By Lacy Baugher for Drama on February 13th, 2020

Period Drama 'Beecham House' To Get Early Release on PBS Passport

Tom Bateman in "Beecham House" (Photo: Courtesy of ITV/FREMANTLE)

MASTERPIECE “Beecham House” Pictured: TOM BATEMAN as John Beecham For editorial use only. Copyright: ITV,FREMANTLE

Mark your calendars, period drama fans, new series Beecham House will soon be coming to a streaming device near you, before the series airs on Masterpiece later this year.

The lavish six-part drama takes place at the turn of the 18th century in Delhi, India and follows the story of the wealthy and mysterious John Beecham, a former soldier who purchases an opulent house to start a new life with his family.

The ensemble cast includes a lot of British faces that will be familiar to Masterpiece and PBS fans. It stars Vanity Fair’s Tom Bateman, alongside Downton Abbey’s Lesley Nicol, Mr. Selfridge’s Gregory Fitoussi, Sanditon’s Leo Suter, Endeavour’s Dakota Blue Richards and more.

The series will stream in full on both PBS Passport and Amazon Prime Video’s Masterpiece channel, beginning on March 1. Beecham House will also air traditionally on Masterpiece itself at some point later this year. (TBD on that front. Summer, maybe?)

Unfortunately, fans should maybe not get too attached to the show and its characters. U.K. network ITV canceled the show following its first season there, and though the show is being shopped to other networks and broadcasters, there’s no word yet on whether one of them might sign on to a second season.

“We have no plans for Beecham House to return, but the series is still to air in the US from March 2020 and creator Gurinder Chadha is actively having conversations with international broadcasters with a view to the drama returning beyond series one”, a representative of ITV said in a statement.

This idea isn’t as out of left field as you might think. Given the fact that new content is in high demand for the many streaming outlets that have sprung up what feels like virtually overnight, canceled series can find new homes beyond their original outlets. Acorn TV picked up mystery series Agatha Raisin when Sky originally ended it, and Hulu gave us more Harlots after ITV declined to continue the show.

So, you know, keep the dream alive.

Are you looking forward to giving Beecham House a try next month? Let’s discuss.

By Lacy Baugher for Drama on February 13th, 2020
Lacy Baugher

Lacy's love of British TV is embarrassingly extensive, but primarily centers around evangelizing all things Doctor Who, and watching as many period dramas as possible.

Digital media type by day, she also has a fairly useless degree in British medieval literature, and dearly loves to talk about dream poetry, liminality, and the medieval religious vision. (Sadly, that opportunity presents itself very infrequently.) York apologist, Ninth Doctor enthusiast, and unabashed Ravenclaw. Say hi on Threads or Blue Sky at @LacyMB. 

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