HOW & WHERE TO STREAM TV & FILM
BBC iPLAYER
bbc.co.uk/iplayer As long as you have a TV licence, you can register for free and enjoy a slew of BBC shows on demand and BBC channels to stream live.
ITVX FREE TO VIEW
itv.com Replacing ITV Hub, this free service is the place to stream ITV shows and new ITVX dramas. An ad-free version costs £5.99 a month or £59.99 a year, which includes access to BritBox.
CHANNEL 4
channel4.com No longer called All 4, Channel 4’s streaming service has more than 1,500 shows from C4, E4, More4, Film4 and Walter Presents. Watching without ads costs £3.99 per month.
MY5
channel5.com Channel 5 content and channels 5 USA, 5 Star and 5 Select can be streamed live with a free online account.
UKTV PLAY
uktvplay.uktv.co.uk Catch up with shows on Dave, Drama, W and Yesterday. There’s also an extensive library of crime drama, comedy and entertainment box sets available to stream.
FREEVEE
amazon.co.uk/freevee You can sign up free for an Amazon account and then watch — with adverts — shows including Neighbours, cop drama Bosch: Legacy and the comedy Sprung, plus other TV shows and films.
SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES ACORN TV
acorn.tv Price: £4.99/month Gentle crime dramas are this service’s speciality.
AMAZON PRIME VIDEO
amazon.co.uk/video Price: £8.99/month For original shows such as 007: Road to a Million and live sport.
APPLE TV+
apple.com/uk/ apple-tv-plus Price: £8.99/month For films and series such as Slow Horses.
BFI PLAYER
bfi.org.uk/player Price: £4.99/month Classic and cult films.
BRITBOX
britbox.co.uk Price: £5.99/month Shows from the BBC, ITV, C4 and Channel 5, plus BritBox originals.
DISCOVERY+
(with ads) to £17.99/ month (Ultra HD) Films and series like Life on Our Planet, The Crown and Squid Game: the Challenge.
NOW
nowtv.com Price: £9.99/month for Entertainment and £9.99/month for Cinema membership The place to watch Sky and HBO shows without a Sky box or dish. Streaming service Peacock is included with Entertainment membership.
PARAMOUNT+
paramountplus.com
Price: £6.99/month Films and TV series such as Frasier, Yellowstone and The Curse.
LIONSGATE+
lionsgateplus.com Price: £5.99/month For films and shows like Outlander and Godfather of Harlem.
SKY GO
sky.com/watch/sky-go Price: included with Sky TV subscription Sky customers can stream live, on-demand and catch-up TV via an app on their laptop, phone or tablet.
PREMIUM SERVICES
Many recent films are available to digitally rent or buy at a one-off cost. Priced anywhere from around £5 to £16 for new releases, they are available on platforms including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Chili, Google Play, Microsoft, Rakuten, Sky Store, Virgin and YouTube. Similarly, film platforms BFI Player and Curzon Home Cinema offer a more curated selection of indie, arthouse and world cinema titles.
and of manicured lawns and expats sipping tea, a hippy heaven, or a nation of sprawling slums? According to James May, who visits India for the latest instalment of his Our Man in… travelogues, the world’s most populous country is far more complicated than any of those outdated tropes would suggest. Here the Grand Tour presenter explains why it’s time to rethink the way we view India.
What were your preconceptions of India before you went there?
It’s an interesting relationship between Britain and India. We like each other, though there’s some obvious historical baggage because of colonisation, and some awkward things like It Ain’t Half Hot Mum. A lot of British people regard India as somewhere you go to get your head together, a romantic place of George
Harrison-esque deep mysticism and holy figures. Then there are the Raj fantasists: people who like cricket, tea and being waited on with gin and tonic. But neither is correct. The truth is that India is an emerging superpower, a country with a lot of high tech, rockets and nuclear power.
Do you think people are scared to go?
Yes, I’ve even known British Indians who are scared of going! The experience is intense, admittedly. It’s noisy and crowded and hot, and it’s certainly harder work than going to Florence. But if you relax and don’t bring your European sensitivities to it, it’s a great country. The main danger is getting fat,
because Indians are feeders.
Picking tea in Darjeeling
You’re saying that the food’s good, then?
I certainly put on weight. Everything is fantastic, and the problem is that as soon as you finish your bowl of delicious paneer masala, they fill it up again.
What were the highlights of your trip?
We went from west to east, from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal. In Mumbai we visited Dharavi, the “slum” from the film Slumdog Millionaire, which is extremely densely populated and often without running water and so on. But it’s also a very industrious area that turns over a lot of money in trades like pottery and plastic recycling. Darjeeling was great: I saw how tea is made. But my favourite place was probably Sundarbans, a forested area where you can see tigers. It’s the place where Gandhi said the soul of India resides.
How would you sum up India in a sentence?
It’s remarkable. It’s so busy and yet everything actually works very well. It’s quite a loose society; it doesn’t feel too buttoned up. Everyone should visit at least once.