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EXCLUSIVE: It’s an end of an era at Masterpiece. As the iconic PBS drama franchise is heading into its 50th anniversary in 2021, the woman who steered it for the past 34 years, Rebecca Eaton, is taking a step back. Eaton, who has headed Masterpiece since 1985, is stepping down as Executive Producer. She will stay on…

Masterpiece's Little Women marks a breakthrough for PBS: It’s produced by BBC, which, producer Rebecca Eaton noted, "does not do American drama.” “It's hard to get America novels done with BBC because they are BBC – they have a mandate,” she said. Additionally, it can be expensive. “If you shoot in this country, it’s…

Queen Victoria was on the throne more than 60 years, so there is “no shortage of stories” for umpteen seasons of PBS’s Victoria, according to the Masterpiece series’ creator, writer and executive producer, Daisy Goodwin, who happily added to TV critics at TCA, “fingers crossed!” Goodwin did acknowledge that Jenna Colem…

Masterpiece on PBS and the BBC are teaming on a television adaptation of the Tony-nominated play King Charles III, as the franchise looks to beef up its slate in the post-Downton Abbey era. It was among the announcements made by PBS’ Masterpiece executive producer Rebecca Eaton at the beginning of the Victoria panel…

Sherlock EP Steven Moffat and PBS’s Masterpiece chief Rebecca Eaton worked like gangbusters this morning, for the better part of an hour, making sure to convey no actual information about the Sherlock one-off special, which will be set in the Victorian era. Though it’s been widely reported the program will be a…

PBS already has talked with Julian Fellowes about his next drama for Masterpiece. Masterpiece chief Rebecca Eaton, talking to Deadline about today's announced ending for Fellowes' Downton Abbey, confirmed the talks, but declined to elaborate. PBS chief Paula Kerger also was on the phone call, to assure Deadline PBS is…

Jack Davenport was given the thankless job in NBC's canceled Smash of portraying a hotshot choreographer-director who thought Katharine McPhee was the perfect Marilyn Monroe for his Broadway production.  Now he will get a much happier role playing an OBGYN in London in the 1960s-set Breathless for PBS. Masterpiece…

PBS has purchased a second season of Mr. Selfridge, starring Jeremy Piven as the American entrepreneur who founded UK's Selfridge department store. The second season will air on PBS's Masterpiece Classic franchise in '14. PBS says the first season was sampled by 15 million viewers over its eight episodes; each episode…

TCA: PBS Chief Paula Kerger Plays Defense Over Programming Ray Richmond is contributing to Deadline’s coverage of TCA. Masterpiece executive producer Rebecca Eaton positively beamed at critics this afternoon during a lunchtime panel promoting the PBS series of British productions. Ratings for the series were up by…

Emmys Live-Blog; Emmys By The Numbers; Emmy Analysis: Broadcast TV’s Big Awards Comeback; Red Carpet Executive Arrivals Deadline’s Diane Haithman and Ray Richmond were backstage at the Primetime Emmy Awards tonight to hear what the winners had to say. Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell came backstage together after…

PBS has picked up Endeavour, a prequel of the long-running series Inspector Morse, to air on Masterpiece Mystery next year, which marks the 25th anniversary of the series’ 1987 premiere. The prequel — the title, Endeavour, is a reference to Morse's first name — stars British actor Shaun Evans (Ashes to Ashes), who…

Ray Richmond is contributing to Deadline’s coverage of TCA At an afternoon TCA panel promoting the new season of PBS’ Masterpiece series, exec producer Rebecca Eaton was asked to explain a story in Britain’s Daily Mail that charged the acclaimed period drama Downton Abbey (recently nominated for 11 Primetime Emmys)…