MASTERPIECE Studio

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Two of Us. Douglas Petersen is prickly. The biochemist and father of one is picky, nervous and reluctant to change his mind. Tom Hollander sees his job as the actor playing a character like Douglas is, in part, to make him relatable — which he does, of course, in spades. Hollander talks Douglas, Us and how to find the humanity and the humor in a difficult role.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode One of Us. The sun-dappled European exploits of Douglas and Connie Petersen and their son, Albie, in Us mask a shifting truth at the heart of their gradually crumbling marriage. As Connie, MASTERPIECE favorite Saskia Reeves is a joy to behold, and she brings that spark to a new interview.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Eight of Atlantic Crossing. As Atlantic Crossing comes to a close, series creator, co-writer and director Alexander Eik joins lead actors Sofia Helin and Kyle MacLachlan for an intimate exploration of the truth behind the fictionalized historical drama. Though Crown Princess Martha never became Queen, her story still has impact today.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Four of Atlantic Crossing. The chance to play legendary American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was one big reason for Kyle MacLachlan to sign on to Atlantic Crossing. But it was the story of the young Norwegian Royal Family at the heart of the miniseries that made him commit to the role. MacLachlan explores Roosevelt, Agent Dale Cooper and wine with lifelong Twin Peaks fan, MASTERPIECE Studio host Jace Lacob.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Two of Atlantic Crossing. Norwegian Crown Princess Martha was born in Sweden, but Swedish actor Sofia Helin didn't know her story until she signed on to play the quiet Royal in Atlantic Crossing. But after coming on board the miniseries, Helin helped shape the story of the little-known Princess, bringing a surprising light to her powerful story. Helin talks royalty, FDR, and Saga Noren of Broen in a new interview.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode One of Atlantic Crossing. For American viewers, the story of Norway's Crown Princess Märtha is likely mostly unknown. But the Crown Princess' World War II influence was a surprise even for Atlantic Crossing co-writer and director Alexander Eik, who spent almost seven years researching his miniseries. Eik explains how he found the key to Märtha's story, and what viewers should anticipate in the next seven episodes, in a new interview.

Even if you haven't been watching MASTERPIECE every Sunday for the past 50 years, there's a very good chance you tuned in to watch Downton Abbey. The six-season epic brought renewed attention to the drama anthology series when it first aired more than a decade ago, and we look back at the interconnected lives of the Crawley clan and their servants with a few of the people who helped the title turn heads and claim awards. And in this final episode of our three-part docuseries, we explore how MASTERPIECE might continue to evolve for the next 50 years, tackling the challenges and opportunities still ahead. We speak with Julian Fellowes, Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Lily Collins and more. See our website, pbs.org/makingmasterpiece for a detailed transcript, complete with references and links.

Masterpiece Theatre enters its third decade and settles in under its third executive producer, Rebecca Eaton, as new challenges pop up to make the Boston-based anthology series' life a touch more difficult. Cable TV competition, shifting public taste and limited funding lead Eaton and her team to make dramatic changes at the dawn of the new century. Fortunately for public TV viewers, those changes come just in time to scoop up some unlikely new hits — from Middlemarch and The Buccaneers to Prime Suspect and beyond, including a certain family drama set in a fancy Yorkshire estate... In this second episode of Making MASTERPIECE, hear from Rufus Sewell, Laura Linney, Alan Cumming, Andrew Davies, Charles Dance and many more. See our website, pbs.org/makingmasterpiece, for a full transcript with links.

Five decades is a long time for any television series to air, but when a show hits 50, it's possible some people might start asking questions about where it all started. That's where this podcast comes in. Fifty years ago, a group of public television producers in Boston had the inspired idea to import British costume drama for American audiences. But they didn't come up with the idea on their own — there's a former FCC Chair, a popular soap opera, and a Polaroid exec with Julia Child's The French Chef on his mind involved, too. For three episodes, Making MASTERPIECE will show how the most unexpected and unlikely of series — Masterpiece Theatre — grew into one of the longest-running primetime television icons of all time. What are its origins? What actors, writers, and executives shaped its trajectory? How has it overcome numerous challenges? And what does it have in store for its future, 50 years on? In this first episode, that origin story, featuring interviews with the series’ original executive producer, Sir Derek Jacobi, Glenda Jackson, former FCC Chairman Newton Minow and dozens more besides. See our website, pbs.org/makingmasterpiece, for a full transcript with links.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Seven of the First Season of All Creatures Great and Small. Now that the first season of All Creatures Great and Small has come to a close, what should viewers expect in the already-confirmed second season? Series star Nicholas Ralph returns to the podcast for a quick look back on season one, and an exclusive preview of the season rapidly on the way!

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Seven of the First Season of All Creatures Great and Small. Helen Alderson takes care of almost everyone in the farming village of Darrowby — but actor Rachel Shenton thinks the confirmed second season of All Creatures Great and Small should give Helen some time for herself. Shenton defends her character's choices and praises her costumes in a new interview.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Three of The Long Song. The story of Miss July is ultimately a story of strength and perseverance following years of trauma and pain. Lead actor Tamara Lawrance brings strength to her portrayal of July, who goes from slave to memoirist in colonial British Jamaica. Lawrance reflects on the role, and the hope of The Long Song, in a new interview.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Five of the First Season of Miss Scarlet and the Duke. A female private detective in Victorian London seems anachronistic — but Eliza Scarlet more than holds her own on the grimy streets of the British capitol. Kate Phillips is a witty delight in the title role, and she brings that zest to the MASTERPIECE Studio podcast.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Five of the First Season of All Creatures Great and Small. Even casual viewers of All Creatures Great and Small can see the obvious head honcho in Skeldale House — the unshakeable Audrey Hall. Series star Anna Madeley relishes playing the role, and she joins the podcast to reveal a bit of the confident Mrs. Hall's inner grit and grace.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Four of the First Season of All Creatures Great and Small. Dame Diana Rigg has been a MASTERPIECE regular for decades. From her Emmy Award-winning role in the 1997 adaptation of Rebecca to her years-long host duty on Mystery!, Rigg brought her charm and considerable gravitas to PBS TV screens for years. Rigg passed away in September 2020, making her role as the elegant Mrs. Pumphrey one of her very last. The All Creatures Great and Small cast pays tribute to Rigg, along with some of her other MASTERPIECE friends and castmates.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Three of the First Season of All Creatures Great and Small. Siegfried Farnon is a difficult man to live with — and Donald Sinclair, the real life Yorkshire veterinarian he's based on, was just as unusual. Actor Samuel West used Alf Wight's memoir series and personal anecdotes from those who knew Sinclair to build his character, and he shares some of those stories in a new podcast interview.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Two of the First Season of All Creatures Great and Small. MASTERPIECE fans already know Callum Woodhouse for his role as the shotgun-happy middle Durrell sibling, Leslie Durrell. Now, he's back on our screens in a different bucolic locale of the 1930s — the gorgeous Yorkshire Dales, playing the dastardly Tristan Farnon. Woodhouse promises he didn't plan it this way, but we're glad to have him on air and here on the podcast.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode 1 of the First Season of All Creatures Great and Small. In MASTERPIECE's warmhearted new adaptation of the Alf Wight — aka James Herriot — All Creatures Great and Small memoir series, it's not just the series that's brand new. Lead actor Nicholas Ralph is making his screen debut as young veterinarian James Herriot, and he joins the MASTERPIECE Studio podcast to preview the season and animals antics still to come.

Making MASTERPIECE is the full story of how public media’s favorite place for the best of British drama went from crazy idea to a franchise 50 years strong. Hosted by MASTERPIECE Studio host Jace Lacob, the three-part documentary miniseries features the inside scoop on everything from Downton Abbey to Upstairs, Downstairs, and everything in between. Featuring exclusive interviews with MASTERPIECE favorites like Rufus Sewell, Lily Collins, Alan Cumming, Laura Linney, Charles Dance and many more, Making MASTERPIECE launches February 28, 2021. Making MASTERPIECE will appear in the MASTERPIECE Studio podcast feed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Elizabeth is Missing. It's not many actors who can appear in the very first season of a television anthology series, win not one but two Emmy Awards for the role, and then take a 50 year break before coming back for more. Glenda Jackson is one such actor, and her appearance in Elizabeth is Missing is just as powerful as any other in her storied career. Jackson talks politics and passion in a new podcast interview.

With new series, old favorites and even a documentary podcast special on the way for MASTERPIECE's upcoming 50th Anniversary Golden Jubilee Season, our executive producer Susanne Simpson joins the conversation for a special preview of the drama, mystery and more to come in a few short weeks.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Four of the First Season of Roadkill. Well, who would have thought it would all end like that? Sir David Hare gives the inside scoop on the political realities of his Roadkill series, and talks through how his own Covid-19 diagnosis was inspiration for a gripping new play.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Two of the First Season of Roadkill. The role of a special adviser in British politics is complicated — but Roadkill star Iain de Caestecker does quick work of explaining the job, and his character, Duncan Knock, in a charming interview. As to whether or not viewers should trust Duncan? Well, that's still a secret.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode One of the First Season of Roadkill. Sir David Hare plays coy when asked who the slick MP Peter Laurence is meant to be in contemporary British politics. "I've drawn a politician who is charismatic, popular, forward-looking, and highly intelligent," he says, and Hare struggles to find such a figure in politics today. Hear more about the inspirations for Roadkill in a new interview.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Four of the First Season of Flesh and Blood. Sarah Williams is the kind of screenwriter who knows where she's going when she starts writing a script. But sometimes, a character insists on taking the story in a different angle, and Imelda Staunton's timid Mary was exactly that kind of character. Williams shows where Mary took her, and us, in a new podcast after the dramatic conclusion of Flesh and Blood.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Three of the First Season of Flesh and Blood. Russell Tovey can't come up with a defense for the toxic masculinity of his character, Jake, a stunted manchild in his 30s searching for purpose in a world he feels should fall at his feet. But the actor loved having the opportunity to play Jake, even if he keeps viewers and listeners guessing about what happens in the final episode of this intricate family drama.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Two of the First Season of Flesh and Blood. Viewers of this intricate family drama might still be searching for answers, and Flesh and Blood star Lydia Leonard could easily put the mystery to rest in a new podcast interview. Fortunately, the talented actor keeps viewers and listeners on their toes in a new conversation, leaving a few tantalizing crumbs as clues.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode One of the First Season of Flesh and Blood. The new Flesh and Blood defies genres — it's a mystery, and a family drama, and a psychological case study. That contrast originally drew series lead Claudie Blakley to the script, but it doesn't mean she's willing to give anything up in a new interview.

Hello again, MASTERPIECE Studio Fans. Jace Lacob here. Today I’m excited to share a special preview episode of a new podcast called DETOURS from GBH and PRX. DETOURS is a podcast about what happens to all that stuff on America’s favorite antiques show after the cameras leave town. Join host Adam Monahan, a longtime producer for GBH’s Antiques Roadshow, on a journey of discovery with stories of sales, fakes, and yes, even federal crimes. This first episode feels like it could even be one of our own Mystery! series...about JFK and the PT-109...happy listening! And stay tuned for new MASTERPIECE Studio episodes October 4!

Hi MASTERPIECE Studio fans. Jace Lacob here. Today I’m excited to share a special preview episode of a new podcast from our friends at the PBS Science series, NOVA. NOVA Now is a new bi-weekly podcast diving into the science behind the headlines. Join host Alok Patel behind the scenes with the scientists, engineers, technologists, mathematicians and more working to better understand our world. Now it’s more critical than ever to distinguish fact from fiction and find science-based answers to the most pressing questions of our time. Enjoy this episode of NOVA Now…And stay tuned for new MASTERPIECE Studio episodes October 4!

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Six of the Fifth Season of Grantchester. The brilliant team who help create the world of Grantchester reunite in a special bonus podcast episode to explore the themes and characters who made the fifth season sparkle. Plus, creator Daisy Coulam offers some tantalizing hints of the just-confirmed sixth season on the way.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Six of the Fifth Season of Grantchester. With a toast, a birthday and gentle ribbing, we come to a close on Grantchester's fifth season. But that's not all for series stars Tom Brittney and Robson Green, who join the podcast for a special season wrap-up — with previews of the sixth season yet on the horizon.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode 5 of the Fifth Season of Grantchester. A stunning revelation in the village of Grantchester leaves everybody at a loss for words — but Grantchester series creator Daisy Coulam was plotting this moment the entire season. Coulam returns to the podcast for a conversation about change, growth and thematic consistency in her charming series.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Four of the Fifth Season of Grantchester. Ellie Harding is a bold newcomer on the Grantchester green, digging for front page scoops in the murderous little village. Actor Lauren Carse loved Ellie's modern, career-minded character, and she joined the podcast for a conversation on romance, rumors and Meryl Streep.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Three of the Fifth Season of Grantchester. After a particularly cinematic episode of Grantchester, we head behind the camera for a conversation with episode director Christiana Ebohon-Green. With hints of classic film noir and Hollywood's golden age sprinkled throughout a classic picture house crime scene, Ebohon-Green reveals where she and the creative team turned for inspiration.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode 2 of the Fifth Season of Grantchester. The quiet charm of Leonard Finch and Daniel Marlowe's blossoming romance has been an unexpected highlight of the last few seasons of Grantchester. Even actor Ollie Dimsdale, who brings Daniel to life, is surprised by the strength of his character's long-running narrative arc. He explores the past — and future — here.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode 1 of the Fifth Season of Grantchester. It's the fifth season of Grantchester, and series lead Tom Brittney is firmly in control in his role as Rev. Will Davenport. He's also — in a change — in control of his on-screen motorcycle, having finally obtained his bike license. He joins the podcast for a look ahead on the season on the way.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Seven of the First Season of World On Fire. After a stunning season one finale, World On Fire lead Zofia Wichłacz and series creator Peter Bowker return for another new podcast conversation, wrapping up the drama of season one and looking forward to the thrill of the second season already in the works.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Six of the First Season of World on Fire. In the international cast of World On Fire, Nancy Campbell and her nephew, Webster O’Connor, are two Americans facing the perils of a looming war. Actor Brian J. Smith found something of himself in the romantic character he plays on the series, and he shared stories from set in a new interview.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Five of the First Season of World On Fire*.* During World War II, Julia Brown's grandmother was a jazz singer, which gave the World On Fire star a broad starting point for her fiercely independent character, Lois Bennett. But in Brown's hands, Lois is a strong and sharply independent young woman looking for adventures of her own.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Three of the First Season of World On Fire. A World War II documentary helped spur Peter Bowker to create his multi-layered, international drama, World On Fire. With a season of the series dedicated to every year of the global war, the creator offers new insight into his first year, and subtle previews of the season still on the horizon.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Two of the First Season of World On Fire. From a summer romance in beautiful prewar Warsaw to a rebel resistance in the rubble of her struggling city at war, young Polish waitress Kasia Tomaszeski has seen a life's worth of trauma in a few brief episodes. Actor Zofia Wichłacz was prepared for the dark role, but warns in a new interview — there's still more pain to come for Kasia.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode One of the First Season of World On Fire. If World On Fire's Nancy Campbell seems familiar, it's more than just the fact that she is played by Academy Award-winning actor Helen Hunt. The no-nonsense war correspondent was based in part on the legendary Clare Hollingworth, and in this special episode of the podcast, we share Hollingworth's own memories of the German invasion of Poland in 1939.

*Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode One of *Beecham House. Fillmmaker Gurinder Chadha brings a keen eye to her multigenerational Indian drama, Beecham House. And the family story isn’t just in front of the camera — her husband, Paul Mayeda Berges, created and produced the series with her, and the couple’s twins appear as royal characters. The entire historical costume drama is now available for binge viewing on PBS Passport, and Chadha previews the story for MASTERPIECE viewers in a new podcast conversation.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Eight of the First Season of *Sanditon * Actor Anne Reid is quick to remind anyone listening that her Sanditon character, Lady Denham, is a terrible, grouchy miser. But the actor herself is anything but, and her interview here is a charming farewell to the first season of the series.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Seven of the First Season of Sanditon. Screenwriter Andrew Davies has already adapted Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, and *Emma *for television *— *but his new iteration of the author's tragically unfinished final novel, Sanditon is a creation distinctly his own. Davies reveals how he found the plot in Austen's 24,000-word fragment, and what he embellished on his own in creating the new series.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Six of the First Season of Sanditon. For the first time since her journey from Willingden, Charlotte Haywood leaves the town of Sanditon, heading to London in pursuit of her kidnapped friend, Miss Georgiana Lambe. Series stars Theo James, Rose Williams and Crystal Clarke join Sanditon creator Andrew Davies in a special podcast episode exploring the misty streets of Regency-era London, and offering previews of the final two episodes on the way.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Five of the First Season of Sanditon. Esther Denham has few friends in Sanditon, and even her wolfish step-brother, Sir Edward, seems to prefer the company of others more than he does his sharp-tounged step-sister. So it's a charming surprise to speak with actor Charlotte Spencer, who truly is everything that Esther is not.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Four of the First Season of Sanditon. In a special bonus episode of MASTERPIECE Studio, Sanditon stars Rose Williams and Crystal Clarke reunite in the studio to answer a few of your viewer questions about the series, their friendship and the difficulties of wearing Regency-era corsets.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Four of the First Season of Sanditon. Crystal Clarke is not the first major character of color to appear in a MASTERPIECE production — but the American-born actor thinks it’s high time more period dramas offered a broader range of history than currently on view. Clarke talks pineapples, codeswitching and the sadness of Miss Lambe in a brand new interview.