“The Story of The Costume Drama: The Greatest Stories Ever Told” Premieres in March on PBS

- A Celebration of 50 Years of Historical Drama
With Interviews and Clips -

Featuring scenes from some of the most memorable and best loved series ever broadcast, THE STORY OF THE COSTUME DRAMA: THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD is a celebration of 50 years of historical drama on television, the genre that brought bans in America and complaints from the Royal Family, all while creating massive stars and riveting audiences to their television screens with stories of love and war, birth and death, the rich and the poor. THE STORY OF THE COSTUME DRAMA: THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD premieres on PBS stations beginning March 3, 2012 (check local listings).

Narrated by Keeley Hawes, THE STORY OF COSTUME DRAMA shows how the genre has changed across the decades – from The Forsyte Saga to Upstairs, Downstairs, from I,Claudius to Brideshead Revisited – with interviews with the stars of these series and the people behind the camera.

THE STORY OF THE THE COSTUME DRAMA includes clips from The Forsyte Saga, Vanity Fair, A Family at War, Brideshead Revisited, Poldark, Upstairs, Downstairs, Edward VII, Edward and Mrs. Simpson, Emma, The Jewel in the Crown, Lillie, Pride and Prejudice, Moll Flanders, and many more.

Watch Secrets of the Manor House – Preview on PBS. See more from Secrets of the Manor House.

Secrets of the Manor House premieres Sunday, January 22, 2012.

Exactly 100 years ago, the world of the British manor house was at its height. It was a life of luxury and indolence for a wealthy few supported by the labor of hundreds of servants toiling ceaselessly “below stairs” to make the lives of their lords and ladies run as smoothly as possible. It is a world that has provided a majestic backdrop to a range of movies and popular costume dramas to this day.
But what was really going on behind these stately walls? Secrets of the Manor House looks beyond the fiction to the truth of what life was like in these ancient British houses. They were communities where two separate worlds existed side by side: the poor worked as domestic servants, while the nation’s wealthiest families enjoyed a lifestyle of luxury, and aristocrats ruled over their servants as they had done for a thousand years.

The program talks to present-day British lords and ladies and to the descendants of those who lived and worked in manor houses across the country. A series of expert historians (Lawrence James, the author of The Illustrated Rise and Fall of the British Empire and Dr. Elizabeth Kehoe, the author of Fortune’s Daughters: The Extravagant Lives of the Jerome Sisters) explain the true picture of how life was lived within the walls of these stately homes that had changed very little for centuries. It explains the hierarchy of the British establishment: led by the king with a supporting cast of dukes, earls and barons, each keenly aware of his or her place. It visits modern manor houses, where aristocratic families sometimes still rule over scores of servants, in homes with 100 and more bedrooms, and where the lord still enjoys a luxurious life of hunting, shooting and fishing among the beauty of rural Britain. And it details the true hardship of life as a “downstairs” servant: maids would carry 45 gallons of hot water along hidden servants’ passageways to fill one aristocratic lady’s bath, and a housemaid’s day would start before dawn and last for 17 hours as she scrubbed floors, cleaned grates and carried coal — all for a wage of $15 a year.

But, precisely a century ago, a perfect storm of financial hardship and political and social change was threatening to engulf this traditional British way of life. Some impoverished British aristocrats married wealthy American heiresses to prop up and sustain their fading manor houses; the working classes were finding a voice and demanding both political power and better jobs; and the terrible disaster of World War I was looming in the wings. When war came, nothing in the life of the British manor house was ever the same again.

Secrets of the Manor House was produced by Pioneer Productions.

From Entertainment.ie and WENN.com

Read more about Titanic: Blood and Steel here

Here’s something that will tide you over during Labor Day weekend (for Americans and Canadians)!

From Spoiler TV

Episode: 1 of 8

Sunday, 18 September 2011, 9:00PM – 10:30PM

The Great War unsettles life at Downton and Isobel’s surprising news about Matthew rocks the family further. New maid, Ethel ruffles O’Brien’s feathers and Bates returns with life changing news for Anna.

The combat spoilers and speculation ITV has taken down its detailed synopsis of the first episode. To conform with this, as well as help those who dislike spoilers, I have amended this post as well. However, if you can’t help yourself, here’s a peek! Also, keep watching the other post about the second series–I am constantly updating it with new articles.

News of Julian Fellowes’ Titanic mini-series for ITV was met with much fanfare and discussion, but the BBC had also quietly commissioned its own 12 part mini-series, this time focusing on the actual construction of the R.M.S. Titanic from 1897 to its maiden voyage in 1912. Titanic: Blood & Steel is produced by Guido deAngelis and directed by Ciarán Donnelly (The Tudors, Cold Feet) and co-producer, by Paul Myler of Epos Films. Cast members (both confirmed and unconfirmed) include James Gandolfini as J.P. Morgan, Kevin Zegers as Mark Muir, and Ophelia Lovibond as Kitty Carlton. More information at IMDb and The Irish Film and Television Network.

Update: Chris Noth (Sex and the City, Law & Order) has been cast as J. P. Morgan!
10/4 Update: Rumor is that the BBC won’t be airing this mini-series next year.

Kevin Zegers & Neve Campbell: ‘Titanic’ Photo Call! – Just Jared
‘Titanic – Blood and Steel’ sails into Dublin, filming in Dublin until December 17th – The Irish Film & Television Network
BBC sets sail for Titanic struggle against Julian Fellowes – The Telegraph
Titanic: Blood and Steel Adds Chris Noth and Neve Campbell – Movieweb
‘Titanic: Blood & Steel’ Gerard McCarthy Q&A: It’s not about a sinking – Digital Spy
Downton Abbey’s Maria Doyle Kennedy lands icy role in Titanic: Blood and Steel – Herald.ie
Titanic: Blood and Steel shooting on location in Dublin – Entertainment.ie
‘Extra’ cash for Bollywood dancers and Titanic dockers – Belfast Telegraph
Lights, camera, action! Movie crews take over the streets of the capital – Independent.ie

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