“HOWARDS END” AND THE DEBUT OF “VIENNA BLOOD” STREAMING ON THE PBS MASTERPIECE PRIME VIDEO CHANNEL THIS JANUARY

“HOWARDS END” AND THE DEBUT OF “VIENNA BLOOD” STREAMING ON THE PBS MASTERPIECE PRIME VIDEO CHANNEL THIS JANUARY Arlington, VA – December 19, 2019 – This January, PBS Distribution debuts four new programs on the PBS MASTERPIECE Prime Video Channel, including the miniseries of the classic E.M. Forster novel “Howards End,” starring Matthew Macfadyen, Julia Ormond and Tracey Ullman and the brand-new murder mystery series “Vienna Blood.” Also arriving on the channel are a number of new titles from Walter Presents including “Home Ground, Season 1,” and “The Blood Pact, Season 1.” The subscription rate for the PBS MASTERPIECE Prime Video Channel is $5.99/month with an Amazon Prime or Prime Video subscription. Every purchase helps supports public television for all. Information about each of the programs is listed below. Howards End Written by Kenneth Lonergan, (‘Manchester by the Sea’, ‘Gangs of New York’) comes the four- episode adaptation of E.M. Forster’s, “Howards End”. Starring Matthew Macfadyen as Henry Wilcox, Philippa Coulthard as Helen Schlegel, Julia Ormond as Mrs. Wilcox, Hayley Atwell as Margaret Schlegel, and Tracey Ullman as Aunt Julie, this is a fresh take on the story of two independent and unconventional sisters and the men in their lives seeking love and meaning as they navigate an ever-changing world. Also starring Joseph Quinn, Rosalind Eleazar, and Alex Lawther. Streaming: January 13, 2020 Episodes: 4 Genre: Drama Language: English Margaret Schlegel is an intelligent, idealistic young woman who is courted by the older Henry Wilcox, a self-made conservative businessman. After his wife Ruth Wilcox dies unexpectedly he becomes the owner of Howards End. Meanwhile Margaret’s passionate and capricious younger sister Helen Schlegel takes up the cause of Leonard Bast, a young bank clerk who falls on hard times at work and at home with his partner Jacky. In the absence of their late parents, the sisters’ loving but interfering Aunt Juley tries to keep the young ladies and their brother Tibby on the straight and narrow.  Vienna Blood Cultures and ideas collide in 1900s Vienna, Austria, where opulent cafes and opera houses set the scene for heated discussions about philosophy, science and art. Max Liebermann, played by Matthew Beard (‘The Imitation Game’, ‘And When Did You Last See Your Father?’), is a brilliant young English doctor and one of Sigmund Freud’s young students. He encounters Austrian Detective Inspector Oskar Rheindardt, played by Juergen Maurer (‘Vorstadtweiber’, ‘Tatort’) who is struggling with his latest murder case. Max decides to help Oskar investigate the unusual and chilling string of murders. Streaming: January 20, 2020 Episodes: 6 Genre: Crime/Drama Language: English Max draws upon his perception and forensics skills, along with his deep understanding of human behavior and deviance, to solve some of Vienna’s most mysterious and deadly cases.  Walter Presents: Home Ground, Season 1 After leading her team to sensational results in European women’s football, coach Helena Mikkelsen finds her achievements ridiculed by the male experts of the footballing world. When a newly promoted Norwegian football team loses its coach just before the start of the league season, the team scrambles to find a new head coach. Michael Ellingsen, a former football star puts himself in the running with Helena as his assistant coach. Streaming: January 17, 2020 Episodes: 10 Genre: Drama Language: Norwegian with English Subtitles However, fueled by everyone’s lack of trust in her, Helena demands to also be considered for the lead position. She soon learns that the club is in bigger trouble than they realized, and despite his initial hesitation, the club director decides to give Helena the historic opportunity to be manager. Michael and the team don’t attempt to hide their bitterness… Will she be able to lead them to victory when they refuse to believe in her?   Walter Presents: The Blood Pact, Season 1 Two years after becoming a widower, work-obsessed Hugo is struggling to balance his work life with fathering his two daughters. His 8-year-old has become best friends with the daughter of a prolific ex-criminal, Marius. Soon after being released from prison, Marius is involved in a freak accident with Hugo. They become friends, however this friendship draws Hugo deep into a dangerous web of crime. In the end, how far will Hugo go for his family? Streaming: January 31, 2020 Episodes: 10 Genre: Drama / Crime Thriller Language: Danish with English Subtitles About MASTERPIECE Winner of 83 Primetime Emmys and 16 Peabody Awards, MASTERPIECE has been essential Sunday night viewing for millions of fans since 1971. Rebecca Eaton is the executive-producer-at-large. Susanne Simpson is the executive producer of the series. Funding for MASTERPIECE is provided by Viking with additional support from public television viewers and contributors to The MASTERPIECE Trust. Presented on PBS by WGBH Boston, MASTERPIECE is known for recent hits such as Sherlock, Downton Abbey and Victoria, and beloved classics such as Upstairs Downstairs, Prime Suspect, The Forsyte Saga and Poldark.  About WALTER PRESENTS Walter Presents launched in January 2016 in the U.K. as a video-on-demand service and is a joint venture between Channel 4 and Global Series Network, founded by Jason Thorp, Walter Iuzzolino and Jo McGrath. Dedicated to showcasing award-winning foreign language drama, the service is named after its curator, Walter Iuzzolino, a passionate drama fan. In March 2017, Walter Presents launched as an SVOD platform in the U.S., with the New York Times hailing it as a “chic TV boutique with a foreign accent.” In November 2017, Walter Presents launched in Australia through pay TV service Foxtel, and in Italy in September 2018, it launched its first roll-out in mainland Europe on Discovery’s Nove, Giallo and Dplay channels. In October 2018, Walter Presents partnered with PBS Distribution to launch over 300 hours of quality foreign language drama on the MASTERPIECE Prime Video Channel. Walter’s Choice is a selection of the Walter Presents programming that is made available for air on PBS stations.  Follow Walter Presents on Facebook and Twitter   About PBS Distribution PBS Distribution, jointly owned by PBS and WGBH, is a leading distributor of public media content around the world. Distribution platforms include: direct-to-consumer subscription video-on-demand (DTC-SVOD) channels– PBS MASTERPIECE, PBS KIDS, and PBS LIVING – all on Amazon Prime Video Channels, with PBS LIVING also available on the Apple TV app, transactional video-on-demand (TVOD), subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) licensing, and physical products on DVD and Blu-ray. Other divisions of the company include: theatrical releasing, educational, non-theatrical, inflight and international licensing. PBS Distribution offers consumers and educators over 4,000 programming hours of the highest quality factual, scripted and children’s programming, including films from producer Ken Burns, hit dramas from MASTERPIECE, entertaining and educational children’s series and award-winning documentaries from NOVA, FRONTLINE, AMERICAN MASTERS, NATURE, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE and many independent producers. For over 20 years, the company has extended the reach of programming beyond broadcast while generating revenue for the public television system,  stations and producers.