{"id":574836,"date":"2026-05-09T14:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T14:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/574836\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T14:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T14:18:13","slug":"toby-jones-and-lesley-manvilles-fantastic-british-drama-is-the-movie-to-watch-tonight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/574836\/","title":{"rendered":"Toby Jones and Lesley Manville&#8217;s &#8220;fantastic&#8221; British drama is the movie to watch tonight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"3\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">If you&#8217;re looking for a film to watch tonight, you can do a lot worse than Mr Burton, the critically acclaimed 2025 biopic that tells the story of the late, great Richard Burton, with two actors that we know the readers of Digital Spy love: Toby Jones and Lesley Manville.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"9\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">The film winds back the clock to when the Who&#8217;s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? actor was a young lad named Richard Jenkins, struggling to get through school in Port Talbot while being looked down upon, as the son of a drunk. <\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"13\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Schoolmaster Philip Burton sees his natural talent and makes it his mission to fight for him to succeed, and the two form an impenetrable bond.<\/p>\n<p><img draggable=\"true\" alt=\"toby jones and harry lawtey in mr burton\" title=\"Toby Jones and Harry Lawtey in Mr Burton\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2500\" height=\"1666\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent;width:100%;height:auto;\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/toby-jones-mr-burton-690dd3936d43e.jpg\" class=\"css-0 e1g79fud0\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Icon Film Distribution<\/p>\n<p>Who stars in Mr Burton?Harry Lawtey (Industry) as Richard BurtonToby Jones (Mr Bates vs the Post Office) as Philip BurtonLesley Manville (Vera Drake) as Ma SmithAimee-Ffion Edwards (Skins) as CisSteffan Rhodri (Gavin &amp; Stacey) as Dic JenkinsAneurin Barnard (Doctor Who) as ElfedWhat did critics say about Mr Burton?<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"21\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Mr Burton has a very strong score on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rottentomatoes.com\/m\/mr_burton\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.rottentomatoes.com\/m\/mr_burton\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"Rotten Tomatoes\" data-node-id=\"21.2\" class=\"body-link css-1gyyefe emevuu60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Rotten Tomatoes<\/a>, sitting at 93% positive from 41 critic reviews.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"25\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">&#8220;Aided by a strong cast, [it] should appeal even to audiences who have fuzzy recollections of the once notorious actor&#8221;, wrote <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/mr-burton-review-richard-burton-biopic-harry-lawtey-1236540612\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/mr-burton-review-richard-burton-biopic-harry-lawtey-1236540612\/\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"The Hollywood Reporter\" data-node-id=\"25.1.0\" class=\"body-link css-1gyyefe emevuu60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Hollywood Reporter<\/a>, which added that gives Jones, gives &#8220;one of the finest performances of his long career&#8221; and that the film &#8220;may be remembered as one of the definitive explorations&#8221; of the theme of mentorship.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"29\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thepost.co.nz\/culture\/360791386\/see-mr-burton-because-mr-jones\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.thepost.co.nz\/culture\/360791386\/see-mr-burton-because-mr-jones\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"The Post NZ\" data-node-id=\"29.0\" class=\"body-link css-1gyyefe emevuu60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Post NZ<\/a> called Manville &#8220;terrific&#8221; and Jones &#8220;wonderful&#8221;, writing: &#8220;With a kind of bruised humility \u2014 and a steely strength, when needed \u2014 that seems completely believable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"34\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Furthermore, <a href=\"https:\/\/filmthreat.com\/reviews\/mr-burton-review\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/filmthreat.com\/reviews\/mr-burton-review\/\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"Film Threat\" data-node-id=\"34.1.0\" class=\"body-link css-1gyyefe emevuu60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Film Threat<\/a> called the film &#8220;fantastic&#8221; and <a href=\"https:\/\/screenrant.com\/mr-burton-2025-movie-review\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/screenrant.com\/mr-burton-2025-movie-review\/\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"Screen Rant\" data-node-id=\"34.3\" class=\"body-link css-1gyyefe emevuu60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Screen Rant<\/a> dubbed it &#8220;well-acted and beautifully shot&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><img draggable=\"true\" alt=\"lesley manville in mr burton\" title=\"Lesley Manville in Mr Burton\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2154\" height=\"1212\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent;width:100%;height:auto;\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/lesley-manville-mr-burton-67efabdc99b7c.jpg\" class=\"css-0 e1g79fud0\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Icon Film Distribution<\/p>\n<p>Where can I watch Mr Burton?<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"40\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">In the UK, Mr Burton is available to stream on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/iplayer\/episode\/m002m3tl\/mr-burton\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/iplayer\/episode\/m002m3tl\/mr-burton\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"BBC iPlayer\" data-node-id=\"40.3\" class=\"body-link css-1gyyefe emevuu60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">BBC iPlayer<\/a>. Unlike a lot of films, it isn&#8217;t available for a limited 28-day window, and will be available to stream for a year, at least.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"44\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">It&#8217;s not available on any US subscription service, so you&#8217;ll have to buy or rent it.<\/p>\n<p>Other Toby Jones and Lesley Manville shows and movies you can stream right now<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"49\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">If you want to see Jones in a different type of role, there&#8217;s the film First Cow, a Western drama about two strangers who become friends and hatch a plan to steal the milk from a wealthy landowner&#8217;s prized bovine. It&#8217;s available on MUBI.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"53\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">The aforementioned Mr Bates vs the Post Office is available to stream on ITVX, Disney+ and YouTube, while The Crown can be streamed on Netflix.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"57\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Manville can also be seen in season 2 of spy thriller Citadel, which dropped this week on Prime Video.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"61\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Mr Burton can be streamed on BBC iPlayer.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"66\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">The new edition of Living Legends, a 100-page all-colour celebration of Sir David Attenborough, is here! <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hearstmagazines.co.uk\/livldavidattenborough\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.hearstmagazines.co.uk\/livldavidattenborough\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"Buy Sir David Attenborough in newsagents or online\" data-node-id=\"66.3\" class=\"body-link css-1gyyefe emevuu60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Buy Sir David Attenborough in newsagents or online<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778336293_765_6bf117e6-90c2-44bc-a2bb-92355b4636ba_1550228669.file.png\" alt=\"Headshot of Joe Anderton\" title=\"Headshot of Joe Anderton\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"css-o0wq4v ev8dhu53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he&#8217;s covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalspy.com\/tv\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">TV<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalspy.com\/movies\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">movies<\/a> both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I&#8217;m a Fish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you&#8217;re looking for a film to watch tonight, you can do a lot worse than Mr Burton,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[147950,379,196512,381,96,190731,1156,2839,196511,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-574836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-collection-latest-news","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-cdea578e-2fd5-43bd-972e-16f7c4c11ca3","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-gb","tag-movies","tag-shorttitle-toby-jones-fantastic-drama-is-one-to-watch-tonight","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}