Masterpiece (TV series)
drama anthology television series
Masterpiece (formerly known as Masterpiece Theatre), is a drama anthology television series produced by WGBH Boston. It premiered on PBS on January 10, 1971. The series has presented numerous acclaimed British productions. Many of these are produced by the BBC, but the lineup has also included programs shown on fellow British networks ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5.
Overview
Masterpiece is known for presenting adaptations of novels and biographies, but it also shows original television dramas. The first title to air was The First Churchills, starring Susan Hampshire as Sarah Churchill. Other programs presented on the series include The Six Wives of Henry VIII; Elizabeth R; I, Claudius; Upstairs, Downstairs; The Duchess of Duke Street; The Citadel; The Jewel in the Crown; Reckless; House of Cards; Traffik, The Moonstone, Strangers and Brothers and Jeeves and Wooster. More recent popular titles include Prime Suspect, The Forsyte Saga, Sherlock, Downton Abbey, Endeavour, Victoria and Guilt.
The theme music played during the opening credits is the Fanfare-Rondeau from Suite of Symphonies for brass, strings and timpani No. 1 by French composer Jean-Joseph Mouret.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3297878. VIAF identifies the subject as 185572708. The Library of Congress control number is n93053761. 1 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 4 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1971.
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This entry incorporates text from “Masterpiece (TV series)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.