‘Tales of the City’: How to Stream the Original Mini-Series

It’s Pride Month and Netflix subscribers can celebrate with the all-new, all-queer revival of the groundbreaking TV franchise Tales of the City. This 21st century update of Armistead Maupin’s beloved San Francisco saga boats an all LGBTQ writing staff and lineup of directors, as well as plenty of new cast members that read like a who’s who of out and proud Hollywood. Ellen Page and Victor Garber, Looking alum Murray Bartlett, Drag Race winner Bob the Drag Queen, up and coming non-binary actor Garcia, and trans activist and actor Jen Richards are now all part of Tales of the City’s legacy.

Tales of the City has quite a legacy, though, stretching from its early days as a fiction column in a San Francisco periodical in the late ’70s to a series of novels, mini-series, and the current Netflix revival. It’ll be hard to believe to fans that have been invested in the ongoing lives of Mary Ann Singleton and Anna Madrigal, but over 25 years have passed since the original mini-series kicked open the door for queer rep on PBS. With a new Tales of the City on Netflix, old and new fans of the franchise are probably wondering the same thing…

Is the original Tales of the City series on Netflix?

While the revival is on Netflix, the series that started it all is not. And before you look, it’s also not streaming on Hulu or Amazon’s Prime Video. But don’t lose hope…

Can you stream the original Tales of the City mini-series anywhere?

You can! The original Tales of the City is currently streaming on Acorn TV, a streaming service that brings British television to us here in the US. While Tales of the City is set in San Francisco and based on an American writer’s American novel, the original mini-series was originally produced by Channel 4 in the UK and actually debuted across the pond a few months before it hit PBS in the US. You can journey back to retro San Francisco if you have an Acorn TV account or want to sign up for one (you can get a free 7-day trial, and then a subscription costs $5.99/month).

Other options for streaming the original Tales of the City include paying for it on iTunes or Amazon via Prime Video (note: you can also subscribe to Acorn TV through Amazon). You can purchase the mini-series on iTunes for $19.99 or Amazon for $11.94.

Where can you stream the other Tales of the City mini-series?

The original spawned two follow-up series, 1998’s More Tales of the City and 2001’s Further Tales of the City. Unfortunately for all the completists out there, both of those Showtime mini-series are currently unavailable to stream or purchase digitally. You’ll have to track down out-of-print DVDs for that–although who knows, maybe renewed interest in the franchise will convince Showtime to dust them off and put them up on their streaming service? Make your voices heard!

Stream Tales of the City on Acorn TV

Buy Tales of the City on Prime Video

Buy Tales of the City on iTunes