Having survived ‘Midsomer Murders’, it’s on to Highclere Castle and Chavenage House!

With new found confidence after surviving our time in the small English village of Dorchester-on-Thames touring several Midsomer Murder locations and living to tell about it, the Transcendent Travel/KERA Great British Telly Tour continued safely on to Highclere Castle (Downton Abbey) and Chavenage House (Poldark) on Wednesday. Being able to experience the more than familiar locations used […]

Read more

Tellyspotting survives small English village with a day in ‘Midsomer’

For fans of Midsomer Murders and Father Brown, you know how difficult it is to survive life in a small English village. With a overall body count expected to rise about 400 during filming of the 25th series of the extraordinarily popular British drama, Dorchester-on-Thames was the next stop on the KERA British Telly Tour this week. Fortunately, I […]

Read more

Tempting fate, once again, Tellyspotting survives the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone to begin KERA’s Great British Telly Tour!

As your head hit the pillow Saturday evening, Tellyspotting had begun the nine hour trek to London to begin the 2022 Great British Telly Tour courtesy of KERA and Transcendent Travel. Overall, a pretty nondescript flight which, these days, is a very good thing. The highlight, oddly, was when the pilot again pointed out that we were […]

Read more

More ‘Guilt’ on the way later this month from Masterpiece on PBS!

If you haven’t seen Guilt as of yet, consider placing it at the top of your viewing list of ‘2022 guilty pleasures list’ courtesy of PBS and Masterpiece. Sporting a brilliant cast coupled with great writing that features more twists and turns than the law allows around every corner when series 1 ran last year, Guilt pairs the talents […]

Read more

Check in to ‘Hotel Portofino’ tonight on PBS then stick around for the return of ‘Endeavour’!

Set in the breathtakingly beautiful resort town of Portofino, Hotel Portofino is about personal awakening at a time of global upheaval in the traumatic aftermath of World War I and of the liberating influence of Italy’s enchanting culture, climate and cuisine on elite British travelers.

Premiering tonight at 8pET/7pCT on PBS, Hotel Portofino tells the story of the Ainsworth family that has relocated from Britain to open an upscale hotel on the Italian coastline. Once you meet the cast of characters, both Upstairs Downstairs and Downton Abbey come to mind….if they happened to be set in 1920 Italy.

Read more

The Crawleys are returning home this Christmas on PBS!

Armed with 15 Primetime Emmys® and 69 Emmy® nominations, the PBS drama series that set viewing records for a PBS drama is returning to its’ rightful home this Christmas  — to PBS. Debuting on Masterpiece in January 2011, Downton Abbey ran for six series before Mr. Carson shuttered the doors on Downton in 2016, Downton Abbey: The Movie will broadcast Saturday, […]

Read more

You are cordially invited to ‘Downton Abbey: A New Era’ — March 18, 2022

Finally, two years after the original movie and five years after the television drama ended its six-season run on PBS, charter members of the Downton Abbey Separation Anxiety can rest easy knowing that Downton Abbey: A New Era will hit theatres on March 18, 2022. While the first film centered around a Royal Visit to the Crawley family and Downton […]

Read more

A pre-Oompa-Loompas Willie Wonka heads to the big screen with an amazing cast in tow!

Full disclosure. Re-makes tend to scare me, whether it’s big or small screen. Pre-Endeavour, prequels used to scare me too. Neither really ever came close to meeting expectations based on the original until Shaun Evans brought a young Detective Constable Endeavour Morse to life during his early career with the Oxford City Police CID.

While I’m reserving judgement on an announced 2023 release of Wonka, given it will be really hard to touch Gene Wilder’s definitive 1971 portrayal of the iconic children’s literary character, recent announcements as to casting may just have me looking forward to this one.

Read more

‘Tom Jones’, the mother of all Rom-coms, headed to PBS

Long considered to be one of the earliest novels in the English language, Henry Fielding’s The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling will be adapted and reimagined for television by PBS Masterpiece. The story follows the growth and misadventures of the title character, played in this new adaptation by the young actor Solly McLeod (The Rising), who stars opposite Sophie Wilde (You Don’t Know Me) as the heroine, Sophia Western.

Read more