PBS’ KOCE-TV to Premiere Sherlock on MASTERPIECE Mystery! on Sunday October 24

HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIF., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- KOCE-TV, in collaboration with PBS and WGBH, announced today that MASTERPIECE is joining the KOCE line-up with the much-anticipated Sherlock series, beginning Sunday, October 24, at 9:00 pm Pacific Time.

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“KOCE-TV is delighted to bring MASTERPIECE to Los Angeles viewers as the show premieres its 21st-century Sherlock Holmes series this coming Sunday,” said KOCE President and CEO Mel Rogers. “The iconic MASTERPIECE series has been a Sunday night mainstay in homes across the country, and we’re delighted to welcome it to its new home in Los Angeles, KOCE-TV.”  

“PBS continues to focus on ensuring the people of Los Angeles are able to benefit from the full range of high-quality PBS content and services, including SESAME STREET, PBS NEWSHOUR, MASTERPIECE and NOVA,” said PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger. “We are grateful for KOCE-TV’s participation in airing Sherlock on MASTERPIECE Mystery! as it premieres nationwide this Sunday. We look forward to working with KOCE-TV and our other PBS stations, KVCR-TV and KLCS-TV, to offer the very best of PBS’ national and locally produced content to the people of Los Angeles.”  

“This Sherlock is unlike any ever made before and was a huge hit when it aired in the United Kingdom,” said Rebecca Eaton, Executive Producer, MASTERPIECE. “It promises to be a real high-point of our MASTERPIECE season, and I think our loyal Los Angeles audience will be delighted to be able to see it on Sunday nights at 9:00.”

About Sherlock on MASTERPIECE Mystery!

Blowing away the fog of the Victorian era, the world’s most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, enters the 21st century in Sherlock, a thrilling version based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.  Starring Benedict Cumberbatch (Atonement, The Last Enemy) in the title role, Sherlock premieres with three criminally clever whodunits on MASTERPIECE MYSTERY! on Sundays, October 24, 31, and November 7, 2010 at 9:00 pm PT on PBS/KOCE-TV.

Created by the celebrated story-telling team of Steven Moffat (Doctor Who, Coupling) and Mark Gatiss (Doctor Who, The League of Gentlemen), Sherlock co-stars Martin Freeman (The Office UK, Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy) as Dr. John Watson, Holmes’s best (and only!) friend. John Watson is a retired army doctor, but now wounded during service in Afghanistan. A chance encounter brings him into the strange and thrilling world of Sherlock Holmes whose cases he begins to write up—as online blogs.

The UK press greeted the new Sherlock with open arms and rave reviews: “Sherlock is a triumph, witty and knowing, without ever undercutting the flair and dazzle of the original,” wrote The Independent. “Meet the new Sherlock,” announced The Daily Telegraph, “an electrifying sociopath.” And The Times (London) proclaimed, “Sherlock makes every other crime caper on television look thin.”

This is a brand new Sherlock made by people who love the original stories.  But beware! Each mystery is fiendishly new.

The cast also features Rupert Graves (The Forsyte Saga, God on Trial) as Inspector Lestrade—the best Scotland Yard cop there is, but a man wise enough to know when to call in the consulting detective his staff call “freak.”

In an age of forensic detection, it is still Sherlock’s brilliant brain and powers of deduction, which crack the following baffling cases:

A Study in Pink—Sunday, October 24, 2010, 9:00 to 10:30 pm PT on PBS/KOCE-TV

A wave of suicides grips London, but Sherlock suspects the victims are not, as the police believe, voluntarily swallowing poison capsules. “We’ve got ourselves a serial killer,” he declares. “I love those!” With his newfound friend and flat mate, John Watson, he seizes on the minute details of the most recent victim, a lady dressed entirely in pink, to reveal a mastermind with the perfect cover—and a diabolical motive. But can Sherlock escape becoming the next “suicide”?

The Blind Banker—Sunday, October 31, 2010, 9:00 to 10:30 pm PT on PBS/KOCE-TV

A banker and a journalist recently returned from the Far East are both shot dead by a killer who can seemingly walk through walls. Sherlock and John follow the trail to London’s Chinatown, where an ancient Chinese puzzle, an antiquities curator on the run, and a mysterious book that everyone in London seems to own hold the solution to the murders. Meanwhile, John’s new love interest finds herself caught in the middle of a very memorable date!

The Great Game—Sunday, November 7, 2010, 9:00 to 10:30 pm PT on PBS/KOCE-TV

Sherlock pits his wits against a devilishly clever bomber, who straps explosives to innocent people and has them call the detective with a series of baffling mysteries to solve. A twenty-year-old murder; a blood-soaked car; a lost painting worth millions of dollars—it’s just the kind of adventure our hero relishes, but who is the evil genius behind this deadly game?

Sherlock is a Hartswood Films Production for BBC Wales, co-produced with MASTERPIECE. It was created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. The screenwriters are Steven Moffat (A Study in Pink), Steve Thompson (The Blind Banker), and Mark Gatiss (The Great Game). The directors are Paul McGuigan (A Study in Pink, The Great Game) and Euros Lyn (The Blind Banker). The series producer is Sue Vertue. The executive producers are Beryl Vertue, Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat, and Rebecca Eaton for MASTERPIECE on PBS.

MASTERPIECE is presented on PBS by WGBH Boston. Rebecca Eaton is executive producer. Funding for the series is provided by public television viewers. More information is available at pbs.org/masterpiece. Online press materials available at pbs.org/pressroom and pressroom.wgbh.org.

About KOCE-TV

KOCE-TV is one of the most watched PBS stations in America with an estimated five million unduplicated viewers monthly. KOCE’s award-winning programming offers a long-standing community hub for local news, culture and features, and broadcasts the best available national PBS programs to the entire Southern California five-county region. Known for its outstanding dedication to education, KOCE Classroom serves more than a half million K-12 students. A national Roper poll recently ranked PBS as number one in public trust for the seventh consecutive year.* The winner of hundreds of awards including Emmys and Community Service Awards, KOCE continues to be a vital community resource and connector for Southern California. For more information, please visit www.koce.org.

*Reported by the GfKRoper Public Affairs & Media poll (2010)

About PBS

PBS, with its nearly 360 member stations, offers all Americans - from every walk of life - the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and online content. Each month, PBS reaches more than 118 million people through television and nearly 21 million people online, inviting them to experience the worlds of science, history, nature and public affairs; to hear diverse viewpoints; and to take front row seats to world-class drama and other cultural performances. PBS' broad array of programs has been consistently honored by the industry's most coveted award competitions. Teachers of children from pre-K through 12th grade turn to PBS for digital content and services that help bring classroom lessons to life. PBS' premier children's TV programming and its website, pbskids.org, are parents' and teachers' most trusted partners in inspiring and nurturing curiosity and love of learning in children. More information about PBS is available at www.pbs.org, one of the leading dot-org websites on the Internet.

SOURCE PBS