Masterpiece Theatre

Season 17 begins with this 8-part series about the Bretts, a 1920s family of sweepingly self-indulgent thespians whose fame is bigger than their bank accounts.

In the opening episode, patriarch Charles Brett accepts a new acting role, hires a young secretary which upsets his wife Lydia and attempts to purchase the Princess Theatre.

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Thomas Brett's lifestyle is nearly destroyed by a secret from Daphne Villiers' past.

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Martha Brett and Jean Lacy are both attracted to the Princess Theatre's manager.

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Edwin's movie career shocks his family; a screen test is arranged for Charles; and Thomas grows nervous about his new play.

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Martha is fascinated with an American while Lydia secretly negotiates for a Broadway role so she can pay her tax bill.

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Charles is jealous of the attention paid to Lydia by her leading man. Sutton discovers incriminating evidence against Hegarty.

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Martha's sprained ankle causes her to lose an important role to Lydia. The Bretts are taken to court.

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While Edwin's and Sutton's romantic liasons prosper, Martha faces a painful decision about her relationship with Gerard.

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A young woman's fondness for Gothic novels leads her to suspect foul deeds are being committed at an isolated estate.

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"Sorrell and Son" is a 5-part series about some very likable people; war-hero-turned-hotel-porter Capt. Stephen Sorrell, his son Kit, and such stock English characters as faithful servants, benevolent masters and a dotty vicar.

Episode one begins to chronicle the relationship of a father and son as they struggle to overcome adversity. First up: Stephen Sorrell seeks employment.

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Kit is sent home from school because the snobbish headmaster is disdainful of Sorrell's career.

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While a medical student at London hospital, Kit has an affair with a working-class girl. To the delight of all, the Pelican Hotel begins to prosper.

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Kit becomes a surgeon but realizes his personal happiness rests with Molly Pentreath, whose lifestyle does not include marriage.

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An aging Stephen Sorrell becomes sick but hides his illness from Kit, who has become a very successful surgeon and a member of fashionable London society.

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This 7-part series chronicles civilian life in wartime Europe, focusing on an idealist's marriage. The series is based on Olivia Mannings' stories "The Balkan Trilogy" and "The Levant Trilogy".

September 1939. War breaks out as newly married Guy and Harriet Pringle set out on a journey across Europe and into the heart of the Balkans to Romania, where an uneasy neutrality reigns.

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January 1940. The Romanian Prime Minister has been assassinated by the Fascist Iron Guard and Bucharest is rife with rumor and counter-rumor. Guy's popularity with his students, and Bucharest's expatriate community, leaves his wife Harriet wondering when he will find time for her.

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June 1940. France has fallen and Romania is forging an alliance with the Germans. Harriet is annoyed when Prince Yakimov becomes a permanent resident in the Pringle flat. The Pringles are also secretly sheltering Sasha Drucker, who is hiding from the Iron Guard.

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October 1940. Unwittingly betrayed by Prince Yakimov, Guys name has appeared on a Gestapo death list. The Pringle flat has been ransacked and the Jewish refugee, Sasha Drucker, has disappeared. Bucharest is overrun by Germans and it is time for the English to move on. Alone, Harriet waits anxiously for Guy to join her in Athens.

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April 1941. Harriet's brief encounter with a young army officer comes to an end as German troops advance into Greece and the Allied Forces mobilize. Prince Yakimov was tragically killed as the English community leaves Athens. In the nick of time, Guy and Harriet escape on a derelict cargo boat which carries them to Cairo.

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Autumn 1942. Simon Boulderstone sets out in search of his brother, only to learn that he has been killed in action. Guy returns from Alexandria to take charge of the Institute in Cairo. Harriet feels that she can play no part in Guy's ambitious plans for reorganization.

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January 1943. Feeling neglected by Guy, a weakened and sickly Harriet decides to return to England. Unbeknownst to Guy, on a last-minute impulse, Harriet changes her mind and departs for Damascus instead. Meanwhile in Cairo, news has come that the ship Harriet was to have sailed on was torpedoed, and there were no survivors...

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"Day After The Fair" is a neat 2-part tale courtesy of Thomas Hardy's short story On the Western Circuit.

Anna, a servant girl, meets a traveling lawyer at a country fair and falls in love. He writes her love letters to which she can't respond because she's illiterate, so she has her mistress, Edith, write for her.

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After consenting to ghost-write Anna's love letters, Edith pours out her own fantasies in the letters that become increasingly lyrical and intimate. Through their correspondence, she too falls in love with the barrister who still believes the letter writer is the perky housemaid...

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This 5-part adaptation of Charles Dickens' eighth and most popular novel features a colorful carousel of some of literature's favorite characters; including Aunt Betsey Trotwood, Uriah Heep, Mr. Micawber, and the earnest lad himself - David Copperfield.

Though he never knew his father, David's early childhood is idyllic until his mother marries the ill-tempered Mr. Murdstone.

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After removing David from school, Mr. Murdstone sends him to live with the debt-ridden Mr. Micawber.

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Upon completing his studies in Canterbury, David journeys to London where he begins an apprenticeship with the lawyer Spenlow.

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James Steerforth mysteriously departs for foreign shores. David's courtship of Dora Spenlow is opposed by her father.

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Dora and David settle into married life. Uriah Heep is confronted with evidence of his misdeeds.

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In "By The Sword Divided" Series II, PBS turns this original 10-part BBC sequel into a 7-part drama that continues to relate the saga of the aristocratic Lacey family during England`s 17th Century Civil War, a conflict that divided a nation as well as family and friends.

Episode 1 begins in 1649 with the end of the war fought by the Royalists (or Cavaliers) and Cromwell`s Puritans (or Roundheads), then moves on to the trial and beheading of Charles I.

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A witch finder, Henry Snelling, comes to Arnescote Castle and convinces John that Minty practices witchcraft.

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Tom Lacey and his sister Lucinda hide fugitive Charles II at Arnescote.

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Hugh Brandon's promotion to the position of castle steward adds to his already unhappy personal life.

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Sir Ralph Winter betrays Lord Edward Ferrar's scheme to take Arnescote Castle, prompting an enraged Tom Lacey to challenge Winter to a duel.

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As Cromwell lies dying, his supporters face the problem of naming a successor. Tom Lacey returns
from exile and Lucinda tries to prevent him from confronting General Horton.

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With the Commonwealth's disintegration after Cromwell's death, Charles II's restoration to the throne is imminent. Lucinda decides to plead for John Fletcher's life.