Browse - Most popular shows on PBS

Eliza Scarlet joins forces with a Scotland Yard Inspector to solve crime in 19th century London. When Eliza's father dies, he leaves her penniless in a time where marriage is her only option for financial security. But the headstrong Eliza is determined to find another way. Luckily, she has an ace up her bonnet - her father's business - a private detective agency. Eliza knows all the tricks of the trade but as a genteel 19th century lady she's never been allowed to put them into practice. To operate in this man's world, she needs a partner. Step forward Detective Inspector William Wellington of Scotland Yard, who is also known as "The Duke;" drinker, gambler and womaniser. Eliza and The Duke strike up a mismatched, fiery relationship that will crackle and smoulder with sexual tension as they team up to solve crime in the murkiest depths of 1880's London.

Detective Inspector Alex Ridley, who is lured back into service as a consultant detective when his former protégée, Carol Farman, needs help cracking a complex murder case.

Patience centers on Detective Bea Metcalf, who forms an unlikely duo with a young autistic police archivist, Patience Evans. Their investigations unfold against the backdrop of the historic city of York.

Seen in more than 100 countries, NOVA is the most watched science television series in the world and the most watched documentary series on PBS. It is also one of television's most acclaimed series, having won every major television award, most of them many times over.

It is a sequel to "Magpie Murders", takes place after that story and focuses on the disappearance of a hotel employee, using a story-within-a-story device.

The lives and loves of Jane Austen and her sister Cassandra, exploring why Cassandra burned letters written by her sister, Jane - a decision that has bewildered academics and Austen fans for centuries.

The basic drive to discover who we are and where we come from is at the core of the new 10-part PBS series "Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.", the 12th series from Professor Gates, the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University and director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research.

The Vietnam War was a decade of agony that took the lives of more than 58,000 Americans, and that Not since the Civil War have we as a country been so torn apart.

This mini series follows the lives of two volunteer nurses on opposing sides of the Civil War - New England abolitionist Mary Phinney and Confederate supporter Emma Green. The Green family's luxury hotel in Alexandria, Va., has been transformed into Mansion House, a Union Army hospital tending to the war's wounded. Inspired by memoirs and letters from real doctors and nurse volunteers at Mansion House Hospital, this new drama reveals the stories of those struggling to save lives while managing their own hardships.

Since it began in 1983, "Frontline" has been airing public-affairs documentaries that explore a wide scope of the complex human experience. Frontline's goal is to extend the impact of the documentary beyond its initial broadcast by serving as a catalyst for change.

The Emmy Award winning This Old House is the television's premier home improvement series. This Old House's mission is to demystify the home improvement process and to celebrate the fusion on old world craftsmanship and modern technology.

Carl Sagan brings us the Cosmos, everything that ever was and ever will be, in an approach that is easily accessible even for those of us that are not science wizards. This 13 part series covers everything from the history of astronomy, the challenges it faced at its creation, how the universe was created and how it all might end, to the evolution of life on Earth, and the nature of the human brain.

The scandalous tale of a young man's attempt to find a place in the world.

Nature is a wildlife documentary program that has been airing on PBS since 1982. Its longevity is explained partly by its quality; Nature has won numerous Emmy awards. Documentaries have explored a multitude of different animals, plants, and other aspects of the natural world. Subjects vary from "Africa" to "Yellowstone Otters".

Since 1988, PBS has broadcast a series that focuses on the history of the United States and what has made it unique. Called American Experience (originally titled The American Experience), the program examines the people, events, technology, and natural resources that have shaped the country.

A successful spin-off of This Old House, this series sends experts Tom Silva (contracting, renovation, carpentry, home repair), Rich Trethewey (heating, air conditioning, plumbing, ventilation) and Roger Cook (gardening, landscaping, hardscaping) to the homes of viewers. Viewers write the show and producers select questions of broad interest and send the appropriate expert. For some special problems, like wells or electrical work, the "Ask" expert coordinates with a local contractor and with him narrates the project. Occasionally, follow-up discussions occur in the barn following the segment, where the experts and host Kevin O'Connor consider alternatives or clarify potentially murky points.

This two-part, four-hour documentary delves into the world of a 15th-century art titan and unravels their journey while shedding light on their lasting impact on future generations.

Sometimes the truth gets carried to the grave. The techniques of modern forensic science are used to investigate a historical mystery to find proof of what really happened.

"America's Test Kitchen" is the most-watched cooking show on public television. The series is filmed in the Cook's Illustrated magazine test kitchen located outside Boston, Massachusetts. Each episode features recipes that have been carefully developed to make sure they work every time.

On the air since 1971, in its early days the show consisted entirely of British drama productions, more than half of them from the BBC. Since the year 2000, some classic productions from the American Collection have also been included, but the bulk of the show still comes from the UK.

The U.S. and the Holocaust explores America's response to one of the greatest humanitarian crises in history. Inspired in part by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's "Americans and the Holocaust" exhibition and supported by its historical resources, the film examines the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany in the context of global antisemitism and racism, the eugenics movement in the United States and race laws in the American south. The series, written by Geoffrey Ward, sheds light on what the U.S. government and American people knew and did as the catastrophe unfolded in Europe.

"American Masters" is dedicated to documenting and honoring America's most notable creative artists and the inspiration behind their work. Each year a series of special broadcasts profiles a cross-section of the nation's finest artistic pioneers from the past and present.

Appraisers of antiques travel with the show to various cities. Area citizens bring articles for appraisal and often relate the histories of these items. The appraisers then expand on what is known about the treasures, sometimes exposing them as fakes, and they estimate the pieces' financial value.

Ken Burns's two-part, four-hour documentary, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, explores the revolutionary life of one of the 18th Century's most consequential and compelling personalities.

Tales of the City (and its sequels) follows the soap-operaish lives of the people living in 1970's and 1980's San Francisco, and are based on Armistead Maupin's novels. The show centers around Anna Madrigal, the eccentric landlady at 28 Barbary Lane (who welcomes her tenants by taping homegrown joints above their doors), her tenants and the others implicated in their lives. Tenants include Mary Ann Singleton, a naive midwesterner who moves to California to start a new life; Mona Ramsey, a "fag-hag" with a special connection to Mrs Madrigal; Michael "Mouse" Tolliver, a gay Floridan who moved to California to avoid letting his parents find out he was gay; and Brian Hawkins, a horny straight guy trapped in a gay city... People involved in their lives are Beachamp Day, Mary Ann's boss, and his wife DeDe; Edgar Halcyon, Anna's boyfriend, and his wife, Frannie who are DeDe's parents.