Ani Bundel has been blogging professionally since 2010. This is her second major independent site launch. A DC native and Keyboard Khaleesi, she spends all her non-writing time photographing her cats. Regular bylines also found on MSNOW.
PBS
Grantchester's second episode of its tenth anniversary season starts with its strongest angle: The continuing saga of the life of Geordie Keating and his latest vicar pal. The series doesn't even get to the body until the second act, and then most of what we learn
BBC
One of the best aspects of the U.K.'s primary export being entertainment is that whenever something historically significant happens, it often inspires a BBC-produced TV series. Such was the case with the London 2012 Olympics, which not only was a ratings hit in sporting programs, but also
Feature
Watching a shift in societal mores is usually something that happens at a glacial pace. One looks back after 25 years and discovers that the world has changed from one's childhood, slowly, inexorably, mostly when one was doing other things. But the 2010s were not like that. The
Feature
There was a piece in the Financial Times recently decrying the lack of a monocultural connection as one of the things currently dividing populations; the implication being that siloing oneself entertainment-wise leads to siloing oneself politically. The writer was talking about the U.K., of course, but the same could
PBS
PBS and Masterpiece are on a roll now that the end-of-year pledge drive has wrapped up and the first debuts for the 2025-2026 television season have arrived. Patience Season 1 has rolled out to solid enough reviews and an already greenlit Season 2, and Grantchester Season 10 is bubbling along
Paramount+
Ask anyone who works at Paramount or Skydance how the merger is going — it was initially supposed to close by the end of June 2025 — and they'll tell you everything is fine, on track, and nothing to worry about. (We're all fine here; how are you?
PBS
For those seeking a bit of good news in 2025, may I direct your attention to your local PBS station. It's there, as a digital channel, part of the broadcast channels on your cable box, as an app on your TV, iPad, or phone, with livestreaming channels available
Disney/Hulu
One of the unsung silver linings of the 2020 pandemic is that it forced the BBC to think differently about what it greenlit when things began to return to a new normal in 2021. Between the need to restart production quickly and the Black Lives Matter movement prompting the public
BritBox
BritBox and the BBC have announced that their co-production, The Other Bennet Sister, adapted from the 2020 best-selling Pride & Prejudice retelling, has begun filming in Wales. The BBC first announced the project in October 2024, but it was only a few weeks ago that BritBox boarded the series. At
Amazon Studios/Prime Video
Amazon Studios may continue to pour money into its The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power project, but it's not spending quite as wantonly as it did in the first couple of seasons. After spending $1 billion (with a B!) on the show's first
Acorn TV
Christmas comes but once a year; however, when it comes to U.K. Christmas specials of fan-favorite series, it seems any time of year will do. For example, with the running exception of Call the Midwife, PBS has never aired any of the Christmas episodes from their imported and co-produced
BritBox
It is accepted conventional wisdom that Agatha Christie has three major sleuths in her canon: Hercule Poirot, Miss Jane Marple, and Tommy & Tuppence Beresford. Poirot and Marple are obvious candidates, as both appear in upwards of dozens of novels and short stories; however, Tommy & Tuppence's popularity