Return to Cranford, comes to KERA and PBS stations nationwide on Masterpiece Classic beginning Sunday, January 10, 2010. The star-studded cast of Dame Judi Dench, who reprises her role of Miss Matty Jenkyns, Francesca Annis and Eileen Atkins welcome new town members Jonathan Pryce and Tim Curry in the sequel to the BAFTA-winning Emmy-nominated drama, Cranford.

Also on Masterpiece Classic in 2010,  Sir Michael Gambon, Jonny Lee Miller and Romola Garai star in Emma, Jane Austen’s comic tale of a young woman’s failed matchmaking schemes beginning Sunday, January 24. Gambon stars as Emma’s neurotic father. Miller, whom you may recognize from the superb Masterpiece Contemporary presentation of Endgame, stars as the shrewd counterpart to the headstrong Emma, Mr. Knightley.

Also on tap for 2010, Sean Bean returns in the title role of Sharpe’s Peril and Sharpe’s Challenge and Rupert Penry Jones (MI5, Persuasion) stars as Richard Hannay in, yet another, but classic remake of The 39 Steps.

Look for these and many more when Masterpiece returns for a new season of “classics” on PBS and KERA in 2010. If you’re a fan of the contemporary dramas on Masterpiece, check out “Collision”, which airs Sunday, November 15 and 22. Douglas Henshall, of Primeval fame, is called into investigate a dramatic six-car pileup on a London motorway. Quickly, it becomes an tale of human nature, fate and intrigue and digs into the lives of ten strangers and their involvement in corporate crime, infidelity, shameful secrets and murder.