Grantchester on MASTERPIECE| Season 5 | Sundays at 9pm | June 14 - July 19, 2020

It’s 1957, and Will Davenport (Tom Brittney) has settled into his role as the vicar of Grantchester, preaching to a packed church. His best friend, Detective Inspector Geordie Keating, has come to accept his wife Cathy’s commitment to her job – just about. Mrs C. happily juggles her roles as the vicarage housekeeper and being a well-to-do married woman, and after a trip to Marrakech, even Leonard has managed to carve out some happiness with Daniel. But Will’s faith will be thoroughly tested as he and Geordie are reminded once more that there’s darkness lurking in their little corner of Cambridgeshire…

In addition to Brittney and Green, returning members of the acclaimed ensemble include Tessa Peake-Jones, Kacey Ainsworth, and Al Weaver.

Don’t miss Grantcheter Season 5, Sundays at 9 June 14 - July 19, 2020!

Beecham House on MASTERPIECE| Sundays at 10pm | June 14 - July 19, 2020

Gurinder Chadha’s new six-part drama series Beecham House is set on the cusp of the 19th century in Delhi before the British ruled in that region.

Tom Bateman (Vanity Fair, Jekyll and Hyde, Murder on the Orient Express) steps into the role of enigmatic, soulful John Beecham, a handsome former soldier who has purchased the magnificent mansion, Beecham House, to begin a new life with his family.

The ensemble cast includes Lesley Nicol (Downton Abbey), Gregory Fitoussi (Mr. Selfridge, Spiral), Adil Ray (Citizen Khan, Ackley Bridge), Pallavi Sharda (Lion), Dakota Blue Richards (Endeavour), Leo Suter (Clique, Victoria, Sanditon), Bessie Carter (Howard’s End), Viveik Kalra (Blinded By The Light) and Marc Warren (Safe, Hustle).

Writer, director and producer Chadha is responsible for a number of international hit films including Bend It Like Beckham, Bride & Prejudice, Viceroy’s House and 2019’s Blinded By The Light.

What Is It About?

Set in the 1795, amidst the clashing forces of British and French militaries and the decline of the centuries-old Mughal Empire, Beecham House tells the story of enigmatic Englishman and former soldier John Beecham (Tom Bateman, Vanity Fair, Murder on the Orient Express).

When Beecham arrives at his grand new Delhi estate to great fanfare, the presence of a (mixed-race and apparently motherless!) baby is more than just a surprise to the staff—it’s a mystery that only deepens as he falls for English governess Margaret Osbourne. As his overbearing mother (Downton Abbey‘s Lesley Nicol, in a very un-Miss Patmore turn!) his rebellious brother (Leo Suter, Sanditon and Victoria), and even more complicated guests arrive, politics, passion, ambition and revenge collide, all under the roof of Beecham House.

“John Beecham is a good person but people react to him with suspicion,” said creator Gurinder Chadha. “His brother and mother also come out to join him, and he hasn’t seen them for many years, so at its core is the drama of a family who are a bit broken.”

Where Was It Filmed?

Opulent homes, lush gardens, peacocks, monkeys, elephants, and even the Taj Mahal are just a few of the authentic elements that bring this series, largely shot on location in India, to magnificent life.

Creator Gurinder Chadha was adamant that Beecham House needed to be filmed in part in India. “You can’t beat India on camera,” she explained. “One of the things about India that existed long before the British came along and carried on long after they left, and will carry on, is their architecture, the palaces, the forts. We have used many, many shots of those amazing buildings and that is India, for me. You cannot shoot that anywhere else.”

The year is 1964, and Call the Midwife is back on our screens for series eight – with plenty more tear jerking stories, screaming babies and brand-new characters at Nonnatus House and beyond. Season eight premiered March 31, 2019.

The after effects of Nurse Barbara Hereward's death are still lingering. This grief makes an appearance in different ways throughout the season.

Season eight opened in the spring time of 1964 and everyone is excited for the Queen's royal birth. With the additions of two new nuns who have been sent to live and work with the team in Poplar, Nonnatus House feels full once more.

One of the most popular dramas on PBS, Call the Midwife follows the nurses, midwives and nuns from Nonnatus House, who visit the expectant mothers of Poplar, providing the poorest women with the best possible care.

World on Fire | April 5 - May 17, 2020

World on Fire is an adrenalized, emotionally gripping and resonant World War II drama that follows the intertwining fates of ordinary people in five countries as they grapple with the effects of the war on their everyday lives.

Set in Britain, Poland, France, Germany and the United States, the events of the seven-hour series take place during the first year of the war. The stellar cast includes Academy Award®-winner Helen Hunt (As Good As it Gets, Mad About You), Sean Bean (Game of Thrones), Academy Award®-nominee Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread), Jonah Hauer-King ( Little Women on MASTERPIECE, Howard’s End) and Blake Harrison (A Very English Scandal).

World on Fire premieres on Sunday, April 5 at 9pm on MASTERPIECE on WNED PBS, and will run on Sundays through May 17, with seven episodes in total. Watch on-air, online, or with the PBS Video app, available fro free download.

Want to watch all the episodes at your own pace? Starting on April 5 at 9pm (the night of the premiere), binge the entire series with WNED PBS Passport, an added member benefit.

World on Fire follows the lives of ordinary people coping with the greatest war in human history. Set in Britain, Poland, France, and Germany—on the frontlines and the home front—World on Fire traces the interweaved fates of several families in 1939 and 1940, from the Nazi invasion of Poland, to the near debacle at Dunkirk, to the fall of Paris and beyond.

In Manchester, England, Douglas Bennett (Sean Bean) is fighting a losing battle for pacifism as his country spirals into war. His lawbreaking son, Tom (Ewan Mitchell), is given the choice of prison or the military. His daughter, Lois (Julia Brown), is a factory worker and talented singer, involved in a romance with upper class translator Harry Chase (Jonah Hauer-King)—much to the dismay of Harry’s aloof mother, Robina (Lesley Manville).

Posted to the British embassy in Warsaw, Harry forgets Lois when he falls in love with local waitress Kasia Tomaszeski (Zofia Wichlacz), becoming close to her family, including her studious little brother, Jan (Eryk Biedunkiewicz). Harry also befriends Nancy Campbell (Helen Hunt), an American radio reporter trying to uncover the truth about the Nazi regime. She gives Harry a momentous piece of advice as Nazi troops converge on the city. Meanwhile, Nancy’s nephew Webster O’Connor (Brian J. Smith) is pursuing his career in Europe as it plunges into chaos.

All over Europe, no one can quite believe that their normal lives, their everyday pleasures and worries, are about to be demolished. World War II encompassed millions of people and millions of individuals’ stories. World on Fire makes this wholesale tragedy achingly personal and, at times, heroic.

“World On Fire is a drama about World War II, told from a multinational perspective,” said World on Fire writer Peter Bowker. “I wanted to write a drama where we invested in a Polish family, a French family, just as much as we emotionally invested in a British one. The design of the show is such that there are connections between these families scattered across the world, but sometimes only the audience knows what those connections are.”

Don’t miss the premiere of Howards End on Sunday, January 12, 2020, at 8pm.

Often considered E.M. Forster’s masterpiece, Howards End is the story of two independent and unconventional sisters and the men in their lives seeking love and meaning as they navigate an ever-changing world.

Academy Award winning screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan brings a fresh take to this adaptation. Margaret Schlegel (Hayley Atwell, Captain America: The First Avenger) is an intelligent, idealistic young woman who is courted by the older Henry Wilcox (Matthew Macfadyen, Succession), a self-made conservative businessman, after his wife Ruth Wilcox (Julia Ormond) dies unexpectedly and he becomes owner of Howards End.

Meanwhile Margaret’s passionate and capricious younger sister Helen Schlegel (Philippa Coulthard) takes up the cause of Leonard Bast (Joseph Quinn), a young bank clerk who falls on hard times at work and at home with his partner Jacky (Rosalind Eleazar). In the absence of their late parents, the sisters’ loving but interfering Aunt Juley (Tracey Ullman) tries to keep the young ladies and their brother Tibby (Alex Lawther) on the straight and narrow.

Don’t miss the premiere of Sanditon on Sunday, January 12, 2020, at 9pm.

Jane Austen was chronically ill with a mysterious disease in early 1817, when she turned her thoughts to a happier subject. She started work on a witty and delightful novel set in a seaside town. She never finished it. Now, noted screenwriter Andrew Davies (Pride and Prejudice, Les Misérables, Primetime Emmy® winner for Little Dorrit) picks up Austen’s plot and takes it in a glorious and satisfying direction, on Sanditon.

MASTERPIECE’s bold and lavish adaptation of Jane Austen’s final work stars Rose Williams (Curfew) as Austen’s lively but levelheaded heroine, Charlotte Heywood; Theo James (Divergent) as the humorous, charming (and slightly wild!) Sidney Parker; Anne Reid (Years and Years) as the forthright grande dame of Sanditon, Lady Denham; Kris Marshall (Love Actually) as Sanditon’s compulsively enterprising promoter, Tom Parker; and Crystal Clarke (Ordeal by Innocence) as the mysterious West Indian heiress, Miss Lambe

Sanditon: Jane Austen's Unfinished Book

Before Jane Austen’s death at the age of 41, in 1817, she had begun what would be her final book: Sanditon. Illness prevented her from completing more than 11 chapters and nine pages of the twelfth, and of these chapters, several were written in pencil because sickness prevented her from holding a pen. She referred to the work as The Brothers, but it was later titled Sanditon by her family. Over the years, many an author has tried his or her hand at finishing Austen’s story of Charlotte Heywood, a plucky young heroine, and the wide array of characters she encounters at Sanditon, where the drama is as bracing as the sea air!

Playing Sanditon‘s bold, modern heroine is Rose Williams, no stranger to period drama after her breakout role in the historical drama series Reign, a big-screen turn in the 2016 Emily DIckenson biopic A Quiet Passion, and an upcoming role in the 15th-century dynastic series, Medici.

Jane Austen's First Black Character

Over the span of her six major novels, Jane Austen has given literature many unforgettable characters, but never before one of African descent. In Sanditon, we meet Miss Georgiana Lambe, described in the unfinished novel as a “young West Indian of large fortune,” of mixed race and around 17 years old. In the series, Miss Lambe is the ward of a reluctant Sidney Parker, who brings her, much to her dismay, from the West Indies to London, and from London to the seaside resort of Sanditon…where drama ensues!

American actress Crystal Clarke portrays Miss Lambe. Born and raised in the United States, Clarke graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2014 and has been busy ever since! Most recently, she appeared in the science fiction series Black Mirror, and starred the recent adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Ordeal by Innocence alongside Matthew Goode (Downton Abbey) and Eleanor Tomlinson (Poldark). Her film credits include Annihilation, Assassin’s Creed, Star Wars Episode VIII, Woman in Gold and The King’s Daughter.

Theo James is Sidney Parker

Whether you know him as Downton Abbey‘s seductive, short-lived Turkish diplomat, Kemal Pamuk; mysterious Dauntless instructor Tobias “Four” Eaton in the Divergent films; the face of Hugo Boss’ signature scent; or one of his many other roles, you will discover Theo James anew as the brooding Austen Adonis, Sidney Parker!

Watch for Jane Austen Easter Eggs

In what Sanditon‘s production designer Grant Montgomery calls “a love letter to Jane,” he planted over 30 Austen references in the show! Blink and you’ll miss these Austen Easter eggs, some referencing the author’s books, and others nodding to details of her own life.

Vienna Blood | Sundays at 10pm | January 19 - February - 23, 2020

A new crime drama set in the early 1900s is coming to WNED PBS Sunday at 10pm beginning January 19. From the talented pen of Steve Thompson, whose writing credits include episodes from the BBC’s Sherlock, the series is based on the best-selling novels of Frank Tallis.

In Vienna Blood, the ideas of Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis are the foundation of the detective work.

In the Golden Age of Vienna, psychoanalysis is the talk of the city. But the practice is still in its infancy, and is received with both enthusiasm and suspicion.

Matthew Beard (The Imitation Game) stars as Max Liebermann, a brilliant (unconventional, cool-headed) young English doctor, studying under the famed psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. When Max meets Austrian Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt, played by Juergen Maurer, (more a man of action than a deep thinker) and learns he is struggling with a strange case, Max offers his assistance. Together, they create a “contradictory, original, brilliant investigative team.”

Max’s extraordinary skills of perception and forensics, and his deep understanding of human behavior and deviance, help Oskar solve some of Vienna’s most mysterious and deadly cases.

The 6-part series also stars Conleth Hill (Game of Thrones), Charlene McKenna (Ripper Street), Amelia Bullmore (Surbuban Shootout, Twenty Twelve, W1A, Scott & Bailey, Ashes to Ashes, Gentleman Jack), Jessica De Gouw (Dracula), and Luise Von Finckh (Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten).

As one would expect given his Freud connection, the young Dr. Liebermann (Beard) focuses his attention on wanting to understand the criminal mind. As he begins to observe Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt (Maurer), he is able to bring his extraordinary skills of perception and forensics combined with a deep understanding of human behavior to help DI Rheinhardt begin to crack some of Vienna’s more elusive cases.

Get Ready For The Final Season

Get ready for one final season of shenanigans, adventure, laughter and love with The Durrells in Corfu. Revisit where we left off last season, read what the actors have to say about the upcoming season, and prepare to say goodbye to the lovable Durrell family.

Where We Pick Up
The fourth and final season picks up in the spring of 1939, nearing ever closer to World War II, and yet, the island has yet to be touched by it. The story continues right where it left off at the end of last season – with Louisa now running the house as a boarding house, which is both successful and stressful. “As expected with The Durrells, making the house an open house leads to absolute carnage,” Josh O’Connor (Larry) teased.

But while the war may be just on the horizon, it certainly doesn’t become the story, which O’Connor finds to be one of the strengths of the show. “What’s so touching about The Durrells and why it’s such a unique show is that it’s set in a period where we’re used to the war being the most present topic in any drama, but for the family it’s not,” he said. “They’re in their own world and have their issues: Gerry has started a zoo, there are animals living in the house, Leslie is shooting things and Larry has two girlfriends at one time.”

What to Expect in Season 4 According to the Stars
Larry: After some successfully published articles about his family’s adventures in Corfu, Larry is ready to spread his wings – again – and write his next novel. “This series, we see Larry move to the other side of the island which is very much an attempt to get out of the family home and find his own way,” O’Connor said.

Leslie: “I absolutely love where we find Leslie this series,” said Callum Woodhouse, who plays the second eldest Durrell. “He’s decided he can’t deal with the high levels of emotion he has to handle last series, so has sort of regressed back to his more basic self. We see him exactly how he was in the first series – loving his guns and going hunting – but with all of the weight of what’s happened behind him.”

Margo: The lone sister of the family, on the other hand, is moving forward after her break-up last season. “At the beginning of the new series, we find Margo feeling a bit lost and not particularly happy. She feels like she’s outgrown her family a bit and isn’t sure what to do with herself,” said Daisy Waterstone, who plays Margo. “She does start her own beauty salon – it’s more just a corner of the living room but for Margo, it’s a salon!”

Gerry: The youngest Durrell is, as always, focusing on all of his animals, but he’s no longer the little boy we first met in Season 1. “At the beginning of the series, we find Gerry as ever trying to expand his collection of animals and continuing his interest in conservation,” said Milo Parker, who plays Gerry. “He’s now a lot more grown up than he was before – he’s got a lot taller and his voice has got deeper. I think he also continues to be quite frustrated by still being viewed as the child of the family so we see a more maturing side of Gerry.”

Louisa: Meanwhile, despite the dashed romance at the end of Season 3 (and Louisa’s subsequent heartbreak), Spiro is certainly not out of the Durrells’ lives for good, however hard that may be for Louisa, at times. “Louisa is trying to get over Spiro,” said Keeley Hawes, who plays Durrell matriarch Louisa. “She is trying to be grown up about that and get on with her life. It’s a matter of self-preservation for both of them to keep apart. It’s a tantalizing storyline.”

And while the Durrell brood have mostly grown up and are testing their wings to find their own paths in life, they’re still a family unit – nothing ever seems to change that . “There’s a sense this series of the children all coming back to where they should be,” Hawes continued. “To where they belong. Which is what happens in life. Your children go off because they have to and you need them to. But also wherever Louisa is, that’s their home. Wherever your parents are should be your home. That’s where home will be. … It’s wherever she is.”

Poldark Season 5: Everything You Need to Know

Poldark‘s Season 5 premiere will mark the beginning of Ross Poldark’s long ride into the sunset and out of our lives. Here’s everything you need to know about the new and final season of the show that’s had us hanging on the edge of a cliff ever since the very first episode!

In Season 4’s unforgettable finale, Elizabeth drank a highly dangerous labor-inducing potion and delivered a small but healthy daughter, Ursula. This early birth, like her brother’s, finally convinced George of Valentine’s parentage. But in a gruesome and tragic turn, the potion’s side effects killed Elizabeth. Not even Drake and Morwenna’s sweet, affirming marriage or Caroline’s tentative revelation to Dwight that she’s ready to try for another child could make up for Elizabeth’s cruel death. And thusly our tricorns overfloweth’d with tears.

Where We Pick Up

After Elizabeth’s harrowing death, Ross and Demelza are committed to a simple life of family, fishing, and friends (and of course, mining). But the simple life, as always, can’t hold our hero, and news that an old friend is in trouble turns Ross’ tricorn toward London, where adventure—and misadventure—await! With Ross away, Demelza is in charge at Nampara and the mine, and a fiercely ambitious young housemaid worms her way into Demelza’s life and her trust.

George is haunted by Elizabeth’s death, but even his fathomless grief isn’t powerful enough to prevent him from taking business meetings with Ralph Hanson, an unsavory mahogany trader whose business is built on the backs of enslaved people. But Hanson’s daughter is as fresh as her father is foul, as Geoffrey Charles observes…

As for our favorite newlyweds, the Carnes, and trulyweds, the Enyses, both couples still have old demons to exorcise and wounds to heal. Will the future bring them happiness, or will they be tested yet again?

Unforgotten | Season 3 | April 7 - May 12, 2019

Created and written by screenwriter Chris Lang, critically-acclaimed drama Unforgotten returns for Season 3, Sunday, April 7, 10pm on MASTERPIECE.

The new season sees Nicola Walker (Last Tango In Halifax) and Sanjeev Bhaskar (Goodness Gracious Me) reprise their roles as DCI Cassie Stuart and DI Sunil “Sunny” Khan as they investigate another emotionally-charged cold case.

The pair will be joined this season by acclaimed actors Alex Jennings (Victoria) Kevin R McNally (Pirates Of The Caribbean), Neil Morrissey (Line Of Duty) and James Fleet (Indian Summers, The Vicar Of Dibley) who play a close-knit group of old school friends that have stood by one another through thick and thin.

However, when the body of a teenage girl who went missing at the turn of the millennium is found at a building site off the M1 motorway, the four men are placed under the spotlight and their relationships are tested to the limit.
Set across the south of England in locations including Norfolk, West Sussex, Bristol, Hampshire and London, the new season explores how everyday lives can be fractured and destroyed by one event, showing that appearances can often be deceiving.

Endeavour | Season 7 Returns on August 9, 2020

Shaun Evans (The Take, The Last Weekend, Silk), charms audiences with his portrayal of the cerebral and solitary Detective Constable Morse in Endeavour, written by Inspector Lewis creator and Inspector Morse writer Russell Lewis.

Alongside Evans, the series also stars stage and screen actor Roger Allam as DI Fred Thursday, Anton Lesser as CS Reginald Bright, Sean Rigby as DS Jim Strange, James Bradshaw as Dr Max DeBryn, Sara Vickers as Joan Thursday, Abigail Thaw as Dorothea Frazil and Caroline O’Neill as Win Thursday.

Evans will return as DS Endeavour Morse in Season 7, premiering August 9 2020 at 9pm on MASTERPIECE Mystery!