Armed with a mission to find the missing, ‘Baptiste’ returns this Fall to PBS Masterpiece

Tchéky Karyo returns as retired detective Julien Baptiste when series 2 of Baptiste premieres this Fall on PBS Masterpiece. The long-awaited psychological crime drama was slowed by COVID restrictions earlier this year but returns to BBC One this Sunday. Swapping Amsterdam’s red light district from series 1 for the woody mountains of Hungary for his next case, Baptiste has an uncanny knack for finding the missing.

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Remembering ‘Test Card F’ and Carole Hersee, the ‘test card girl’.

Known within the BBC as Test Card F, the iconic image was used on television in the United Kingdom and in countries elsewhere in the world for more than four decades. Like other test cards, it was usually shown while no programs were being broadcast. While I never experienced ‘Test Card F’ in real-time, I first became aware of the ‘test card girl’ during the British police procedural, Life on Mars, as the card was in use during the time in 1973 that Sam Tyler ‘woke up’ following a near-fatal car accident.

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First Look: ‘Ridley Road’ on PBS Masterpiece

Ridley Road tells the story of Vivien Epstein (Aggi O’Casey), a young Jewish woman who after falling in love with a member of the ‘62 Group’, rejects her comfortable middle-class life in Manchester and joins the fight against fascism in London, risking everything for her beliefs and for the man she loves. As Vivien descends further into the fascist organization her courage and loyalties are challenged.

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Surprise! There’s more death in paradise on the horizon as ‘Death in Paradise’ begins filming S11

Series 11 of Death in Paradise has begun filming on on the beautiful island of Guadeloupe. While little is known, at this point, other than there will be more death in paradise, what is known is who’s back and who’s not for the newest set of whodunit’s on the fictional island of Saint Marie. For starters, DI Neville Parker (Ralf Little) and DS Florence Cassell (Josephine Jobert) are back to solve more crimes reporting to Commissioner Patterson, played brilliantly by Don Warrington, the only cast member to have established a permanent residence on Saint Marie from series 1, episode 1.

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From 1529 to 2024, ‘Wolf Hall’ alumni team up for ‘The Undeclared War’

For Wolf Hall director Peter Kosminsky and series star, Mark Rylance, it’s long, long way from the year 1529 and the dismissal of Cardinal Wolsey followed by the rapid rise to power of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII to 2024 and their new collaborative effort, The Undeclared War. Deadline reports that The Undeclared War takes place in the post-pandemic world […]

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Celebrate the midwives of Poplar from birth to age 10 with ‘Call the Midwife: Special Delivery’

While the January 2012 premiere of one of the most riveting, tissue-worthy dramas seems like just yesterday, the staying power of Call the Midwife is a true testament to the convergence of brilliant acting and writing with a lack of fear to tackle very difficult subjects. With the exception of maybe Midsomer Murders and Silent Witness, most dramas/mysteries tend […]

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Return to the Swinging Sixties with PBS’ ‘Best of the 60s: Ready Steady Go!’

Ready Steady Go!, a.k.a. RSG!, was a British rock/pop music television program broadcast every Friday evening from 9 August 1963 until 23 December 1966 on ITV. The show went out early on Friday evenings with the tagline “The weekend starts here!“, and was introduced by the Surfaris’ “Wipe Out”, later by Manfred Mann’s “5-4-3-2-1”, then Manfred Mann’s “Hubble Bubble Toil […]

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Channel 4 forecloses on ‘Home’ after only two series

Taking an unfortunate page out of the Mulberry playbook, Channel 4’s thinking-person’s comedy series, Home, has not been renewed for a third series. Sadly, it could lead one to believe that cerebral comedies are short-lived while those with a lowest common denominator storyline can continue on well past their sell-by date.

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‘Call the Midwife’ might just see the 70s after all with 2 more series commissioned!

The BBC has confirmed the news ahead of series 10 premiering on 18 April on BBC1 and with series 11 about to commence filming that audiences will be returning to Poplar for a 12th AND 13th series with the commissioning of two more series beyond those that were commissioned back in 2019. With series 10 taking the Poplar nurses into the late 60s, it will be interesting to see what challenges another decade might throw at them and, more importantly, how Trixie will take to 70s fashion.

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