PBS Bringing Gillian Anderson Back to TV
X-Files Icon Will Host Masterpiece Theater
If you don’t know much about the personal life of Gillian Anderson, the actress who rose to worldwide fame while playing red-headed skeptic FBI Special Agent Dana Scully on The X-Files, then it will probably sound odd that PBS has tapped her to become the next host of its long-running and exceedingly venerable small-screen showcase Masterpiece Theater.
That’s just what has happened, though, as The New York Times reported last week. When Masterpiece Theater returns next year, it will have three different hosts, of which Anderson is just one, as well as an updated three-part structure. The series will now present three genres of programming: the familiar classic historical dramas in the first five months of the year, mystery entries in the summer during Masterpiece Mystery!, and contemporary dramas during the fall run of Masterpiece Contemporary.
Anderson, who lived in her current home of London for about a decade as a child, will host the Masterpiece Classic portion of the PBS series from January until May. And, she shouldn’t have any problems with the gig since she’s already starred in her very own Masterpiece mini-series, the BAFTA- and Peabody-winning Charles Dickens adaptation Bleak House from 2005.
Even if you’re not a PBS watcher, this is interesting news for those fans who’ll certainly be jonesing for a little Scully while Anderson reunites with her former costar David Duchovny to film the second X-Files feature film. Better still if you’re also a Jane Austen fan is the fact that the forthcoming season of Masterpiece Classic will revolve around six Austen novels.
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Gillian Anderson photo courtesy of Fox
