# Masterpiece Theater's Top 12 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2007, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masterpiece-theaters-top-12/395021 "2007-03-07T23:05:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masterpiece-theaters-top-12/395021/1 "2007-03-07T23:05:50Z")
Did anyone catch this retrospective Sunday night? Our PBS station is having a pledge drive, and showing snippets of this great series isn’t a bad idea. The top 12 are from voters. 1. Upstairs Downstairs 2. The Forsyte Sage 3. I, Claudius 4. Bleak House 5. Prime Suspect 6. The Jewel in the Crown 7. Poldark 8. House of Cards 9. Reckless 10. The Fortunes & Misfortunes of Moll Flanders 11. Wives and Daughters 12. Jeeves & Wooster I haven’t seen most of these. For many years, we only had one TV and someone else controlled the remote. 🙂☹ Do you agree with the voters? I’d put Elizabeth R and The Six Wives of Henry VIII in there, and Daniel Deronda, and He Knew He Was Right, and Carrie’s War, but I definitely agree with the first four. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masterpiece-theaters-top-12/395021/2 "2007-03-08T03:38:54Z")
I haven’t seen some one the list. Of what I have seen I think the list is pretty good. But I miss Elizabeth R and The Six Wives of Henry VIII. The latter is the first show I remember viewing on PBS. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masterpiece-theaters-top-12/395021/3 "2007-03-08T03:48:14Z")
I really liked the Forsythe Saga- but I think my favorite was called _The Way We Live Now_. The most recent \*Jane Eyre \* was really good as well. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masterpiece-theaters-top-12/395021/4 "2007-03-08T04:34:44Z")
Alas, when I think of something to add, I then recall it was a Great Performances (the early 90’s Wagner RING Cycle). The only MT I’ve seen in YEARS was last month’s DRACULA, which was iffy (not as bad as I expected, better than I hoped, still not great). ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masterpiece-theaters-top-12/395021/5 "2007-03-08T05:21:27Z")
[QUOTE=Smokinjbc] I really liked the Forsythe Saga- but I think my favorite was called _The Way We Live Now_. The most recent \*Jane Eyre \* was really good as well. [/QUOTE] I liked The Way We Live Now too. I was surprised at how timely it was. I love the actress who played the daughter but haven’t seen her in anything else. Is that her real voice? I have the Forsyte Saga, the book, but the size is intimidating. Anyone know if it’s a good read? ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masterpiece-theaters-top-12/395021/6 "2007-03-08T06:04:06Z")
The woman who played the daughter in “The Way We Live Now” also played Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter movies. And, yes, her natural voice is similar to that, if not so, ah, shrill all the time. Here’s a [YouTube video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOI_ZO4Yo-c) of a scene between her and Rufus Sewell in a recent modernization of “The Taming of the Shrew.” Cannot wait for that to make its way to the US. I haven’t seen most of the shows listed in the OP, but I’m currently waiting for most of them to make their way through my Netflix queue. The ones I have seen (Moll Flanders, Forsyte, Upstairs, Prime Suspect) were excellent. If “North & South” has been shown on MP, then it needs to be on the list, as well. It seems a bit of a cheat to put all of the episodes of Prime Suspect on the list, though, since there are so many of them. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masterpiece-theaters-top-12/395021/7 "2007-03-08T15:27:00Z")
Hi, I liked that actress as well- I can’t remember her name but she also plays Jude, one of Bridget’s friends in both _Bridget Jones’ Diary_ flicks. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masterpiece-theaters-top-12/395021/8 "2007-03-08T15:31:29Z")
Her name is Shirley Henderson. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masterpiece-theaters-top-12/395021/9 "2007-03-08T15:31:51Z")
I’ve only seen 3, 5, 6, and parts of 12. One I liked that didn’t make the top 12 was **The Last Place on Earth**. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masterpiece-theaters-top-12/395021/10 "2007-03-08T16:11:14Z")
That mention of **The Forsyte Saga** …did they mean the 1967 version or the recent one with Damien Lewis? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masterpiece-theaters-top-12/395021/11 "2007-03-08T16:30:15Z")
It was the recent one. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masterpiece-theaters-top-12/395021/12 "2007-03-08T16:37:48Z")
It’s always difficult comparing something you saw recently with something you watched decades ago. Given the duration of MT, it seems this list is quite slanted to recent productions. I should track down copies of I Claudius and Up/Dawn to see how well they hold up. From the list, about all I have to add is that I’m not a fan of Prime Suspect, and poldark didn’t do it for me. Also, tho I love Jeeves and Wooster, I did not think of those as an MT production. I’ll have to shoot over to the MT site and see if anything jogs my memory about any other contenders. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masterpiece-theaters-top-12/395021/13 "2007-03-08T19:03:47Z")
_I, Claudius_ was awesome. I rewatched it recently on DVD from Netflix. I liked _The Jewel in the Crown_ at the time. Looking back at the [episodes shown](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/archive/programs_season.html), I was shocked to see that _Brideshead Revisited_ was not shown as part of MT. I guess we must have seen it independently on PBS. I would have nominated that as a top entry. My all time favorite MT entry was _To Serve Them All My Days_. I own that on DVD; I rarely purchase what can be rented. I also notice that _A Piece of Cake_ is not listed. I’ll have to dig those tapes out and see if that was MT. If so, then the official listing might be deficient. I won’t say I loved everything they did, but I certainly was usually happy with sitting down and watching on Sunday nights. I’m not sure why I stopped, but I did about 1986, and never got back in the habit. Pity. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masterpiece-theaters-top-12/395021/14 "2007-03-08T19:17:10Z")
_Danger UXB_ was one of my favorites left off the list as well as _The Dutchess of Duke Street_ and _The Pallisers_. Also _A Town Like Alice_ and the various _Sharpe_ series were good. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masterpiece-theaters-top-12/395021/15 "2007-03-08T19:19:22Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] …I was shocked to see that _Brideshead Revisited_ was not shown as part of MT. I guess we must have seen it independently on PBS. I would have nominated that as a top entry…( [/QUOTE] As did many others. In our local broadcast (WVIZ, Cleveland), there was a brief recorded appearance by Anthony Andrews to say that “Brideshead” had actually come in seventh in the voting, but it wasn’t originally broadcast as part of MT. I’d only ever seen #5, 8 and 12, each of which I thoroughly enjoyed. The Heiress is a big fan of 2 and 7, which I didn’t watch. I was disappointed that there wasn’t more attention paid to Alastair Cooke and Russell Baker, who’d hosted MT for so long. Also, unless I missed it, nothing was said about “Mystery!” being spun off from MT, or what’s become of it nowadays. Its remake of du Maurier’s _Rebecca_ was outstanding, as were most of the Jeremy Brett _Sherlock Holmes_ episodes, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/masterpiece-theaters-top-12/395021/16 "2007-03-08T20:34:08Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] I won’t say I loved everything they did, but I certainly was usually happy with sitting down and watching on Sunday nights. I’m not sure why I stopped, but I did about 1986, and never got back in the habit. Pity. ☹ [/QUOTE] In the 70s I watched it as a kid with my parents. Then my wife and I watched it off and on during our fist years of marriage. But we really got back into it the last 5 years or so, when my teens really took a shine to it. My eldest is now away at college, and says MT is the only TV show she makes a point to watch regularly. Once in a while you get something right as a parent despite the odds!