Writer Janet Mullany is from England, drinks a lot of tea, and likes Jane Austen, reading, and gasping in shock at costumes in historical TV dramas. Her household near Washington DC includes a badly-behaved cat about whom she frequently boasts.
PBS
“It always starts with a body,” intones Superintendent Jolliphant (Kevin McNally) on the TV show Jolly For Short. Thursday looks remarkably unimpressed as the episode reveals a case of a crooked cop, but Win, beside him on the sofa, seems to be enjoying herself. Meanwhile, down at the station, CS
PBS
A brief montage of scenes opens Season 9, the final season of Endeavour. Musicians and audience members gather for a concert by the Oxford Concert Orchestra, back in town after an extensive tour abroad. Sir Alexander Lemertov (Nicholas Farrell) conducts Mendelssohn with violin soloist Christina Poole (Kirstin Louie). A man
Actors and Actresses
Scottish actor Shirley Henderson, last seen on PBS Masterpiece as Aunt Western in Tom Jones, seems to pop up in everything, is instantly recognizable –– tiny, dark, and intense, with that characteristically high voice. She was known for years as “Spud’s girlfriend” from Trainspotting, until she became famous as Moaning
Tom Jones
Tom Jones winds up with a happy ending — did we ever doubt it? Not really, although this episode plunges us briefly into the darkest moment of the series before wrapping up everything in a parcel of sweetness and light, along with a neat grace note that grants Tom fortune and
BritBox
ITV/BritBox’s The Tower, and its second season, entitled The Tower: Death Message, is adapted by Patrick Harbinson from the first two books of Kate London’s Metropolitan Police Trilogy, Post Mortem and Death Message. Directed by Faye Gilbert, The Tower is a woman-led, densely plotted urban police
PBS
As we begin the back half of Tom Jones both Sophia and Tom encounter high society in the fleshpots of the wicked big city. Sophia is threatened with physical danger from two unscrupulous suitors, while Tom has his morals tested by Lady Bellaston's desires. Bellaston coos with approval
Acorn TV
Dalgliesh Season 2 wraps up with the two-part finale, "The Murder Room." Adam Dalgliesh, elusive and enigmatic, is pretty much a mystery in his own right, and since it’s the end of the season, maybe we’ll learn more about his inner life. We know he
PBS
Sophia is under siege as Tom Jones' second episode begins, under pressure to marry the unpleasant Blifil. (Aunt Western: “I want you to be rich and safe!”) The older generation are incredulous Tom –– of dubious birth, penniless –– is someone a woman of Sophia’s class and wealth might love.
Call the Midwife
After seven episodes of serious and hard-hitting material, Call The Midwife lets it all hang out in the Season 12 finale. This episode’s focus is on the long-anticipated wedding of Nurse Trixie Franklin and Sir Matthew Aylward (now he’s inherited the baronetcy). Despite Trixie’s careful
Acorn TV
Dalgliesh and his team investigate the murder of a controversial barrister, although her death isn’t the first we see in this two-part adaptation of P. D. James’s novel A Certain Justice. A prostitute has been brutally murdered in her home, and Adam and DS Kate Miskin arrest
PBS
The new Tom Jones mini-series romps into our lives. Written by Gwyneth Hughes (Miss Austen Regrets) and directed by Georgia Parris, its prettiness, gorgeous rural settings, great clothes, and good-looking leads are enchanting. It’s a light-hearted, fast-paced, and entertaining adaptation of Henry Fielding’s picaresque
PBS
You don’t expect to see a caravan (a tiny trailer) parked between looming brick buildings in London, but that’s what Call the Midwife’s penultimate episode opens on, as that’s where the O’Connor family lives, construction worker Maurice (Niall McNamee), his pregnant wife Imelda (Gráinne Good)