Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Russell Baker, who succeeded Cooke as the show’s host in 1993, didn’t want to take the job either, though for different reasons.
Who did mousterpiece theatre series#
In a show of skepticism, Eaton wrote in her 2013 book Making Masterpiece, he signed a one-year contract just weeks before the series premiered - and proceeded to sign one-year contracts for the remainder of his time as host, a whopping 22 seasons. According to Rebecca Eaton, who has served as Masterpiece’s producer since 1985, Cooke only agreed to sign on at his daughter’s urging.
At the time, he was working on his own BBC series, and he wasn’t convinced that Masterpiece would appeal to American audiences. Cooke was the face of the series for more than 20 years, but he actually turned down the hosting gig when it was first offered to him. Masterpiece Theatre’s very first host was British-American broadcaster, author, and journalist Alistair Cooke. The Series’ Original Host, Alistair Cooke, Thought It Was Going To Fail Credit: David Madison/ Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images I went through all kinds of English composers and nothing worked. “I wanted to use it for Masterpiece Theatre but there was no way I could bear to put a French piece of music on something that was supposed to be English.
“It was just magic,” Sarson previously told PBS. As the story goes, Sarson heard the music on vacation with his soon-to-be-wife in 1962, when Club Med played the stately tune (“Rondeau” from Mouret’s Symphonies and Fanfares for the King’s Supper) each morning as a way to summon guests out of their grass huts for breakfast. Even stranger, producer Christopher Sarson stumbled upon the now-instantly-recognizable intro at a Club Med in Palermo, Sicily. Interestingly, however, the trumpet-filled theme song that ushers in each episode comes not from England but from France - specifically, French composer Jean-Joseph Mouret. Part of the appeal of Masterpiece is its unapologetic British-ness, from the period costumes to the bucolic sets.
Producers Found the Iconic “Masterpiece” Theme Song at a Club Med in Sicily Credit: Labutin.Art/ Shutterstock
Here are eight surprising facts about the long-running series that may help shed some light on the ever-enduring appeal of Masterpiece. Some of its most popular dramas, like the award-winning Downton Abbey and fan-favorite Sherlock, have become so successful that viewers often forget they’re products of the anthology series.Īs well-established as Masterpiece is, however, there’s a lot about its history and its form that remains a mystery to even its most ardent fans. Incredibly, although the series has undergone numerous changes over the past five decades, it still offers basically the same winning formula that it has offered for generations: curated programming largely consisting of adaptations of classic novels by (mostly British) authors such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Hardy, Agatha Christie, and Jane Austen, among others. But such is the case for Masterpiece, formerly known as Masterpiece Theatre (more on that later), which is still going strong five decades after its January 1971 debut. In today’s world of streaming entertainment on demand and short attention spans, the idea of a television series celebrating its 50th anniversary feels like - and is - an anomaly.
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