Finally, a ‘Masterpiece Theatre’ Worthy of Its Legacy

Anglophile alert! Brit-bred “Masterpiece Theatre,” for several years a low-beam version of its lovely old self after a couple of decades of being the Bethlehem star of PBS, may be taking a turn for the better.

Surely not enough of one for fanatical nostalgianiks (such as yours truly) who choke up merely at the memory of the grandly mounted, sniffy costume epics that used to be and the breadth and depth of acting talent that occupied those costumes.

If this is less than a U-turn, moreover, consider it at least a noteworthy veer, as “Masterpiece Theatre” celebrates its 25th anniversary this month with a delectably sly and occasionally salacious two-parter from England’s Channel 4 titled “The Politician’s Wife.” It arrives Sunday, with Juliet Stevenson superb as a wife responding both to her husband’s kinky sexual tastes and to the scandalous affair that threatens his soaring political career. Shades of Gary Hart and Bill Clinton.

And promising more fun in February are the comeuppance of that nasty cad Francis Urquhart in “The Final Cut” and another go-round with Detective Superintendent Jane Tennison in “Prime Suspect: Inner Circles.”

Less and less frequent are the addictive whiffs of antique must and classic novels that “Masterpiece Theatre” once regularly delivered. Set in the present, the above trio symbolizes the extent to which this series has been refocused in the 1990s on contemporary English manners. As Rebecca Eaton, the executive producer for “Masterpiece Theatre” at Boston’s WGBH-TV notes in a recently published retrospective of the series, more than half of its productions are now present-day oriented, whereas in former times it rarely ventured past 1950.

That changed dramatically in 1989 when “Masterpiece Theatre” aired “A Very British Coup,” a scintillatingly complex and ironic thriller about the secret opposition government within the government of an idealistic Labor prime minister--he dares to keep his campaign promises--who narrowly averts being deposed by his entrenched enemies. Political scheming also prevailed two years later in “House of Cards” and again in 1994 in “To Play the King,” parts 1 and 2 of a deliciously evil trilogy about the rise and maintenance of power, through treachery and murder, of Tory Prime Minister Urquhart and his Lady Macbethian wife. Their hash is settled in Part 3, “The Final Cut.”

Like those productions, “The Politician’s Wife” affirms British TV superiority when it comes to making entertaining fictional dramas with dark political themes drawn from shadowy conspiracies. For some reason, American TV doesn’t come even close.

This story by Paula Milne (who also wrote “Die Kinder,” which aired on the PBS “Mystery” series), appears inspired by the infamous 1960s sex scandal that toppled British Cabinet Minister John Profumo, sparking tabloid headlines, jokes galore and the theatrical movie “Scandal.”

The first clue that something’s amiss here is the arrival of blood-sniffing tabloid hordes at the serene, graceful home of top Tory minister Duncan Matlock (Trevor Eve)--in the United States, choppers would be there too--after getting wind of his secret affair with former call girl Jennifer Caird (Minnie Driver, much slimmer and sexier here than as the frumpy heroine in “Circle of Friends”).

Inside the house is Matlock’s stunned wife, the dutiful, seemingly-out-of-her-depth, just-a-bit dowdy Flora (Stevenson), who was unaware of his cheating ways. And whispering in her ear, imploring her to swallow her humiliation, stiffen her upper lip and publicly support her husband for the good of his promising career are a gathering of self-serving party operatives and damage controllers that includes her own father (Frederick Treves). “We’re counting on you to be a team player,” he says, as if her personal feelings were unimportant.

Milne has said she was curious why so many wronged political wives seem to publicly back their errant husbands in such cases. Her own protagonist, though, turns out to be much less forgiving and much more spiny and resourceful than you’d think from outward indications. Infuriated by audiotapes of X-rated phone chats between her husband and his lover--shades of the British royals--she hatches a Machiavellian payback with the help of a friend.

Even though it’s unrealistic that no one catches on to Flora’s trickery somewhere along the line, director Graham Theakston and this fine cast give Milne’s serpentine script an intriguing ride, and some of its adornments--from frenzied media to self-serving partisan spinners--will have a disturbing authenticity for U.S. viewers, too.

As will the enduring question that subtly underpins this story: whether a politician’s private life should remain private as long as it doesn’t conflict with his or her public positions. Milne softens the issue somewhat by making Duncan as much a lying, uncaring, cynical jerk as a public servant as he is a husband, so that disclosing his philandering seems a proper punishment for his misconduct. If only the ethical lines were as clear in the cases of real-life politicians.

* Part 1 of “The Politician’s Wife” on “Masterpiece Theatre” airs Sunday at 9 p.m. on KCET-TV Channel 28 and Tuesday at 9 p.m. on KOCE-TV Channel 50.