Murder Among the Tea Cozies: Marple Returns to Masterpiece Mystery

Julia McKenzie's intrepid armchair detective Miss Jane Marple returns to Masterpiece Mystery this Sunday evening with the first of two brand-new installments of Marple that are bound to delight connoisseurs of crime.

The two spellbinding installments, "The Mystery of Chimneys" and "The Blue Geranium" follow last month's "The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side," which kicked off a new collection of Six By Agatha, Masterpiece Mystery's pod of Agatha Christie-based programming that includes three installments of Marple and three of Poirot, including an adaptation of Christie's classic potboiler, "Murder on the Orient Express."

Here, McKenzie returns as Miss Marple, the elderly spinster whose kindly exterior belies the rapier wit of a first rate detective... and who finds herself often crossing paths with murder itself, whether it be in amid the hedgerows of a postcard-perfect English village or in the faded ballroom of an ornate manor house.

The two Marple mysteries that air over the next two Sunday evenings are among the very best of the series, offering a series of plot twists, red herrings, bait-and-switches, and some deductive reasoning that matches Jane's wits against the very best of Scotland Yard. Throughout it all, Jane remains her sunny, indefatigable self, her acute mind whirring away even as she pretends to be more interested in china patterns and tea cakes.

In "The Secret of Chimneys," gorgeously directed by John Strickland, Marple finds herself caught up in a decades-old scandal and a fresh murder while a guest at her family home of Chimneys, a great pile of a mansion that's named for its trademark chimneys. While it's intended to be both a weekend with family--one that happens to coincide with both a diplomatic mission and a series of marriage proposals--it ends in murder as the unsolved mystery of a missing diamond, the spirit of vengeance, and long-buried secrets all get jumbled together in a first-rate mystery that will have audiences on the edge of their seat from start to finish.

This installment also features yet another selection of fantastic actors, continuing Marple's tradition of luring unexpected and talented names to the period mystery series. "The Secret of Chimneys" features Stephen Dillane, Edward Fox, Mathew Horne, Ruth Jones, Charlotte Salt, Jonas Armstrong, Michelle Collins, Dervla Kirwan, and Adam Godley.

Be sure to come back a week later for "The Blue Geranium," as Marple races against the clock to free a wrongly accused man of a gruesome murder, a case referred to in the press as the notorious Blue Geranium Murder. As Marple attempts to stop the wheels of justice from making a terrible mistake, she reflects back on the details of the case the numerous victims, and the strange occurrence of the titular flower itself.

Unfolding at a rapid pace, "The Blue Geranium" is a top-notch mystery that features Sharon Small, Toby Stephens, Paul Rhys, Patrick Baladi, and Claire Rushbrook in a story of greed, hysteria, madness, jealousy, and murder.

All in all, Masterpiece Mystery's ongoing Marple proves just why Agatha Christie's work continues to endure decades later, offering slick, smart, and taut mysteries. They are a pleasure to watch, though I do feel bad each time, not for Miss Jane Marple, but for those criminals she's set her sights on... and for those foolish police officers who believe she's nothing more than a dotty old lady. Thankfully, they're both proven wrong each and every time.

The first of the two remaining Miss Marple mysteries begin this Sunday evening at 9 pm ET/PT on PBS as part of Masterpiece Mystery. Check your local listings for details.

Motherland's Cold Embrace: An Advance Review of Small Island on PBS' Masterpiece Classic

"One should respect his motherland, his culture and his mother tongue because they are givers of happiness." - Rig Veda

Adapted from Andrea Levy's novel of the same name, the lyrical and profound Small Island--airing the next two Sundays as part of PBS' Masterpiece Classic--recounts the struggle of two very different couples, bound by a invisible web of fate, who attempt to reconcile their own notions of the motherland and the reality of their circumstances.

Set during and immediately after World War II in London, two-part drama Small Island--adapted by Paula Milne (Endgame) and Sarah Williams (Becoming Jane) and directed by John Alexander (Sense & Sensibility)--explores the imaginary landscape of the motherland, the promise of its embrace, and its cold reception towards those who might be willing to lay down their lives to her defense but whose skin color makes them outcasts.

For Jamaican schoolmistress Hortense (Pirates of the Caribbean's Naomie Harris) and military driver Gilbert (The Last King of Scotland's David Oyelowo), England represents the promise of happiness, a place of broad-minded people who will immediately embrace them as fellow children of the same mother. But their expectations are brutally shattered when they discover that the motherland that they have grown to love with such reverence rejects them completely because their skin is not white.

Hortense and Gilbert's relationship--a marriage of convenience for both are looking to escape Jamaica--is juxtaposed against that of white British couple Queenie (Jane Eyre's Ruth Wilson) and Bernard (The Last Enemy's Benedict Cumberbatch), themselves also enmeshed in another marriage that might seem idyllic on the surface but lacks any real connection or passion.

The four individuals find their lives connected in a variety of ways, some known and others more ethereal. Serving in the British military, Gilbert meets Queenie when she takes her father-in-law to her family farm in Yorkshire, a place she swore she would never return to. A fatal accident binds the two of them together in unforeseen ways and, after the war, when Gilbert is looking for a place to stay, he goes looking for Queenie, herself struggling to make ends meet after the disappearance of her husband, Bernard.

Moving into Queenie's spare room, Gilbert sends for his wife, the haughty Hortense, who only married him so that she would be able to travel to England and escape Jamaica. Giving him the funds to make his way to the United Kingdom, Hortense sells away her matrimony, looking upon her nuptials as little more than an escape route from her small island. With her elegant manners and imperious attitude, Hortense finds the squalor of Gilbert's home at odds with her fantasy of England, a place where her home would have an doorbell, a garden, and electric lights in every room. What she discovers is that England is just as small as Jamaica and that the reality of her situation is far different than she had anticipated.

For Hortense, Gilbert was a replacement for the true love of her life: Michael (Ashley Walters), the dashing man that was raised as her adopted brother. When he left for England and was declared missing in action, Hortense was heartbroken. But Michael also left his presence on Queenie when he meets her during the war. That these two very different women should be so united by their shared love for the same man is one of the quirks that makes this such a remarkable drama.

Filled with both humor and pathos, Small Island meticulously recreates the feeling of post-war London with a combination of grit and upbeat charm. The effect renders the plights of Hortense, Queenie, Gilbert, and Bernard as both heartbreaking and uplifting in equal measure. While there are some truly emotional beats, there are some terrifically funny ones as well and the cast excels at creating a very real vibrancy to these characters, delivering some of the very best acting--on film or television--seen this year.

Ultimately, the gripping and evocative Small Island serves as a taut exploration of the lure of opportunity and the way in which our lives may or may not turn out the way we imagined. The motherland might beckon to each of us in her own way but more often that not we'll be surprised to discover that we've just traded one small island for another. It's what we do next, when faced with overwhelming obstacles, that defines us for who we really are.



Part One of Small Island airs Sunday night at 9 pm on PBS' Masterpiece Classic. Check your local listings for details.

Slow March to War: An Advance Review of PBS' "The 39 Steps" on "Masterpiece Classic"

Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 thriller The 39 Steps took the action of John Buchan's World War I espionage novel and transported it forward in time to the 1930s, where the world was on the brink of yet another global war.

As with Buchan's novel, Hitchcock's 39 Steps traced the steps taken by reluctant hero and former spy Richard Hannay as he receives a coded message from a spy who dies in his London apartment and who then finds himself enmeshed in a dangerous conspiracy that puts his life and that of everyone he comes in contact with in jeopardy.

The film, while a gripping masterpiece of intrigue and suspense, took several liberties with the underlying material and a new version of The 39 Steps--starring Spooks' Rupert Penry-Jones--goes back to the source material to craft a new adaptation that is much more in line with Buchan's original novel than Hitchcock's film.

Penry-Jones plays Hannay with the pitch-perfect combination of world-weariness and glinting adrenaline, a man who has seen the horrors of war and who is propelled from being a bored playboy onto the front lines of an invisible war occurring everywhere from the streets of London to a seemingly idyllic country loch in Scotland. Hannay is thrust into the role of being perhaps the one person able to prevent the looming catastrophe (he's given advance warning of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the catalyst for WWI, but is unable to stop it) and is beset by captors from all directions.

As Hannay races to avert a conflict that will forever alter the world, he is wanted for murder by British authorities after he's visited by a freelance spy (Eddie Marsan), who passes along a notebook containing a secret code before he's shot to death in Hannay's kitchen by German operatives... who are hell-bent on retrieving the code that Hannay now possesses. On his own and with nowhere to turn, Hannay sets out to evade everyone on his trail and crack the code that's been entrusted to him by leading to a small town in Scotland that's allegedly a hotbed for German secret agents.

A chance encounter with suffragette Victoria Sinclair (Rome's Lydia Leonard) leads to a partnership as the duo attempt to solve the riddle left in the dead spy's notebook and save Europe from a deadly plot that could put victory in the German's hands.

Written by Lizzie Mickery (Paradox, The State Within) and directed by James Hawes (Doctor Who), The 39 Steps does a fantastic job at capturing the heat and suspense of Buchan's novel, down to the climactic aerial assault by a bi-plane as it attempts to shoot down Hannay and remove him from the equation. (It's a sequence that Hitchcock also memorably used later in North by Northwest but it was Buchan who originated the sequence in "The 39 Steps.")

Penry-Jones offers a performance that renders Hannay both as sympathetic and deadly; he's a man who is extremely clever and defiantly self-reliant who meets his match in the headstrong Victoria Sinclair. There's a nice sense of sexual tension as well as glaring equality in their banter and battle strategies. Leonard portrays Victoria as a daughter of privilege who sees that her gilded cage of gentrified womanhood is just that: a glittering cage. And the plot gives Victoria the chance to prove that she is just as potent, cunning, and crafty as Hannay himself.

All in all, The 39 Steps is a delicious throwback to a bygone era and the sort of film that's absolutely perfect to curl up in front of and lose yourself in on a Sunday evening (or any evening, really). Offering both some well-crafted bon mots and vintage firefights, The 39 Steps is a reminder of the tenuousness of our modern world and that heroes--and villains--may emerge from the most unlikely of places.



The 39 Steps airs Sunday evening as part of PBS' Masterpiece Classic. Check your local listings for details.

PBS' "Mastepiece" and BBC Worldwide Sign Co-Production Deal

PBS' long-running (and recently rebranded) Masterpiece has signed a co-production deal with BBC Worldwide that will encompass several international co-productions.

These will include a new production of beloved period drama Upstairs, Downstairs, Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss' modern take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, and Rupert Graves), and three mysteries based on Michael Dibden's Aurelio Zen novels starring Rufus Sewell.

"I'm so proud of this particular group of programs," said Masterpiece executive producer Rebecca Eaton in a statement. "These three series say everything about what Masterpiece aims to be: iconic, rich with wonderful actors, witty, literate, and timeless. I can't wait to see them all."

"These three co-productions offer a new spin on well-known, treasured stories and we're thrilled to be working with Masterpiece to bring them to life," said Matt Forde, EVP Sales & Co-Productions, BBC Worldwide, Americas. "A valued, long-standing production partner, our past collaborations with Masterpiece produced a number of critically acclaimed, award-winning-series--a testament to the success of our partnership."

As for me, I can't wait to see each of these. Upstairs, Downstairs will reunite Jean Marsh with Dame Eileen Atkins, Moffat will take on Sherlock and Watson in the present day, and Sewell will set off to solve crimes in sun-dappled Italy. Sounds like we're in for a real treat on all accounts.

The full press release from PBS can be found below.

MASTERPIECE AND BBC WORLDWIDE ANNOUNCE DRAMA CO-PRODUCTIONS, INCLUDING NEW UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS

Modern-Day Sherlock and Aurelio Zen mysteries starring Rufus Sewell also slated for production
Brighton, England--February 22, 2010-- MASTERPIECE on PBS and BBC Worldwide Sales and Distribution, Americas have announced a major co-production deal that includes a new production, with the BBC, of Upstairs Downstairs--one of the most-loved and honored television series of all time. Upstairs Downstairs will air in the U.S. in 2011 as part of MASTERPIECE 's 40th anniversary season on PBS.

The deal also includes Sherlock, a 21st-century spin on Arthur Conan Doyle's classic Sherlock Holmes novels, and three Aurelio Zen mysteries, adapted from the best-selling novels by Michael Dibden set in Italy.

"I'm so proud of this particular group of programs," says MASTERPIECE executive producer Rebecca Eaton. "These three series say everything about what MASTERPIECE aims to be: iconic, rich with wonderful actors, witty, literate, and timeless. I can't wait to see them all."

"These three co-productions offer a new spin on well-known, treasured stories and we're thrilled to be working with MASTERPIECE to bring them to life," says Matt Forde, EVP Sales & Co-Productions, BBC Worldwide, Americas. "A valued, long-standing production partner, our past collaborations with MASTERPIECE produced a number of critically acclaimed, award-winning-series--a testament to the success of our partnership."

An enormous success worldwide, the original Upstairs Downstairs won seven Emmys® during its run on MASTERPIECE THEATRE in the mid-1970s--including Best Actress for Jean Marsh, who will reprise her role in the new three-part series as Rose, the parlor maid. Dame Eileen Atkins, the co-creator of the original program, will also star. Screenwriter Heidi Thomas (Cranford) is setting the new Upstairs Downstairs in the same house at 165 Eaton Place in 1936, during the period leading up to World War II.

The thrilling new Sherlock series is a fast-paced, witty take on the legendary crime drama, now set in present day London and starring Benedict Cumberbatch (Atonement, The Last Enemy) as the eponymous detective. Martin Freeman (The Office UK, Hot Fuzz) plays his loyal friend, Doctor John Watson, and Rupert Graves (God on Trial, The Forsyte Saga) is Inspector Lestrade. Co-created by Steven Moffat (Doctor Who, Coupling, Jekyll) and Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen, Crooked House), the iconic details from Arthur Conan Doyle's original books remain: same address, same names--and somewhere out there, Moriarty is waiting.

Rufus Sewell (The Eleventh Hour, Middlemarch, John Adams) will star as Italian detective Aurelio Zen in three episodes based on the popular mysteries by Michael Dibden. The series is being shot on location in Italy by Left Bank Pictures, the production company behind the acclaimed Wallander television series.

Upstairs Downstairs is a BBC/MASTERPIECE co-production; Sherlock is a Hartswood Films (Jekyll, Coupling) and MASTERPIECE co-production; Aurelio Zen is produced by Left Bank Pictures for the BBC in association with RTI (Mediaset Group), MASTERPIECE and ZDF with additional funding from BBC Worldwide, Ingenious and Lipsync.

Playing Cupid: An Advance Review of "Emma" on PBS' "Masterpiece Classic"

"Better to be without sense than misapply it as you do." - Mr. Knightley

Jane Austen's novel "Emma" remains an enduring masterpiece of biting wit, scathing satire, and Regency society-trapped-in-amber since its publication in 1815. Even nearly 200 years later, there's still quite a bit of relevance and humor to be found in its pages and the novel's matchmaking heroine Emma Woodhouse--young, spoiled, and naive--remains a favorite for readers of all ages.

Douglas McGrath's 1996 Emma, which starred Gwyneth Paltrow, Toni Collette, Alan Cumming, and Ewan McGregor, remains a favorite of mine when thinking of Austen adaptations. Daringly breaking away from the stylistic constraints of 19th century English novels, McGrath infused this story with modern flourishes, creating something timeless in and of itself. Likewise, the 1995 feature film Clueless transplanted Emma Woodhouse to mid-90s Beverly Hills, transforming the Austen heroine into the vapid Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone), a matchmaking naif addicted to her cell phone, the mall, and the cheeky banter she shared with her own Mr. Knightley, Josh (Paul Rudd).

While it's difficult to place those utterly fantastic adaptations out of your head when considering "Emma," there's something to be said also for authenticity and straightforwardness. Which brings us to the most recent "Emma" adaptation, Masterpiece Classic's Emma adaptation (it aired on BBC One last year), written by Sandy Welch and directed by Jim O'Hanlon. It might not feature cell phones, smash cuts, or breakneck pacing, but this Emma is a pleasurable if slightly imperfect adaptation.

Airing as four installments in the UK, Emma will air over two weeks here in the States and the format allows screenwriter Welch to give the deftly comic plot time to breathe without rushing through the action. There's a somewhat painful/nostalgic opening that my wife and I dubbed "Emma Babies," which features our main characters in childhood scenes of heartbreak and loss, displaying a seriousness that's at odds with the comedy to come. While I didn't mind the sequence, I did find the use of narration slightly intrusive at times.

In this version, Romola Garai (Atonement) is Emma Woodhouse, the sweetly naive and well-off young woman whose penchant for matchmaking has thrown the little social circle of Highbury into chaos. While Garai captures the quick wit of Emma, her performance at times errs a little too much on the bratty side. There's definitely fire behind her banter with neighbor (and brother-in-law) Mr. Knightley (Eli Stone's Johnny Lee Miller) but I wanted her to be a bit more brazen and mentally acute. Garai is perfectly fine but I couldn't help shake the feeling that she lacks a certain je ne sais quoi that makes Austen's Emma such a pleasantly flawed character. Likewise, Miller's Knightley is perfectly serviceable but his performance doesn't quite capture the unexpected heat that develops between him and Emma.

Still, the plot itself unfolds in a leisurely and faithful manner, allowing the diverse cast to each get their moment in the sun as Austen targets the class constraints of Regency England with a precise eye. The colorful cast of characters assembled here includes Michael Gambon, Tamsin Greig, Laura Pyper, Jodhi May, Louise Dylan, Christina Cole, Blake Ritson, and Rupert Evans.

As always Emma's plot is straightforward: Emma yearns to create happiness for those around her but her mischief backfires several times over when she takes the even more naive Harriet Smith (Dylan) under her wing and sets about to match her with the village's dishy vicar (Ritson). And while Emma falls for the dashing Frank Churchill (Evans)--only to have her hopes dashed by a surprising twist--she slowly comes to learn that her truest match is the person who has goaded her into becoming the best possible version of herself.

While this Emma might not be as flashy or modern as its adaptation predecessors, there's still pleasure to be had in its comic grip and it offers perhaps the best way to wind down a weekend of modern-day excess. Or the continual mating rituals of human life, today still fraught with as much peril as they were in Austen's day.



Emma begins Sunday night at 9 pm on PBS' Masterpiece Classic. Check your local listings for details.

The Direction We Are Moving: An Advance Review of "Return to Cranford" on "Masterpiece Classic"

Every now and then a literary adaptation comes along that is so pitch-perfect, so precisely cast and beautifully written and directed, that it stands as a piece of art in its own right.

Masterpiece Classic kicks off its latest season with the superlative Return to Cranford (which aired in the UK several weeks ago under the title Cranford Christmas), based once again on the "Cranford" novels of Elizabeth Gaskell and here adapted by Heidi Thomas and directed by Simon Curtis.

As in the original Cranford, life in the sleepy English town of Cranford is in peril, thanks to the winds of change. The railroad--the focus of the first "Cranford" adaptation--has nearly reached the town and brought with it the unstoppable fumes of progress. The prim streets of the village have been filled by unruly railway workers and modern ideas have begun to seep into the minds of the town's most staunch residents. In other words: the industrial revolution has arrived.

Despite the unstoppable nature of change, several of Cranford's distinguished ladies have drawn a line in the sand, attempting to stand up to the railway and other ideas that they deem unsuitable. (That comes to include, later on, an unexpected romance that crosses classes, among other social conceits.) Returning to reprise her role as Miss Matty Jenkyns, Dame Judi Dench slowly begins a remarkable transformation, coping with the numerous losses she endured in the first Cranford miniseries and reeling from the specter of change in its many forms here. Despite the traumas she's encountered, Matty is just as sweet and saintly as ever and Dench turns in a remarkably nuanced performance as the charming old maid.

Also returning for this go-around, numerous familiar faces including Imelda Staunton, who plays the seething gossip Octavia Pole, the sweet Mrs. Forrester (Julia McKenzie) with her grey flannel-clad cow, uppity social climber Mrs. Jamieson (Barbara Flynn), Augusta Tomkinson (Deborah Findlay), dowager landowner Lady Ludlow (Francesca Annis), local lad Harry Gregson (Alex Etel), and many others. Meanwhile, Celia Imrie, Jonathan Pryce, Lesley Sharp, and Tom Hiddleston comprise the expanded cast this time around, playing characters that take up the reins of the numerous romantic, social, and domestic subplots of Cranford.

The result is an extraordinary mix of social commentary, domestic satire, romantic drama, and condition-of-England plot. Even if you haven't seen the original Cranford, it's impossible not to be swept up in the compelling storytelling and dynamic plots of Return to Cranford. It's truly a Sunday evening treat and the perfect way to wind down your weekend. Once you set foot in the charming Cranford, you'll never want to leave.

Part One of Return to Cranford airs Sunday evening at 9 pm on PBS' Masterpiece Classic. Part Two airs the following week. Check local listings for details.

Point of Impact: "Collision" Fails to Hit Its Mark on PBS' "Masterpiece Contemporary"

Not every single British limited series can hit it out of the park, unfortunately.

Following closely on the heels of the superlative and gripping thriller Place of Execution, the ambitious Collision--which launches Sunday evening as part of PBS' Masterpiece Contemporary strand and is currently airing across the week in the UK on ITV1--doesn't reach the dizzying heights or emotional sucker punch of Place of Execution.

Written by Anthony Horowitz and Michael A. Walker, the five-part Collision (which will air in two installments in the States) circles the aftermath of a fatal highway road accident, which leaves several parties dead or injured but which manages to derail the lives of everyone even tangentially involved, from the police detective investigating the cause of the crash to a Happy Chef waitress whose workplace was just down the road from the site of the fatal accident.

As its narrative unfolds in a series of shifting perspectives, Collision seeks to bring to life each of the characters who were on the scene the day of the accident, flashing backwards to reveal just what they were doing before the fateful crash that unexpectedly intertwined their lives. It's an ambitious conceit but one that the writers aren't quite able to bring to fruition, unfortunately.

Not helping matters is that we really don't get a sense of each of these people despite spending five hours with them reliving the crash and the moral and ethical boundaries they opt to cross both before and after the accident. While the plot meanders between household tragedy to corporate espionage, the characters remain rather one-dimensional and it's difficult to care much for any of them. The series seeks to peel back the layers of these characters and give us some hidden depth as well as shocking twists but several of these can be seen a mile down the road. (In particular, one such twist will come as no surprise to anyone who watched The Wire.)

Anchoring the piece is Douglas Henshall (Primeval), who plays Detective Inspector John Tolin, who is himself recovering from a personal tragedy nine months earlier which should make him the absolute wrong person to be investigating a series of collision fatalities. His dogged persistence to get to the bottom of the crash, as well as uncovering a host of other non-related mysteries related to the victims, is meant to be Collision's throughline but it gets muddled in a storyline about forgiveness, both personal and otherwise, as well as romantic subplot with traffic cop Ann Stallwood (Kate Ashfield).

As the investigation gets underway, it kicks up a number of crimes and misdemeanors along the way and ensnares dozens of characters, some of whom are played by such notables as Dean Lennox Kelly, David Bamber, Lenoard Crichlow, Lucy Griffiths, Clair Rushbrook, Paul McGann, Phil Davis, and many, many others. Some of these plots lead somewhere bleak, while others seem to cul-de-sac along the way.

While I applaud the filmmaker's ambition and drive to tell a story this large and complex, Collision doesn't seem to quite add up to the sum of its parts, leading to an overall feeling of vertigo, ennui, and, if I'm being honest, a bit of road rage as well.

Collision airs its first part Sunday night at 9 pm ET/PT as part of PBS' Masterpiece Contemporary. Check your local listings for details.

Finding Alison: An Advance Review of "Place of Execution" on PBS' "Masterpiece Contemporary"

Every now and then a mini-series comes along that just sucks you in by the sheer force of its spellbinding story.

Such is the case with the sensational British mini-series Place of Execution, airing Stateside in a two-episode format that begins this Sunday as part of PBS' Masterpiece Contemporary. From its haunting opening minutes to the truly and horrifically shocking final scenes, Place of Execution is a thriller which will remain with you long after the closing credits have rolled.

Anchored by three incredible performances, Place of Execution--written by Patrick Harbison and Val McDermid (and based on the latter's novel) and directed by Daniel Percival--takes place both in the present-day as well as in 1963 rural England as two very different investigators explore the disappearance of a 13-year-old girl who vanished without a trace one winter afternoon in 1963. Told in two overlapping and interlocking plots, the story telescopes outwards from that fateful day to ensnare the lives of several people obsessed with the case.

Place of Execution is a gripping and provocative glimpse into the choices we make in our lives, the events that shape us, and the hold that obsession has over us. It's also a terrifying look into the heart of darkness lurking behind the hedgerows of a seemingly idyllic English village. Just what happened that afternoon to young Alison Carter is, as they say, in the eye of the beholder.

In 1963, the inexplicable disappearance of wealthy teenager Alison Carter triggers a manhunt in the sleepy farming village where she lives. As the snow begins to fall and clues begin to mount, university-educated Detective Inspector George Bennett (Lee Ingleby), an outsider in a village of farmers, becomes hell-bent on finding Alison before she is killed and locating the perpetrator of this heinous crime when it quickly becomes clear that Alison may have been the victim of something far worse than just kidnapping. As Bennett doggedly questions Alison's parents, the well-heeled Ruth (Emma Cunniffe) and Philip Hawkin (Greg Wise), class distinctions, prejudices, and misdirection soon become shockingly clear.

Bennett's quest to find Alison's attacker plants a seed of obsession inside him and the Alison Carter case propels him to great heights over the course of his career. In the present day, a much-older George Bennett (Philip Jackson) is a participant in a documentary film about the Alison Carter case that is being directed by filmmaker Catherine Heathcote (Juliet Stevenson), a gifted documentarian whose skill with the camera and her subjects is sadly greater than her maternal instincts. We first see Catherine as she's forced to post bail for her fifteen-year-old daughter Sasha (Elizabeth Day), accused of vandalizing some local businesses.

And that's where the story begins. Old George Bennett is able to pull some strings with the local constabulary to get Sasha released but the cooperative former copper stuns Catherine by saying that he's pulling out of the film and refuses to discuss the Alison Carter case any further, saying that mistakes were made in the investigation. It's Bennett's silence that spurs Catherine to action as she begins to pour over the evidence once again in order to find out what has provoked Bennett's sudden reluctance.

Catherine's investigation in the present-day dovetails quite nicely with that of DI Bennett's in 1963 as the duo conduct their own explorations of the townspeople and Alison Carter's disappearance. As each of them does so, the audience is invited along for the ride but certain clues take on new meaning in the harsh light of present-day scrutiny, leading Catherine and the audience to believe that not everything about the Alison Carter investigation was as it seemed.

I'm loath to say more about Place of Execution's plot because it is a corker of a story, a first-rate thriller that will have you guessing from start to finish.

As mentioned before, the piece is brought to life by three compelling performances from leads Juliet Stevenson, Lee Ingleby, and Greg Wise, the latter of whom turns out an eerie performance as Alison's icy and domineering stepfather at the manor house, a social pariah who views himself as above the muck and rabble of the village. Ingleby is absolutely perfectly cast as the grimly determined George Bennett, who has himself, perhaps in an homage to Otto Preminger's noir masterpiece Laura, fallen in love with the missing Alison Carter.

Juliet Stevenson, meanwhile, anchors the entire piece with her all-consuming need for the Truth, at any cost. Her performance is stunningly nuanced as she allows Catherine to be both truth-seeker and muckraker at the same time; a mass of flaws and inconsistencies who is searching for a girl long-missing but can't see her own daughter crying out for help in front of her.

Ultimately, Place of Execution is gorgeously directed, written, and acted and is perhaps one of the finest thrillers on the large or small screen, forcing the audience to come to terms with our own preconceptions, notions, and investigative instincts. You'd be wise to fall under its dangerous spells now before the inevitable American big-screen adaptation.

Place of Execution airs Sunday, November 1st and Sunday, November 8th as part of PBS' Masterpiece Contemporary. Check your local listings for details.

Checkmate: An Advance Review of PBS' "Endgame" on "Masterpiece Contemporary"

Apartheid is an ugly word, conjuring up images of racial segregation and hatred from a time in the not-too-distant past of South Africa.

PBS' new political thriller Endgame, which airs Sunday evening as part of the public broadcaster's Masterpiece Contemporary wheel, dramatizes not the plight of the common South African man and woman under the draconian decree of apartheid but rather the machinery operating behind the scenes to bring an end to apartheid once and for all.

Written by Paula Milne (Second Sight) and directed by Pete Travis (Vantage Point), Endgame revolves around a series of secret talks between the ANC and the South African government brokered by Consolidated Goldfields, a multi-national company with vested financial interests in South Africa. The talks took place at an estate in England, far away from the violent rebellion in South Africa, and despite the risk in bringing together these enemies, the open lines of communication actually did bring about stunning social and political change in South Africa.

The piece, which plays out as a political thriller rather than as a history lesson, boasts some highly impressive actors, including Clarke Peters (The Wire), William Hurt (Damages), Chiwetel Ejiofor (American Gangster), Jonny Lee Miller (Eli Stone), Mark Strong (Body of Lies), and Derek Jacobi (Gosford Park). (You can view my video interview with Ejiofor, who plays the African National Congress' Thabo Mbeki, here.)

While all of the actors deliver stunning performances (particularly Ejiofor), of particular note is Clarke Peters, who plays imprisoned leader Nelson Mandela, a global symbol of oppression and apartheid. Peters' performance is so subtle and assured that it's impossible not to be drawn into Mandela's story. His gilded cage imprisonment is a stark reminder of the games employed by the security forces (look for some Machiavellian maneuvers by Mark Strong's Neil Barnard, the South African security czar) and of the underestimation the South African government made on their gambit that they could contain the riots, violence, and Mandela himself.

However, the focus of Endgame isn't on Mandela but the aforementioned secret talks occurring on a British estate over five years' time, leading to a sensation that the piece is somewhat off-balance as a result. Mandela's story is so compelling, so remarkably courageous and stirring, that it seems almost shoehorned in as a subplot rather than as the main emphasis of the piece. Part of that is due to the magnetism of Peters but also because Mandela's story is so well-known and moving.

In trying to dramatize both the talks at Mells Park and Mandela's situation, Milne and Travis end up leading the audience in two directions at once. It's also not all that clear just how these talks lead to the abolition of apartheid in South Africa; there's a sea change so quickly that the film feels almost truncated as a result, with the talks plot wrapped up extremely quickly and unceremoniously. It's a bit as if part of Remains of the Day was grafted onto a Mandela biopic and an action-packed political thriller, with car chases, explosions, and espionage.

Which is somewhat disheartening as the performances at the heart of Endgame are so utterly fantastic. Ultimately, Endgame, despite its best intentions, doesn't quite add up to the sum of its parts. Still, it offers a glimpse behind the curtain to the power brokers, politicians, and revolutionaries who brought an end to one of the century's most evil political practices and brings to life one singular moment in time where words overcame violence.



Endgame airs Sunday evening at 9 pm as part of PBS' Masterpiece Contemporary. Check your local listings for details.

Peeking Behind the Doors of Seismic Change: Televisionary Talks to "Endgame" Star Chiwetel Ejiofor

Golden Globe nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor is perhaps best known for his work in such diverse films as American Gangster, Dirty Pretty Things, Serenity, Love Actually, Redbelt, and Kinky Boots. The British actor has made a career of playing deeply complex individuals, from cross-dresser Lola in Kinky Boots to Dirty Pretty Things' cab driver and former doctor Okwe.

In PBS' gripping apartheid thriller Endgame, which airs Stateside this Sunday as part of the new season of Masterpiece Contemporary, Ejiofor, recently appointed an OBE by Queen Elizabeth, plays South African political figure Thabo Mbeki, a key player in secret negotiations between the African National Congress and the South African government that were brokered by Consolidated Goldfields. Remarkably these talks resulted in an end to apartheid in South Africa and Endgame, written by Paula Milne and directed by Pete Travis, dramatize the secret talks, which occurred at Mells Park, an estate in England.

In addition to Ejiofor, the cast includes William Hurt (Damages) as Professor Will Esterhuyse, Jonny Lee Miller (Eli Stone, Trainspotting) as British businessman and negotiator Michael Young, Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes) as Dr. Barnard, head of the South African National Intelligence Service, Derek Jacobi (Gosford Park) as Michael Young’s boss Rudolf Agnew, and Clarke Peters (The Wire) as Nelson Mandela.

I recently caught up with Ejiofor to discuss Endgame, Mbeki, and whether diplomacy can affect sweeping political and social change. You can watch the video of our interview, conducted at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour, below.



Endgame airs Sunday night at 9 pm as part of Masterpiece Contemporary on PBS. Check your local listings for details.

Emmys: The Morning After (The Morning After)

No, it's not quite the morning after the Emmys but I spent yesterday recovering from a bit too much overindulgence the night before and still wanted to get in my thoughts about this year's Emmy awards before the door for such discussion slams shut.

Emmy host is a rather thankless job and we've seen, thanks to last year, just how much the show can go off the rails in the hands of less-than-qualified hosts. However, I thought that Neil Patrick Harris did a legendary job and infused the proceedings with wit, sparkle, and humor and kept things running smoothly. (Did we really only run over by a few minutes? Fantastic.)

I spent the evening carousing at two post-Emmy bashes, HBO's luxe red-hewed affair at the Pacific Design Center and AMC's latenight after-after-party at Chateau Marmont. Both fetes were absolutely, ridiculously fun and the stars were out in full-force for both events, with this gleeful partier catching glimpses of Jon Hamm, Glenn Close, Ricky Gervais, Chloe Sevigny, Kristin Bauer, Anna Camp, Maria Bello, Christina Hendricks, Daniel Dae Kim, Kevin Connolly, John Slattery, Grace Zabriski, Douglas Smith, Shirley MacLaine, Jemaine Clement, Bret McKenzie, Kristen Schaal, Anne Heche, Aaron Paul, Rose Byrne... and the list goes on and on. (That's just off the top of my head.)

I had a lovely time sitting with Top Chef judge Gail Simmons and her husband at the HBO event and discussing professional chefs, sci-fi TV, and a host of other topics and I got to catch up with Inbetweeners creator Iain Morris and his girlfriend, there to support Flight of the Conchords, for which Morris had written two episodes with writing partner Damon Beesley, and co-creator James Bobin, whom I interviewed recently for The Daily Beast, and ran into at the AMC party with Jemaine Clement. I also caught up with the always delightful Anna Camp of HBO's True Blood, who introduced me to her fiancé Michael Mosley, who will be a series regular on Scrubs this season.

And, at the AMC bash, I got to congratulate Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner--who was holding his two Emmys--on his two wins and he very kindly and graciously thanked me for the piece I did on him and Mad Men for The Daily Beast recently, saying that it was a pleasure to be interviewed by someone who genuinely loves the series. (Aw!)

So what did I think of the awards themselves? Let's discuss. (The full list of award winners can be found here.)

I'll admit that I watched the awards ceremony via an East Coast feed while I was getting ready but that it seemed to be moving at a pretty even speed and Harris provided a charming host throughout the evening, looking quite dashing in a white tuxedo and managing to make me roar with laughter during his Dr. Horrible-style takeover of the airwaves, buffering and all. (The fact that I was watching the Primetime Emmys on a computer made this gag even more hysterical and meta.)

As for the awards themselves, they were more or less pretty predictable, though there were some nice surprises spread throughout the evening. I was thrilled to see Kristin Chenoweth take home an Outstanding Supporting Actress statuette for her role as Olive Snook on Pushing Daisies , a bittersweet posthumous (for the series, not Cheno) acknowledgment of the whimsical series. (By the same token, however, I'd have much rather seen Tina Fey take home the prize for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy to match Alec Baldwin's win for Jack Donaghy, rather than United States of Tara's Toni Colette.)

I was thrilled that Little Dorrit and Grey Gardens took home some prizes in the movies and mini-series categories; both were excellent examples of how classy, upscale longform can still work on television and I was extremely chuffed that BBC/PBS mini Little Dorrit took home the top mini-series prize and writing for Andrew Davies. (If you haven't seen Davies' Little Dorrit, get thee to a video store--or Netflix--straightaway.) And, despite many critics saying that the movies/mini-series section of the ceremony dragged on for far too long, I loved Jessica Lange's acceptance speech and Ken Howard's Kanye West allusion. Unexpected, that.

I love The Amazing Race but I was really hoping that the addictive and slick Top Chef would take home the gold for Bravo this year. It's such a fantastic format and, as much as I adore TAR, I am ready to see it sit out from the reality competition category for one year at least.

Michael Emerson and Cherry Jones were about as professional as can be and I loved Cherry's promise that she was going to plonk down her Emmy on the craft services table at the 24 set in Chatsworth the next day. Likewise, I kind of assumed that Glenn Close and Bryan Cranston would take home statuettes but I'll admit that I was pulling for Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss and Jon Hamm to take home those prizes respectively instead, especially for Mad Men's incredible second season. (I was thrilled for Kater Gordon and Matt Weiner to win for writing the awe-inspiring "Meditations in an Emergency" episode of Mad Men.)

But I'm extremely pleased by 30 Rock and Mad Men's continued win this year for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Drama Series respectively. If Big Love couldn't have won for the truly outstanding third season they had, then I'm exceptionally happy that Mad Men took home the prize. In an era of reality television dominating the airwaves, it's comforting to see so many fantastic drama series making their marks and I think we're truly blessed to have complex series like Mad Men, Big Love, Lost, and Damages on the air today.

What did you think of the awards? How did Neil Patrick Harris do? Were you happy with the winners? And, if not, who would you have awarded the top prizes to? Discuss.

Murder Among the Spires: An Advance Review of Season Two of "Inspector Lewis"

Inspector Morse's dogged former sidekick Robbie Lewis (Kevin Whately) returns this weekend with seven new crime-packed mysteries set in the heart of Oxford's academic community of scholars, dons, and students.

Inspector Lewis (or Lewis as it's known as in the United Kingdom) kicks off on Sunday night (part of PBS' Masterpiece Mystery) with "And the Moonbeams Kiss the Sea," in which Lewis finds himself enmeshed in an investigation involving art forgery, gambling addicts, and calculatedly brutal murder.

I had the opportunity a few weeks back to watch both the first two sensational installments of Inspector Lewis' second season and was immediately sucked into the clever plotting, deft characterizations, and witty banter between Lewis and his junior partner, the erudite DS Hathaway (Laurence Fox). (Confession: I attended Oxford University and met my wife there, so the setting alone for me is worth the price of admission.)

The seven episodes of Inspector Lewis which are slated to air Stateside are actually comprised of the series' second and third seasons, which PBS is airing back-to-back here. (However, I am curious what happened to the third season's fourth episode, "Counter Culture Blues," which doesn't appear to be on the schedule.) As we begin with "And the Moonbeams Kiss the Sea," we find Lewis still grimly attempting to collar Oxford's criminals and keep the peace in the city of dreaming spires, despite his loathing of posh intellectuals.

He's also still trying to process the unexpected death of his partner Inspector Morse, which continues to haunt him to this day. Morse's death--or rather his life--also play a role in Lewis' second episode, "Music to Die For," and it's a somber note of reflection that underpins the relationship between Robbie Lewis and Morse.

In the first episode of the season, written by Alan Plater and directed by Dan Reed, it's a rather puzzling case of forgery, murder, and performance art that's nagging Lewis and Hathaway. It's a fantastic installment that rather marvelously uses a similar plot point to USA's upcoming crime drama White Collar to rather ingenious effect and explores the art community of Oxford with great aplomb. As an added bonus, this installment also happens to guest star former Brittas Empire castmates Pippa Haywood and Julia St. John and parts of it are set within the bowels of the venerable Bodleian Library.

The absolutely riveting second episode, "Music to Die For," written by Dusty Hughes and directed by Bill Anderson, offers a mind-bending mystery as Lewis finds himself personally involved in an ongoing investigation surrounding the murder of an aging gay lecturer (Niall Buggy), illegal underground boxing tournaments, espionage, and a decades-old secret that led one academic to his death at the hand of East Germany's ruthless Stasi. And, as mentioned above, the case hits home for Lewis as it dredges up two very painful deaths: that of his partner Morse and his wife. As Lewis encounters a second chance at romance, we're given the opportunity to see his character in a new light and gain a greater understanding at the recesses of pain that are etched onto Lewis' consciousness. (Also keep an eye out for Merlin's Bradley James to turn up as an Oxford student/bare-knuckles brawler.)

While Lewis' first season provided a fun return to the Oxford-set mysteries of Morse, these episodes establish Lewis as a force to be reckoned with in his own right and also establish Inspector Lewis as its own unique crime series. While it's still connected to Inspector Morse in spirit, it's also able to forge a new identity for itself at the same time. It's no mean feat to pull off a spin-off of a much beloved series, but Inspector Lewis manages to do so here with grace and skill, not to mention some well-crafted mysteries that would stump Morse himself.

Much of that credit goes to Whatley for his realistically sullen performance; he manages to make Lewis a lovable and sympathetic curmudgeon who's set in his ways and reeling from loss but still able to nick the right guy in the end and even crack a joke or two. Likewise, Lewis' grumbling is perfectly balanced by Fox's nuanced performance as the well-read Hathaway, whose bookish knowledge makes him a fantastic counterpoint to Lewis' street smarts.

Ultimately, the smart and sly murder mysteries that Lewis and Hathaway tackle each week are the ideal way to spend your Sunday evening and the perfect antidote to the sweltering summer heat.

Inspector Lewis's seven new episodes launch this Sunday evening at 9 pm ET/PT as part of PBS' Masterpiece Mystery. Check your local listings for details.

Paging the Doctor: David Tennant Talks "Doctor Who," "Hamlet," "Masterpiece Contemporary"

The bad news is that David Tennant is still leaving Doctor Who in a few months' time.

The good news for American viewers, however, is that digital cabler BBC America will be airing Tennant's final three Doctor Who specials--beginning with this autumn's Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars--as "quickly behind" the UK airdates as possible... and said that they will be airing the full, uncut UK episodes, even if they spill over into the next timeslot, at least in their premiere outings.

The statements were made by BBC America's Garth Ancier at last week's Television Critics Association session for BBC America in Pasadena; Ancier also told reporters that the channel would have aired Torchwood: Children of Earth day and date with BBC One but there were scheduling issues with BBC One.

Ancier moderated a packed session that included Doctor Who star David Tennant, head writer/executive producer Russell T. Davies, executive producer Julie Gardner, and director Euros Lyn, who helmed the final two David Tennant specials. (To read my exclusive interview with David Tennant, click here.)

"It's a goodbye for the Tenth Doctor but also for the last four years," said Julie Gardner of David Tennant's swan song on the series, which plays out over the next three specials. Not only is Tennant leaving the long-running British sci-fi series but Gardner and Russell T. Davies are also departing at the same time. The latter two have both relocated to Los Angeles, where Gardner has taken on a new role at BBC Worldwide Productions.

"When Russell and Julie were moving on, it seemed like a natural moving on point for us all," said Tennant. "I think sometimes you have to take a deep breath and make a difficult decision... [and] leave the audience and myself wanting more."

However, Davies doesn't feel that Tennant's departure will affect the series. The change of lead actor doesn't have as much effect because every week is essentially different show, tonally and stylistically, said Davies, pointing to the array of storytelling techniques, tonal shifts, and plotlines that mark the eclectic series.

Still, don't expect things to remain fun and fluffy in the lead-up to Tennant's departure. After two light-spirited specials, things take a decidedly dark turn in the next few episodes. "Planet of the Dead was the last hurrah, the last untroubled moment," said Tennant. "The sword of Damocles is dangling [now]."

"He knows the sands of time are running out," Tennant said later. "He's been told. He knows the bell is tolling for him and he doesn't want to go."

Tennant's final episode is said to run an hour and fifteen minutes in length and BBC America have promised not to edit out a single minute of Doctor Who action, an initiative they put in place with the recent five-episode Torchwood: Children of Earth mini-series. Ancier said that audiences know the episodes inside-out and know when alterations have been made.

But before the final moments of Tennant's run as the Tenth Doctor, there are the return of several familiar faces, including Catherine Tate's Donna Noble, Alexandra Moen's Lucy Saxon, John Simm's The Master, and Bernard Cribbins' Wilt, as evidenced by the trailer for Doctor Who: The End of Time, which BBC America played--twice!--for us again last week.

"It's important that there is a revolving door of confidantes for [the Doctor]," in these specials, said Tennant. Those confidants include Cribbins' Wilt, seen in "The End of Time" and Lindsay Duncan's Adelaide in "The Waters of Mars." "To attract people of Billie Piper and Catherine Tate's status," said Davies, "you've got to write [the Doctor's companions] well."

Despite the end being near for the Tenth Doctor, Tennant wouldn't rule out future Doctor Who appearances (especially for charity), so long as he can fit into those slim-line trousers.

Asked what the main difference was between Tennant's Tenth Doctor and Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor, Davies had a simple answer: "If the Ninth Doctor seemed harder, it's because he was recovering from a war."

Davies also said that he never liked the Time Lords and thought they were "boring." He knew right away that he wanted to kill off the Time Lords before his run on the revival series began.

In speaking of the massive reaction the series got last month at San Diego's Comic-Con, Tennant joked that he wanted to crowd-dive at Comic-Con but every one was sitting down.

"Even I felt like a fifth Beatle, just carrying the bags," said Julie Gardner, speaking of the reaction and fervor of the Comic-Con reaction.

And finally the session was an opportunity for one last look back at Tennant's run on Doctor Who. "David could just dance the dialogue," recalled Davies. "He throws it up and rattles it. He gets the humor and the comedy."

As for how he landed the role, Davies said jokingly of Tennant, "He's a great kisser." In all seriousness, Davies said that he and Tennant had worked together in the past on Casanova. "We were lucky in that we had already worked together... on Casanova," said Davies. "We used to make Doctor Who jokes in rehearsal."

"It's thrilling to be handing over the show in such great health," said Tennant. "It feels like we're leaving at the end of something special."

I have no doubt that audiences across the world feel the same way.

US viewers, meanwhile, will be able to catch Tennant in one of his new gigs, as the host of PBS' Masterpiece Contemporary programming strand this fall.

"Forget Doctor Who," joked WGBH executive producer Rebecca Eaton. "[Tennant] belongs to us now."

Tennant joins Laura Linney and Alan Cumming as the on-air hosts for Masterpiece this fall. Tennant joined PBS' Masterpiece Contemporary session yesterday in Pasadena to field questions about his new role as host and about PBS' upcoming airing of his filmed Royal Shakespeare Company performance of Hamlet (alongside Patrick Stewart), which will air next year as part of Great Performances. (It will also stream online at PBS.org.)

"I'm a huge fan of both of them [Laura Linney & Alan Cumming]," said Tennant, who appeared wearing a trendy Lou Reed t-shirt underneath a pin-striped suit jacket. "Very flattered to line up beside them."

Tennant said that this version of Hamlet won't be period but will instead be enacting using modern dress. In playing the Doctor and Hamlet, Tennant said it's hard "not to be weighed down by history and the performances that have come before."

Just don't expect Tennant to use his native Scottish accent in Hamlet. "No, I did it all posh," said Tennant. "Patrick Stewart was playing my father. He's Northern but he plays quite posh."

"Hamlet is 400 years old... we set out to rediscover the play for 2009," said Tennant. "Hamlet was always something I kind of fantasized about... in my more extravagant fantasies, I imagined I was doing it with RSC."

Tennant will next be seen in Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars, airing this autumn on BBC One and BBC America.

Tea Cozies, Tweed, and Murder Most Foul: An Advance Review of "Marple" on PBS' "Masterpiece Mystery"

The sunshine might be more intense than ever this summer, but it's also the perfect time to curl up with a good mystery, or four in this case.

This weekend, PBS' Masterpiece Mystery launches the first of four fantastic new Miss Marple feature-length mysteries, based on the spinster detective character created by Agatha Christie.

Stepping into the role for the first time is the superlative Julia McKenzie (Cranford), who replaces Geraldine McEwan as the titular sleuth following McEwan's retirement after the third season of Marple, which airs in the UK on ITV.

McKenzie is pitch perfect as the perspicacious Jane Marple; she might look like an elderly spinster but her tweed suits and constant knitting belie the keen mind of a true detective in every sense of the word. The four installments presented here--"A Pocket Full of Rye," "Murder is Easy," "They Do It With Mirrors," and "Why Didn't They Ask Evans?"--might seem like tea cozy mysteries but the crimes they depict are anything but civil, resulting in countless poisonings, stabbings, and strangulations. Yes, the tea might always be freshly brewed here, but the body count is climbing just the same.

The four Marple mysteries airing over the next four Sundays represent a virtual Who's Who among British television actors. Every episode is positively overflowing with recognizable faces. The first installment alone ("A Pocket Full of Rye") features Matthew Macfadyen (Spooks, Little Dorrit), Rupert Graves (V for Vendetta), Liz White (Life on Mars), Lucy Cohu (Torchwood: Children of Earth), Kenneth Cranham (Valkyrie), Anna Madeley (Brideshead Revisited), the late Wendy Richard (EastEnders), and a slew of others.

Subsequent episodes feature Shirley Henderson (Harry Potter), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Last Enemy), Lyndsey Marshal (Rome), Hugo Speer (Echo Beach), Anna Chancellor (Suburban Shootout), Jemma Redgrave (Bramwell), David Haig (The 39 Steps), Russell Tovey (Being Human), Natalie Dormer (The Tudors), Sean Biggerstaff (Cashback), Hannah Murray (Skins), Richard Briers (Monarch of the Glen), Georgia Moffett (Doctor Who), Rafe Spall (A Room with a View), Joan Collins (Footballers' Wives), Brian Cox (Kings), Nigel Terry (Spooks), and Penelope Wilton (Doctor Who).

Whew.

As for the mysteries themselves, they are engrossing, gripping affairs where nothing is typically as it seems. Unlike Agatha Christie's professional sleuth Hercule Poirot, Jane Marple often stumbles into murder most unwittingly and isn't the person every typically turns to in order to solve a real stumper of a crime. But that's Marple's greatest strength, really: that by appearing to be nothing more than a harmless old woman asking questions, she's often able to draw out answers that the police wouldn't be able to. After all, she hardly seems a threat and her request to enter your confidence seems innocent enough. But nothing escapes Marple's keen gaze: a look, a smudge on a will, a newspaper in a train carriage. Poirot might be the professional, but our Miss Marple is always at work.

The four installments--directed by Charles Palmer, Hettie Macdonald, Nicholas Renton, and Andy Wilson respectively--are beautifully shot and the action moves at a quick clip as the bodies start piling up. McKenzie's performance is enchantingly nuanced: her subtle interrogations, raised eyebrows, and looks of concern add up to a brilliant portrayal of a woman still very much in her prime.

One interesting footnote: the final installment, "Why Didn't They Ask Evans," is based on an Agatha Christie novel but it didn't actually feature Jane Marple; instead it focused on a pair of amateur sleuths, Bobby Attfield and Frankie Derwent (portrayed by Sean Biggerstaff and Georgia Moffett here), who team up to solve a mystery when a dying man issues a series of enigmatic last words. Screenwriter Patrick Barlow injects Marple into the plot, giving her not only the climactic scene in which she unmasks the killer but also allows her to gently guide these sleuths not only through the mystery but also to coupledom.

It's a happy ending to Six by Agatha, which PBS calls "a festival of murder" scripted with wit and insight by the grand dame of crime herself Agatha Christie. If you're looking for rain-slicked mansions by night, mysterious deaths of all kinds, and, yes, a lot of tea sipped out of bone china, Marple is very much the series for you.

After all, there are far worse ways to spend a hot summer's eve than with the murder, mayhem, and mystery of this magnificent Miss Marple.

Masterpiece Mystery's Miss Marple begins Sunday, July 5th at 9 pm ET/PT. Check your local listings for details.

Channel Surfing: David Tennant Talks End of "Doctor Who" Run, Jeri Ryan Finds "Leverage," Noah Wylie to Battle Aliens for Spielberg and TNT, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan has an absolutely fantastic interview with Doctor Who star David Tennant on the eve of BBC America's airing of last Christmas' Doctor Who special "The Next Doctor." Among the topics of discussion: the end of his run on the legendary British sci-fi series, the truth behind the all-Doctors reunion rumors (false, says Tennant), and what's next for the actor (Poliakoff's Glorious 39), among other things. "I'm all finished," said Tenannt of his run on Doctor Who. "Three or four weeks ago, I filmed my last scene. So it's over. Still a long time to go before they're all broadcast, though, so I'm still clinging on for a bit. But yeah, it's done. It was very emotional, very exciting. We managed to go out with some of the best scripts I had in four years. So it was a real treat." (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Jeri Ryan (Shark) has been cast in a recurring role on Season Two of TNT's drama series Leverage, where she will play "Tara, a smart-ass, street-wise con woman whom Sophie (Gina Bellman) calls on for help and who gets sucked into the Leverage family." (Hollywood Reporter)

It's official: Noah Wylie has signed on as the lead in TNT's untitled sci-fi pilot from executive producer Steven Spielberg and writer Robert Rodat. Project is set in a future where most of humanity has been wiped out by an alien incursion; Wylie will play the leader of a small human resistance force who are attempting to overthrow the occupying aliens. (Hollywood Reporter)

Former Privileged star Joanna Garcia has joined the cast of CW's Gossip Girl for a four-episode story arc next season, where she will play Bree Buckley, "an irreverent, slightly evil Miss America-type who hails from a conservative Southern family" who becomes romantically entangled with Chace Crawford's Nate Archibald. Garcia's first appearance on the series is set to air on September 14th. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Flashpoint returns to CBS will new episodes on Friday, July 17th at 9 pm. The network ordered a third season of the Canadian co-production last month. (Futon Critic)

Meanwhile, CBS has teamed up with its affiliate stations to launch a marketing plan tied around the crucial 10 pm timeslot, which has been named Project LENO (that's, ahem, Late prime Enhanced News Opportunity). The network is offering affiliates at 10 pm "tool kit" including "sponsorable broadcast spots, Web banners and radio spots, as well as behind-the-scenes vignettes" and CBS is also offering "an affiliate swap spot to promote the 10 pm hour." (Variety)

NBC announced their fall premiere dates yesterday, with most series--except 30 Rock--launching in the two week period between September 14th and September 26th. The Peacock will roll out its comedies Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday, Parks and Recreation, The Office, and Community on September 17th (30 Rock, which returns October 15th); The Biggest Loser will launch on September 15th; Heroes returns with a two-hour premiere on September 21st; Trauma kicks off on September 28th; Parenthood and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit debut on September 23rd; Southland and Law & Order will launch on September 25th, followed the next night by Saturday Night Live. (via press release)

BBC Worldwide and WGBH will co-produce a new Emma mini-series starring Atonement's Romola Garai, Michael Gambon, and Jonny Lee Miller and a sequel to Cranford that will star Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton, Francesca Annis, Eileen Atkins, Jonathan Pryce, Tim Curry, and Tom Hiddleston, both of which will air stateside on Masterpiece Classic next year. (More info on Cranford 2 can be found here.) Additionally, WGBH has partnerned with BBC on Framed, an adaptation of Frank Cottrell Boyce's children's book, and two-parter Small Island, based on Andrea Levy's novel about an ambitious Jamaican woman (Naomi Harris) in London after WWII. And the PBS affiliate also acquired three BBC productions: a remake of The 39 Steps starring Rupert Penry-Jones and Sharpe's Peril and Sharpe's Challenge, which star Sean Bean. (Variety)

The N will launch thirteen-episode original comedy series The Assistants, about four Hollywood assistants working for a high-profile producer, on July 10th at 8:30 pm. Series was ordered in November 2007 but the cable network hadn't been able to find a spot for the series on the schedule. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Little Grey Cells: An Advance Review of PBS' "Poirot: Cat Among the Pigeons" and "Poirot: Mrs. McGinty's Dead"

Fans of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, the funny little Belgian detective famed as much for his fastidiousness as the fact that he's the self-proclaimed most famous detective in the world, have long waited for actor David Suchet to slip back into the role.

That wait is over as PBS' Masterpiece Mystery will this month offer the US premiere of two new Poirot mysteries starring Suchet as part of its "Six by Agatha" season, which features not only two feature-length Poirot mysteries but also four Miss Marple whodunits, starring Julia McKenzie (Cranford) as Miss Marple herself.

The two mysteries, entitled "Cat Among the Pigeons" and "Mrs. McGinty's Dead," will seriously put Hercule Poirot's famed "little grey cells" to the test as he must contend with two very different murder scenarios. In the first, "Cat Among the Pigeons," the Belgian detective goes undercover at the Meadowbank School for Girls, where he encounters not only murder and missing foreign princesses, but hidden rubies and kidnapping, all of which strive to disrupt the school term. The following week, in "Mrs. McGinty's Dead," the investigation of the murder of an elderly charwoman--an effort to free a wrongfully accused man from swinging at the gallows--results in Poirot uncovering the truth about a pair of decades-old homicides and their connection to the present day.

Of the two new mysteries, both of which are making their US premiere here after airing in the UK last year, the first is far more successful in terms of its plotting and tension. Breathtakingly directed by James Kent (Margaret), "Cat Among the Pigeons" is classic Christie at its very best: a series of red herrings, bait-and-switches, and intelligent detection on the part of Poirot with the deft skill of a chess master. The atmosphere at the Meadowbank School for Girls is filled with claustrophobia and paranoia and Poirot discovers himself entering the world of high-stakes international espionage as he uncovers various connections to a coup in the Middle Eastern region of Ramat and some spies coming in from the cold.

It's as gripping and tense as any of Christie's finest work and the cast, which includes Atonement's Harriet Walter, Miss Potter's Anton Lesser, Vanity Fair's Natasha Little, Bridget Jones' Diary's Claire Skinner, Harry Potter's Katie Leung, EastEnders' Adam Croasdell, Spooks' Miranda Raison, Green Wing's Pippa Haywood, and The Jewel in the Crown's Susan Wooldridge (along with, of course, David Suchet as Poirot) are all top-notch giving the piece an aura of timelessness as well as menace.

Someone stalks the corridors of this venerable educational institution and Poirot will not only meet an adversary worthy of his time and intuitive and deductive reasoning but will also encounter a kindred spirit in a young girl who proves herself to be a protege worthy of the master himself.

The second Poirot mystery, "Mrs. McGinty's Dead," feels a little tired in comparison. The fault doesn't lie with the actors or the sensational direction--this time from Afterlife's Ashley Pearce--but rather with an over the top and oftentimes baffling plot from Christie herself, which isn't helped by a confusing screenplay from Nick Dear.

In this case, Poirot reluctantly agrees to look into the death of an elderly charwoman in the small town of Broadhinney in order to free an man whom the prosecution believes may in fact be innocent of the crime for which he's been accused. This investigation stirs up some long-buried secrets as Poirot attempts to unmask Mrs. McGinty's true killer and in turn ends up exposing several people's concealed pasts.

The cast includes Zoe Wanamaker (My Family) as Poirot's confidante Ariadne Oliver, a detective novelist believed to have been modeled on Christie herself, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall's James Bentley, The Shellseekers' Richard Hope, The Forsyte Saga's Amanda Root, Gallowglass' Paul Rhys, Ivanhoe's Sian Philips, and Peak Practice's Simon Shepherd.

"Mrs. McGinty's Dead" isn't bad television and it isn't bad Poirot either; rather, it pales in comparison to the deftness and complexity of "Cat Among the Pigeons." Here, there are so many suspects and so many needlessly confusing elements--such as the newspaper report of two murder cold cases from decades earlier--that it's hard to become invested in the plot at hand with the same glee and abandon as one does with the first installment.

Still, it's a real treat to once again see Suchet step into Poirot's spats and ingeniously solve two cases by using his smarts rather than his fists. The wit is as pointed as Hercules' trademark mustache and these two mysteries offer the perfect antidote to a sweltering summer evening.

Poirot returns with two new mysteries, "Cat Among the Pigeons" and "Mrs. McGinty's Dead," on Sunday, June 21st and Sunday, June 28th at 9 pm ET/PT. Check your local listings for details

Paging the Doctor: David Tennant Named New Host of "Masterpiece Contemporary"

In a stroke of inspired casting, PBS has unveiled Doctor Who's David Tennant as the new host of Masterpiece Contemporary, which returns to PBS in October.

Tennant, who is currently finishing up his tenure as The Doctor on the BBC series, is no stranger to PBS, having appeared in both Casanova and He Knew He Was Right, which appeared on the channel. He joins fellow Masterpiece hosts Laura Linney and Alan Cumming, who host Masterpiece Classic and Masterpiece Mystery respectively.

Tennant will kick off Masterpiece Contemporary's 2009 season with Endgame, starring William Hurt (Damages), Chiwetel Ejiofer (Serenity), and Jonny Lee Miller (Eli Stone).

The full press release from PBS can be found below.

David Tennant to Host Masterpiece Contemporary 2009 on PBS — Star of Doctor Who and Casanova Makes his Debut in October

One of Britain's most popular actors has been named the new host of Masterpiece Contemporary. David Tennant, well known to fans of British television for his acclaimed star turns as Doctor Who and Casanova, will make his hosting debut when Masterpiece contemporary returns in October, 2009, with Endgame, a drama about the last days of apartheid.

"How many actors can nail the characters of Casanova and Doctor Who?," says Masterpiece executive producer Rebecca Eaton. "David's talent, versatility and unique appeal make him the perfect match for Masterpiece Contemporary."

"I'm honored to be hosting the series that introduced American audiences to programming such as Casanova and He Knew He Was Right," says Tennant. "And it's a thrill to join the Masterpiece family of hosts: Mystery's Alan Cumming and Classic's Laura Linney."

Tennant's award-winning run (2005-present) in the classic British sci-fi series Doctor Who has gained him worldwide recognition. His other iconic television roles include the flirtatious vicar Reverend Gibson in Masterpiece's He Knew He Was Right; the infamous 18th-century lothario Casanova in Masterpiece's rollicking miniseries, playing the youthful counterpart to Peter O'Toole; and the down-at-the-heel Inspector Peter Carlisle in the cult hit Blackpool.

His career, launched in his native Scotland, extends to film and stage. Millions of moviegoers know him as Barty Crouch Junior in the blockbuster Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Ginger Littlejohn in Stephen Fry's Bright Young Things. He recently worked with Bill Nighy, Romola Garai and Julie Christie in the Stephen Poliakoff film 1939, which will be released later this year.

A graduate of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Tennant developed his stage career at the Royal Shakespeare Company. He recently completely a successful run as Hamlet with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Masterpiece Contemporary will return in October 2009 with Endgame, a gripping new drama about the final days of apartheid in South Africa. Starring William Hurt (Damages), Chiwetel Ejiofer (Dirty Pretty Things, American Gangster, Serenity), and Jonny Lee Miller (Eli Stone, Trainspotting), Endgame premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

Masterpiece Contemporary returns this October on PBS. Check your local listings for details.

Crime and Punishment: An Advance Review of PBS' Gripping Mystery Series "Wallander"

"A really good detective never gets married." - Raymond Chandler

Many detectives would take Chandler's edict to heart, given just how married they are to their jobs, and the bookshelves are lined with detective novels about grim gumshoes who forsake their own personal lives in pursuit of catching killers. After all, detectives are prone to seeing the worst of humanity on a daily basis, of seeing the skull beneath the skin, companions as they are of death and murder.

Enter Kurt Wallander (Kenneth Branagh), a detective in the seaside town of Ystad, Sweden who--like many others of his ilk--has his own horrific demons to battle even as he throws himself into chasing criminals with intense abandon. And while we've all seen stories of flawed detectives a zillion times, PBS' Wallander, a co-production between WGBH and BBC which kicks off on Sunday night as part of Masterpiece Mystery, offers a tautly gripping and suspenseful roller coaster ride through the dark heartland of both coastal Sweden and the recesses of Kurt Wallander himself.

Based on a series of best-selling novels by Henning Mankell and adapted by Richard Cottan and Richard McBrien, Wallander is relentlessly bleak, offering some of the most shockingly gruesome crimes ever seen on the small screen. And yet, with Branagh casting his spell as the dogged and damaged detective, it's impossible to look away. So completely does Branagh sink into the role of the emotionally armoured Kurt Wallander that it's impossible to recognize the actor from his previous roles. Exhausted, rumpled, and driven, Wallander might be inherently flawed but you'd want him on the case if anything awful happened to you.

I had the opportunity to watch the three episodes--"Sidetracked," "Firewall," and "One Step Behind,"--that comprise Wallander's first season a few weeks back and I was completely sucked into the dark and twisted world that Kurt Wallander inhabits. These are gritty mysteries that are as far removed from the drawing room crimes of Agatha Christie as much as Ystad is as distant to the English countryside. There's an intoxicating hardness to these cases, which revolve around a serial killer who scalps his victims, a young woman who sets herself on fire in front of Wallander's eyes, two teenage girls who calmly murder a taxi driver, a vast network of conspirators, and a killer who who stalks and murders people engaging in secret rites.

Adding to the grittiness of the mysteries is the fact that the three episodes were filmed on location in Sweden, which gives the piece a verisimilitude that can't possibly be achieved by filming in a studio. Everything--from the stark landscape to the chill in the air--casts an aura of iciness over Wallander and this effect is heightened by the use of blue filters on the film. The three episodes of Wallander, directed by Philip Martin and Niall MacCormick, contain some of the most beautiful imagery seen on the small screen. Each installment is breathtakingly gorgeous and the beauty of the direction and cinematography are at sharp contrast with the darkness of the cases that Wallander tackles.

As I mentioned before, Branagh is sensational and perfectly cast as Kurt Wallander. When we first meet Wallander, he's just separated from his wife and has once again thrown himself into his work, his health (and one might argue, his sanity) are suffering, and he finds himself being controlled by his well-meaning daughter Linda (Jeany Spark) as he deals with his artist father (David Warner), who is succumbing to Alzheimer's disease. Suffice it to say, Wallander feels pulled in an infinite number of directions at once. But Wallander's true issue is that he gets so emotionally invested in his cases--he cares too much for the murdered--that he's dead inside when he comes to his own life. Surrounded by death, Wallander can't remember how to truly live.

The rest of Wallander's cast is equally top-notch. Special attention has to be given to Kurt Wallander's colleagues, played with aplomb by Tom Hiddleston (Suburban Shootout), Tom Beard (Silent Witness), Sadie Shimmin (The Bill), Richard McCabe (Einstein and Eddington), and Sarah Smart (Casualty 1907), as well as the aforementioned Jeany Spark (Tess of the d'Urbervilles) as the sunny Linda Wallander, who carries her own kernel of darkness in her heart. Guest stars include Skins' Nicholas Hoult, Secret Diary of a Call Girl's Ashley Madekwe, Conviction's David Warner, and Mistresses' Orla Brady.

Ultimately, Wallander is a perfect synthesis of its parts and is wholly different from the usual offerings of Hercule Poirot or Miss Maple, offering audiences a series of gripping and brutally original mysteries, each with a dark undercurrent of dread from which it is impossible to escape.



Wallander's three-episode season will air Sundays, May 10th, 17th, and 24th at 9 pm as part of Masterpiece Mystery on PBS. Check your local listings for details.

"Death Doesn't Change Us More Than Life": An Advance Review of PBS' "The Old Curiosity Shop"

“Nobody ever did, or ever will, escape the consequences of his choices.” - Alfred Montapert

In this case, it's not just our own choices that we need fear the consequences from but those of others as well.

In Masterpiece Classic's The Old Curiosity Shop, an adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel that aired in the UK on ITV in 2007, a young girl and her gambling addict grandfather must flee from the titular shop after they are ruined from his debts and are relentlessly pursued by one of Dickens' most loathsome and terrifying villains, the evil and sadistic (not to mention grotesque) Daniel Quilp.

The girl in question is The Old Curiosity Shop's eternally patient and tragic Little Nell (Becoming Jane's Sophie Vavasseur), a candidate for sainthood if there ever was one who bears the indignities of her situation with an almost ethereal distance from the grubbiness of the situation at hand. Certainly not helping matters is her self-serving grandfather (Diamonds' Sir Derek Jacobi), a degenerate gambler who is burning through their meager savings at an alarming rate and who puts Nell's entire future in jeopardy by borrowing money from the hideous and inhuman Daniel Quilp (Frost/Nixon's Toby Jones).

To say that Quilp is a monster is an understatement; e ranks as one of the most loathsome of Dickens' rogues gallery. Jones imbues Quilp with all of the malice and depravity one could expect from this awful human being: he terrorizes his poor young wife Betsey (The Outsiders' Anna Madeley) and intends to send her to an early grave (hell, he makes clear his intent to woo 14-year-old Little Nell when she comes of age), conspires to jail an innocent boy for theft in an effort to keep him from assisting a mystery man also looking for Nell and her grandfather.

But one wishes that The Old Curiosity Shop, written by Martyn Hesford and directed by Brian Percival, had been significantly longer than its meager 100-minute running time. Forced to cram in the story's most significant plot points into this one-of format, Hesford has missed much of the plot's nuance and the relationship between Nell and her grandfather remains sadly one note. We glimpse Nell's devotion to her grandfather in spite of his selfishness but we never actually see any tenderness or devotion of the man towards his granddaughter. Likewise, the plot speeds along at such an alarming rate that the many high-profile actors performing the supporting roles become little more than flashes of color, what one might glimpse as they soar through the countryside on a speeding carriage.

The actors who round out the cast are The Office's Martin Freeman, Atonement's Gina McKee, My Family's Zoe Wanamaker, Blackpool's Bryan Dick, Skins' Josie Lawrence, and Lewis' Geoff Breton. All manage to provide memorable performances in their brief span on the screen but the shortness of the piece doesn't allow for much use of Dickens' trademark labyrinthine plots, where multiple characters' storylines intersect with delicious coincidence.

All in all, The Old Curiosity Shop is a serviceable adaptation of one of Dickens' lesser known works but coming on the heels of the far superior adaptation of Little Dorrit as it does, its faults are glaringly obvious. Still, devotees of Dickens would be wise to tune in if only to see Jones' fascinating portrayal of Quilp... and would be wise to try and put the memory of his performance out of their heads before bedtime.

The Old Curiosity Shop, part of Masterpiece Classic, airs Sunday night on PBS. Check your local listings for details.

Magic in a Pint Bottle: An Advance Review of PBS' "Little Dorrit"

"I am the only child of parents who weighed, measured, and priced everything; for whom what could not be weighed, measured, and priced, had no existence." - Charles Dickens, "Little Dorrit"

Charles Dickens often wrote about money and his novels gave equal weight to the lives of the poor and downtrodden as they did the idle rich. But none of his novels pushed financial matters to the fore as much as his 1857 novel "Little Dorrit" did.

Ostensibly the story of the debt-ridden Dorrit family, the plot centers on young Amy Dorrit, a young woman born in the Marshallsea Prison to a father who has fallen on hard times and spent more than twenty years in the debtor's prison that serves as Little Dorrit's home. "Little Dorrit" is a story of greed, betrayal, and malice... that resonates all the more today, given our current economic crisis. Hell, there's even a fantastically prescient parallel to our own time period's Bernie Madoff in Mr. Merdle, who engages in his own Ponzi scheme to defraud and ruin many of the novel's characters. (Could this story be any more relevant to our own times? I think not.)

The sensational Little Dorrit, adapted by screenwriter Andrew Davies (Bleak House) aired on BBC One as a fourteen-part mini-series last year and will premiere this weekend here in the States on PBS' Masterpiece Classic as a sumptuously adapted five-part mini-series. The cast features a virtual Who's Who of British film and television actors today, with the teeming cast of characters filled out more than admirably by Being Human's Claire Foy, Spooks' Matthew Macfadyen, Doctor Who's Freema Agyeman, Being Human's Russell Tovey, Law & Order: UK's Bill Paterson, Lord of the Rings' Andy Serkis, The Golden Compass' Tom Courtenay, Benidorm's Janine Duvitski, The Vicar of Dibley's James Fleet, Gavin & Stacey's Ruth Jones, Torchwood's Eve Myles, The Office's Mackenzie Crook, Waking the Dead's Sue Johnston, Einstein and Eddington's Anton Lesser, New Tricks' Alun Armstrong, Hotel Babylon's Emma Pierson, and New Tricks' Amanda Redman. (Whew.) All of whom turn out exceptional performances that are likely to remain with you for quite some time, especially Claire Foy and Matthew Macfadyen.

Written with rapier wit and dramatic flair by the incomparable Andrew Davies and beautifully directed by Dearbhla Walsh and Adam Smith, Little Dorrit is a dazzling mix of genres that offers something for everyone, whether it be the star-crossed romance between Amy Dorrit (Claire Foy) and Arthur Clennam (Matthew Macfadyen); the bizarre Svengali-like grip Miss Wade (Maxine Peake) enacts over poor Tattycoram (Freema Agyeman); the mystery of the will that Mrs. Clennam (Judy Parfitt) seeks to conceal; the vendettas that Amy's silly sister Fanny (Emma Pierson) engages in against Mrs. Merdle (Amanda Redman), the mother of one of her suitors, Edmund Sparkler (Sebastian Armesto); and the engimatic presence of the French murderer Rigaud (Andy Serkis). That all of these seemingly diverse storylines actually come together in the end is the work of two very gifted writers: Dickens himself for constructing the plot and Davies for successfully adapting a very tricky novel with a revolving door of characters and numerous plot threads to weave together.

Holding it all together is Foy's beautifully understated performance as the oft-put-upon Amy Dorrit; she effortlessly pulls off being self-sacrificing, idealistic, and adorably charming, no mean feat at that. The expressive quality of her eyes gives Amy a lived-in sadness that is wholly at contrast to her young age. With a simple look or tilt of her head, Foy manages to imbue Amy with both a childlike belief in the goodness of others and a mature outlook on the world, from a life lived in the squalor of a debtor's prison. Yet Amy seeks to comfort those around her, including her bombastic father (Tom Courtenay), who still believes himself to be a gentleman and relishes in his role as a minor celebrity as the Father of the Marshallsea, her silly dancer sister Fanny (Pierson), and her arrogant brother Tip (Arthur Darvill). (Foy is a find and I have no doubt that she'll go on to great things; here in Little Dorrit, you can literally see the beginnings of a fine actor.)

Despite being eight hours in length, Little Dorrit speeds by with an almost reckless speed, juggling dozens of characters, locations, and situations, but it's also a thoughful and pensive piece as well. It's a gripping and timeless tale of big business and bigger egos, where greed can consume not only a man's soul but that of those around him, corrupted by the need for the excesses of wealth. It is also a savage indictment of fat cat bankers and the Treasury Department, here embodied by the maddening circular logic of the Circumlocution Office: where requests are made, papers and forms filed, and no information ever leaves the site. (My only complaint about Little Dorrit is the slightly confusing ending, which alters Dickens' serpentine original reveal ever-so slightly but still manages to be unclear itself, somewhat like the Circumlocution Office.)

For those viewers who fell in love with BBC One's last bravura adaptation of Charles Dickens, Bleak House, Little Dorrit will be a rare treat: an adaptation that deals with larger themes and issues affecting all of us but also a more intimate riches-to-rags-to-riches-to-rags story about a family caught in the hands of financial woe. It's a story that is at its heart about possessions--money, a pocket watch, a lost button, some fine cigars--and how, at the end of the day, like Amy Dorrit herself, we might only be left with our grace and goodwill when all else fails.

Little Dorrit launches this Sunday evening at 9 pm on PBS' Masterpiece Classic. Check your local listings for details.