BBC Drama ‘My Mother and Other Strangers’ Comes to Masterpiece in June
My Mother and Other Strangers MASTERPIECE on PBS Hattie Morahan (Sense and Sensibility) stars as Englishwoman Rose Coyne, raising her daughter Emma and son Francis in Northern Ireland during World War II. Owen McDonnell (An Klondike) is her loving husband Michael, a Northern Irishman who realizes he never lived up to her dreams. Aaron Staton (Mad Men) is Captain Dreyfuss, the honorable American officer who upends her life. “Hattie Morahan is superb.” —The Telegraph (London). Shown from left to right: Captain Ronald Dreyfuss (AARON STATON), Rose Coyne (HATTIE MORAHAN) and Michael Coyne (OWEN MCDONNELL) For editorial use only. Courtesy of Steffan Hill/BBC 2016 for MASTERPIECE
BBC 2016
New period drama My Mother and Other Strangers is headed to PBS’ Masterpiece this summer. The five-part series premieres on Sunday, June 18 at 8pm, just ahead of the debut of the third season of popular mystery drama Grantchester.
The wartime drama chronicles the story of the Coyne family, who live in a remote village in Northern Ireland during World War II. But their lives are turned upside down with the arrival of hundreds of American fighter pilots, when a U.S. air base is established nearby.
The Bletchley Circle’s Hattie Morahan stars as Rose Coyne, an Englishwoman raising her daughter Emma and son Francis alongside her husband Michael (Owen McDonnell). But a chance meeting with an American Air Force officer (played by Mad Men’s Aaron Staton) leads to a friendship that blossoms into something much deeper.
(Basically: This sounds exactly like the sort of show most of us generally love to watch. Just, you know, if that vague description is anything to go by.)
Watch the Masterpiece trailer below:
Set in Northern Ireland during WWII, My Mother and Other Strangers follows the Coyne family... Coming to MASTERPIECE Sun. 6/18 on @PBS! pic.twitter.com/9xHE4Qd6lE
— Masterpiece PBS (@masterpiecepbs) May 18, 2017
According to the PBS press release, the drama is framed from the point of view of young Francis (played by Michael Nevin, with voiceovers of an older Francis provided by Game of Thrones actor Ciarán Hinds). His childhood is populated by strangers – hence the series’ title.
But though young Francis might serve as our narrator, the story is really about his mother. Rose is an upright Englishwoman who married Michael Coyne and moved to his hometown of Moybeg, where she teaches at the village school and tends the grocery store next door to his pub. But despite being a pillar of the local community, Rose has never really fit in there. She’s a bit posh, more well-spoken than the majority of her neighbors, and loves English literature. And she has a lively interest in the larger world outside their small town.
Into this isolated domain comes Captain Ronald Dreyfus, U.S. Army Air Forces, who encounters Rose during a walk on the heath. In his capacity as base liaison officer, he has occasion to see her frequently: dealing with a fracas between airmen and regulars at the pub, arranging for an army nurse to care for a sick child, and planning a Christmas party for the school. Both would-be lovers fight against the stronger feelings that are overwhelming them—emotions that are increasingly evident to those around them.
Will the two give in to their feelings for one another? Well, that’s why we have to watch the show, right?
Does My Mother and Other Strangers sound like something you’d watch? Let us know – and mark your calendars for June 18!
