For those who find themselves, still, in the throws of Downton Abbey withdrawal and need to know how to pass the time until the doors of 165 Eaton Place are open once again on Sunday, 10 April, PBS and Channel 4 bring you the next stellar addition to Masterpiece‘s 40th anniversary season, Any Human Heart, premiering tonight on PBS stations nationwide.

Carnival Productions, the genius production company behind Downton Abbey brings North American viewers another classic with Any Human Heart. Based on the best selling novel by William Boyd, the series’ all-star cast includes Matthew Macfadyen, Jim Broadbent, Gillian Anderson, Kim Cattrall and Hayley Atwell. If, as an elderly Logan Mountstuart (Jim Broadbent) states in the beginning of episode one, “…every human being is a collection of selves“, then Logan, who’s life spans every decade in the twentieth century, is a being that is part writer, lover, art dealer and spy. As a writer, he crosses paths with the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Ian Fleming and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

Any Human Heart is a journal of the thoughts of a single individual (Logan Mountstuart) and weaves a brilliant tale of how we all change throughout our lives. The author and screenwriter, William Boyd, sat down to reflect back on both his thoughts about writing the book, Any Human Heart, and the difficulty of bringing it to the small screen. In bringing his 2002 novel to television, William Boyd allows us to live both an ordinary and extraordinary life, but, in brilliant fashion, focuses on the women in Logan’s life throughout time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMaxoFhxBEs&feature=related