PBS Sets 'Guilt' Season 3 Debut, Will Be the Show's Final Season
Mark Bonnar and Jamie Sives as Max and Jake McCall in 'Guilt' Season 3
BBC/Masterpiece
The BBC Scotland series Guilt was initially scooped up by Masterpiece in the summer of 2020 out of an abundance of caution by the anthology series executive producer Suzanne Simpson. It was part of a group of shows Simpson picked up the rights for to make sure there was programming during the spring and summer of 2021, just in case the filming disruptions from COVID were longer than the initial delay estimates suggested. It was a smart move; those programs turned out to be Masterpiece's main program offerings for the first half of 2021, with Guilt Season 1 closing out the summer schedule.
Guilt proved popular enough with Masterpiece audiences at the time that the anthology scooped up Season 2 from the BBC as well and once again aired it at the end of the summer of 2022. Both seasons aired across Labor Day, with Season 1 airing its four episodes in two two-hour installments on either side of the holiday, and Season 2 as three parts, two one-hour episodes and then a two-hour finale.
However, while Guilt Season 3 aired on the BBC in April 2023 and Masterpiece assured fans it was bringing it over, summer 2023 closed out without a sign of the Scottish comedy and no news about its premiere as 2024 rolled in. It turned out Masterpiece was holding the show until Spring 2024, where, for the first time, the series will air as four one-hour episode installments. The series will directly follow the romantic drama Alice & Jack in the 10 p.m. ET slot on PBS linear and debut on streaming the same day.
The final season synopsis is as follows:
The final part of the trilogy sees the brothers back together, but enemies old and new cause them to seek ever more desperate solutions to their problems. Digging deep into their past, Max and Jake hope to finally find a future free of danger... and each other.
Bonnar and Sives will reunite for the final time with co-stars from the first two seasons: Emun Elliot (The Gold), Phyllis Logan (Downton Abbey), Greg McHugh (Man Vs Bee), Ellie Haddington (Crime), Sara Vickers (Endeavour) and Henry Pettigrew (Payback). Newcomers for the final season include Euan MacNaughton (Bridgerton), Anita Vettesse (Vigil), Tamsin Topolski (Slow Horses), David Hayman (Help), Amelia Isaac Jones (Beast of Burden), Isaura Barbé-Brown (Toast of Tinseltown), and Anders Hayward (Life After Life).
Neil Forsyth wrote all four episodes of the final season with director Patrick Harkins (Happy Valley) helming and Margaret Matheson (Run) producing. Executive producers include Forsyth, Neil Webster for Happy Tramp North, and Nerys Evans for Expectation.
Guilt Season 3 will debut on most PBS stations on Sunday, April 29, 2024, at 10 p.m. ET, and will run weekly as four one-hour episodes on linear, the PBS app, and the PBS Masterpiece Channel. All four episodes will also debut as a binge on premiere day for PBS Passport members.
