‘The Countess Alice’

The strength of this ‘Masterpiece Theatre’ drama derives much less from its script than from performances of the actresses. This 1993 BBC production unites Wendy Hiller and Zoe Wanamaker in a bittersweet contemporary story by Allan Cubitt that is part mystery and part character study. Grand dame Hiller, (pictured right), is 80-year-old Englishwoman Alice, Countess von Holzendorf. But it’s Connie (Wanamaker, left), the middle-aged daughter with whom Alice shares a London flat and a life of genteel meagerness, who drives the story toward enigma and conflict by making a shocking discovery (KCET Sunday at 9 p.m.)