Mystery! is an episodic television series that debuted in 1980 in the USA. It airs on PBS and is produced by WGBH. The show has brought a large number of detective series and television movies—most of them British productions from the BBC or the ITV companies and usually adapted from mystery fiction literary sources—to air on American television. In 2002, they added an American-produced series based on the novels of Tony Hillerman to their roster.
Mystery! is noted for its animated opening and closing title sequences based on the cartoons of Edward Gorey and animated by Eugene Federenko, Derek Lamb, and Janet Perlman, with music by Normand Roger. For the Hillerman episodes, the American flag was worked into this opening title sequence.
One of Mystery!'s early successes was Rumpole of the Bailey. Other noted successes include The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes starring Jeremy Brett in the title role, Inspector Morse with John Thaw, Brother Cadfael starring Derek Jacobi, and Prime Suspect starring Helen Mirren. The last one proved so popular that the series was moved to Masterpiece Theatre for higher ratings. Agatha Christie has been well represented with several seasons' worth of stories featuring Hercule Poirot starring David Suchet as well as two versions of Miss Marple's mysteries. The 1980s and 1990s saw Joan Hickson in the title role in Miss Marple while 2005 and 2006 featured Geraldine McEwan as the small-town sleuth in Marple. Beginning in 2009, Julia McKenzie has taken over the role of Miss Marple.
Ride on Stranger is a 1979 Australian mini series about a woman in the 1930s.
Charles Ryder, an agnostic man, becomes involved with members of the Flytes, a Catholic family of aristocrats, over the course of several years between the two world wars.
I Was a Rat is a UK children's drama series broadcast on BBC One in autumn 2001 based on the popular children's book I Was a Rat! or The Scarlet Slippers by Philip Pullman. It was aired in the Sunday tea-time slot which traditionally accommodates a children's drama series in the run-up to Christmas. The series was produced by Andy Rowley and starred Calum Worthy in the leading role, alongside Tom Conti and Brenda Fricker. It was adapted by Richard Carpenter, who won a BAFTA award for the work.
Duplessis was a historical television series in Quebec, Canada, that aired in 1978. It tells the story of Maurice Duplessis, the controversial premier of Quebec from 1936 to 1939 and 1944 to 1959. It is one of the most famous mini-series in Quebec television history. The series was written by Oscar-winning film director Denys Arcand, and based in large part on Conrad Black's popular biography. The series contains 7 episodes, each one containing a different historic moment in Duplessis's life and path into power. Duplessis is portrayed by Jean Lapointe. It is distributed by Radio-Canada and is available on DVD.
A major political, historical, human and economic fact of the 20th century, the Gulag, the extremely punitive Soviet concentration camp system, remains largely unknown.
Untitled live-action series that will follow an older, grizzled superhero in 1930s New York City.
Series looking at the 1920s and 30s, which creates a portrait of an age so daring, influential and exciting that it still shapes who we are today.
Nick Faunt, a Manchester millionaire's son, leaves home at the height of the Depression to become an artist. When he meets Irish serving girl, a strange love story begins.
Set in the 1930s, Antonis Zagouras is a young misusian who comes to Athens trying to make ends meet.
Comedy, set during the 1930s, of social rivalry between two women in a small English town. New arrival Lucia (Geraldine McEwan, as Emmeline "Lucia" Lucas) creates challenges to the established local social dominance of Miss Elizabeth Mapp (Prunella Scales).
Shanghai in 30s: An intriguing crime case emerges amidst the bustling city. A beautiful new graduate of police academy, Qin Xiaoman, joins the investigation unit. The famous detective Luo Fei becomes her colleague and neighbour.
Chronicles the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history, in which the frenzied wheat boom of the Great Plow-Up, followed by a decade-long drought during the 1930s nearly swept away the breadbasket of the nation.