PBS Announces Summer 2015 Programming

POLDARK Drama and Unprecedented Look at Sea Life in BIG BLUE LIVE Spark PBS’ 2015 Summer Season

– Highlights Include New Dramas, Atomic Bomb 70 Years Later, Indie Films and Fresh Lineup of Science, Nature and History Programs –

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PBS’ 2015 wide-ranging summer season lineup launches with the premiere of a new version of the romantic saga POLDARK ON MASTERPIECE (watch a clip here) and culminates with BIG BLUE LIVE, a first-time, live-event co-production with the BBC documenting the late-summer confluence of whales, and other sea life, as it is happening in Monterey Bay, California. This summer marks the third season of the award-winning LAST TANGO IN HALIFAX, season two of the British comedy VICIOUS with Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi, and two new science and nature miniseries in PBS’ “Think Wednesday” programming block: FIRST PEOPLES (watch a clip here), which chronicles how Homo sapiens became the dominant human species, and LIFE ON THE REEF (watch a clip here), which dives deep into the inner world of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. And, as the country marks the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and the end of the Civil War, PBS announced that THE CIVIL WAR, the award-winning film produced and directed by Ken Burns, will be rebroadcast over five consecutive nights in September 2015. The broadcast, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the original broadcast of THE CIVIL WAR in September 1990, will present a newly restored high-definition version.

New thought-provoking specials THE BOMB and URANIUM – TWISTING THE DRAGON’S TAIL provide fascinating insights into the first detonation of the atomic bomb on its 70th anniversary and the lasting impacts of the nuclear age; four years after one of history’s worst nuclear accidents, NOVA “Fukushima” (w.t.) reveals the minute-by-minute story of Japan’s nuclear energy crisis and its ongoing aftermath. POV returns with engrossing documentaries from the world’s best independent filmmakers telling intimate stories and exploring current issues in such films as “Out in the Night,” “Tough Love” and “The Overnighters.” Also back this summer is the popular Independence Day celebration A CAPITOL FOURTH (performers to be announced), as well as Friday night arts programming and new episodes of FRONTLINE on Tuesdays.

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