MASTERPIECE Studio

*Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Five of Season Two of *The Durrells in Corfu. Actor Daniel Lapaine has made a career playing rakishly charming characters — He’s ‘a Smiling Devil,’ as one director told him. Lapaine’s role as Hugh on this season of The Durrells in Corfu is more of the same, but he explains how the allure of the Durrell family is all too real for this Australian...

*Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Six of Season Three of *Poldark Caroline Blakiston’s Aunt Agatha Poldark has been a secret triumph throughout these three seasons of Poldark , lurking by the Trenwith fire while reading her tarot cards and peering into the Cornish future. After a particularly dramatic episode, Blakiston joins us to talk costumes, character development and how Ha...

*Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Five of Season Three of *Poldark After just missing her chance at true romantic happiness this week, the young Morwenna Chenoweth seems to be trapped in a loveless, lifeless marriage. But Ellise Chappell, the young Poldark actor who plays Morwenna, isn’t worried. “We’ve got to keep hoping,” for the troubled Morwenna, she tells us — and offers st...

*Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode One of Season Two of *The Durrells in Corfu. As a child, Keeley Hawes adored reading about the Durrell family’s fantastic Greek adventures on the island of Corfu. Years later, she finds herself as the fictional head of the Durrell clan, playing the role of matriarch Louisa Durrell in the ongoing series,  The Durrells in Corfu . In conversation w...

*Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episodes One and Two of Season Three of *Poldark. Poldark’s Caroline Penvenen, the beautiful heiress with a generous heart, has secrets in store in the upcoming third season of the series. Actor Gabriella Wilde offers hints of the stories yet to come for her character, and reveals what it was like to film with her newborn child on set — as well as which...

With the upcoming 2018 adaptation of Little Women on MASTERPIECE rapidly approaching, we wanted to look back 149 years to the original 1868 publication of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel of the same name. More specifically, we wanted to hear from our listeners and viewers why that novel is an important part of their lives. On International Podcast Day 2017, you told us.

*Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode One of Season Four of *Endeavour. A string of mysterious and seemingly unconnected Oxford murders greets Detective Constable Endeavour Morse in a brand new season of Endeavour . Lead series writer Russell Lewis wakes up every day wondering, “Who am I going to kill today?’ — and he tells us what, and who, to watch for in the upcoming fourth seaso...

*Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Seven of Season Three of *Grantchester. Another season of Grantchester is done and dusted, and lead writer Daisy Coulam has a few thoughts about the emotional journey she took us all on these past seven weeks. She talks love, duty, personal faith and her favorite scenes of the season that was.

*Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Six of Season Three of *Grantchester. Iconic British actor Tessa Peake-Jones describes herself as a rather happy woman, but her Mrs. Maguire on Grantchester is anything but. She explains how she found her character, how she “listen acts” and what her former acting mentee, Al Weaver is really like on set.

*Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Five of Season Three of *Grantchester. Actor Al Weaver, who plays church curate Leonard Finch in Grantchester , began his time on the series with a rather unfortunate mustache. He tells us about his character’s journey from mustache to near-marriage and beyond, and gives some behind-the-scenes flavor of his funny, friendly relationship with his...

*Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Six of *Prime Suspect: Tennison. The Prime Suspect: Tennison season is over, but Jane Tennison’s journey to Detective Chief Inspector is just beginning. Actor Stefanie Martini reflects on the explosive season finale, the young Jane’s first big case, and the steps that still remain in the WPC’s fledgling career in the Metropolitan Police.

*Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Three of *Prime Suspect: Tennison. Actor Sam Reid plays the grizzled Detective Inspector Len Bradfield, an early mentor for a young Jane Tennison in the new prequel series, Prime Suspect: Tennison. Bradfield is a role all its own — but Reid told us he couldn’t help but sneak a few of the original Jane Tennison’s quirks into his new character as...

*Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode One of *Prime Suspect: Tennison. The original Prime Suspect brought powerhouse Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison to our screens for seven seasons. But Tennison didn’t start at the top. Actor Stefanie Martini -- who plays a younger version of the iconic character in the new prequel series, Prime Suspect: Tennison -- reveals how she found he...

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode One of the Third Season of Grantchester. The comic and dramatic collide in full force in the picture book village of Grantchester, perhaps in this upcoming third season more than ever. Most of that mood comes from lead writer Daisy Coulam, who joins MASTERPIECE Studio to unpack her writing method, the show’s distinctive moral messaging and the se...

*Warning: This episode contains spoilers for *Dark Angel. Fans of “Downton Abbey’s” Anna Bates were likely spooked by Joanne Froggatt’s character in “Dark Angel”: the manipulative real-life serial killer Mary Ann Cotton. In this episode, MASTERPIECE Studio dissects Mary Ann’s motives, and pulls back the curtain on Joanne Froggatt’s darkest role to date.

*Warning: This episode contains spoilers for *King Charles III. In 2012, playwright Mike Bartlett had a revolutionary idea: a Shakespearean drama about a king who had not yet ruled, King Charles III. But the road from first draft to Tony nomination was anything but easy. In this episode, Mike Bartlett joins host Jace Lacob to go behind-the-scenes of his controversial work.

*Warning: This episode contains spoilers for *King Charles III. Mike Bartlett’s Tony-nominated play “King Charles III” imagines the contentious ascension of Prince Charles to the throne. The new monarch’s refusal to play by the rules turns nearly everyone against him—from the members of Parliament to his daughter-in-law, Kate. In the wake of the television adaption, the late actor Tim Pigott-Smith...

Warning: This show contains "To Walk Invisible: The Brontë Sisters" spoilers. Emily Brontë—of “Wuthering Heights” and Brontë family fame—looms large over English literature and high school lectures alike, yet so little about her is actually known. How did actor Chloe Pirrie bring this almost mythological writer to life? We spoke with Chloe about getting inside the mind of Emily Brontë and all of t...

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Eight of the First Season of Victoria. In the aftermath of a season finale that tested the relationship between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, we’re talking to “Victoria” stars Jenna Coleman and Tom Hughes about what it is like to play a royal couple whose love story is – quite literally – one for the history books.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Six of the First Season of Victoria. What does it take to write a television series? In Daisy Goodwin’s case, it took a fight, 30 years of research experience, and a lot of heart. This is the story of how Daisy Goodwin came to write "Victoria," and how she brought 19th-century characters to life on screen.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Four of the First Season of Victoria. Although many people have been rooting for Lord Melbourne and Victoria to end up together, history decided a different fate for the pair. Rufus Sewell, the actor who plays Lord M, joins us to reveal his own “mixed feelings” about being replaced by actor Tom Hughes and his character, Prince Albert, and weighs...

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episodes One and Two of the First Season of Victoria. Though MASTERPIECE's new period drama, "Victoria," is based on actual, 19th century history, it can be hard to distinguish fact from fiction. Did Victoria and Lord Melbourne actually have a "special relationship"? And what was Queen Victoria's coronation really like? Actor Jenna Coleman and "Victoria"...

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Two of the Fourth Season of Sherlock. John Watson and Sherlock Holmes have been through some rough patches before, but never one quite like this. In the wake of an episode that tests both their relationship, and their sanity, Martin Freeman joins us to look back at John and Sherlock’s unlikely friendship, and teases their uncertain future.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode One of the Fourth Season of Sherlock. “Sherlock’s” Amanda Abbington weighs in on the premiere, and on playing the divisive Mary Watson.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode One of the Fourth Season of Sherlock. "Sherlock’s" Molly Hooper has gone from being somewhat of a joke to a fan favorite. She has gotten to slap and kiss Sherlock Holmes; we’ve even seen her portrayed as a mustachioed, Victorian doctor in “The Abominable Bride.” So, how will Molly Hooper surprise us next? Actor Louise Brealey discusses her quirky...