The New Woman Behind Your Favorite Masterpiece PBS Shows Previews What's Next for the Anthology Series
It's a true changing of the guard for Masterpiece PBS. Rebecca Eaton, the show's longtime executive producer, is stepping back from her role after 35 years, and her former deputy, Susanne Simpson is picking up the mantle.
“I'm very excited, and honored,” Simpson told me over the phone, just a few days after the official announcement was made. “I've been working with Rebecca for 12 years now, but this is really great news for me, and it's very exciting for Masterpiece.”
Simpson first joined the team behind PBS's popular anthology series in 2007, and for almost ten years now, she's helped Eaton run its day-to-day operations, doing everything from reading scripts and helping to pick which programs make it on the air to managing the outreach and marketing teams.
As John Bredar, the vice president of programming at WGBH Boston, which produces Masterpiece put it: "There is no one better prepared than Susanne to succeed Rebecca."
And in speaking to Simpson, it's clear that she has no plans to completely upend what fans already love about Masterpiece: its commitment to bringing the best of British television to the U.S.
"What I hope I'll be able to do is to really curate for the American audience. It's our job to find the very best, the shows that you want to watch, the shows that you're excited about, and that you want to invest in," Simpson says.
"Every week you should be able to turn on Masterpiece and love what you're seeing. And that it's not just costume dramas and not just detectives, but these surprise contemporary shows, unique stories, miniseries, or one-offs."
At least six new shows are slated to premiere on Masterpiece in 2020, in addition to existing fan favorites like Grantchester and Endeavour. The debuts range from the Austen-inspired period drama Sanditon, which will bow next month, to a contemporary Hugh Laurie-fronted political thriller called Roadkill, to World on Fire, a WWII-era series set across multiple countries involved in the conflict that Simpson describes as having "some of the highest production values that we've seen in a show recently."
The shift in Masterpiece's leadership comes shortly after a few of its most-loved shows (Poldark, The Durrells in Corfu) have gone off the air. (Additionally, Victoria is notably on hiatus for the foreseeable future.) But Simpson hopes World on Fire, which premieres in April and has already been picked up for a second season by the BBC, will help to fill the void in fans' hearts (and DVRs).
"It's an epic story. And the intent is for it to come back. Season one of World on Fire covers 1939; the next one will be 1940," she tells me.
"We love our long-running returning series. They really allows people to invest in the characters and their stories. That's what we saw with Victoria; that's what we saw with Poldark; it's what we saw with Downton Abbey. So I feel like that's our gold standard, to really find that perfect story with great characters and actors that can return year after year."
Masterpiece is also beginning to develop its own programming, an initiative Eaton will focus on in her new role as executive producer at large.
"There is so much coming out of the U.K. now that, honestly, I could read a script a day or I could be reading five scripts a day. There's just so much coming towards us, but we wanted to really also look at what kind of programs we would like to have for Masterpiece. What does our audience really love? And some of them are costume dramas, so what we thought was, why don't we think about developing some of those shows from the ground up?" Simpson says.
And this isn't a goal for 20 years down the road; they already have a few things in development. "We've done development deals with some of our favorite U.K. producers, and we're looking now to work with distributors to find a way to finance those programs and to make them happen," Simpson explains.
"We feel it's the way to make sure that we're getting the kind of programs we like for our audience. We're going to be able to continue to curate the series, get the best shows for the series, co-produce with people we love working with, and then also develop programs with them as well."
But of course, all of these new initiatives are expensive, and while PBS is the baseline funder for Masterpiece, its support doesn't cover the full cost of the operation, especially as British-made television continues to become more in-demand across networks, and therefore, more expensive.
"Up until about 10 years ago, Masterpiece and HBO were probably the two places where you could see British-made shows, and now you can see them pretty much on all the channels and streaming services," Simpson says. "And so with that competition, we've had to find ways to be able to put more money into the projects we co-produce."
Additional funding comes by way of donations to the Masterpiece Trust, which Eaton helped establish in 2011, and corporate underwriters like Viking Cruises, which has served as a sponsor for the anthology series since 2012. Earlier this year, Masterpiece also established an anniversary fund, as the anthology series approaches its 50th year on the air.
"We set a goal of 20 million dollars, and I think we hope to exceed it," Simpson tells me. "That's what we're trying to accomplish by 2021, which will be our 50th anniversary year."
Between development projects, debuting new series, and milestone fundraising campaigns, to say there is a lot going on at Masterpiece is an understatement. But Eaton only offered Simpson one piece of advice before passing on the role: "Be fearless," she said.
"I took it to mean, go with your gut. What you love is what other people are going to love too."
Masterpiece airs Sunday nights on PBS.
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