The streaming service britbox celebrated nine years of service this week with the launch of On The Box: The BritBox Podcast.
To help sink your teeth into it, they even sent cookies in the shape of the heads of their hosts, Edith Bowman (BBC Radio 1, Soundtracking) and US comedian Michelle Collins (The View). Hey, promotion is promotion, but you will not catch me putting my head on a cookie to help hype brioux.tv: the podcast.
Collins is the American Anglophile of the two, declaring that the British version of Celebrity Traders featuring Claudia Winkleman is her favourite UK series right now. Bowman, a BBC radio DJ and Scottish Music Awards host, has never seen an episode of Traders.
In the opening episode of their podcast, the two banter about other British television favourites. Collins says her mom turned her on at an early age to the comedy Are We Being Served? “I was never a Benny Hill person,” she adds. “That’s where I drew the line.”
The two briefly debate which is better: British or American TV detectives – before introducing guest Matthew Rhys. Born in Wales, Rhys hit it big in America in Brothers & Sisters and later The Americans, He can currently be seen in Netflix’s The Beast in Me opposite Claire Danes.
He also plays a detective, Inspector Leech, in the three-part miniseries Towards Zero. It’s currently running on BritBox and also starring Angelica Huston. Getting back to that American vs British detective debate, Collins declares that Leech is, “100 times hotter than Columbo.” Rhys, always a great podcast guest, doesn’t try to talk her out of that.
advertisement
Rhys took to the stage in Wales last year in a one-man show saluting his homeland’s favourite acting son, Richard Burton. The play marked the centenary of Burton’s birth in 1925.
“I don’t think I’ve ever done anything as hard,” he said. “I have new found respect for anyone doing a one-man show.”
Future episodes of On the Box will feature guests such as writer-actress Sally Wainwright (Happy Valley, Riot Women), Rosalie Craig (Riot Women), Mia McKenna-Bruce (The Lady, Deven Dials) and Lauren Lyle (Karen Pine, (Outlander).
You can listen to the Rhys episode of On The Box by following this link.
