For twenty-five years and counting, Eaton has presided over PBS’s Masterpiece, the longest running weekly prime time drama series on American television. Eaton brings to her memoir the voices of many of the writers, directors, producers, and other contributors and shares personal anecdotes—and even includes photos taken with her own camera—about her decades-spanning career. She reveals what went on behind the scenes during such triumphs as Cranford and the highly-rated programs made from Jane Austen’s novels, as well as her aggressive campaign to attract a new generation of fans. She also shares stories about luminaries such as Alistair Cooke, Maggie Smith, Diana Rigg, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kenneth Branagh, Gillian Anderson, and Daniel Radcliffe, whose first TV role was as the title character in David Copperfield.

Readers will also get to know Eaton on a personal level. With a childhood steeped in theater, an affinity for nineteenth century novels and culture, and an “accidental apprenticeship” with the BBC, Eaton was practically born to lead Masterpiece. MAKING MASTERPIECE (written with Patricia Mulcahy) marks the first time the driving force behind this enduring flagship series steps out from behind the curtain.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rebecca Eaton has been executive producer of Masterpiece since 1985. Under her leadership, the series has earned forty-four Primetime Emmy Awards, fifteen Peabody Awards, four Golden Globes, and two Academy Award nominations. In 2011 Eaton was one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” and in 2003 Queen Elizabeth II named her an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Rebecca Eaton lives in Cambridge, MA.