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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Gwilym Mumford

The Guide #56: From Britbox to Shudder, the best niche streaming services

Himesh Patel stars in potential show of the year Station Eleven, just one of the great shows you can find on a non-mainstream service.
Himesh Patel stars in potential show of the year Station Eleven, just one of the great shows you can find on a non-mainstream service. Photograph: AP

A couple of weeks ago, we offered up a streaming guide for these cost of living-tinged times, looking at the positives and negatives of the “big five” platforms (Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, Netflix, Now). But the streaming buffet doesn’t just extend to that quintet; there’s a host of other, more niche streamers each offering up their own smörgåsbord of diverting shows and films. Let’s run through the best of them – grab a plate!

***

Lionsgate+

Ramy Youssef, star of Ramy, which you can find on Lionsgate+.
Ramy Youssef, star of Ramy, which you can find on Lionsgate+. Photograph: Craig Blankenhorn

Price: £5.99 a month

Formerly known as Starzplay, this platform has long been seen as a bit of a hidden streaming gem for its collection of dynamite US acquisitions – it’s where you can see Ramy (above), The Great and P Valley before anyone else – and bargain price. Alas, it’s a bit less of a bargain these days, having recently gone up from £1.99 for the first six months to £5.99 after a 30-day trial. Still, with other platforms also raising their subscription fees, it remains well priced.

The best thing on there right now: The (somehow uplifting) pandemic drama Station Eleven (pictured top), which is very much in the running for show of the year.

***

BritBox

William Eadie in Lynne Ramsay’s Ratcatcher, available on BritBox.
William Eadie in Lynne Ramsay’s Ratcatcher, available on BritBox. Photograph: Cinetext/Bbc/Allstar

Price: £5.99 a month

Written off as a doomed exercise before it even launched, this BBC-ITV streaming collaboration is still standing three years on. It found its niche early – essentially it’s where your mum goes to watch old episodes of Cadfael – but its hefty library of classic British series is backed up by some credible original shows (notably The Beast Must Die) and a surprisingly strong film selection at a competitive price.

The best thing on there right now: Ratcatcher, Lynne Ramsay’s bruising, Glasgow-set coming-of-age drama, doesn’t exactly chime with BritBox’s cosy teatime drama vibe, but it’s a stunner nonetheless.

***

Mubi/TankTV

Noémie Merlant, left, and Adèle Haenel in a scene from Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
Noémie Merlant, left, and Adèle Haenel in a scene from Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Photograph: AP

Price: Mubi, from £10.99 a month; TankTV from £3 a month

The cineaste’s choice, Mubi has been delivering impeccably curated film picks for more than a decade. Leaning heavily towards the arthouse, it offers cinema that other streamers are unable or unwilling to platform. At £10.99 it doesn’t come cheap, but the £16.99 option, with a “hand-picked” cinema ticket included every week, may well entice regular cinemagoers. Boasting a similar format, though significantly cheaper, is TankTV, with themed seasons featuring Tarkovsky, Varda and Von Trier.

The best thing on there right now: For Mubi, it’s surely the sumptuous Portrait of a Lady on Fire; while TankTV is showing Terence Davies’s recently restored masterpiece Distant Voices, Still Lives.

***

Paramount+

Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief in a scene from Paramount+ series Halo.
Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief in a scene from Paramount+ series Halo. Photograph: Adrienn Szabo/AP

Price: £6.99 a month

The newest combatant in our streaming wars arrives armed with a pretty robust catalogue of shows and films old and new. It’s where you can watch South Park (still gleefully offensive, 25 series in), Kevin Costner-starring US ratings monster Yellowstone and an extremely pricey – if strangely not-talked-about – adaptation of video game Halo. A major player.

The best thing on there right now: The frequently bonkers legal drama The Good Fight, which manages to knit everything from the January 6 riots to Jeffrey Epstein’s death into its storylines.

***

Shudder

Saloum, just one excellent film available on Shudder.
Saloum, just one excellent film available on Shudder. Photograph: Courtesy of LACME STUDIOS/Shudder

Price: From £3.99 a month

A streaming service devoted entirely to horror? Your mileage – and tolerance for severed heads flying across the screen – may vary. But if horror is your thing, Shudder is a sound investment, boasting a truly impressive library, great curation (with collections on everything from Giallo to folk horror) and some inventive original shockers.

The best thing on there right now: Saloum, a stylish and entertaining gangster/horror hybrid largely set in Senegal.

***

Discovery+

The Men Who Sold the World Cup, on the shady selection of Qatar as 2022’s World Cup host, is now on Discovery+.
The Men Who Sold the World Cup, on the shady selection of Qatar as 2022’s World Cup host, is now on Discovery+. Photograph: Giuseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty Images

Price: £3.99 a month

Once synonymous with hush-voiced wildlife programmes, Discovery now seems to churn out an endless array of reality telly and stomach-churning true crime. Its streaming offshoot has a vast library of both, if that floats your boat, as well as, admittedly, a decent chunk of nature programming too – at a pretty impressive price.

Best thing on there right now: The Men Who Sold the World Cup, a none-more-timely account of the murkiness that swirled around the Qatar 2022 bid.

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