Monday Montage

What’s happening, what’s on and what’s interesting this week …

Celebrate North Carolina pottery history and explore one-of-a-kind pottery from a Seagrove craftsman. Don’t miss the twentieth anniversary of POTTERY LIVE WITH BEN OWEN III – tonight at 8 on PBS NC.

Real-life husband and wife Matthew Macfadyen (MI-5) and Keeley Hawes (The Durrells In Corfu) are set to play husband and wife in a new ITV drama.

Before the new season debuts in April, catch up on the most recent episodes of a fan favorite. Rewatch series ten of CALL THE MIDWIFE – beginning Friday night at 9 on the Explorer Channel.

Hey, It’s Photo Friday!

Playmakers Repertory Company is the professional theatre in residence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2012, Playmakers combined William Shakespeare’s “Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2” and “Henry V” as “The Making of a King.” PBS NC (then UNC-TV) was a co-producer of this rotating repertory. The poster below, signed by many of the performers, hangs in our building (on the second floor, by the elevator, if you’re visiting). It was presented to the station by Playmakers as a thank you for our support.

I will note the placement of this framed poster made it difficult to get a clear shot without some sort of reflection from the light in the hallway or my phone. I think I did a halfway decent job but apologies if anything distracting can be seen within.

Sounds Familiar

“Sizzle and Nuzzle are a double treat and the Piece Police are on the beat.” – THE PUZZLE PLACE theme song

Wednesday Trivia Question

What was the name for the animated mascots PBS used during its PTV kids block in the 1990s?

If you watched PBS during the ’90s, you no doubt encounter these somewhat animated characters with heads shaped like PBS logos. They were seen in bumpers, IDs and other interstitial materials around shows like SESAME STREET, SHINING TIME STATION and LAMB CHOP’S PLAY-ALONG. Back in those days, the PBS children’s series were branded as PTV. PTV evolved into PBS Kids by the end of the decade.

Where Do I Know That Actor?

Georgian romance goes awry as a Jane Austen weekend turns deadly. But thanks to DCI Barnaby and DS Winter there’s a happy ending. Such was the plot of this week’s MIDSOMER MURDERS (Death By Persuasion). There were also nine guest stars you may know from other PBS NC fare. Let’s see if you spotted them all.

Claire Skinner and Samuel West played Whitecombe Grange owners Kitty and James Oswood. Skinner has appeared as Lucinda in Chef!, as Fanny Dashwood in Sense And Sensibility and as Sue Brockman in Outnumbered. West has played Caspian in the WonderWorks presentation The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe, Monty in Heavy Weather, Peter Scabious (Older) in Any Human Heart, Frank Edwarss in Mr. Selfridge and, most recently, Siegfried Farnon in All Creatures Great And Small.

Monday Montage

What’s happening, what’s on and what’s interesting this week …

Explore and celebrate the life of a fearless Mississippi sharecropper-turned-human-rights-activist on FANNIE LOU HAMER’S AMERICA – Tuesday night at 9 on PBS NC.

Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey) is releasing an album this spring with fellow DOWNTON alum Michael C. Fox (he played Andy the footman).

Learn the story of a group of civil rights activists who attempted to build a multiracial utopia in the heart of North Carolina’s Klan Country. Don’t miss SOUL CITY on REEL SOUTH – Thursday at 10pm on PBS NC.

Hey, It’s Photo Friday!

This is Xavier Riddle, star of XAVIER RIDDLE AND THE SECRET MUSEUM. Xavier is one of the newer additions to the PBS Kids family (the series debuted in 2019). The stand up below was spotted in our Kids & Education hallway (the Rootle folks). Chances are you may see him out and about at community events. If so, say “hi!”

Sounds Familiar

“I think sometimes my dreams have been too small.” – Norma (Elizabeth McGovern), THE CHAPERONE on MASTERPIECE

Wednesday Trivia Question

Who played Prime Minister Robert Sutherland in COBRA?

The British drama series COBRA debuted in the UK in January 2020 and on PBS the fall of that year. The premise centers on the social and political chaos created in the aftermath of a solar flare which leaves much of Britain without power. COBRA is the name of the government committee set up to handle this major national crisis.

One of the main characters is the Prime Minister who, in addition to the national crisis, has to handle some family drama and a potential scandal. The BAFTA-winning actor playing the PM has been acting since the 1980s and has appeared on the big screen as well as many TV roles. He doesn’t have much of a PBS presence other than COBRA but he did appear on a MASTERPIECE series circa 2008.

Oscar! Oscar! Oscar!

The nominations for the 94th Academy Awards were announced last week and, as usual, some names recognizable to PBS viewers were included. Stands to reason since shows like MASTERPIECE attract talented actors worthy of accolades. Let’s look at the folks who got the Oscar nod this year.

We’ll start off with Kenneth Branagh, who was nominated in the Best Director category for his film Belfast. Branagh has appeared in Fortunes of War and Henry V on Masterpiece Theatre. He also starred in the Mystery series Wallander as the title detective.

In the Best Lead Actor category, Benedict Cumberbatch was nominated for The Power Of The Dog and Andrew Garfield got the nod for Tick, Tick … Boom!

Cumberbatch should be immediately recognizable to PBS viewers as the titular detective in Sherlock. He was also Edmund Talbot in To The Ends of The Earth and Stephan Ezard in The Last Enemy and Richard II in The Hollow Crown series.