'Ridley Road' Premiere Date Announced For Spring
The PBS Masterpiece lineup in 2021 was something of a start-and-stop affair, as the delays from the 2020 shutdown in the U.K. rolled across the pond, causing Call The Midwife, Grantchester, Unforgotten, and Baptiste to debut in the second half of the year. But no such delays will exist for 2022. Once Around the World in 80 Days and All Creatures Great & Small are over, Call The Midwife and Sanditon Season 2 will roll in. And once they conclude, there's still more drama to come with Ridley Road.
Based on the 2014 Jo Bloom novel of the same name, Ridley Road was initially optioned by BBC One back in 2015. The story chronicles the life of Vivian Epstein, the sheltered daughter of a Manchester Jewish family, who rebels against her arranged marriage by running away and joining the 62 Group. She becomes an undercover operative and part of the opposition to 1960s British neo-Nazis.
The series wound up a co-production with Masterpiece and produced by StudioCanal, but, as with most things filming in 2020, was pushed due to delays. The series finally debuted last year, in October 2021, on the BBC to mixed reviews. At the Television Critics Association panel, Masterpiece CEO Susanne Simpson confirmed the four-part series would arrive this spring, at the beginning of May 2022, taking over Sanditon's Sunday slot once the season ends.
Here's the series synopsis:
Set against the backdrop of a swinging sixties London we haven't seen: an East End world where far-right fascism is on the rise. When Vivien Epstein follows her lover into danger, and he is caught between life and death, she finds herself going undercover with the fascists, not only for him but for the sake of her country.
Epstein is played by newcomer Agnes O'Casey, discovered for the role. She's surrounded by a bevy of BBC familiar faces, including Tom Varey (Ackley Bridge) as her secret boyfriend, Jack. Co-stars include Eddie Marsan (Ray Donovan), Will Keen (His Dark Materials), Samantha Spiro (Game of Thrones), Tracy-Ann Oberman (Grantchester), Julia Krynke (DCI Banks), Rita Tushingham (The Pale Horse), and Allan Corduner (The Collection).
Though Ridley Road is fiction, Epstein's undercover work brings her in contact with multiple real-life figures from the 1960s era Nazi movement. The series cast Rory Kinnear (Years and Years) as the real-life figure Colin Jordan, leader of the British Neo-Nazi Movement. Actor Stephen Hogan (The Tudors) will portray the real-life American Nazi leader George Lincoln Rockwell.
Ridley Road is the first title announced for the late spring lineup on PBS' Sunday night block. Fans will have to wait and see if Masterpiece and PBS continue with a three-hour programming block through to this summer or if Ridley Road arrives on its own.
Ridley Road will debut on PBS on Sunday, May 1, 2022, at 9 p.m. ET on most PBS stations and is expected to stream on PBS Passport as well. As always, check your local listings.
