PBS To Air Newtown Tragedy Special Programming: TCA
Diane Haithman is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.
PBS announced that it will respond to Newtown by airing a week of special programming February 18-22 focusing on December’s Connecticut school shooting. The “After Newtown” programming will begin each evening with a PBS Newshour report on topics raised by the tragedy. The series will include a Frontline special report in collaboration with The Hartford Courant profiling the shooter; a NOVA documentary about violence and the brain, a Need To Know report on the “ripple effects of the shooting incident”, and an update on political action surrounding gun control from Washington Week With Gwen Ifill.
PBS also said today during TCA that its three part-mystery series The Bletchley Circle will premiere April 21. The series, which aired in the UK in September 2012 on ITV, will run Sundays through May 5. The series, set in 1952, follows four women trained in intelligence work during WWII, who have returned to civilian life but are called back into duty after a series of murders targeting women.
Also, coming on the heels of the success of BBC’s Sherlock, the pubcaster said it will premiere How Sherlock Changed The World, a two-hour special about Sherlock Holmes. The show, which will examine the impact the fictional detective has had on the development of modern-day forensics, will premiere in the fall.
Other announcements: PBS will offer its second Online Film Festival beginning March 4, and will offer a multiplatform Independent Film Showcase this fall. Both will feature films from POV and ITVS’ Independent Lens.
The PBS series Latino Americans, a three-part, six-hour documentary series narrated by Benjamin Bratt, is set to air nationally in the fall.
Related stories
TCA: PBS’ Ken Burns ‘The Dust Bowl’ Documentary To Air Nov. 18-19
PBS Emphasizes In Depth, Impartial Election Coverage, “Not Just A Few Minutes”: TCA
TCA: PBS CEO On Congress De-Funding
Get more from Deadline.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter
