Drama

The newest adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations premieres tonight at 9pm on Masterpiece Classic! Starring Gillian Anderson, Douglas Booth, David Suchet, Ray Winstone and Vanessa Kirby, it’s a haunting reimagining of a story that many of us know by heart. (And it’s pretty beautiful to look at, too.)

Click through for a sneak peek at a scene from tonight’s premiere! In it, we see Pip’s first trip to Satis house and his fateful first meeting with the decidedly creepy Miss Havisham, who dresses in a bedraggled wedding gown and doesn’t bother with the inconvenience of shoes.

In the aftermath of the Golden Globes in January, several stories surfaced that Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes was considering turning his hit costume drama into a feature film. The Sun reported at the time that Fellowes was “virtually mobbed” at the Globes afterparty and was seen talking to numerous film executives about the possibility of Downton: The Movie. (How these folks know what people at these parties talked about specifically, I don’t know, but let’s go with it, for the sake of discussion.)

Downton star Hugh Bonneville insisted that fans jumped to conclusions after reading the reports from the Globes and denied that a feature film is being planned. Given the fact that the show’s cast and crew are all neck deep in filming Series 3, I doubt very much that a movie is being planned right now. But I don’t think that necessarily means we can rule out seeing a Downton film in the not-too-distant future.

Click through for more – and proof that I’ve spent way too long thinking about this!

Crime drama Whitechapel recently concluded its third season run in the UK, but Americans won’t have to wait very long to see the series’ new cases for themselves. BBC America has announced that Series 3 will premiere on the cable network as part of their Wednesday night “Dramaville” block starting on March 28.

If you’ve never seen Whitechapel before, it’s an extremely well put together crime series that features modern-day murder cases which are “inspired” by famous cases of the past and played out over multiple episodes. (Series 1 was Jack the Ripper and Series 2 was the Kray twins.) The format of Series 3 has undergone a bit of a shakeup – now we’re getting six episodes split into three two-part stories, rather than one single mystery spread over three episodes. Bit of an adjustment, but the quality of this show is so high that I think that giving them more episodes to work with can only lead to good things.

Click through for a look at BBC America’s new trailer, which gives us a pretty good idea of what sorts of cases Series 3 will focus on (read: still extremely creepy and scary).

Some depressing news for Sherlock fans surfaced last week – we’re going to have to settle in for a pretty long wait to see Series 3 of the detective drama.

Beryl Vertue, one of Sherlock’s executive producers told BBC in-house magazine Ariel that the third series is currently slated to start filming in “early 2013.” Vertue also said that at the moment it’s too early to confirm (or even speculate apparently) airdates for the new episodes.

The third series was announced in January immediately following the end of the season two run in the UK. At the time, Steven Moffat hinted that it “wouldn’t be that long” between seasons, but apparently the packed schedules of the series’ cast and crew may be making that promise difficult to keep.

Stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are busy filming a couple of major feature films at the moment (the Star Trek sequel and The Hobbit, respectively) and Moffat himself is occupied making the seventh season of Doctor Who. (I do wonder how the Who 50th anniversary schedule next year is likely to impact Sherlock production/airdates as well, but more on that in the months to come, I expect.)

At least we can console ourselves for a little bit with Series 2 here in the States – just 48 days away! But we better enjoy it while we can, because we’ll be in for another grueling hiatus in order to find how the story continues after the season finale. We should probably start stockpiling fan videos and song parodies now.

Source: Ariel

If you’re hoping for a period drama fix during Downton Abbey’s hiatus, you’re probably looking forward to Downton creator Julian Fellowes upcoming Titanic mini-series. It’s pretty much looking a lot like Downton: The "I’m on a Boat!" Edition, so I’m into it on basic principle.

Titanic is airing on ABC in April here in the States, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ship’s sinking. The cast is top-notch, featuring Linus Roache, Toby Jones, Geraldine Somerville, Timothy West, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Sophie Winkleman, Celia Imrie and more.

Click through for a behind-the-scenes clip that introduces us to some of the series’ cast and gives us a feel for the scale of the show. As an extra bonus for those of you who are interested, you can also watch a second Titanic trailer, which provides a much better look at characters and plots and is just generally all around awesome.

Get ready, Sherlockians, the game countdown to Series 2 is officially on! The very first Masterpiece Mystery promo for Sherlock has been released!

It looks awesome. There are snippets from all three upcoming episodes – A Scandal in Belgravia, The Hounds of Baskerville and The Reichenbach Fall – and Sherlock not only gets punched in the face, but sports a very iconic-looking deerstalker!

So, without further ado – click through, give it a watch and leave your reactions in the comments! Only 53 days to go!

So, this has happened. I suppose in some sense it was only a matter of time. But, Downton Abbey: The Rap (called simply “Downton”) is here. And it’s pretty much everything you never knew you needed in an internet song about your favorite show.

Or, as creator Adam WarRock says, the song is “The best rap song about an early 20th century period drama centered around property law that you'll ever hear. Believe that.”

And it so is.

“Downton,” which samples "Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)" by Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz, is super catchy and full of in-jokes that fans will enjoy. (My personal favorite line is the one about wanting to tell Carson all about “these haters all around me/gossiping snakes/like Thomas and O’Brien when they’re on a smoke break.” Amazing.)

Click through to take a listen for yourself. It’s totally worth it.

Earlier this year, UK broadcaster ITV aired a one off TV-film prequel to the beloved Inspector Morse mysteries. Called Endeavour, the drama features Shaun Evans stepping into the role made famous by John Thaw for a look at the beginning of the detective’s career. The prequel, set in 1965, chronicles Endeavour Morse’s early days on the force in Oxford, when he is given the career making opportunity to investigate the murder of a fifteen year old girl.

Those of us in America haven’t even seen Endeavour for ourselves yet – it’s slated to air this summer on Masterpiece Mystery – but, even so, all the Morse fans out there can breathe an early sigh of relief. The one-off film proved so popular for ITV that the drama is already set to return for a full series. Four two-hour episodes have been confirmed, to be filmed on location in Oxford later this year, presumably for a 2013 broadcast. Roger Allam will also return as young Morse’s senior partner Inspector Fred Thursday, as well as James Bradshaw who plays Dr. Max Debryn. Thaw’s daughter, Abigail, will also make further guest appearances in the new episodes.

“It was fantastic that the audience responded so warmly to Endeavour,” said Sally Haynes of the ITV Drama Commissioning team. “Shaun’s portrayal of a legendary character was captivating and Endeavour thoroughly deserves a series – there’s so much more we can do with the character."

Source: ITV Press Centre

E4 has decide to end its groundbreaking teen drama Skins next year. The series, however, will go out with a bang – its seventh season will consist of three two-hour specials that are slated to screen next year and bring back several former cast members, in what Channel 4 is promising will be a “celebration of a truly iconic series.”

Created by the father-and-son writing team of Bryan Elsley and Jamie Brittain, Skins’ first season aired in 2007 and the show received both critical acclaim and complaints for its dedication to realistically depicting the issues facing modern teens, including family problems, sexuality, drugs, eating disorders, mental illness, death and, of course, loads of relationship drama. The cast was also regularly changed from series to series.

Click through for details on what familiar faces we might see as the popular series signs off.

After looking at Benedict Cumberbatch’s shockingly blonde hair color for his upcoming project Parade’s End earlier this week, I realized that here at Telly Visions we have been remiss in sharing one particularly awesome bit of video that some of you may not have seen yet.

Now that Sherlock Series 2 has aired in the UK, we’re gearing up for the American premiere – which means that new promotional material has slowly started cropping up – and the first American sneak peek at the new series is online! Personally, I’m sort of ashamed I hadn’t gotten this clip up on the blog already – but I’ll do my best to correct my error on that score right now.

Click through for an official Masterpiece sneak peek - a scene from the first episode of Series 2, called A Scandal in Belgravia. And I promise, even if you’ve seen it already, it’s worth another watch. The three-minute clip features stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman ,Mark Gatiss, Buckingham Palace, some truly great dialogue and, oh yeah, Cumberbatch wandering around a Royal residence wearing only a sheet. Enjoy.