What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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T2 WHATS UP! July 19 - 25, 2020 BY KYLA BREWER TV Media O pulent period dramas have seen a resur- gence in popularity in recent years, with TV series such as "Downton Abbey" and "The Crown" amassing loy- al followings. Luckily for fans of the genre, one of the U.K.'s most buzzworthy period dramas has made its way across the pond to rivet American audiences. Tom Bateman ("Cold Pur- suit," 2019) stars as John Bee- cham, a former British soldier with a mysterious past who moves into a mansion in Delhi in 1795 in "Masterpiece Classic: Beecham House," airing Sunday, July 19, on PBS. He brings with him a biracial baby, causing a stir among the estate's staff. As the series unfolds, Bee- cham welcomes his overbearing mother, Henrietta (Lesley Nicol, "Downton Abbey"), rebellious brother, Daniel (Leo Suter, "Vic- toria"), and others to his new home, all the while falling for English governess Margaret Os- bourne (Dakota Blue Richards, "The Golden Compass," 2007). The enigmatic Chandrika (Palla- vi Sharda, "Lion," 2016) soon ar- rives as well and wastes no time exerting her authority in the house. John's staff includes the beautiful Chanchal (Shriya Pilg- aonkar, "Fan," 2016), the baby's nursemaid. Combining mystery and ro- mance with lavish sets and intri- cate costumes, the six-episode miniseries was originally pro- duced for the U.K.'s ITV. Direc- tor Gurinder Chadha ("Bend It Like Beckham," 2002), who co- created "Beecham House" with her husband Paul Mayeda Berg- es ("Blinded by the Light," 2019) and author Shahrukh Husain ("In Custody"), explained that she came up with the idea for the miniseries while working on the script for the 2017 film "Vice- roy's House." "'Downton Abbey' was very popular at the time and I always loved 'Upstairs, Downstairs,' so I thought I'd like to do my own version of one of those shows with a twist," Chadha said in an interview on "Masterpiece's" of- ficial website. While many of Chadha's past films focus on Indians living in Tom Bateman and Dakota Blue Richards in "Masterpiece Classic: Beecham House" A soldier's story continued on page T10 TV FEATURE