Episode 95 is also available on Apple Podcasts | Audible | iHeart | YouTube

Susanne Simpson, Executive Producer and Head of Scripted Content for MASTERPIECE, the Emmy Award winning PBS drama series, returns to Historical Drama with The Boston Sisters® (for its 6th season) to preview MASTERPIECE and MYSTERY! — a podcast annual event since its launch in 2021.

In episode 95 we look back at last season's standout adaptations, THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO and THE FORSYTES, and the final season of GRANTCHESTER, including where to find its three vicars today. We look ahead to MISS SCARLET and its seventh and final season, the return of THE FORSYTES for season 2, and a new adaptation of Henry James's novel The Portrait of a Lady.

Susanne also takes us behind the scenes of how MASTERPIECE decisions get made, from choosing a story and its ending to co-producing with partners in the UK, France, and Italy, and whether AI has a role in historical drama. Expect a few surprises along the way.

MASTERPIECE and MYSTERY! airs Sunday nights on PBS (check local listings). You can also stream the series on PBS Passport, the PBS MASTERPIECE Prime Video Channel and for free for 14 days from broadcast on pbs.org/masterpiece.

GUEST: SUSANNE SIMPSON

Susanne Simpson is a two-time Academy Award® nominee and two-time Emmy®-winner for documentary and dramatic films. As executive producer of MASTERPIECE, the iconic PBS drama series, Simpson commissions original U.K. productions such as the *The Forsytes*, *Miss Austen*, *Tom Jones* with Hannah Waddingham, and *Marble Hall Murders*, starring Lesley Manville.

Simpson co-produces many U.K. programs including All Creatures Great and Small, Around the World in 80 Days, and the long-running detective series Endeavour and Unforgotten. As an executive producer of Downton Abbey, Simpson was in charge of the most watched drama in PBS history and recipient of 59 Emmy® nominations and 12 wins. She also oversaw co-productions such as Sherlock, Wolf Hall, and Victoria. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, and the Television Academy. Simpson is the executive producer of MASTERPIECE Studio, a podcast with more than 22 million downloads.

Transcript for Episode 95

“So much of our work is based on novels, because I feel like our mission really is for people...to understand human behavior, to understand emotional truths. So it’s slightly different than understanding science or maybe history. But it’s really important that everybody have that kind of emotional intelligence about human behavior that we get from novels mostly. ”

— Susanne Simpson

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