Rebecca Eaton

Rebecca Eaton has had her name in the producer credits of more British TV programmes more than nearly anyone else over the past forty years, but she is an American working in America. This book reflects on her long years of co-operating with British TV organisations to get material for the PBS system in the US. I bought it mainly for an external angle on costume dramas and this the book provides, although the amount devoted to each one varies hugely; lots on 'Downton Abbey', only one sentence on 'Daniel Deronda' for example. It flows by pleasntly enough and is a 'light read'; it contain plenty of material on her own family and PBS internal politics which the reader may or may not be interested in. Her grasp of history is occasionally shaky (Queen Victoria came to the throne aged 18, not 16....) but it is a pleasant book in which her Anglophilia shines through (sometimes perhaps too much). Occasional quotes from 'luvvies' may make you flinch.… (more)

Eaton was the third and longest serving Executive Director of Masterpiece (formerly Masterpiece Theatre) accumulating 35 years as Executive Producer until stepping down to Executive-Producer-At-Large in 2019. This book, a mixture of Masterpiece history and memoir, was published in 2013 and covers the first 25 years. Kenneth Branagh wrote the Prologue.

This is the third attempt I've made to read the book that I thought as a dedicated Masterpiece fan I would love. I realized as I tried it this time that the mix of Masterpiece history and memoir is awkward and offsetting to me and tries to cover too much in detail.

Having said that, I learned a lot about how Masterpiece came about, Masterpiece as a business, how dramas have been selected and how Masterpiece has changed with the times. Downtown Abbey fans will enjoy it's 50 plus pages from concept to influence. I particularly enjoyed the snippets and sometimes more she gave on my favorite actors who have been part of Masterpiece over the years.… (more)