O.K., all you PBS fans. Here is the MASTERPIECE CLASSIC 2009 lineup:
January 4 and 11
Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles (4-hour mini-series)
Starring Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace)
January 18 and 25
Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (2.5-hour mini-series)
Starring Tom Hardy (The Virgin Queen)
“The Incomplete Charles Dickens”
February 15 and 22
Oliver Twist (3-hour mini-series)
Starring Timothy Spall (A Room with A View) and Sophie Okonedo (The Secret Life of Bees)
Dickens, who was named after my cat
March 15 and 22
David Copperfield — encore (3-hour mini-series)
Starring Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Bob Hoskins, and Ian McKellen.
March 29 to April 26
Little Dorrit (8-hour mini-series)
Adapted by screenwriter Andrew Davies (Bleak House) and starring Matthew Macfadyen (Pride and Prejudice)
May 3
The Old Curiosity Shop (90-minute single)
Starring Sir Derek Jacobi (I, Claudius) and Gina McKee (The Forsyte Saga).