to perform to merit a renewal for another season? Are you looking at numbers? Do you already kind of think there’s going to be another season?

Yeah, look, we’ve been developing a second series.[Showrunner] Sarah [Willliams] is writing scripts. We haven’t made the decision yet whether there will be a second season because we want to look at how the audience responds to that. Viewing data is gonna be a massive part of that, but it’s not everything. We want to take a holistic view of how the show is received in the market.

One thing that I do want to do is make a decision quickly because if we’re going to do a second series, I really want to reward the viewers. I don’t want to be in a Severance situation where it’s just, “Ugh! When? When’s this gonna happen?” We’re pretty sort of mindful of trying to turn things around pretty quickly so there’s not a long hiatus between seasons. But yeah, you know, we will take a holistic view at how well it was received, what the audience data looks like. Certainly we would love to get that second series done if it is well-received.

This interview has been edited and formatted for clarity.