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One of the most popular drama series in TV history -- Bringing you the best in classic adaptations, mysteries filled with eclectic characters, and provocative contemporary works.
Funding for MASTERPIECE is provided by Viking and Farmers Insurance with additional support from public television viewers and contributors to The MASTERPIECE Trust, created to help ensure the series’ future.
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Loved by generations of women worldwide, Little Women is a truly universal coming of age story. Set against the backdrop of the Civil War, the story follows sisters Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy March on their journey from childhood to adulthood. With the help of their mother, Marmee, the girls navigate what it means to be a young woman: from sibling rivalry and first love, to loss and marriage.
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.
In 1837, a diminutive, neglected teenager is crowned Queen Victoria, navigates the scandal, corruption, and political intrigues of the Court, and soon rises to become the most powerful woman in the world. Victoria stars Jenna Coleman (Doctor Who) as Queen Victoria in a highly anticipated series that follows the drama of the candid, spirited monarch.
Aidan Turner (The Hobbit) stars as Ross Poldark, a redcoat who returns to Cornwall after battle to discover that his father is dead, his lands are ruined, and his true love is engaged to another. Can Poldark change his destiny, restore his lost fortune, and reclaim his love?
Downton Abbey, the award-winning series from Julian Fellowes, spans 12 years of gripping drama centered on a great English estate on the cusp of a vanishing way of life. The series follows the Granthams and their family of servants through sweeping change, scandals, love, ambition, heartbreak, and hope.
The world’s only consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch), teams up with his long-suffering, faithful friend, Dr. John Watson (Martin Freeman), to solve a dizzying array of crimes and battle diabolical villains with his signature deductive reasoning and his stunning lack of social grace.
Keeley Hawes (Upstairs Downstairs) stars as an intrepid widow who decamps from dreary England to a sun-dappled Greek island with her four recalcitrant children, ages 11 to 21, on this adaptation of Gerald Durrell’s My Family and Other Animals and its two sequels.
James Norton stars as the handsome, jazz-loving vicar Sidney Chambers, with Robson Green as his law-enforcement ally, Inspector Geordie Keating, in Grantchester, a mystery series based on the acclaimed novels by James Runcie. Although Sidney lives the life of a clergyman, sometimes he can’t help but fall into more worldly habits as he solves murders in the bucolic village of Grantchester.
Nicola Walker (Last Tango in Halifax) and Sanjeev Bhaskar (Indian Summers) star as police officers investigating the cold case murder of a boy whose diary implicates four seemingly unconnected couples in a thriller that The Guardian (UK) hailed as “so much more than a satisfying murder mystery.”
Behind every great detective is a backstory. MASTERPIECE dials back the clock to spotlight the influences that turned 22-year-old rookie policewoman Jane Tennison into the savvy, single-minded crime fighter beloved by Prime Suspect viewers.
World War II is over and Paul Sabine is restoring Paris as the fashion capital of the world. His dresses are a sensation, and only his shady past and an inconvenient corpse block his way to success. Dressing up was never so dazzling—or dangerous. The Collection is a story about the price of success, set during a pivotal moment in France’s history.
Set in Northern Ireland during World War Two, My Mother and Other Strangers follows the fortunes of the Coyne family and their neighbors as they struggle to maintain a normal life after a huge United States Army Air Force (USAAF) airfield, with 4,000 service men and women, lands in the middle of their rural parish.
This one-night drama tells the extraordinary true story of Victorian poisoner Mary Ann Cotton, played by Golden Globe winner and Emmy award nominee Joanne Froggatt (Downton Abbey).
Prince Charles has waited his entire life to ascend to the British throne. But after the Queen’s death, he immediately finds himself wrestling his conscience over a bill to sign into law. With the future of the monarchy under threat, protests on the streets, and his family in disarray, Charles must grapple with his own identity and purpose, to decide whether the British crown has any real power.
When a rural English town finds itself on the verge of World War II, two powerful women struggle to put aside their differences in The Women’s Institute and join forces amidst the chaos and uncertainty of wartime. Samantha Bond (Downton Abbey) and Francesca Annis (Reckless, Cranford) star in this heartwarming story of courage, friendship, and holding onto light in our darkest moments.
A historical drama for a modern audience, Wolf Hall, the 2016 Peabody Award and Golden Globe winner for Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, tells the story of Thomas Cromwell, played by Mark Rylance—a blacksmith’s son who rises from the ashes of personal disaster, and deftly picks his way through King Henry VIII's court, where “man is wolf to man.”
To Walk Invisible The Brontë Sisters
To Walk Invisible The Brontë Sisters follows the Brontë sisters in the eventful three-year period that saw them rise from ordinary, unmarried women, taking care of the household and their widowed father, to the secret authors of the world’s most sensational literature.
Set in a subtropical paradise during the twilight era of the British Empire, Indian Summers explores the collision of the ruling class English with their Indian subjects, and the intricate game of power, politics and passion that ensues.
Set during the summer of 1953, Churchill’s Secret tells a little-known part of Winston Churchill’s great life story. Having suffered a life-threatening stroke, which his inner circle conspired to hide from the public, the film charts the course of Churchill’s (played by Cranford’s Michael Gambon) remarkable recovery with the help of his spirited nurse (Emma’s Romola Garai).
Kevin Whately stars as Inspector Lewis, the former working-class foil to the erudite Detective Inspector Morse. Together with his cool, cerebral partner Hathaway (Laurence Fox), Lewis tackles murder and mayhem in the seemingly-perfect academic haven of Oxford. Together, they struggle with procedural dilemmas and existential questions about their futures–on the force and in their personal lives.
In 1909 London, an American retail tycoon arrives at the unfashionable end of Oxford Street to jettison fusty British tradition and open one of the finest department stores the world has ever seen. Three-time Emmy® winner Jeremy Piven stars as Harry Gordon Selfridge, the flamboyant entrepreneur and showman seeking to provide London’s shoppers with the ultimate merchandise and the ultimate thrill.
Return to the world of manners with Alastair Bruce, Downton Abbey‘s historical advisor. Featuring exclusive interviews with the series’ leading cast members such as Hugh Bonneville and Michelle Dockery, this documentary navigates the social protocol of aristocrats and servants in the 1920s and the age of jazz.
Martin Clunes (Doc Martin) stars as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, in a real-life case that inspired the great author to put down his pen and turn detective. Inspired by the shocking true case of the “Great Wyrley Outrages,” Arthur & George is adapted from Julian Barnes’s acclaimed novel of the same name, which was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize.
A spy who prefers the black-and-white certainties of the Cold War, Worricker (Bill Nighy) finds himself increasingly out of his element as the distinction between ally and enemy dissolves into the amorphous alliances of the 21st century.
Six years after Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy have prevailed, the caddish Mr. Wickam and the frivolous Mrs. Bennet, a coach races up to Pemberley, Darcy’s palatial estate, with an hysterical Lydia shrieking, “Murder!” So continues Jane Austen’s timeless classic, Pride and Prejudice, in Death Comes to Pemberley, a star-studded adaptation of crime-writer P.D. James’ bestselling whodunit.
In 1961 London, when abortion was illegal and the Pill a rare commodity, the brilliant, charismatic surgeon Otto Powell (Jack Davenport, Pirates of the Caribbean) presides over a busy hospital gynecology ward. With a passionate commitment to the women he treats, Powell provides safe and highly illegal abortions in private practice.
Coming to MASTERPIECE: 2018 & 2019
See which fan favorites and new shows coming in 2018 and 2019 to MASTERPIECE on PBS.
Mystery! host Alan Cumming on his show "Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs."
Alan Cumming: Life's Little Whodunnits
Alan Cumming on solving everyday, little mysteries in his own home.
Alan Cumming on: Wearing Tartan
The MASTERPIECE Mystery! host on adding tartan to your wardrobe.
Alan Cumming: On Being Authentic
Mystery! host Alan Cumming discusses living authentically.
Alan Cumming: Helen Mirren and Crocs
Mystery! host Alan Cumming on Helen Mirren's surprising footwear.
Alan Cumming: On His Mysterious Eyebrows
MASTERPIECE Mystery! host Alan Cumming gives an eyebrow play-by-play.
Alan Cumming: How To Host MASTERPIECE Mystery
The star spills his hosting secrets in this how-to.
