On TV Tonight: Watch PBS Masterpiece's premieres of 'Howards End' starring Matthew Macfadyen and Jane Austen's 'Sanditon'

PBS Masterpiece is premiering a double header tonight of two period dramas that will air back to back starting at 8 pm and I thought I'd post both in the same post here. The first TV Miniseries that will be airing at 8/7c will be Matthew Macfadyen and Hayley Atwell's 4-part Limited Series, Howards End, which first premiered in UK's BBC One on November 12, 2017 and the following year on April 8, 2018 on Star in the U.S. Since I didn't have Starz channel (it's a paid premium cable channel), I didn't get to see it on TV when it premiered back in 2018. I saw it somewhere online though, but it's been a while. So, I'm so glad PBS Masterpiece is premiering this drama tonight (and airing all 4 episodes)!

The second period drama miniseries that will be airing at 9/8c following Howards End, will be a Jane Austen's TV adaptation Sanditon, the first ever television adaptation of Jane Austen’s unfinished novel of same title: Sanditon, which first premiered with 8 episodes on ITV (in the UK) August 25 through October 13th, 2019 (though I heard there's no Season 2?!?) and tonight will have its 2-hour premiere on MASTERPIECE on PBS starting their 2020 season! Written by multi-award winning screenwriter Andrew Davies (Pride and Prejudice 1995, Les Misérables, Mr. Selfridge), Sanditon stars Rose Williams, Theo James, Kris Marshall, Crystal Clarke, and Anne Reid among others.

Watch the preview trailers for both Howards End and Sanditon and see stills more info. including episode air dates schedule as well below...

Howards End

 Howards End promo stills 

featuring Matthew Macfadyen as Henry Wilcox 

and Hayley Atwell as Margaret Schlegel

(promo stills sources: BBC One/Starz/PBS Masterpiece)

About Howards End

Often considered E.M. Forster’s masterpiece, Howards End is the story of two independent and unconventional sisters and the men in their lives seeking love and meaning as they navigate an ever-changing world.

Academy Award winning screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan brings a fresh take to this adaptation. Margaret Schlegel (Hayley Atwell, Captain America: The First Avenger) is an intelligent, idealistic young woman who is courted by the older Henry Wilcox (Matthew Macfadyen, Succession), a self-made conservative businessman, after his wife Ruth Wilcox (Julia Ormond) dies unexpectedly and he becomes owner of Howards End.

Meanwhile Margaret’s passionate and capricious younger sister Helen Schlegel (Philippa Coulthard) takes up the cause of Leonard Bast (Joseph Quinn), a young bank clerk who falls on hard times at work and at home with his partner Jacky (Rosalind Eleazar). In the absence of their late parents, the sisters’ loving but interfering Aunt Juley (Tracey Ullman) tries to keep the young ladies and their brother Tibby (Alex Lawther) on the straight and narrow.

Howards End Episode Schedule

• Episode 1 - premieres at 8 pm ET - January 12, 2020
• Episode 2 - January 19, 2020
• Episode 3 - January 26, 2020
• Episode 4 - February 2, 2020

Sanditon

 

Sanditon promo stills 

featuring Rose Williams as Charlotte Heywood
and Theo James as Sidney Parker

 (Promo stills sources: ITV/PBS Masterpiece)

About Sanditon

Don’t miss the special two-episode premiere, tonight at 9/8c only on MASTERPIECE on PBS!
Jane Austen was chronically ill with a mysterious disease in early 1817, when she turned her thoughts to a happier subject. She started work on a witty and delightful novel set in a seaside town. She never finished it. Now, noted screenwriter Andrew Davies (Pride and Prejudice, Les Misérables, Primetime Emmy® winner for Little Dorrit) picks up Austen’s plot and takes it in a glorious and satisfying direction, on Sanditon.

MASTERPIECE’s bold and lavish adaptation of Jane Austen’s final work stars Rose Williams (Curfew) as Austen’s lively but levelheaded heroine, Charlotte Heywood; Theo James (Divergent) as the humorous, charming (and slightly wild!) Sidney Parker; Anne Reid (Years and Years) as the forthright grande dame of Sanditon, Lady Denham; Kris Marshall (Love Actually) as Sanditon’s compulsively enterprising promoter, Tom Parker; and Crystal Clarke (Ordeal by Innocence) as the mysterious West Indian heiress, Miss Lambe.

Sanditon Episode Schedule

• Episode 1 - 2 hour premiere at 9 pm ET - January 12, 2020
• Episode 2 - 2 hour premiere at 9 pm ET - January 12, 2020
• Episode 3 - January 19, 2020
• Episode 4 - January 26, 2020
• Episode 5 - February 2, 2020
• Episode 6 - February 9, 2020
• Episode 7 - February 16, 2020
• Episode 8 - February 23, 2020