Master Strokes : How Some British Exports Became an American Television Staple

Two decades ago, American TV audiences had never heard of a miniseries. That all changed when PBS scored a hit in the fall of 1969 with the 26-part “The Forsyte Saga,” a black-and-white series from the British Broadcasting Co.

From there, “Masterpiece Theatre” was just about inevitable. But who could have expected that over the next 20 years, millions of viewers would tune out the major networks on Sunday nights to watch, of all things, British drama.

Yet that’s exactly what happened. Over those years, American audiences learned that literate television didn’t have to be boring. The plots of the dramas, often adaptations of classic novels or historically based, wove tales as compelling as daytime serials yet with the class of the Royal Shakespeare Co.

And the series was embraced critically as well. “Masterpiece Theatre” so far has won 25 Emmy Awards and has received 32 additional nominations. It has introduced numerous British performers to American audiences, including Derek Jacobi, John Hurt, Charles Dance, Jeremy Irons, Bob Hoskins, Anthony Andrews and Pauline Collins.

“Masterpiece Theatre” was created by WGBH, the public station in Boston, and the station has been its producer ever since.

Briton Christopher Sarson, then a WGBH producer, came up with the idea. He suggested to station president Stan Calderwood that WGBH pick the best of British drama to air on PBS as a 31-week series. With a $400,000 grant from Mobil, still the series’ underwriter, “Masterpiece Theatre” began acquiring programming.

The series debuted Jan. 10, 1971, with host Alistair Cooke introducing the 12-part series “The First Churchills,” starring Susan Hampshire and John Neville.

Sarson was executive producer of “Masterpiece Theatre” the first two years. Joan Wilson succeeded him until her death in 1985; Rebecca Eaton has been the guiding force since.

During its first three seasons, “Masterpiece Theatre” presented adaptations of classic works by such authors as James Fenimore Cooper, Honore Balzac, Leo Tolstoy and Thomas Hardy and original dramas based on historical fact such as “The First Churchills,” “Elizabeth R” and “The Six Wives of Henry VIII.”

It was in 1974 when “Masterpiece Theatre” made its first major programming change by airing a completely original story, “Upstairs, Downstairs.” The story contrasting the upper and working classes of early 20th-century Britain had been created for London Weekend Television by actresses Jean Marsh, who also appeared in the series, and Eileen Atkins.

“It was quite a tough decision (to air it),” Eaton said. “It was a very well done soap opera, an evening soap opera with a continuing cast of characters. It was original, written for television and lighter fare.”

The decision turned out to be one of the best ever made by “Masterpiece Theatre” executives. Fifty-five episodes of “Upstairs, Downstairs” aired and the “evening soap opera” won nine Emmys.

During Wilson’s tenure, “Masterpiece Theatre” primarily lived on material bought from Britain.

“The British broadcasters would make the dramas and then she would screen them and choose the best,” Eaton said. “That has changed drastically over the past five years.”

Now “Masterpiece Theatre” co-produces 50% of a season’s series with independent producers or British broadcasters. This season, “Masterpiece” co-produced “The Heat of the Day,” “The Ginger Tree” and “Scoop.” Another recent co-production, “The Real Charlotte,” aired here before it did in Britain.

“I think it’s riskier and more fun (to co-produce) because it allows us to have more input and we can make suggestions we think will appeal to our audiences,” Eaton said. “Times have changed in British broadcasting and they are open to co-production partners.”

During the late 1980s, “Masterpiece Theatre” had a co-production deal with the BBC and the Arts & Entertainment cable network.

“A&E; would co-produce a certain number of hours with the BBC,” Eaton said. “They would come to us and we would guarantee to co-produce 20 hours with them. That helped them out financially and we would have first run which was the case with ‘A Perfect Spy’ (1988). We no longer have that arrangement with A&E.;”

That involvement with A&E; may have hurt “Masterpiece Theatre.” With similar programming now available elsewhere, “Masterpiece Theatre” has lost some of its cachet. The country has not been swept up in “Masterpiece” mania since the Emmy-winning “The Jewel in the Crown” aired six years ago.

Eaton pointed to other reasons.

“I don’t think the phenomenon is dead,” Eaton said. “I think it’s a matter of striking the right chord to create the phenomenon. It’s true that British TV is not creating any more long 13-part series, but there are many more choices now. People don’t watch TV the same way, which is a phenomenon not limited to ‘Masterpiece Theatre.’ It’s hard to get people to commit to a series week after week.”

Eaton is considering stripping a “Masterpiece Theatre” series over consecutive nights, just as PBS did with enormous success in September with Ken Burns’ “The Civil War.”

“We did it in small a way with (1989’s) ‘A Very British Coup,’ ” Eaton said. “It was done over a couple of nights. That was another major change. With that, we started doing contemporary dramas because we had never done that before. We would consider doing a series over several nights, but it is very expensive and we are still responsible for filling the 9 p.m. Sunday time slot on PBS.”

Beginning Sunday, “Masterpiece Theatre” will roll out the red carpet for its 20th anniversary with nine weeks of selected episodes from such fondly remembered series as “Upstairs, Downstairs,” “I, Claudius” and “The Jewel in the Crown.”

Scheduled later during this year is the complete 13 hours of “I, Claudius,” plus a rerun of either “Pride and Prejudice” or “Therese Raquin.”

The series and episodes picked for the anniversary tribute were chosen by Eaton and Cooke.

“Masterpiece Theatre” airs Sunday at 7 p.m. on KVCR Channel 24, 8 p.m. on KOCE Channel 50 and 9 p.m. on KCET Channel 28.