American Public Television Picks Up BBC Studios Content for Syndication

American Public Television (APT) has acquired four titles from BBC Studios, including Mark Gatiss’s drama Ghost Stories, for syndication in the U.S. public television system.

Ghost Stories, written and directed by Gatiss (Sherlock, Doctor Who), comprises six 30-minute episodes that feature five direct adaptations and one original inspired by the short stories of British authors M.R. James and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The adaptations are part of the A Ghost Story for Christmas anthology series that originally aired in the ’70s. Cast members appearing throughout the series are Simon Callow (Outlander), Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who), Sacha Dhawan (The Great), Rory Kinnear (The Diplomat), Jason Watkins (The Crown) and Kit Harington (Game of Thrones).

APT is also distributing the docuseries Schama on Rembrandt: Masterpieces of the Late Years, in which historian Simon Schama explores the final works of Rembrandt van Rijn in the years leading up to his death in 1669. Schama, who is one of the world’s leading experts on Rembrandt, details the creativity in the works, in which the artist found a whole new visual language to express the pleasures and pains of aging. The series is filmed in Amsterdam, where Rembrandt lived and worked.

Ghost Stories and Schama on Rembrandt: Masterpieces of the Late Years will air on select public television stations throughout the U.S. and will be available to stream with the Passport local station member benefit via the PBS website and the PBS app in fall 2024.

Additional BBC Studios titles being offered by APT are the documentary film Chopin Saved My Life and the sitcom series Up The Women.