I asked Maxine Peake what fans should stream after ‘gripping’ Apple TV thriller Last Seen — and her unexpected choice is the best British comedy of 2026 you can stream for free | Daily Reports Online
If you’re British, you’re automatically a Maxine Peake superfan — regardless of your age or generation. From Silk to the hugely overlooked The Bisexual on Channel 4, she’s starred in banger after banger.
Now, she stars as delusional wife Jenna in gripping Australian Apple TV thriller Last Seen, which follows emergency dispatcher Ian (Patrick Brammall) trying to find his missing daughter after a mysterious phone call suggests she’s alive years after going missing.
It’s a gripping watch from start to finish, but I can’t help wishing that Peake had more screen time. Did that stop me blurting out “I love you” during a Zoom call about the series? Absolutely not.
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More than anything, I wanted to know what Peake recommended that fans should watch next, whether that was continuing the same vibe or finding something completely different to decompress.
She went with the latter not only by choosing my favorite British comedy series of 2026, but by picking something that isn’t going to cost you a dime to watch on BBC iPlayer.
Maxine Peake is a huge fan of Ann Droid on BBC iPlayer — and I don’t blame her
“I would go to the BBC and I would watch Ann Droid with Diane Morgan,” Peake tells me. “It’s another side of some Boltonian joy.”
I’d completely forgotten that this is where both Peake and Morgan come from, but even without the geographical link, it’s an excellent shout. if you’ve not yet seen the hit comedy series, Morgan plays Linda, a secondhand AnnDroid Z58/100 Basic Eldercare Robot gifted to widow Sue (Sue Johnston) by her son Michael (Kevin Ready).
Basically, it’s like Channel 4’s Humans meets a Royale Family and Motherland reunion that we weren’t expecting, and it’s nothing short of glorious. Clearly, everybody else who’s watched thinks the same thing, as season 2 was renewed shortly after all six episodes of season 1 were released.
Morgan is truly the most talented, authentic and unique voice in Western comedy at the moment, but even those, this is huge praise from Peake. Why? her first job out of drama school was snarky Twinkle in Dinnerladies, the classic Victoria Wood sitcom.
Despite only running for two seasons, it’s a cornerstone of British sitcom culture, a baton that Morgan has picked up and run with. It’s unexpected, but the more I think about it, I’m not sure a that a better TV pairing is possible.
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