Grantchester

Stories

PBS stuffs summer with drama, music, more

This summer, PBS will fill voids left by other broadcast networks.
It will have dramas – strong, smart ones, led by “Grantchester” (shown here) – on Sundays. It will also have music – a couple concerts, an opera and a three-part look at the disco era.
Alongside that will be extended looks at ecology and comedy … plus two weeks devoted to the Republican and Democratic conventions.
The big-four commercial networks have lots of summer games and reality shows, but no scripted dramas. That’s where PBS starts to fit in; it will have: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 25, 2024
Stories

Scripted shows join late-summer line-up

If you get tired of a summer of reruns and reality shows, don’t fret.
Two networks have beefed up their late-summer plans for new, scripted episodes. PBS will start “Grantchester” on July 10, with a second season of “Guilt” on Aug. 28; CW has an Australian comedy (“Bump) and two Italian dramas – “Leonardo”(shown here) and “Devils” – that include British or American stars. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 3, 2022
News and Quick Comments

PBS dramas: “Grantchester” soon, “Sanditon” later

For fans of the lush “Sanditon” series (shown hee), PBS has semi-encouaging news:
It will be back … well, sometime. And probably in 2022.
“They are just about three weeks into filming now,” Susanne Simpson, the “Masterpiece” producer, told the Television Critics Association. “But you will see ‘Sanditon’ next year.”
Based on a novel that Jane Austen had barely started, the show created a seaside world filled with schemes, ambition and romance. It drew mildly favorable reviews from critics and strongly favorable comments from viewers … but the British company that created it decided against a second season. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 12, 2021
Stories

Now “Grantchester” has its rock ‘n’ roll, crimesolving preacher

For “Masterpiece” fans, waiting for the new vicar is like waiting for Halley’s Comet or a Cubs pennant.It takes patience … but yes, it’s worth it.
On July 28 – in the season’s third week and fourth episode – Tom Brittney finally takes over as Will Davenport, the crimesolving vicar in a little English village. He replaces James Norton, who had finished his three-year contract and stayed for some transition episodes.
In some ways, it might not seem like a big change. Both stars are tall, handsome and young; Norton is 34, Brittney is 28.But this is set at a time when a few years seemed like a new generation.
“I represent this sort of youth coming in at the end of the ’50s – the rock ‘n’ roll, leather-jacket-wearing, motorbike-riding, Elvis-listening people,” Brittney said. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 19, 2019