Nearly two dozen British TV titles will be airing on US public TV stations between December 2023 and fall 2024. Check out what we can look forward to!
The titles, in alphabetical order, include the following:
Alice & Jack
Created and written by four-time Primetime Emmy® nominee Victor Levin (Mad Men, Mad About You), this drama series stars Academy Award® nominee Andrea Riseborough (To Leslie, Birdman, Shadow Dancer) alongside Golden Globes nominee Domhnall Gleeson (The Patient, Brooklyn, The Revenant). Aisling Bea (Greatest Days, This Way Up), Aimee Lou Wood (Sex Education, Living), and Sunil Patel (This Time with Alan Partridge, Stath Lets Flats) also feature in supporting roles.
A love story for the ages, the series centers on Alice (Andrea Riseborough) and Jack (Domhnall Gleeson), who, upon meeting, feel a connection so powerful, it seems nothing can break it. But will their paths lead them to a place of happiness and togetherness, or will life and their own emotional complexities get in the way? Alice & Jack premieres in the US in spring 2024 (date tba) on PBS stations.
All Creatures Great and Small: Season 4
Opening in spring 1940, Season 4 of this hit period drama sees Europe at war and the community in Darrowby pulling together more than ever before. With Tristan away serving, Siegfried (Samuel West) and James (Nicholas Ralph) bring in some extra hands to help around the practice, including highly-efficient bookkeeper Miss Harbottle (Neve McIntosh, Shetland) and student vet Richard Carmody (James Anthony-Rose, Slow Horses). Meanwhile, happily-married Helen (Rachel Shenton) and James begin to think about their future, despite the looming possibility that James could be called up to serve.
All Creatures Great and Small: Season 4 premieres in the US on Sunday, January 7, 2024, at 9 PM ET, on PBS stations. (Check your local listings.)
Big Cats, Small World (w.t.)
This two-part nature series witnesses the drama as three iconic big cat species — leopard, lion, and cheetah — try to coexist in the same fiercely competitive environment in Botswana. Big Cats, Small World (w.t.) premieres in the US in fall 2024 (date tba) on PBS stations.
Britain’s Secret Islands
The UK is comprised of more than 6,000 small islands and rock formations scattered along the British coast, and in this docuseries, geographer, field biologist, nature photographer, and writer Stewart McPherson takes viewers on a journey on the spectacular ship Pelican of London to discover the wildlife, people, cultures, ancient history, legends, and breathtaking scenery of the most remote British Isles. Across four episodes, McPherson explores five-thousand-year-old ruins and Viking heritage, shipwrecks, immense seabird colonies, diverse reefs, and more, that are found nowhere else on Earth.
Britain’s Secret Islands premieres in the US on or after Friday, December 1, 2023. As of this writing, it is confirmed for airing on Georgia Public Broadcasting, Idaho Public Television, KWSU, Louisiana Public Broadcasting, Maine Public Television, PBS North Carolina, Oregon Public Broadcasting, WLRN, WNED, WPBS, and WPTO. (Contact the station that serves your area to request the show.)
A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong
In this comedy, the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society have been blacklisted by the BBC after ruining Peter Pan (in Peter Pan Goes Wrong). However, they are not taking their ban lying down and force themselves back on the BBC by hijacking the jewel of the Christmas schedule: a “live” production of A Christmas Carol. With a little help from Sandra’s aunt, Dame Diana Rigg (All Creatures Great and Small), the Cornley gang try to make the show work but soon realize they are completely out of their depth, with no idea how to direct a live studio or handle the special effects. Worse still, internal rivalries are revealed during the broadcast while an angry professional cast tries to get back into the studio. Special guest star Sir Derek Jacobi (Last Tango in Halifax) tries to keep up!
A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong premieres in the US on or after Friday, December 1, 2023. As of this writing, it is confirmed for airing on Idaho Public Television, Kentucky Educational Television (KET), KERA, KPTS, KQEH, KTWU, KUAT, KWSU, Maryland Public Television, New Hampshire PBS, NJ PBS (New Jersey), PBS Wisconsin, WBGU, WCVE, WETA, WLRN, WNED, WPBS, WPTO, WTTW, and WVPT. (Contact the station that serves your area to request the show.)
Grantchester: Season 9
In Season 9 of this fan-favorite mystery-crime drama, it’s 1961 and life is good for Will (Tom Brittney) and Geordie (Robson Green). Their families are always together, from Sunday lunches to planning summer holidays, and with honorary grandparents Mrs. C (Tessa Peake-Jones) and Jack (Nick Brimble), and adopted uncles Daniel (Oliver Dimsdale) and Leonard (Al Weaver), they’re one big happy family. But when Will is approached with a life-changing offer, will he leave Grantchester and Geordie behind? As Geordie struggles with personal loss and ever-growing family conflict between Cathy (Kacey Ainsworth) and teenage daughter Esme (Skye Lucia Degruttola), he has no one to turn to. But when he arrests an intruder breaking into the vicarage, he may find his days of working with a vicar are not over.
Reverend Alphy Kotteram (Rishi Nair, Whitstable Pearl, Silent Witness) has an instinctive distrust for authority and absolutely no desire to get involved in murder investigations. But Alphy and Geordie will discover they have a lot more in common than they first think, and Alphy will find that, in Grantchester, murder is never far away. From deadly circuses, abandoned babies and hostile historians, to vanishing valets and murderous satirists, Geordie and Alphy witness first-hand how religion can be corrupted, but also how faith, love, and friendship can offer hope and renewal. (Trailer is from Season 8)
Grantchester: Season 9 premieres in the US in summer 2024 (date tba) on PBS stations.
Great Performances: Audra McDonald at the London Palladium (w.t.)
In this 90-minute episode of Great Performances, actress and singer Audra McDonald performs a repertoire of classic Broadway songs, including “I Am What I Am,” “Climb Every Mountain,” “Summertime,” “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” and many more. Great Performances: Audra McDonald at the London Palladium (w.t.) premieres in 2024 (date tba) on PBS stations.
Guilt: Season 3
In the third and final season of this entertaining sleeper hit of a crime dramedy, brothers Max (Mark Bonnar) and Jake (Jamie Sives) are reunited and back in Edinburgh, still burdened by their past and desperate to lead (what they consider to be) normal lives once more. (Video is from Season 2)
Guilt: Season 3 premieres in the US in spring 2024 (date tba) on PBS stations.
London’s New Year’s Day Parade 2024
Now in its fifth decade, this cherished turn-of-year tradition brings pomp, circumstance, and good old-fashioned fun to the UK capital, and via telly to many parts of the US. The event raises spirits along its iconic parade route through the ancient city of Westminster, where cultural and community groups, as well as more than 20 US marching bands and a thousand varsity cheerleaders, rub shoulders with leading professional entertainers and the mayors of London. London’s New Year’s Day Parade 2024 premieres in the US on most public TV stations and regional networks across the country on or after Monday, January 1, 2024. (Contact the station that serves your area to find out if they will be airing it.)
The Marlow Murder Club
This brand-new mystery series is adapted from the novel The Marlow Murder Club, the first title in “The Marlow Murder Club” series of mystery stories penned by Robert Thorogood, the creator of the hit shows Death in Paradise and Beyond Paradise. The four-part series stars Samantha Bond (Downton Abbey, Home Fires) along with Jo Martin (Doctor Who, Back to Life), Cara Horgan (The Sandman, Traitors), and Natalie Dew (Sandylands, The Capture).
The story centers on retired archaeologist Judith Potts (Samantha Bond), who lives alone in a faded mansion in the peaceful town of Marlow, filling her time by setting crosswords for the local paper. During one of her regular swims in the Thames, Judith hears a gunshot and believes a brutal murder has taken place. When the police are reluctant to believe her story, Judith finds herself forming an unlikely friendship with local dog-walker and empty-nester Suzie Harris (Martin) and unfulfilled vicar’s wife Becks Starling (Horgan), and the trio start an investigation of their own. Eventually asked to assist with the official police investigation, headed by newly-promoted DS Tanika Malik (Dew), the women must piece together clues, grill suspect witnesses, and face down real danger as they work against the clock to stop the killer in their tracks. The Marlow Murder Club premieres in the US in spring 2024 (date tba) on PBS stations.
MaryLand
Created by BAFTA TV Award winner Suranne Jones (Gentleman Jack, Doctor Foster, Scott & Bailey) and screenwriter Anne- Marie O’Connor (Hullraisers, Trollied, Waterloo Road), this three-part drama is about sisters Becca (Suranne Jones) and Rosaline (Eve Best, House of the Dragon, Nurse Jackie, The Honourable Woman), who, after having grown apart and estranged over the years, find themselves thrown together by the sudden death of their mother, Mary. They learn that she was living an entirely secret life on the Isle of Man, far from her home with her husband, Becca and Rosaline’s father. As the sisters discover their mother’s secrets while grieving, they meet her quirky friend, Cathy (Stockard Channing, Grease, The Good Wife), who seems to know more about their mother than they do.
MaryLand premieres in the US on Sunday, April 7, 2024, at 9 PM ET, on PBS stations. (Check your local listings.)
Miss Scarlet and The Duke: Season 4
In Season 4 of this fan-favorite mystery series, Eliza (Kate Phillips) has taken over the business of Nash & Sons and things are not going entirely smoothly. However, help comes from some familiar sources, including her longtime will-they-or-won’t-they friend, William “The Duke” Wellington (Stuart Martin). Outside of work, her relationship with him builds toward a looming decision that will shape both their lives.
Miss Scarlet and The Duke: Season 4 premieres in the US on Sunday, January 7, 2024, at 8 PM ET, on PBS stations. (Check your local listings.)
Moonflower Murders
Based on the novel Moonflower Murders, Book 2 in Anthony Horowitz’s series of “Susan Ryeland” novels, this six-episode mystery drama picks up where Magpie Murders leaves off: Susan Ryeland (Lesley Manville) has left publishing and is living in Crete with her longtime boyfriend, Andreas (Alexandros Logothetis), but returns to London when she is asked to investigate a mystery relating to Alan Conway, the author of the best-selling “Atticus Pünd” mystery novels (whose death changed her life in Magpie Murders). Moonflower Murders premieres in the US in fall 2024 (date tba) on PBS stations.
Nature: Big Little Journeys
This three-part special presents six tiny animals who make epic journeys — where grasses appear like skyscrapers, mounds become mountains, and raindrops fall as big as cars — to find a home or a mate, risking it all against the odds. Nature: Big Little Journeys premieres in the US in spring 2024 (date tba) on PBS stations.
Nature: Attenborough and the Jurassic Sea Monster
In this episode of Nature, Sir David Attenborough unearths a once-in-a-lifetime discovery: the fossil of a giant Pliosaur, the largest Jurassic predator ever known. The program follows a team of forensic experts on a perilous expedition to excavate the skull, uncover the predatory secrets lying deep inside the fossil, and unlock clues about the life of this giant sea beast. Nature: Attenborough and the Jurassic Sea Monster premieres in the US in spring 2024 (date tba) on PBS stations.
Nolly
Two-time Oscar® nominee Helena Bonham Carter (The King’s Speech, The Crown, Enola Holmes) stars in this three-part biopic drama as Noele “Nolly” Gordon, one of the most famous people in Britain in the 1960s and ’70s from her portrayal of widow Meg Richardson in the long-running soap opera Crossroads. But in 1981, at the height of the show’s success and the peak of Nolly’s fame, she was axed without ceremony, without warning, and without explanation — an event that made front-page news in the UK.
Nolly premieres in the US on Sunday, March 17, 2024, at 9 PM ET, on PBS stations. (Check your local listings.)
Nova: Planets II (w.t.)
This five-episode Nova/BBC special event offers an immersive journey to some of the weirdest worlds in our solar system, painting a surprising picture of our cosmic neighborhood and the forces that shape it. Nova: Planets II (w.t.) premieres in the US in fall 2024 (date tba) on PBS stations.
Paul Hollywood Goes to Hollywood
In this four-episode travel series, celebrity chef and cookbook author Paul Hollywood (The Great British Baking Show, How to Bake) indulges in three of his greatest passions — bikes, movies, and baking — as he hits the road on an epic adventure. Riding a customized Harley-Davidson, Paul journeys from New York to Los Angeles, exploring the connection between film and food and connecting with celebrity friends along the way.
Paul Hollywood Goes to Hollywood premieres in the US on or after Monday, January 1, 2024. As of this writing, it is confirmed for airing on Georgia Public Broadcasting, Idaho Public Television, Iowa PBS, KERA, KPBS, KQEH, KSPS, KTCA, KVIE, KWSU, Maryland Public Television, Montana PBS, Nebraska Public Media, Oregon Public Broadcasting, WCET, WCVE, WFYI, WHYY, WILL, WSKG, WTTW, and WVPT. (Contact the station that serves your area to request the show.)
Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse
Set in 1922, this family-friendly comedy-drama is inspired by the true story of a young Roald Dahl, future author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, as he sets off on an adventure to meet his favorite author, Beatrix Potter (Dawn French, The Vicar of Dibley, The Trouble with Maggie Cole). Their encounter proves to be a life-changing moment for them both. Narrated by John Hannah (Transplant), the TV movie costars Jessica Hynes (W1A), Rob Brydon (The Trip), and Nick Mohammed (Ted Lasso).
Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse premieres in the US on or after Friday, December 1, 2023. As of this writing, it is confirmed for airing on Idaho Public Television, KENW, KERA, KMOS, KPBS, KRSU, KSPS, KTWU, KUAT, KWSU, Louisiana Public Broadcasting, Maryland Public Television, Montana PBS, Nebraska Public Media, Oregon Public Broadcasting, PBS Wisconsin, WHYY, WITF, WNED, WPTO, and WyomingPBS. (Contact the station that serves your area to request the show.)
The Savoy at Christmas
Narrated by Celia Imrie (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), this documentary takes viewers behind the scenes at The Savoy, the first luxury hotel in Britain, during the holiday festivities. The staff are pushed to the breaking point as they welcome hundreds of residential guests and diners across Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, delivering the glamour, elegance, history, and character guests wish to experience. The six weeks from mid-November to New Year’s Day are of utmost importance, as they generate £3.5 million in revenue.
The Savoy at Christmas premieres in the US on or after Friday, December 1, 2023. As of this writing, it is confirmed for airing on Georgia Public Broadcasting, Iowa PBS, KERA, KPBS, KQEH, KUAT, KVIE, KWSU, Louisiana Public Broadcasting, Maine Public Television, Maryland Public Television, Oregon Public Broadcasting, PBS Wisconsin, WCET, WCVE, WEDU, WETA, WFYI, WILL, WLRN, WNED, WPBS, WPTO, WSBE, WVPT, and WyomingPBS. (Contact the station that serves your area to request the show.)
The Travelling Auctioneers: Season 2
Back for another season is this lifestyle reality program, in which the Travelling Auctioneers team goes on the road to help families cash in on their unknown treasures, with a thrilling on-site auction at the end of each episode. Joining auctioneer Christina Trevanion in Season 2 are JJ Chalmers, who brings his broad range of DIY and restoration skills to the program; Robin Johnson, whose successful business specializes in bespoke metal and wood furniture; and auctioneering expert Izzie Balmer, who has appeared on Antiques Road Trip and Bargain Hunt and leads a specialist jewelry and silver department in a busy Wiltshire salesroom.
Also new this season is the format, which sees Christina, JJ, Robin, and Izzie split off into pairs before taking their traveling auction house and workshop out on the road across the UK. Along the way, they’ll unearth hidden gems and turn unwanted items into winning lots. The Travelling Auctioneers: Season 2 premieres in the US in spring 2024 (date tba) on select public TV stations (also tba). (Contact the station that serves your area to request the show.)
Treasures with Bettany Hughes
Historian, author, and broadcaster Bettany Hughes (Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities, Genius of the Ancient World) presents this six-part docuseries, in which she investigates the most remarkable treasures of civilization that reveal the story of humanity. Boasting unique access and state-of-the-art technology, the series champions what ordinary people throughout time have achieved through sheer force of will, inspiration, and collaboration.
Treasures with Bettany Hughes premieres in the US on or after Friday, December 1, 2023. As of this writing, it is confirmed for airing on Idaho Public Television, KPBS, KRSU, KUAT, KUEN, KWSU, Louisiana Public Broadcasting, New Hampshire PBS, Oregon Public Broadcasting, PBS Wisconsin, WETA, WLRN, WNED, and WPTD. (Contact the station that serves your area to request the show.)
Van der Valk: Season 4
For folks who were wondering if there will be a fourth season of this Amsterdam-based crime thriller starring Marc Warren as the titular detective, the answer is yes. Van der Valk: Season 4 premieres in the US in summer 2024 (date tba) on PBS stations.
(Note: This list is not intended to be comprehensive; a number of titles that will be shown on public TV stations during the winter 2023-fall 2024 timeframe have not been announced or even acquired yet. Also, air dates may end up being different due to scheduling changes, which can occur at any time and without prior notice.)
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