The Winners Are...
The Survey and Results
In a nationwide survey, conducted during the summer of 2006, viewers selected their favorites from the previous 35 seasons of Masterpiece Theatre, more than 250 productions. About 30,000 fans responded to balloting requests online and in local PBS member guides. In addition to voting for their favorite series, fans were asked to pick favorites in several special categories. The results are shown below.
Favorite Series:
The top twelve titles as revealed in The Best of Masterpiece Theatre broadcast:
- Jeeves & Wooster
- Wives & Daughters
- The Fortunes & Misfortunes of Moll Flanders
- Reckless
- House of Cards
- Poldark
- The Jewel in the Crown
- Prime Suspect
- Bleak House (2005 adaptation)
- I, Claudius
- The Forsyte Saga
- Upstairs, Downstairs
Best performance by a male in a period drama:
- Show me the winner!
- Kenneth Branagh - as Henry V in Henry V
- Charles Dance - as Guy Perron in The Jewel in the Crown
- Ian Holm - as Lear in King Lear
- Gordon Jackson - as Angus Hudson in Upstairs, Downstairs
- Derek Jacobi - as Claudius in I, Claudius
- Damian Lewis - as Soames Forsyte in The Forsyte Saga
- Other
Best performance by a female in a period drama:
- Show me the winner!
- Gillian Anderson - as Lady Dedlock in Bleak House
- Judi Dench - as Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown
- Glenda Jackson - as Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth R
- Alex Kingston - as Moll Flanders in Moll Flanders
- Jean Marsh - as Rose Buck in Upstairs, Downstairs
- Jemma Redgrave - as Dr. Eleanor Bramwell in Bramwell
- Other
Best performance by a male in a contemporary drama:
- Show me the winner!
- Trevor Eve - as Duncan Matlock in The Politician's Wife
- Albert Finney - as Reggie Conyngham-Jervis in A Rather English Marriage
- Robson Green - as Owen Spring in Reckless
- Ian Richardson - as Francis Urquhart in House of Cards
- Eamonn Walker - as John Othello in Othello
- Other
Best performance by a female in a contemporary drama:
- Show me the winner!
- Francesca Annis - as Anna Fairly in Reckless
- Keeley Hawes - as Dessie Brabant in Othello
- Helen Mirren - as Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect
- Julia Ormond - as Caroline Lithgow in Traffik
- Juliet Stevenson - as Flora Matlock in The Politician's Wife
- Other
Favorite performance as a villain: A Tie!
- Show me the winner!
- Charles Dance - Mr. Tulkinghorn in Bleak House
- Christopher Eccleston - Ben Jago in Othello
- Sam Neill - Victor Komarovsky in Doctor Zhivago
- Sian Phillips - Livia in I, Claudius
- Diana Rigg - Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca
- Other
Favorite "You Saw Them Here First:"
- Show me the winner!
- Keira Knightley - Lara Antipova in Doctor Zhivago
- Hugh Laurie - Bertie Wooster in Jeeves and Wooster
- Daniel Radcliffe - Young David in David Copperfield
- Mira Sorvino - Conchita Closson in The Buccaneers
- Emma Thompson - Beatrice in Fortunes of War
- Other
Favorite Scene-Stealer: A Tie!
- Show me the winner!
- Peggy Ashcroft - Barbie Batchelor in The Jewel in the Crown
- Burn Gorman - Guppy in Bleak House
- Michael Kitchen - Richard Crane in Reckless
- Charlotte Rampling - Miss Havisham in Great Expectations
- Denzel Washington - Don Pedro of Aragon in Much Ado About Nothing
- Other
These, in alphabetical order, were the most frequently named favorite titles:
- Bleak House
- Bramwell
- Brideshead Revisited (not a Masterpiece)
- Buchaneers
- By the Sword Divided
- Danger UXB
- David Copperfield
- Doctor Zhivago
- The Duchess of Duke Street
- Elizabeth R
- Far From the Madding Crowd
- The First Churchills
- The Flame Trees of Thika
- The Forsyte Saga
- Great Expectations
- Henry V
- House of Cards
- I, Claudius
- Island at War
- Jeeves and Wooster
- The Jewel in the Crown
- Lillie
- Middlemarch
- Moll Flanders
- Much Ado Avout Nothing
- Our Mutual Friend
- Piece of Cake
- Poldark
- Pride and Prejudice
- Prime Suspect
- Rebecca
- Reckless
- Six Wives of Henry VIII
- A Tale of Two Cities
- A Town Like Alice
- Under the Greenwood Tree
- Upstairs, Downstairs
- A Very British Coup
- Wives and Daughters
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