Making Masterpiece

Did you stop answering the phone at 9.00 P.M. on Sunday nights to watch the original Upstairs, Downstairs? Did you gather at the water cooler or its electronic equivalent to discuss last night's tragic events on Downton Abbey? Did you tweet our sister with delight and amazement when Sherlock jumped off the roof, splattered himself on the sidewalk, and then showed up behind a tree at his own grave site? As Rebecca Eaton, executive producer of the longest-running prime-time...
More Description

Did you stop answering the phone at 9.00 P.M. on Sunday nights to watch the original Upstairs, Downstairs? Did you gather at the water cooler or its electronic equivalent to discuss last night's tragic events on Downton Abbey? Did you tweet our sister with delight and amazement when Sherlock jumped off the roof, splattered himself on the sidewalk, and then showed up behind a tree at his own grave site? As Rebecca Eaton, executive producer of the longest-running prime-time television drama in American history, says in her candid and witty memoir, 'Masterpiece seems to connect people across generations and up and down family trees. The show's longevity forty-two years has to do with the company we keep when we watch it.' When the young Vassar graduate suddenly became the producer of Masterpiece Theatrein 1985, she hadn't actually seen many of he episodes. No did she like mystery novels, through her new job required her to choose British detective stories for the popular offshoot Mystery! A lifelong Anglophile who'd apprenticed at the BBC World Service, she saw an opportunity for an idealistic young woman to make her mark in the newly established public television system. Twenty-eight years later, Masterpieceis one of the hottest shows on television, from the crinolines of Cranfordto the cybernetics of Sherlock. Eaton talks about (and occasionally to) the people who have over the years made Masterpiecethe beloved, iconic program it is- hosts such as Alistair Cooke, Diana Rigg, Gillian Anderson, Russel Baker, and Alan Cumming; Upstairs, Downstairsco-creators Jean Marsh and Eileen Atkins; Downton Abbeycreator Julian Fellowes; and actors such as Kenneth Branagh and Elizabeth McGovern, with surprising cameos from Robert Redford, Paul Newman, and Daniel Radcliffe, who launched his career as the young David Copperfield Rebecca Eaton has also overseen the triumphant transition of 'quill-pen' Masterpiece into the digital age, as Jane Austen meets Facebook, and a whole new generation of viewers learns the pleasures of classic costume drama as well as those of cutting-edge adaptations like Sherlock. Between the unexpected hits and missed marks, the challenges of wrangling money for art, and the perils of rebranding a classic for the twenty-first century, Making Masterpiece has as many dramatic ups, downs, and cliffhangers as most popular television serials. As Kenneth Branagh says in his preface- 'Masterpiecebrings together various bodies of work to create something greater than the sum of its parts. And it presents the material with enthusiasm and passion and intelligence and a sense of occasion . The program, the institution, and the many strands of Masterpiece punch way above their weight. I say, well done, Rebecca, and thank you very much.'