MASTERPIECE Studio

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Three of the Third Season of Miss Scarlet and the Duke. Miss Scarlet and the Duke series creator, head writer and executive producer Rachael New has a new title to add to her hyphenated list of roles on the show — director! In this third episode of the third season, New stepped up and swept in to the director's chair in a charming jewel box of a...

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Two of the Third Season of All Creatures Great and Small*.* On any given episode of  All Creatures Great and Small,  a wide variety of animals pass through the scene with injured hooves or damaged snouts. It's up to animal handlers like Jill Clark, of 1st Choice Animals, to train those furry guest stars to sit still, lie down or play dead — which...

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode One of the Third Season of All Creatures Great and Small. It took two seasons of television — and a lot more besides — but Nicholas Ralph’s James Herriot has finally tied the knot with Rachel Shenton’s Helen Alderson. It’s a real highlight of the third season, and one Ralph and his castmates cherished all the more with the presence of real-life J...

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Six of Magpie Murders. We’re of course bound to remind listeners not to listen to episodes like this until they watch all of the related Mystery! series — but after you do, you’ll definitely want to come back. Magpie Murders creator, writer and executive producer Anthony Horowitz and series star Lesley Manville return to the podcast to discuss th...

Warning: The episode contains spoilers for episode five of Magpie Murders. Actor Tim McMullan had worked with author and screenwriter Anthony Horowitz before, but never on a title as wild as the adaptation of his own Magpie Murders. As Atticus Pünd — a fictional detective who solves murders both real and imaginary — McMullan has great fun gently ribbing the classic whodunnit format.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Five of the First Season of Miss Scarlet and the Duke*.* This is an encore release of an earlier podcast episode. A female private detective in Victorian London seems anachronistic — but Eliza Scarlet more than holds her own on the grimy streets of the British capitol. Kate Phillips is a witty delight in the title role, and she brings that zest t...

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Three of the Second Season of Miss Scarlet and the Duke. The witty banter and serialized crime-of-the-week format of Miss Scarlet and the Duke give viewers a regular pivot between the expected and the extraordinary. That span was exactly what series creator and executive producer Rachael New aimed for when she put together the show, and she expla...

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for episode two of Magpie Murders. Lesley Manville is in high demand lately for her excellent work on screen, so it seems only fitting that she come to the MASTERPIECE screen in the role of brilliant editor Susan Ryeland in the twisty mystery of Magpie Murders. Manville explores what drew her to the role, and where she stands in her storied career.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode One of Magpie Murders. Anthony Horowitz has written dozen of books and scores of television dramas in his lengthy career, but the task of transforming his meta mystery novel, Magpie Murders — a crime novel about writing and publishing crime novels — was especially tricky. Fortunately for MASTERPIECE viewers, the resulting series is a delight, and...

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Six of the Seventh Season of Grantchester . As the seventh season of  Grantchester comes to a surprisingly satisfying close, fans can be assured that the eighth season of the series is just over the horizon. Series creator and head writer Daisy Coulam and series lead — and director! — Tom Brittney return to the podcast to wrap up and look ahead .

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Five of the Seventh Season of Grantchester . The stubborn Mrs. C — Sylvia Chapman — is a centerpiece of the Grantchester family. Her unexpected medical troubles this seventh season leave her and the entire vicarage at a loss. Fortunately, Tessa Peake-Jones is more than able to find the emotional center of her character's difficult moments.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Four of the Seventh Season of Grantchester . There's a rotating cast of murderers — and murder victims — on every episode of  Grantchester . But where do the actors come from who populate the Cambridgeshire rogues’ gallery? Longtime series casting director Alex Irwin reveals how she casts a show.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Three of the Seventh Season of. Grantchester lead Tom Brittney already took a big leap in leading a series after a beloved main character left — and now, he takes on a new challenge in directing that show, too. The actor and director returns to the podcast for a very cinematic conversation about where he draws inspiration behind and in front of t...

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Two of the Seventh Season of Grantchester. Maybe it’s the season, maybe it’s real-world changes, maybe it’s the tide — but Grantchester head writer and series creator Daisy Coulam feels a positive vibe in the seventh iteration of her character-driven murder mystery. True, there’s still murder — but things are looking up for Will, Geordie and thei...

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode One of Ridley Road. Both sides of Sarah Solemani’s family have roots in the Ridley Road area of London, so when she read author Jo Bloom’s haunting novel, Ridley Road , she saw personal elements in the story. Still, the narrative on screen in her new miniseries — a young Jewish woman caught up in anti-fascist espionage — casts a wider and more th...

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Six of the Second Season of Sanditon. Charlotte Heywood is finally able to properly grieve her sense of loss, but the choices she makes at the end of this second season are surprising, to say the least. Rose Williams is ready for the story still to come in season three.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Five of the Second Season of Sanditon . Sanditon' s Crystal Clarke opens up about the journey that she and the series' creators undertook to give her West Indian heiress character, Miss Georgiana Lambe, a richer and more authentic development in this second season of the show.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Four of the Second Season of Sanditon . Alison Heywood is a newcomer to the up and coming resort town of Sanditon, and like her older sister Charlotte before her, she finds the entire experience to be a thrill. Rosie Graham is also new to the scene, and she used Alison's love of romantic novels and poetry to find the character's plucky drive.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Three of the Second Season of Sanditon. The Lady Esther Babington that returns to Sanditon is a softer, more open-minded woman than the biting character we knew before. Granted, her razor sharp wit remains, but Charlotte Spencer is glad to guide her character to a more loving place of grace this season.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Two of the Second Season of Sanditon. Arthur Parker is the life of any party in Sanditon — and much of that has to do with the charm of actor Turlough Convery. While much of his castmates would love to play his role, Convery brings a special approach to the happy youngest Parker sibling.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode One of the Second Season of Sanditon. Sanditon head writer Justin Young is as thrilled as you are to return to the most desirable destination on the south English coast. He returns to the podcast as well for a preview of a second season of romance and intrigue, and offers his thanks to the passion and commitment of the series' many active fans.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Seven of the Second Season of All Creatures Great and Small . The final episode of the second season of All Creatures Great and Small is both heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. That delicate balance is thanks to the work of series lead Nicholas Ralph, who feels right at home in the Yorkshire Dales. With two more seasons of the serie...

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Six of the Second Season of All Creatures Great and Small . At the end of another season of  All Creatures Great and Small , Helen Alderson is still thinking about marriage — but now in an entirely new light. Rachel Shenton takes a sensible, sensitive approach to her character, and she explains some of Helen's hopes and fears after a busy season...

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Four of the Second Season of All Creatures Great and Small*.* The Brothers Farnon have a fraught relationship — but viewers can rest assured that the actors who play them don't have those struggles. Samuel West and Callum Woodhouse return to the podcast to explain how they locate that family tension on screen.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Three of the Second Season of All Creatures Great and Small . The All Creatures Great and Small cast sadly had to say goodbye to the remarkable Dame Diana Rigg after the first season of the series. Luckily for them — and for all of us — the phenomenal Patricia Hodge slips into the elegant role of Mrs. Pumphrey with a practiced ease. Hodge explore...