BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Prime Suspect: Tennison

Stefanie Martini Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect: Tennison

It’s been a busy two years for Stefanie Martini since she graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2015. Starring as the young Jane Tennison in MASTERPIECE’s eagerly awaited Prime Suspect prequel, she also appeared on the series last July in a spine-tingling episode of Endeavour, which featured a homicidal tiger. And since May, Amazon audiences have been swooning over her lead role in Julian Fellowes’ lavish adaptation of the Trollope novel Doctor Thorne, in which she plays the angelic heroine opposite Tom Hollander (her uncle in the plot) and Harry Richardson (her character’s heartthrob). In addition to Prime Suspect: Tennison, 2017 will see her portraying Lady Ev in NBC’s ten-part fantasy miniseries Emerald City, and she will appear alongside Gillian Anderson, Glenn Close, and Christina Hendricks in the film adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Crooked House.

Sam Reid DI Len Bradfield inPrime Suspect: Tennison

Sam Reid plays WPC Jane Tennison’s police mentor in Prime Suspect: Tennison, but in a previous appearance on MASTERPIECE, he was the prime suspect—in a gripping episode of Miss Marple. Reid also performed in the premiere installment of Endeavour. In other television work, he portrayed one of the McCoys in the History Channel’s acclaimed miniseries Hatfields & McCoys, opposite Kevin Costner; and he had the role of the late, great John Glenn in The Astronaut Wives’ Club on ABC. Originally from New South Wales, Australia, Reid completed his acting studies in London in 2010, moving directly to a role in Roland Emmerich’s Shakespeare conspiracy film,Anonymous . His other film work includes the historical thriller 71’ , with Jack O’Connell; the period drama Belle, opposite Tom Wilkinson and Miranda Richardson; Lone Scherfig’s The Riot Club, about a posh gang of rowdies at Oxford University; Susanne Bier’s Serena, with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence; and The Railway Man, opposite Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman.

– more – MASTERPIECE Winter 2017 TCA Biographies, Page 2

King Charles III

Tim Pigott-Smith Charles in King Charles III

Veteran MASTERPIECE viewers still get chills when they think of the sadistic police superintendent in the hit 1980s miniseries The Jewel in the Crown, unforgettably portrayed by Tim Pigott-Smith, who won a BAFTA for the performance. He has been a busy actor ever since, including further stints on MASTERPIECE in The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Poirot, Foyle’s War, Downton Abbey, and Inspector Lewis, in which he played a taxidermist. Of his latest MASTERPIECE role, portraying Prince Charles when he one day becomes king, Pigott-Smith told the Associated Press: “The thing about being a king is you have to behave normally and everybody else has to go, ‘Yes, sir,’ ‘No, sir,’ and ‘Three bags full, sir.’ You can’t act being a king. Other people make you a king.” His performances in the original West End and Broadway productions of King Charles III earned him Best Actor nominations from both the Olivier and Tony® awards. To UK telly viewers, he is revered as Chief Constable John Stafford in the crime drama series The Chief. His movie credits include the James Bond filmQuantum of Solace, as well as V for Vendetta, Martin Scorcese’s Gangs of New York, Bloody Sunday, Merchant-Ivory’s Remains of the Day, and Clash of the Titans, among others. On stage, he has played many Shakespearean and other classic roles, and he served a stint as artistic director of West Yorkshire’s Compass Theatre Company, which was founded by theater legend Sir Anthony Quayle.

Charlotte Riley Kate, Duchess of Cambridge in King Charles III

In 2009, MASTERPIECE fans were thrilled by Charlotte Riley’s fiery portrayal of Cathy opposite Tom Hardy’s Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, adapted from the classic novel by Emily Brontë. In King Charles III she plays the Duchess of Cambridge, in an imagined plot that explores the ascension of Prince Charles to the throne following Queen Elizabeth II’s death. Trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Riley has earned kudos in a wide range of stage, film, and television roles. She rejoined her Wuthering Heights costar, Hardy, in a pair of crime-family miniseries: The Take on Sky 1 in the UK and Peaky Blinders on BBC Two. Her recent television work includes Stephen Poliakoff’s miniseries Close to the Enemy on BBC Two and the historical fantasy series Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell on BBC One. In film, she appeared with Morgan Freeman and Gerard Butler in the spy thriller London Has Fallen; with Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt in the science fiction epicEdge of Tomorrow; and in the gripping nautical yarn In the Heart of the Sea, based on Nathaniel Philbrick’s non-fiction book about the incident that inspired Moby-Dick.

– more – MASTERPIECE Winter 2017 TCA Biographies, Page 3

Mike Bartlett Author of King Charles III

Reviewing the Broadway production of King Charles III, the New York Times marveled at author Mike Bartlett’s ability to endow the royal family “with philosophical acuity, subtle motivation, Machiavellian cunning, tortured self-doubt and even principled heroism.” His plays are a fixture on the Greater London and New York stages, most recently with Love, Love, Love; Wild; Game; An Intervention; Bull; and Cock, in addition to King Charles III. He has won three Olivier Awards, a Critics’ Circle Award, a Tony® nomination, and many other accolades. He is also an award-winning screenwriter, receiving BAFTA nominations (among other honors) for his two television series: Doctor Foster on BBC One, called by The Guardian a “gripping portrait of a marriage slowly being poisoned”; and The Town on ITV, starring Andrew Scott and Martin Clunes. He also recently scripted an episode of Doctor Who.

Rebecca Eaton Executive Producer, MASTERPIECE

Rebecca Eaton took the helm of the PBS series MASTERPIECE THEATRE and MYSTERY! in 1985, and in 2008, oversaw a highly successful relaunch of MASTERPIECE which attracted a new generation of viewers. She has brought American audiences Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, the recent hits Sherlock, Poldark and Downton Abbey — the most-watched drama in PBS history — as well as such high- profile titles asMr Selfridge, Endeavour, Wallander, Prime Suspect, Cranford, Little Dorrit, Inspector Lewis, and The Complete Jane Austen. Under her leadership, MASTERPIECE has won 62 Primetime Emmy Awards®, 16 Peabody Awards, six Golden Globes®, and two Academy Award® nominations. In 2011, Eaton was named one of TIME’s 100 most influential people. Her distinguished career has earned her the official recognition of Queen Elizabeth II—with an honorary OBE (Officer, Order of the British Empire). A graduate of Vassar College, Eaton began her career at the BBC World Service, then moved on to PBS station WGBH Boston, where she produced programs ranging from business to sports to dance to drama before becoming executive producer of MASTERPIECE. Eaton’s memoir, MAKING MASTERPIECE: 25 Years Behind the Scenes at Masterpiece Theatre and Mystery! on PBS, was published by Viking in 2013.

The top-rated primetime show on PBS, MASTERPIECE celebrated its 45th anniversary in 2016. MASTERPIECE is presented on PBS by WGBH Boston. Rebecca Eaton is executive producer. Funding for the series is provided by Viking River Cruises and Farmers Insurance® with additional support from public television viewers and contributors to The MASTERPIECE Trust. pbs.org/masterpiece

January, 2017

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