Masterpiece is a popular television program that presents multipart adaptations of literary classics as well as original dramas. The program was known as “Masterpiece Theatre” until 2008. The programs for “Masterpiece” have originated primarily in the United Kingdom, with a few programs coming from Australia, Canada, and the United States. The programs are broadcast in the United States over the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) through TV station WGBH in Boston. The English author and television personality Alistair Cooke served as the urbane host of the program from its beginning to 1992, when he was replaced by the American journalist Russell Baker. Baker stepped down as host in 2004. In 2008, the program began grouping its films by type. “Masterpiece Classic,” comprising costume dramas, was hosted by the American actress Gillian Anderson in 2008; in 2011, the American actress Laura Linney began hosting it. “Masterpiece Contemporary” was hosted by the English actor Matthew Goode in 2008; in 2009, the Scottish actor David Tennant began hosting it. “Masterpiece Mystery” is hosted by the Scottish actor Alan Cumming. Many major British actors of the middle and late 1900’s have appeared on various “Masterpiece” series. Jean-Joseph Mouret, a French composer, wrote the original theme music that was heard during the opening credits, a piece often called “Rondeau” or “Fanfare,” which is actually from the first of Mouret’s two “Suites de symphonies” (1729). The theme music was changed in 2008. Only portions of the original piece remain in the program’s theme.
“Masterpiece Theatre” began in the United States in 1971 and gained an immediate following for the high quality of its acting and writing, as well as for the authentic re-creations of historical periods. “Upstairs, Downstairs,” one of the most popular series, ran for 55 episodes from 1974 to 1977. The series followed the fortunes of an English upper-class family and its servants during the first three decades of the 1900’s. “Downton Abbey,” which began airing on “Masterpiece Classic” in 2010, also became hugely popular. The series chronicles the lives of an aristocratic British family and their servants, beginning in the years leading up to World War I (1914-1918).
Many “Masterpiece” programs have dealt with historical subjects. The most successful include “I, Claudius,” about the life of a Roman emperor; and “The Six Wives of Henry VIII” and “Elizabeth R,” about famous English rulers. “Masterpiece” has also dramatized novels by major European and American writers, including Honore de Balzac, James Fenimore Cooper, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Henry James, Arthur Schnitzler, and Leo Tolstoy. Among the most popular series were adaptations of several novels originally written by Dorothy Sayers that feature amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey.
