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Masterpiece (TV series)

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Masterpiece Theatre is a long-running television series produced by WGBH which premiered on PBS on January 10, 1971. The show has presented to American audiences a large number of award-winning BBC or ITV productions, particularly BBC television dramas.

The show was hosted by Alistair Cooke until 1992; Russell Baker hosted from 1992 to 2004.

Oeuvre

Masterpiece Theatre is best known for presenting adaptations of famous novels and biographies into episodic TV miniseries, but it also shows original television dramas. Programs presented on the show include Elizabeth R, House of Cards, I, Claudius, Jeeves and Wooster, The Jewel in the Crown, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Traffik, Upstairs, Downstairs, and many others, including adaptations of Anna Karenina, Cakes and Ale, Cold Comfort Farm, Jude the Obscure, Madame Bovary, Moll Flanders, and Northanger Abbey.

Music

The theme music to the show, played during the opening credits, is from "Symphonies and Fanfares for the King's Supper" by French composer Jean-Joseph Mouret.

Sister Series

In 1979, Masterpiece Theatre gained a sister series, Mystery!, an umbrella series for (again) mostly British detective and crime series.

Changes for 2004

The show was financed by Mobil and then Exxon Mobil until 2004, and was for many years known as Mobil Masterpiece Theatre or ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre. After their sponsorship ended, the show underwent a major restructuring:

  • The host was eliminated;
  • Mystery! and Masterpiece Theatre began sharing the Sunday time slot with Masterpiece Theatre airing in the fall and winter and Mystery! in the spring and summer.
  • American-made productions were occasionally included.

Full List of Masterpiece Theatre Presentations

(R) refers to a repeated program (list courtesy of the Official Website)

Season 35: 2005 - 2006

Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking; Kidnapped; The Virgin Queen; Pollyanna (R); The Lost Prince (R); Henry VIII (R); Charles Dicken's Bleak House

Season 34: 2004 - 2005

The Lost Prince; Talking Heads: The Hand of God; Henry VIII; Pollyanna; Doctor Zhivago (R); Othello (R); He Knew He Was Right; Island at War; Goodbye, Mr. Chips (R); Bertie & Elizabeth (R)

Season 33: 2003 - 2004

Our Town; Warrior Queen; Goodbye, Mr. Chips; The Hound of the Baskervilles (R); Doctor Zhivago; The Road from Coorain (R); The Forsyte Saga, Series I (R); The Forsyte Saga, Series II; Me & Mrs. Jones (R); My Uncle Silas II (R); Daniel Deronda (R); Prime Suspect 6; Prime Suspect 1 (R); Prime Suspect 2 (R)

Season 32: 2002 - 2003

Almost a Woman; The Forsyte Saga; Wives and Daughters (R); My Uncle Silas II; The Hound of the Baskervilles; Me & Mrs. Jones; Foyle's War; The Ponder Heart (R); Daniel Deronda; The Jury; White Teeth; Lucky Jim (R); The Way We Live Now (R)

Season 31: 2001 - 2002

The Merchant of Venice; The Ponder Heart; The Cazalets; My Uncle Silas; David Copperfield (R); The Song of the Lark (R); The Murder of Stephen Lawrence; Othello; Bertie & Elizabeth; Love in a Cold Climate; Lucky Jim; All the King's Men (R); A Death in the Family; The Way We Live Now; Innocents; The Road from Coorain; Anna Karenina (R); Oliver Twist (R)

Season 30: 2000-2001

Oliver Twist; Cora Unashamed; Her Majesty Mrs. Brown; The Railway Children; Stiff Upper Lips; All the King's Men (R); Lost for Words (R); A Rather English Marriage (R); The American; Bramwell, Series VI; Anna Karenina; King Lear (R); Wives and Daughters; The Song of the Lark; Take a Girl Like You; Aristocrats; Talking Heads 2: Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet; Cora Unashamed (R); The American (R); Her Majesty Mrs. Brown (R); The Railway Children (R)

Season 29: 1999-2000

A Rather English Marriage; Aristocrats; Lost for Words; Shooting the Past; Cider with Rosie (R); Great Expectations (R); The Mill on the Floss (R); Bramwell, Series V; Madame Bovary; All the King's Men; The Turn of the Screw; Rebecca (R); David Copperfield; Seeing Red; Monsignor Renard; The Prince of Hearts (R); Our Mutual Friend (R); Painted Lady (R); A Respectable Trade (R)

Season 28: 1998-1999

King Lear; Wuthering Heights; A Respectable Trade; The Unknown Soldier; The Prince of Hearts; Breaking the Code (R); Bramwell, Series III (R); Signs and Wonders (R); Our Mutual Friend; Bramwell, Series IV; Cider with Rosie; Reckless (R); Reckless: The Sequel; Frenchman's Creek; Great Expectations; Moll Flanders; Goodnight Mr. Tom

Season 27: 1997-1998

The Mill on the Floss; The Tenant of Wildfell Hall; The Moonstone; Bramwell, Series III; Rhodes; Reckless; The Wingless Bird; The Woman in White; Painted Lady; Far from the Madding Crowd; Interview Day (R); Peacock Spring (R); Nostromo (R); The Choir (R); A Royal Scandal (R); Rebecca (R)

Season 26: 1996-1997

Moll Flanders; Broken Glass; Bramwell, Series II; Nostromo; A Royal Scandal; Breaking the Code; Prime Suspect: Errors of Judgement; Persuasion; Rebecca

Season 25: 1995-1996

The Buccaneers; The Great Kandinsky; Prime Suspect: The Lost Child; The Choir; The Politician's Wife; The Final Cut; Prime Suspect: Inner Circles; Heavy Weather; The Peacock Spring; Bramwell, Series I; Prime Suspect: Scent of Darkness; Signs and Wonders; Interview Day

Season 24: 1994-1995

The Blue Boy; The Rector's Wife; Dandelion Dead; Doctor Finlay, II; Jeeves & Wooster, IV; The Cinder Path; Martin Chuzzlewit; Hard Times; Sharpe, II

Season 23: 1993-1994

Selected Exits; Jeeves & Wooster, III; Where Angels Fear to Tread; Sharpe; To Play the King; Body & Soul; Middlemarch; A Foreign Field; The Best Intentions

Season 22: 1992-1993

A Question of Attribution; The Best of Friends; Memento Mori; Two Monologues: In My Defense/A Chip in the Sugar; The Secret Agent; Jeeves & Wooster, II; The Countess Alice; Impromptu; The Blackheath Poisonings; Hedda Gabler; The Black Velvet Gown; Calling the Shots; Dr. Finlay, I

Season 21: 1991-1992

A Murder of Quality; Sleepers; She's Been Away; Parnell and the Englishwoman; Titmuss Regained; Adam Bede; A Doll's House; Clarissa; Henry V; A Perfect Hero; Portrait of a Marriage

Season 20: 1990-1991

The Heat of the Day; The Ginger Tree; Jeeves & Wooster, I; Scoop; A Room of One's Own; 20th Anniversary Favorites: Upstairs, Downstairs; The Flame Trees of Thika; On Approval; I, Claudius; All For Love: A Dedicated Man; Elizabeth R; The Jewel in the Crown; The Tale of Beatrix Potter; The Six Wives of Henry VIII; Backstage at Masterpiece Theatre; House of Cards; The Shiralee; Summer's Lease

Season 19: 1989-1990

And a Nightingale Sang; Precious Bane; Glory Enough for All; A Tale of Two Cities; The Yellow Wallpaper; After the War; The Real Charlotte; The Dressmaker; Traffik; Piece of Cake

Season 18: 1988-1989

A Perfect Spy; Heaven on Earth; A Wreath of Roses; A Very British Coup; All Passion Spent; Talking Heads: Bed Among the Lentils; Christabel; The Charmer; The Bretts, II

Season 17: 1987-1988

The Bretts, I; Northanger Abbey; Sorrell & Son; Fortunes of War; Day After the Fair; David Copperfield; By the Sword Divided, II

Season 16: 1986-1987

Paradise Postponed; Goodbye Mr. Chips; Lost Empires; Silas Marner; Star Quality: Noel Coward Stories; The Death of the Heart; Love Song

Season 15: 1985-1986

The Last Place on Earth; Bleak House; Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy; By the Sword Divided, I; The Irish RM, II

Season 14: 1984-1985

The Barchester Chronicles; The Jewel in the Crown; All for Love; Strangers and Brothers

Season 13: 1983-1984

Pictures; The Citadel; The Irish RM, I; The Tale of Beatrix Potter; Nancy Astor

Season 12: 1982-1983

To Serve Them All My Days; The Good Soldier; Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years; On Approval; Drake's Venture; Private Schulz; Sons and Lovers

Season 11: 1981-1982

A Town Like Alice; Edward and Mrs. Simpson; The Flame Trees of Thika; I Remember Nelson; Love in a Cold Climate; Flickers

Season 10: 1980-1981

Crime and Punishment; Pride and Prejudice; Testament of Youth; Danger UXB; Therese Raquin; 10th Anniversary Favorites: The Golden Bowl; Cousin Bette; Upstairs, Downstairs; Sunset Song

Season 9: 1979-1980

Kean; Love for Lydia; The Duchess of Duke Street, II; My Son, My Son; Disraeli

Season 8: 1978-1979

The Mayor of Casterbridge; The Duchess of Duke Street, I; Country Matters, II; Lillie

Season 7: 1977-1978

Dickens of London; I, Claudius; Anna Karenina; Our Mutual Friend; Poldark, II

Season 6: 1976-1977

Madame Bovary; How Green Was My Valley; Five Red Herrings; Upstairs, Downstairs, IV; Poldark, I

Season 5: 1975-1976

Shoulder to Shoulder; Notorious Woman; Upstairs, Downstairs, III; Cakes and Ale; Sunset Song

Season 4: 1974-1975

Murder Must Advertise; Upstairs, Downstairs, II; Country Matters, I; Vienna 1900; The Nine Tailors

Season 3: 1973-1974

Clouds of Witness; The Man Who Was Hunting Himself; The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club; The Little Farm; Upstairs, Downstairs, I; The Edwardians

Season 2: 1972-1973

Vanity Fair; Cousin Bette; The Moonstone; Tom Brown's School Days; Point Counter Point; The Golden Bowl;

Season 1: 1971-1972

The First Churchills; The Spoils of Poynton; The Possessed; Pere Goriot; Jude the Obscure; The Gambler; Resurrection; Cold Comfort Farm; The Six Wives of Henry VIII; Elizabeth R; The Last of the Mohicans;

Parodies

References

  • Masterpiece Theatre: A Celebration of 25 Years of Outstanding Television by Terrence O'Flaherty (1996), ISBN 091233374X
  • Masterpiece Theatre and the Politics of Quality by Laurence Jarvik (1999) ISBN 0810832046
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