If you’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.
The film winds back the clock to when the Who’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.
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.
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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 & Stacey) as Dic JenkinsAneurin Barnard (Doctor Who) as ElfedWhat did critics say about Mr Burton?
Mr Burton has a very strong score on Rotten Tomatoes, sitting at 93% positive from 41 critic reviews.
“Aided by a strong cast, [it] should appeal even to audiences who have fuzzy recollections of the once notorious actor”, wrote The Hollywood Reporter, which added that gives Jones, gives “one of the finest performances of his long career” and that the film “may be remembered as one of the definitive explorations” of the theme of mentorship.
The Post NZ called Manville “terrific” and Jones “wonderful”, writing: “With a kind of bruised humility — and a steely strength, when needed — that seems completely believable.”
Furthermore, Film Threat called the film “fantastic” and Screen Rant dubbed it “well-acted and beautifully shot”.
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Where can I watch Mr Burton?
In the UK, Mr Burton is available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Unlike a lot of films, it isn’t available for a limited 28-day window, and will be available to stream for a year, at least.
It’s not available on any US subscription service, so you’ll have to buy or rent it.
Other Toby Jones and Lesley Manville shows and movies you can stream right now
If you want to see Jones in a different type of role, there’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’s prized bovine. It’s available on MUBI.
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.
Manville can also be seen in season 2 of spy thriller Citadel, which dropped this week on Prime Video.
Mr Burton can be streamed on BBC iPlayer.
The new edition of Living Legends, a 100-page all-colour celebration of Sir David Attenborough, is here! Buy Sir David Attenborough in newsagents or online.
Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he’s covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies 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’m a Fish.