By Lacy Baugher for Drama on March 29th, 2013

The Shopping Will Go On: Mr. Selfridge Already Renewed for Series 2

Mr.-Selfridge-2-.jpg
While the Masterpiece premiere of new period drama Mr. Selfridge doesn’t happen until this Sunday here in the US, there’s already some good news for interested fans about the future of the show. ITV has already renewed the costume drama for a second series, as a result of its consistently high ratings (averaging somewhere around 8 million viewers) across the pond. The UK network also said that Mr. Selfridge has been the channel’s most watched new drama since detective series Scott & Bailey premiered in 2011. Woo and hoo.  (Apparently this information  was announced a couple of weeks ago – did I miss it while I had the flu? Who knows? It’s still good news!)

Star Jeremy Piven will return as flamboyant entrepreneur Harry Gordon Selfridge, and most of the drama’s main cast, including Zoe Tapper, Amanda Abbington, Samuel West and Frances O’Connor, are all slated to be back. ITV bosses have also hinted that more new faces will join the current players as the drama surrounding the famous Oxford Street department store and the lives of the people who work there continues to unfold. 

Writer Andrew Davies will also be back to pen Series 2, and will be joined by two additional lead writers, Kate Brooke and Kate O’Riordan. The drama’s second series will also consist of ten episodes – the same as Series 1 – and the story will be set in 1914 amid the onset of the first world war. Filming is scheduled to begin later this Spring, with an eye to a 2014 airing in time to mark the centenary of the start of World War I.

Are you looking forward to checking out Mr. Selfridge when it premieres on Masterpiece this weekend? Personally, I find the knowledge that the show has already been renewed makes me feel even better about tuning in on Sunday – there’s nothing worse than getting into something only to have it disappear on you. 

By Lacy Baugher for Drama on March 29th, 2013
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. 

Explore More

More to Love from Telly Visions

  • ‘Mr. Selfridge’ Recap: The Series Finale

    Previously, on Mr. Selfridge: Jimmy’s feeling pretty great about himself for getting Harry to buy London department store Whiteleys. Or at least he is until he realizes that he’s terrible at his new job, and didn’t pay attention to simple business lessons from Crabbe like “How to Keep Your Store Stocked with Items to Sell”. He basically blackmails Crabbe and George Towler into helping him smuggle Selfridges goods into Whiteleys to sell, but of course they get caught and now everyone’s in trouble. Mae’s having some regrets about her decision to sleep with Harry. Lord Wynnstay’s reporter manages to dig up enough conflicting info on Jimmy to run a story that maybe implicates him in Victor’s death,  and Harry’s furious. He tells Jimmy he has a PR plan ready to fight back, but Jimmy just confesses that, actually, he killed Victor after all. Harry is horrified, even more so after he learns that Mae suspected Jimmy and didn’t say anything. Jimmy, for his part, throws himself off Westminster bridge because he can’t face what he’s done.

    Want more details? Last week’s recap is right this way. 

    By Lacy Baugher for Drama on 5/23/2016
    This is actually a picture of Harry getting fired, surprise? (Photo: Courtesy of (C) ITV Studios for MASTERPIECE)

  • ‘Mr. Selfridge’ Recap: Season 4, Episode 8

    Previously, on Mr. Selfridge: Harry, Gordon and Jimmy are psyched about their purchase of Whiteleys department store, but their joy is tempered by the fact that the business’ accounts are a total mess and the store has no stock. Whoops! A reporter is still digging in to Jimmy’s relationship with the now dead Victor Colleano, basically because the script says he has to do so. (There’s no reason for this, but Jimmy’s a murderer and garbage, so bring it on!)  We learn that machinist Tilly Brockless had a child out of wedlock and that’s why she lost her previous job. Meryl guilts her father about firing the girl over it, and Grove eventually relents and hires her back, right before he drops dead in the back yard. Oh and Harry and Mae sleep together, which is actually much ickier than we all thought it would be. 

    Want more details? Last week’s recap is right this way. 

    By Lacy Baugher for Drama on 5/16/2016
    Mr. Selfridge and Miss Plunkett are basically not happy with life. (Photo: Courtesy of (C) ITV Studios for MASTERPIECE)