The Hardacres Sets BritBox Premiere This September
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Last Updated on August 15, 2025 by Stefanie Hutson
The Hardacres is a new period family saga set in 1890s Yorkshire, charting a true rags-to-riches leap as a dockside clan bets everything on a bold business venture and finds itself trading the fish quay for a country estate. It’s an ensemble story about work, luck, and what “moving up” really costs — with romance, rivalry, and plenty of class tension along the way. If you like the grit-to-grandeur sweep of Poldark and the upstairs-meets-downstairs frictions of Downton Abbey, this is definitely one to check out this autumn.
What You Can Expect of The Hardacres…
Set on the North Yorkshire coast at the tail end of the Victorian era, The Hardacres follows a working-class family forced to reinvent themselves after catastrophe strikes on the docks. Sam Hardacre (Liam McMahon, Joan) and his wife Mary (Claire Cooper, Suspects) are left jobless when an accident derails their livelihoods. With three children—Joe (Adam Little, Coronation Street), Liza (Shannon Lavelle, Riot Women) and Harry (Zak Ford-Williams, Better)—and Mary’s formidable mother, Ma (Julie Graham, Shetland), the family faces a stark choice: accept the workhouse or gamble everything on a new venture.
The series charts a classic rags-to-riches trajectory while keeping its focus squarely on the people taking the risk. After the docks accident, Sam and Mary pool their last coins to back a radical business idea they hope can lift them out of poverty. The bet pays off quickly enough to move the family from a cramped life by the fish dock to the unexpected responsibilities of a country estate. That shift is where the drama lives: money brings opportunities and pressures in equal measure, and the Hardacres discover that class expectations, local politics, and family loyalties don’t change overnight just because the scenery does.
Across six hour-long episodes, expect a balance of domestic dilemmas and boardroom-style decisions, as the parents weigh expansion against risk and the children find their footing in a world that suddenly treats them differently. Joe tests his independence; Liza pushes back against the roles others assign her; and Harry—observant and sharp—navigates new rooms where the rules are unwritten. Ma’s plainspoken counsel cuts through the family’s growing pains. The faux-North Yorkshire setting (it was filmed in Ireland) adds texture: a working port, tight-knit streets, and then the rituals and routines of estate life, with all the friction that comes when outsiders arrive with new ideas.
While the show has the sweep of a period epic, it’s built as an ensemble drama about work, pride, and the cost of moving up. Underneath the plot’s big swings is a persistent question: can financial security deliver the belonging and peace the Hardacres actually want, or will it simply trade one set of problems for another?
Who’s Who
The core cast features Liam McMahon (Joan) as Sam Hardacre and Claire Cooper (Suspects) as Mary Hardacre, with Adam Little (Coronation Street) as Joe, Shannon Lavelle (Riot Women) as Liza, and Zak Ford-Williams (Better) as Harry. Julie Graham (Shetland) plays Ma, whose practical outlook anchors the family through sudden change.
Release Date & How to Watch in North America
The Hardacres is a BritBox Original and streams exclusively on BritBox in the U.S. and Canada starting September 10, 2025. The premiere drops two episodes, followed by weekly installments to complete the six-episode season (6 × 60′).
Why This One Stands Out
Period dramas often celebrate the elite; The Hardacres starts on the dockside and brings that perspective with it to the manor house. It’s a story about hustle and consequence, told through a family that doesn’t forget where it came from even as it learns how to live somewhere new. If you like multigenerational arcs, fish-out-of-water culture clashes, and questions about what “success” really buys, this looks like one to watch.
