Poldark vs Victoria — Let’s get ready to rumble!

With Friday’s announcement that Victoria, the heir apparent to capture a Downton Abbey audience that has been walking around aimlessly since early 2016, will go head to head with Poldark, the other ‘next, next Downton Abbey’, might just bring the likes of Michael Buffer out of retirement for a little ringside action. Going head to head in the main event ratings battle will […]

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U.S. vs. UK – A promotional Tale of Two ‘Poldarks’

Over the past several years, there seems to be a growing difference between the way series that air in both the UK and the U.S. are promoted to potential audiences. While series such as Call the Midwife, Downton Abbey, Lewis, Endeavour and, now Poldark have enjoyed both critical acclaim and audience success on the BBC, ITV and PBS, […]

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‘Call the Midwife’ heads to South Africa for 2016 holiday special

Christmas in July strikes once again as the news out of the UK is that the brilliant Call the Midwife series is back in production in Cape Town, South Africa. The series is currently filming the traditional holiday special which will, in turn, kick off the 6th series in January 2017. The Christmas special this year […]

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Toby Jones heads to 19th century London as ‘The Secret Agent’

It’s Monday so it must be time, once again, to give everyone a heads up that more quality drama is headed to the BBC1 schedule this week. In this case, we’re talking the forthcoming Sunday premiere of The Secret Agent, starring Toby Jones (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Captain America, Dad’s Army and the voice of Dobby […]

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More ‘Maigret’ with Rowan Atkinson on the way….

Given his trademark pipe, fondness of fine alcohol and reliance on godlike intuition in solving cases, the character of Jules Maigret is frequently referred to as the Sherlock Holmes of France. Author Georges Simenon’s Inspector Maigret stories are not new to television audiences. As early as 1959, Jules Maigret hit the small screen in a major […]

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First extended look at ‘Victoria’ — coming January 2017 to PBS

Come January 2017, Downton Abbey fans who will still be in denial over the end of the most-watched drama in PBS’ history will be saying ‘all hail Victoria’ when PBS premieres Victoria as part of the Masterpiece series. Jenna Coleman, who has spent the last several years jetting around the galaxy in a blue police box that’s bigger on […]

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Could scheduling restrictions possibly be headed BBC’s way?

Time for one of my Howard Beale moments while pondering where the heck is Lewis Black when you need him. Reading the stories in a number of Sunday papers in the UK suggesting the government is about to impose much greater restrictions on when the BBC can schedule its favorite shows, one has to wonder about its priorities […]

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‘Indian Summers’ to end after second series

Indian Summers, the drama whose second series is currently showing on Sunday nights on Channel 4 in the UK and will premiere in America on Sunday, September 11 as part of PBS’ Masterpiece series, has been cancelled after two series. Set in the summer capital of Simla during the twilight years of the British Raj, Indian Summers starred Julie […]

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