Our annual PBS MASTERPIECE! preview with Executive Producer and Head of Scripted Content SUSANNE SIMPSON. Susanne spotlights two historical dramas from the new season premiering in 2025: WOLF HALL: THE MIRROR AND THE LIGHT, based on the final Wolf Hall novel by Hilary Mantel; and MISS AUSTEN, based on the novel by Gill Hornby, premiering for the 250th anniversary year of author Jane Austen’s birth.

Another exciting new season for PBS MASTERPIECE!  Executive producer SUSANNE SIMPSON returns to the podcast to talk about the 2nd season of the World War II drama WORLD ON FIRE and other historical dramas new and continuing in 2023-24 on the award-winning PBS drama series.

The Boston Sisters talk about five books they’re reading that have been adapted from page to screen, including dramatic film, musicals, and series. The book list includes fiction and nonfiction film and series premieres scheduled this fall, during the holidays, and anticipated dates in 2024, along with titles available for streaming now.

In Ep. 35 we’re talking with actress Pearl Mackie about the PBS MASTERPIECE mini series TOM JONES. Pearl Mackie plays Honour Newton, the worldly-wise trusted lady’s maid of Sophia Western (Sophie Wilde) in a 4-part reimagining of Henry Fielding’s comic novel, The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling, published in 1749.

The Boston Sisters welcome back SHARON D. JOHNSON, script and story consultant for MASTERPIECE and SANDITON. In part 2 of a 2-part conversation, we focus on Georgiana Lambe, her search for her mother, and the relationships she’s made in Sanditon to protect her inheritance, reputation and find true love. SANDITON is based on Jane Austen’s unfinished novel.

The Boston Sisters welcome back SHARON D. JOHNSON, script and story consultant for MASTERPIECE and SANDITON. In part 1 of a 2-part conversation, we focus on the themes of Marriage, Love, and Friendship between new and familiar characters over the past 3 seasons of SANDITON series based on Jane Austen’s unfinished novel.

A “watchers guide” to Viking dramas starting with VIKINGS: VALHALLA now in its second season on Netflix. Alex Chisnall, host of the popular business podcast “Screw It Just Do It” is our guest and guide. Alex, who is close to Viking history in the UK and shares our enthusiasm for history. He not only got us curious about VIKINGS: VALHALLA, and other Viking-themed dramas but also helped launch “Historical Drama with The Boston Sisters” podcast.

A “watchers guide” to Viking dramas starting with VIKINGS: VALHALLA now in its second season on Netflix. Alex Chisnall, host of the popular business podcast “Screw It Just Do It” is our guest and guide. Alex, who is close to Viking history in the UK and shares our enthusiasm for history. He not only got us curious about VIKINGS: VALHALLA, and other Viking-themed dramas but also helped launch “Historical Drama with The Boston Sisters” podcast.

A conversation with Carla L. Peterson, author of the 2011 book “Black Gotham: A Family History of African Americans in 19th Century New York City.” Professor Peterson’s book served as a resource for the creation of the characters, story, and the Black community in HBO’s THE GILDED AGE.

A conversation with Carla L. Peterson, author of the 2011 book “Black Gotham: A Family History of African Americans in 19th Century New York City.” Professor Peterson’s book served as a resource for the creation of the characters, story, and the Black community in HBO’s THE GILDED AGE.

Episode 27 features a conversation with BEN VANSTONE, showrunner and writer for ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL about the making of the series currently in its 3rd season on the PBS drama series MASTERPIECE. ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL is the recent adaptation of the books written by veterinarian James Alfred Wight (who wrote under the pen name James Herriot) about a trio of veterinarian surgeons in the Yorkshire Dales in the late 1930s.

In episode 26 Michon and Taquiena look back on the highlights and a-ha’s of the first year of “Historical Drama with The Boston Sisters.” Included are historical dramas The Boston Sisters look forward to watching and talking about in 2023.

In episode 25 The Boston Sisters feature Amma Asante’s film BELLE by listener request, and a conversation with London-based figurative painter Glory Samjolly, founder of the social media platform Black Aristocrat Art. Glory brings her insights on depictions of Black women and men of the aristocracy in historical European art.

THE CROWN is a fictional drama inspired by real events during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II (1926 - 2022) in the last half of the 20th century. Rev. Dr. Terasa Cooley, author of “Transforming Conflict” joins us for a conversation about leadership portrayals of Queen Elizabeth II, PM Margaret Thatcher, and Diana, Princess of Wales in THE CROWN series.

Orchard House in Concord, MA, is where Louisa May Alcott wrote and set her iconic novel Little Women in 1868. In this podcast we talk with Jan Turnquist, executive director of Orchard House where visitors can go back in time to the world of the Alcott family as well as Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March. Recreations of Orchard House can be seen in recent adaptations of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women..

An exciting new season for PBS MASTERPIECE and MASTERPIECE MYSTERY!  Executive producer SUSANNE SIMPSON returns to the podcast to talk about the 2nd season of MISS SCARLET AND THE DUKE in addition to other exciting women detective mysteries and a preview of what’s coming in 2022 and 2023 on the award-winning PBS drama series.

We take a deep dive into The Woman King with depth psychologist, media scholar, and writer Sharon D. Johnson, Ph.D. The Women King, is the remarkable story of the Agojie, the all-female unit of warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s with skills and a fierceness unlike anything the world has ever seen.

A League of Their Own, co-created by Abbi Jacobson (who plays Carson Shaw in the Amazon Prime series), and Will Graham, is inspired by the 1992 film directed by Penny Marshall, and the untold stories of Black women baseball players, and Latina and queer women who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) in the 1940s. We talk with author and poet Toni Asante Lightfoot about the character Max Chapman (Chanté Adams), an African American player from Rockford (home of the Rockford Peaches), who is turned away from the AAGPBL tryouts because of her race. With the support of her family including her trans uncle Bertie, best friend Clance, and the African American community, Max must forge her own way to play the game she loves in a segregated world.

The award-winning K-drama MR. SUNSHINE was released in 2018 and became the 6th highest ranking drama in South Korean cable history, and is still trending on Netflix in the US and around the globe. What makes MR. SUNSHINE a binge-worthy epic? Why are audiences outside South Korea connecting with this historical drama of love, revenge, and revolution. K-Drama blogger Kat Turner shares some insights on the MR. SUNSHINE and recent K-Drama phenomenon.

Filmmaker and award-winning director, JULIE DASH directed two episodes in the recent ABC limited series Women of the Movement about Mamie Till Mobley’s attempts to get justice for the brutal murder of her 14-year old son Emmett Till in the Jim Crow South of 1955.

We will talk with Julie Dash about Her film and television work in historical drama, including Women of the Movement; the influence of Black women writers and cultural workers in her creative work; and the impact of bringing untold stories from history to the screen, particularly how we believe and remember history.