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PBS Masterpiece Theatre
''Masterpiece'' (formerly known as ''Masterpiece Theatre'') is a drama anthology television series produced by WGBH Boston. It premiered on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) on January 10, 1971. The series has presented numerous acclaimed British productions. Many of these are produced by the BBC, but the line-up has also included programs shown on the UK commercial channels ITV and Channel 4. Overview ''Masterpiece'' is known for presenting adaptations of novels and biographies, but it also shows original television dramas. The first title to air was ''The First Churchills'', starring Susan Hampshire as Sarah Churchill. Other programs presented on the series include '' The Six Wives of Henry VIII;'' ''Elizabeth R;'' ''I, Claudius;'' '' Upstairs, Downstairs;'' ''The Duchess of Duke Street;'' ''The Citadel;'' '' The Jewel in the Crown;'' '' Reckless;'' ''House of Cards;'' ''Traffik,'' and ''Jeeves and Wooster''. More recent popular titles include ''Prime Suspect,'' ''The Fors ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alistair Cooke
Alistair Cooke (born Alfred Cooke; 20 November 1908 – 30 March 2004) was a British-American writer whose work as a journalist, television personality and radio broadcaster was done primarily in the United States.George Perry "The War at Home: Near Filed 60 Years Later," ''American Heritage'', Aug./Sept. 2006. Outside his journalistic output, which included '' Letter from America'' and '' America: A Personal History of the United States'', he was well known in the United States as the host of PBS '' |
Susan Hampshire
Susan Hampshire, Lady Kulukundis, (born 12 May 1937) is an English actress known for her many television and film roles. A three-time Emmy Award winner, she won for ''The Forsyte Saga'' in 1970, ''The First Churchills'' in 1969, and for '' Vanity Fair'' in 1973. Her other television credits include ''The Pallisers'' (1974), ''The Grand'' (1997–98) and '' Monarch of the Glen'' (2000–2005). Early life Susan Hampshire was born in Kensington, London, to George Kenneth Hampshire and his wife June (née Pavey) and is of Irish descent. The youngest of five children, she had three sisters and one brother. Her mother was a teacher and her father was a director of Imperial Chemical Industries who was rarely at home, her parents having unofficially separated. As a child, she had some developmental difficulties, unable to spell her name until she was nine and unable to read well until she was 12. Her determined mother founded a small London school in 1928, The Hampshire (now Gems Hamps ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prime Suspect
''Prime Suspect'' is a British police procedural television drama series devised by Lynda La Plante. It stars Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service, who rises to the rank of Detective Superintendent while confronting institutionalised sexism within the police force. Plot ''Prime Suspect'' focuses on a no-nonsense female Detective Chief Inspector (DCI), Jane Tennison (played by Helen Mirren), who is an officer in the Metropolitan Police, initially at the fictional Southampton Row police station. The series follows her constant battles to prove herself within a male-dominated profession in which many of her colleagues are determined to see her fail, though she has the support of her boss, Detective Chief Superintendent Mike Kernan (John Benfield), and the loyalty of Detective Sergeant Richard Haskons (Richard Hawley). In later series, Tennison is reassigned to rotating duties, including a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeeves And Wooster
''Jeeves and Wooster'' is a British comedy-drama television series adapted by Clive Exton from P. G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves" stories. It aired on the ITV network from 22 April 1990 to 20 June 1993, with the last series nominated for a British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series. Set in the UK and the US in an unspecified period between the late 1920s and the 1930s, the series starred Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster, an affable young gentleman and member of the idle rich, and Stephen Fry as Jeeves, his highly intelligent and competent valet. Bertie and his friends, who are mainly members of the Drones Club, are extricated from all manner of societal misadventures by the indispensable Jeeves. When Fry and Laurie began the series, they were already a popular comedic double act for their regular appearances on Channel 4's '' Saturday Live'' and their own show ''A Bit of Fry & Laurie'' (BBC, 1987–95). In the television documentary ''Fry and Laurie Reunited'' (2010), t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Traffik
''Traffik'' is a 1989 British television serial about an illegal drug trade. Its three stories are interwoven, with arcs told from the perspectives of Afghan and Pakistani growers, dealers and manufacturers, German dealers, and British users. It was nominated for six BAFTA Awards, winning three. It also won an International Emmy Award for best drama. The 2000 crime drama film ''Traffic'', directed by Steven Soderbergh, was based on the miniseries. In turn, the 2004 American television miniseries ''Traffic'' was based on both versions. Background The six-part serial was produced by Britain's Channel 4, written by Simon Moore and directed by Alastair Reid. In the United States, it first aired on ''Masterpiece Theatre'' in 1990. Cast * Bill Paterson as Jack Lithgow, a Scottish Home Office minister engaged in combating heroin importation from Pakistan. *Julia Ormond as his drug addicted daughter Caroline. *Juraj Kukura as Karl Rosshalde, a German drug smuggler. *Lindsay Duncan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
House Of Cards (UK TV Series)
''House of Cards'' is a 1990 British political thriller television serial in four episodes, set after the end of Margaret Thatcher's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It was televised by the BBC from 18 November to 9 December 1990, to critical and popular acclaim. The story tells the manipulative and sudden rise to power of the machiavellian Chief Whip of the Conservative Party, Francis Urquhart. Urquhart, on the party's classical extreme right, is frustrated over his lack of promotion in the wake of Thatcher's resignation and the moderate government that succeeds it. Thus, he plots an extremely calculated and meticulous plan to bring down the Prime Minister and replace him, in vein of Shakespeare's ''Richard III'' (which he often quotes). During this drawn-out, ruthless coup, his life is complicated by his relationship with young female reporter Mattie Storin, whom he uses to leak sensitive information in confidence. The question of whether the serial's ending is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reckless (TV Serial)
''Reckless'' is a British television serial written by Paul Abbott. Produced by Granada Television for the ITV network, it aired in six parts in the UK in 1997. A two-hour sequel, ''Reckless: The Sequel'', was shown in 1998. Plot outline Dr Owen Springer is a surgeon in his thirties, on his way from London to Manchester to move in with his ailing father. On the train journey, Owen needs to make an urgent phone call but the only person who will allow him to use her mobile phone is fellow passenger, Anna Fairley, a beautiful woman in her forties. Unbeknownst to Owen, she is also the head of the management consultancy administering his forthcoming personality assessment for a new job at a local Manchester hospital. By the time of their second meeting, Owen has already developed romantic feelings towards Anna, though she spurns all his advances. To complicate matters further, Owen discovers Anna is also the wife of his new boss at the hospital, Dr Richard Crane. However, Owen dis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Jewel In The Crown (TV Series)
''The Jewel in the Crown'' is a 1984 British television serial about the final days of the British Raj in India during and after World War II, based upon the ''Raj Quartet'' novels (1965–1975) by British author Paul Scott. Granada Television produced the series for the ITV network. Plot The serial opens in the midst of World War II in the fictional Indian city of Mayapore, against the backdrop of the last years of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement. Hari Kumar is a young Indian man who was educated at Chillingborough, a British public school; he identifies as English rather than Indian. The bankruptcy of his father, a formerly successful businessman, forces him to return to India to live with his aunt. Working as a journalist, Kumar now occupies a lower social status in India, and lives between two worlds, British and Indian. Numerous Anglo-Indians discriminate against him, and he is held in some suspicion by Indian independence activists. During this tim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Citadel (1983 Miniseries)
''The Citadel'' is a 1983 BBC television adaptation written by Don Shaw from A. J. Cronin's 1937 novel ''The Citadel''. It was produced by Ken Riddington. The drama was directed by Peter Jefferies and Mike Vardy. The BBC dramatisation stars Ben Cross as Dr. Andrew Manson and Clare Higgins as Christine Manson. It was broadcast in the United States from November 1983 until January 1984 by PBS television as part of ''Masterpiece Theatre''. Cast *Ben Cross as Dr. Andrew Manson * David Gwillim as David Hope *Clare Higgins as Christine Barlow *Tenniel Evans as Dr. Page * Gareth Thomas as Dr. Philip Denny *Michael Cochrane as Freddie Hamson *Cynthia Grenville as Blodwen Page *Colin Baker as Richard Vaughan *Jane How as Mrs. Vaughan *Tim Wylton as Ben Chenkin *Don Fellows as Richard Stillman *Beryl Nesbitt as Annie Hughes * John Nettleton as Charles Ivory * Raymond Bowers as Dr. Llewellyn *Dilys Price as Mrs. Llewellyn *David Pugh as Joe Morgan *Dyfed Thomas as Dai Jenkins *Jack Walt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Duchess Of Duke Street
''The Duchess of Duke Street'' is a BBC television drama series set in London between the late 1800s and 1925. It was created by John Hawkesworth, previously the producer of the ITV period drama '' Upstairs, Downstairs''. It starred Gemma Jones as Louisa Leyton Trotter, the eponymous "Duchess" who works her way up from servant to renowned cook to proprietor of the upper-class Bentinck Hotel in Duke Street, St. James's, in London. The story is loosely based on the real-life career of Rosa Lewis (née Ovenden), the "Duchess of Jermyn Street", who ran the Cavendish Hotel in London, at the corner of Duke St, St. James's. When the show first aired, there were many people who still remembered her, as she lived until 1952. According to census returns, she was born in Leyton, Essex, to a watchmaker. In the series, Louisa's family name is Leyton, and her father is a clockmaker. The programme lasted for two series totalling 31 episodes, shown in 1976 and 1977. Shown later on PBS in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Upstairs, Downstairs (1971 TV Series)
''Upstairs, Downstairs'' is a British television drama series produced by London Weekend Television (LWT) for ITV. It ran for 68 episodes divided into five series on ITV from 1971 to 1975. Set in a large townhouse at 165, Eaton Place in Belgravia in central London, the series depicts the servants—"downstairs"—and their masters, the family—"upstairs"—between the years 1903 and 1930, and shows the slow decline of the British aristocracy. Great events feature prominently in each episode but minor or gradual changes are also noted. The show may be regarded as a document of the social and technological changes that occurred during those 27 years, including the Edwardian period, women's suffrage, the First World War, the Roaring Twenties, and the Wall Street Crash. It was a ratings success for ITV and received outstanding acclaim worldwide, winning multiple awards. A BBC Wales and ''Masterpiece''-produced continuation, ''Upstairs Downstairs'', was broadcast by BBC One in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I, Claudius (TV Series)
''I, Claudius'' (stylized as ''I·CLAVDIVS'') is a 1976 BBC Television adaptation of Robert Graves' 1934 novel ''I, Claudius'' and its 1935 sequel ''Claudius the God''. Written by Jack Pulman, it stars Derek Jacobi as Claudius, with Siân Phillips, Brian Blessed, George Baker, Margaret Tyzack, John Hurt, Patricia Quinn, Ian Ogilvy, Kevin McNally, Patrick Stewart, and John Rhys-Davies. The series covers the history of the early Roman Empire, told from the perspective of the elderly Emperor Claudius who narrates the series. Among many other productions and adaptations, Graves' Claudius novels have also been adapted for BBC Radio 4 broadcast (2010) and for the stage (1972). Plot summary and episodes ''I, Claudius'' follows the history of the early Roman Empire, narrated by the elderly Roman Emperor Claudius, from the year 24 BC to his death in AD 54. The series opens with Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome, attempting to find an heir, and his wife, Livia, plotting to elevat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |