MASTERPIECE MYSTERY! New Host Announced / New Series Begins June 22

I know that many of you (like me) have been watching MASTERPIECE THEATRE for years, and/ or are a huge MYSTERY! fan, enjoying some of the best British television has to offer. When the restyled MASTERPIECE was launched in January, focusing on three streams, I thought it was a great idea. MASTERPIECE CLASSIC features signature period dramas, which began with The Complete Jane Austen and was hosted by Gillian Anderson (Bleak House / X-Files). MASTERPIECE MYSTERY! will start this June, presenting the best British mysteries and premiering in October, MASTERPIECE CONTEMPORARY will show dramas set in modern times.

Well, with secrets, celebrity, sexual politics and homicide -- this is going to be one hot summer, welcoming back Inspector Lewis on June 22 , a spin-off to the popular Inspector Morse series. On July 13, Michael Kitchen returns for the final three episodes of the acclaimed World War II series Foyle’s War, and on August 10, Elizabeth George’s incomparable New Scotland Yard team of Inspectors Lynley and Havers are back for the last time in two new episodes of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.

PLUS, MASTERPIECE has just announced that one of show business’s most eclectic talents, stage and film star Alan Cumming will host the upcoming season of MASTERPIECE MYSTERY! Now at this point you’re probably thinking, “Who?” This actor’s so versatile that you’ve seen him and probably not realized it. His extensive and diverse film appearances include X Men 2; the Spy Kids trilogy; Eyes Wide Shut; GoldenEye (yes, James Bond!); Circle of Friends; and The Anniversary Party (which he also wrote, directed, and produced). Cumming won a Tony Award for his role as the Emcee in the Broadway revival of Cabaret. Born in Scotland, and living in New York, Cumming visited New Mexico last year when he was honored with the Maverick award at the Santa Fe Film Festival, where his films "Suffering Man's Charity" and "Anniversary Party" were screened

The “Men of Mystery” summer begins on MASTERPIECE MYSTERY! -- June 22.