diff --git a/toot/tui/richtext/__init__.py b/toot/tui/richtext/__init__.py
index ba857ab..6359c24 100644
--- a/toot/tui/richtext/__init__.py
+++ b/toot/tui/richtext/__init__.py
@@ -1 +1,15 @@
-from .richtext import html_to_widgets
+import urwid
+
+from toot.tui.utils import highlight_hashtags
+from toot.utils import format_content
+from typing import List
+
+try:
+    from .richtext import html_to_widgets
+except ImportError:
+    # Fallback if urwidgets are not available
+    def html_to_widgets(html: str) -> List[urwid.Widget]:
+        return [
+            urwid.Text(highlight_hashtags(line))
+            for line in format_content(html)
+        ]
diff --git a/toot/tui/richtext/richtext.py b/toot/tui/richtext/richtext.py
index ae463ae..9db7e73 100644
--- a/toot/tui/richtext/richtext.py
+++ b/toot/tui/richtext/richtext.py
@@ -4,10 +4,10 @@ import unicodedata
 
 from bs4.element import NavigableString, Tag
 from toot.tui.constants import PALETTE
-from toot.tui.stubs.urwidgets import TextEmbed, Hyperlink, has_urwidgets
 from toot.utils import parse_html, urlencode_url
 from typing import List, Tuple
 from urwid.util import decompose_tagmarkup
+from urwidgets import Hyperlink, TextEmbed
 
 
 STYLE_NAMES = [p[0] for p in PALETTE]
@@ -84,9 +84,6 @@ URL_PATTERN = re.compile(r"(^.+)\x03(.+$)")
 
 
 def text_to_widget(attr, markup) -> urwid.Widget:
-    if not has_urwidgets:
-        return urwid.Text((attr, markup))
-
     markup_list = []
     for run in markup:
         if isinstance(run, tuple):
@@ -242,8 +239,7 @@ def render_anchor(tag) -> Tuple:
     title, attrib_list = decompose_tagmarkup(markups)
     if not attrib_list:
         attrib_list = [tag]
-    if href and has_urwidgets:
-        # only if we have urwidgets loaded for OCS 8 hyperlinks:
+    if href:
         # urlencode the path and query portions of the URL
         href = urlencode_url(href)
         # use ASCII ETX (end of record) as a
diff --git a/toot/tui/utils.py b/toot/tui/utils.py
index 0ccff9d..734ae32 100644
--- a/toot/tui/utils.py
+++ b/toot/tui/utils.py
@@ -35,6 +35,18 @@ def highlight_keys(text, high_attr, low_attr=""):
     return list(_gen())
 
 
+def highlight_hashtags(line):
+    hline = []
+
+    for p in re.split(HASHTAG_PATTERN, line):
+        if p.startswith("#"):
+            hline.append(("hashtag", p))
+        else:
+            hline.append(p)
+
+    return hline
+
+
 def show_media(paths):
     """
     Attempt to open an image viewer to show given media files.