Video: 'MASTERPIECE: Celebrating 50 Years'

(Sunday, January 10, 1971, 9:00-10:00 p.m. EST) — Masterpiece Theatre (now called Masterpiece), a drama anthology television series produced by WGBH Boston, premiered tonight in the U.S. on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which began operations only three months ago.

The initial offering by what would become America’s longest-running weekly prime time drama series was “The Chaste Nymph,” the first episode of The First Churchills.

The BBC serial from 1969, which was about the life of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and his wife, Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, was introduced by series host Alistair Cooke.