Masterpiece Studio

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Five of the Third Season of All Creatures Great and Small. The character of Mrs. Hall is knowing, and quick and quietly competent, but there’s much about her viewers still don’t know. Until this week, that is. In a gripping new episode, we learn the backstory of her long estrangement from her son, and Anna Madeley reveals how that story came to the screen.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Four of the Third Season of Miss Scarlet and the Duke. Ivy Woods is Eliza Scarlet’s surrogate mother, best friend and biggest critic. But thanks to Eliza, Ivy’s seen new possibilities for women in the Victorian Era, which is a thrilling journey for actor Cathy Belton to chart. Belton traces Ivy’s arc in the last three seasons, and looks ahead to what’s in store for the sharp-tongued housekeeper.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Three of the Third Season of Miss Scarlet and the Duke. Miss Scarlet and the Duke series creator, head writer and executive producer Rachael New has a new title to add to her hyphenated list of roles on the show — director! In this third episode of the third season, New stepped up and swept in to the director's chair in a charming jewel box of a bottle episode. New explains how she found the courage to take on the job, and what she learned from the process on set.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Two of the Third Season of All Creatures Great and Small*.* On any given episode of All Creatures Great and Small, a wide variety of animals pass through the scene with injured hooves or damaged snouts. It's up to animal handlers like Jill Clark, of 1st Choice Animals, to train those furry guest stars to sit still, lie down or play dead — which she does to great effect. Clark explains the hidden human touch required behind the scenes to bring a rural veterinary practice to raucous life...and reveals which cast member Tricki Woo loves best.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode One of the Third Season of All Creatures Great and Small. It took two seasons of television — and a lot more besides — but Nicholas Ralph’s James Herriot has finally tied the knot with Rachel Shenton’s Helen Alderson. It’s a real highlight of the third season, and one Ralph and his castmates cherished all the more with the presence of real-life James Herriot's children, Rosie and Jim.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Six of Magpie Murders. We’re of course bound to remind listeners not to listen to episodes like this until they watch all of the related Mystery! series — but after you do, you’ll definitely want to come back. Magpie Murders creator, writer and executive producer Anthony Horowitz and series star Lesley Manville return to the podcast to discuss the surprising finale, and perhaps even give Susan Ryeland and Atticus Pünd fans something to look forward to.

Warning: The episode contains spoilers for episode five of Magpie Murders. Actor Tim McMullan had worked with author and screenwriter Anthony Horowitz before, but never on a title as wild as the adaptation of his own Magpie Murders. As Atticus Pünd — a fictional detective who solves murders both real and imaginary — McMullan has great fun gently ribbing the classic whodunnit format.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Five of the First Season of Miss Scarlet and the Duke*.* This is an encore release of an earlier podcast episode. A female private detective in Victorian London seems anachronistic — but Eliza Scarlet more than holds her own on the grimy streets of the British capitol. Kate Phillips is a witty delight in the title role, and she brings that zest to the MASTERPIECE Studio podcast.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Three of the Second Season of Miss Scarlet and the Duke. The witty banter and serialized crime-of-the-week format of Miss Scarlet and the Duke give viewers a regular pivot between the expected and the extraordinary. That span was exactly what series creator and executive producer Rachael New aimed for when she put together the show, and she explains the origin story  and looks ahead in a new conversation.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for episode two of Magpie Murders. Lesley Manville is in high demand lately for her excellent work on screen, so it seems only fitting that she come to the MASTERPIECE screen in the role of brilliant editor Susan Ryeland in the twisty mystery of Magpie Murders. Manville explores what drew her to the role, and where she stands in her storied career.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode One of Magpie Murders. Anthony Horowitz has written dozen of books and scores of television dramas in his lengthy career, but the task of transforming his meta mystery novel, Magpie Murders — a crime novel about writing and publishing crime novels — was especially tricky. Fortunately for MASTERPIECE viewers, the resulting series is a delight, and the author explains the tricky choices he made to bring Susan Ryeland and Atticus Pünd to the screen.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Six of the Seventh Season of Grantchester. As the seventh season of Grantchester comes to a surprisingly satisfying close, fans can be assured that the eighth season of the series is just over the horizon. Series creator and head writer Daisy Coulam and series lead — and director! — Tom Brittney return to the podcast to wrap up and look ahead .

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Five of the Seventh Season of Grantchester. The stubborn Mrs. C — Sylvia Chapman — is a centerpiece of the Grantchester family. Her unexpected medical troubles this seventh season leave her and the entire vicarage at a loss. Fortunately, Tessa Peake-Jones is more than able to find the emotional center of her character's difficult moments.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Four of the Seventh Season of Grantchester. There's a rotating cast of murderers — and murder victims — on every episode of Grantchester. But where do the actors come from who populate the Cambridgeshire rogues’ gallery? Longtime series casting director Alex Irwin reveals how she casts a show.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Three of the Seventh Season of. Grantchester lead Tom Brittney already took a big leap in leading a series after a beloved main character left — and now, he takes on a new challenge in directing that show, too. The actor and director returns to the podcast for a very cinematic conversation about where he draws inspiration behind and in front of the camera.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Two of the Seventh Season of Grantchester. Maybe it’s the season, maybe it’s real-world changes, maybe it’s the tide — but Grantchester head writer and series creator Daisy Coulam feels a positive vibe in the seventh iteration of her character-driven murder mystery. True, there’s still murder — but things are looking up for Will, Geordie and their found families.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode One of Ridley Road. Both sides of Sarah Solemani’s family have roots in the Ridley Road area of London, so when she read author Jo Bloom’s haunting novel, Ridley Road, she saw personal elements in the story. Still, the narrative on screen in her new miniseries — a young Jewish woman caught up in anti-fascist espionage — casts a wider and more thrilling net.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Six of the Second Season of Sanditon. Charlotte Heywood is finally able to properly grieve her sense of loss, but the choices she makes at the end of this second season are surprising, to say the least. Rose Williams is ready for the story still to come in season three.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Five of the Second Season of Sanditon. Sanditon's Crystal Clarke opens up about the journey that she and the series' creators undertook to give her West Indian heiress character, Miss Georgiana Lambe, a richer and more authentic development in this second season of the show.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Episode Four of the Second Season of Sanditon. Alison Heywood is a newcomer to the up and coming resort town of Sanditon, and like her older sister Charlotte before her, she finds the entire experience to be a thrill. Rosie Graham is also new to the scene, and she used Alison's love of romantic novels and poetry to find the character's plucky drive.