WEEKEND TV : NEW MINISERIES ON PBS’ ‘MASTERPIECE’

As Alistair Cooke points out in his introduction to the new miniseries on “Masterpiece Theatre” Sunday, the title is likely to be misleading to American audiences. “Lost Empires” refers not to the British empire that so often is the concern of this respected public-TV series but rather to the music halls and vaudeville theaters, usually called empires, that flourished in England before radio and television.

They form the backdrop for a wonderful coming-of-age story in this lively seven-part adaptation of J.B. Priestley’s last novel, debuting with a two-hour installment Sunday at 8 p.m. on Channels 50 and 24, and at 9 p.m. on Channels 28 and 15.

It’s a dynamic, thoroughly engrossing production from Granada Television that contains the complexities of story and shadings of character that distinguish the best of British TV from our home-grown product.

“Lost Empires,” adapted by Ian Curteis, directed by Alan Grint and produced by June Howson, is the story of an aspiring artist named Richard Herncastle (Colin Firth) who, upon the death of his mother in the autumn of 1913, is invited by his uncle (John Castle) to join his magic show in a touring vaudeville company. It is the pensive young man’s introduction to the world.

What is so involving and unusual about the miniseries are the number of themes at work: Richard’s sexual awakening and powerful first love is contrasted with his uncle’s cynicism and disdain; the happy illusions created by the performers on stage (of which there are frequent doses) are contrasted with the reality of their strange, troubled lives off stage, and the relative innocence of the time is contrasted with the country’s preparations for war.

Indeed, the story is narrated by Richard in flashback form from the trenches of World War I, so that he already can appreciate what his uncle had told him early in their travels together: “The golden age is gone, lad; we’re slithering into a bog--slithering fast, and no one’s stopping us.”

“Lost Empires” does the opposite: It slithers out of the TV bog--fast. Don’t stop it.