Photo courtesy: Charlie-Gibbs

As your head hit the pillow Thursday evening, Tellyspotting had begun the annual nine hour trek to London followed by a two and a half hour train journey to Liverpool for BBC Showcase 2019.

Overall, a pretty nondescript flight, which is a good thing. The highlight, oddly, was when the pilot pointed out that we were crossing over the “Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone,” whatever that is. I looked it up once I got to the hotel. It sounded more ominous than it is.

Armed with our best earbuds at the Showcase, the approximately 10 buyers this year from local PBS stations are on a mission to screen the entire past, present and future catalog offerings from the BBC.

In addition to what is in the pipeline, gems from the BBC archive are also available to screen and possibly bring back to the world of public television.

Liverpool Lime Street Station (Photo courtesy: Bill Young)

While we do lock ourselves in a convention center for five days charged with the task of determining what programs will be available for acquisition by public television stations across the country, I’m guessing there’s not much sympathy for us at this point. It is Liverpool, after all.

As has been the case since Day One of Tellyspotting, I’ll be sending back clips and comments on everything that I screen on a daily basis, so check back here throughout the week to see what might be coming to American public television stations in the not-too-distant future.

Don’t hesitate to comment and ask questions, too, if there is something that you’d like to see, either new or returning.

Let the screenings begin!