Best freebies & perks during Coronavirus lockdown: free musicals, TV, games, audiobooks & more

Saving and Making Money

Updated on 20 April 2020 | 0 Comments

There are all sorts of entertainment that have been made free to keep people busy as the UK lockdown continues.

It may be an incredibly tough time at the moment, but thankfully all sorts of businesses are offering people a range of freebies and perks to help pass the time.

Here are just some of the deals that are currently available to everyone, as well as some promotions reserved for NHS workers.

Free TV channels

Virgin Media is giving its TV customers access to loads of entertainment channels for free until 9 May. It follows Virgin’s decision to offer TV customers free access to a host of premium kids TV channels until 21 April.

Initially, it announced 18 channels would be made available including the likes of Comedy Central, Discovery, Fox, Gold, MTV and Kiss.

However, this morning it has extended the offer to include various Sky channels such as Sky One, Sky Comedy, Sky Witness, Sky Crime and Sky Sports Mix.

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Free wrestling

The world’s biggest wrestling promotion, WWE, has made huge portions of its network absolutely free.

All you have to do is set up an account on the website or through the app and you’ll have access to thousands of hours of TV shows, pay-per-view events and documentaries.

If there’s content on there that you’re keen on, but which hasn’t been made available, then you can sign up for a free month before you start having to pay.

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Free mobile data and calls

Vodafone is offering 30 days of free mobile data to 500,000 pay monthly customers. The deal is available through its VeryMe rewards scheme, and you can sign up for the perk via its app.

Meanwhile, O2 is offering unlimited domestic calls for all pay monthly customers.

Child listening to an audiobook. (Image: Shutterstock)

Free audiobooks

Audible has made hundreds of audiobooks for children absolutely free. Normally the service will set you back a monthly subscription, but now you just need to head to this page and start listening ‒ you don’t even need to set up a username.

The available stories can be filtered based on suitable ages and they are also available in other languages, such as French, Spanish and Italian.

Books in the promotion include the likes of Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

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Free comic books

Marvel is making a host of comic book stories available free through its Marvel Unlimited app until 4 May. They include the likes of Civil War and the brilliant Thanos Wins, written by Donny Cates.

Dark Horse may not be the best-known publisher of comic books around, but it was responsible for some stonkers, including Hellboy.

It has made a bunch of comics available digitally for free to help us pass the time at home, including some of its licensed Disney books. 

Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition

The normal Cards Against Humanity game can be great ‒ if incredibly inappropriate ‒ fun, but it’s not really something you can play with the kids.

Thankfully, the makers have released a family edition that you can print off and play with at home.

And what’s more, it’s absolutely free.

Teenager playing a video game. (Image: Shutterstock)Free kids TV

Amazon has made a host of kids TV shows free on its Prime Video service.

You need to have an Amazon account, but you don’t need to join Prime to take advantage. Shows include the likes of Peppa Pig and Fireman Sam.

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Free musicals

There’s a new YouTube channel called The Shows Must Go On, and it will show full length Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals each week.

Shows go up at 7pm on Friday evenings and are available for you to stream for 48 hours.

The first show that was streamed was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. This Friday (10 April), Jesus Christ Superstar will be streaming.

Free games

Many games publishers are making games available for free during the pandemic, even if only for a limited time.

For example, at Epic Games Store, where you can pick up games for PC and Mac, there are a bunch of titles currently available for free, including the gorgeous-looking Hob. It normally retails for £14.99, so it’s a cracking bargain. 

Developer Ubisoft is also doing regular giveaways, with Chess Royale currently on offer for free.

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Perks for NHS workers

It’s also worth noting many freebies and perks have been launched specifically for those working in the NHS.

For example, will writing firm Farewill is waiving its usual fee to write wills for NHS workers, while Domino’s Pizza is giving away medium pizzas for free.

NHS England has brought these offers together in a single spreadsheet available on this page of its website, so you can easily find what discounts and offers are available if you work in the health service. 

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