'All Creatures Great & Small' + 'Miss Scarlet' Confirmed for 2025

Masterpiece may have focused on the Fall 2024 lineup airing on PBS for their panels at the Television Critics Association Summer 2024 Press Tour, but executive producer Susanne Simpson did not forget that 2025 is coming up quickly. As part of her presentation, she confirmed that fan favorites All Creatures Great & Small and Miss Scarlet Season 5 are confirmed to return next year. Though she did not give dates, the fact that it was the kick-off for the top of the speech (not to mention the schedule over the past few years) would suggest that both shows will be back at the top of the year starting sometime in the first two weeks of January.

However, confirming that those two shows are set to return was not the only news Simpson broke during the panel. She also confirmed that Grantchester Season 10 will come to Masterpiece in the summer of 2025, which almost assuredly means it will air in the U.S. before it does on ITV, much like Seasons 8 and 9 did. She also talked up Miss Austen and Wolf Hall: The Mirror & The Light, with the added announcement that the original 2015 Wolf Hall will air on PBS stations starting at 10 p.m. ET beginning the week after the conclusion of Van der Valk Season 4 this fall, on Sunday, October 27, 2024.

But it was during the panel, when Telly Visions asked about status updates on some of the original shows Masterpiece produced, that things got interesting. Two years ago, Simpson announced a new series, Mrs. Churchill, focused on the wife of the famous prime minister. She was happy to announce that the show was still in development, with two out of five episodes written, and once a U.K. distributor signed on, the show would go forward.

Simpson also talked about how Masterpiece is expanding to produce its own original series, like the forthcoming The Forstye Saga and the aforementioned Miss Austen. Though she agreed part of the reason for the anthology series to start getting involved in the original programming game was due to the increased competition from other streaming services like Netflix, BritBox, and Acorn TV, she also pointed out how much the BBC and ITV have moved away from period dramas in the last five years, especially those set in the Victorian era and prior, something which has been a staple of Masterpiece's programming since it launched in 1970.

With the two main partners not currently interested in making classical period dramas, Masterpiece has had to collaborate with other British networks, like UKTV and Channel 5, to create the content their audiences expect. But to fill the gap, the anthology series has to start making its own; there's no set percentage of originals Masterpiece hopes to make per year, as much as it will be based on the need it has for period drama series.

Speaking of UK TV, Simpson was asked about Annika Season 3; at the Winter TCAs, she told the room to watch their inboxes for an announcement, which had yet to appear. Unfortunately, the fortunes of those fans seem to be degrading: Simpson smiled weakly, "Think positive"? ...Perhaps there won't be another season after all.

All Creatures Great & Small Season 5, Miss Scarlet Season 5, Wolf Hall: The Mirror & The Light, Miss Austen, and Grantchester Season 10 will all air on PBS sometime in the 2025 season. Annika Season 3 fans: pray.