Masterpiece, Tom Jones

PBS WESTERN RESERVE (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):

Sundays at 9 PM beginning April 30
Mondays at 3 AM beginning May 1

Fusion (WNEO 45.2 / WEAO 49.2):

Sundays at 1 PM beginning May 7

A timeless romantic comedy gets an exciting new adaptation in MASTERPIECE’s retelling of Henry Fielding’s novel “Tom Jones,” written by BAFTA-nominated Gwyneth Hughes and airing in four parts. 

Solly McLeod stars as the handsome, resourceful title character, with Sophie Wilde as the beautiful and bright, seemingly unattainable, love of his life, Sophia Western. He is a foundling of uncertain parentage, while she is an heiress. In 18th-century England, their class differences make their journey to find each other complicated and treacherous. Emmy-winning actress Hannah Waddingham plays the seductive and vengeful Lady Bellaston, who comes between Tom and Sophia.

When banished in disgrace by his adoptive father, Tom leaves for London. Not far behind him, Sophia heads there to escape a forced marriage to Blifil and seek the protection of her aunts. Along the way, Tom meets disgraced schoolmaster Partridge, Mrs. Waters and the irascible soldier-of-fortune Fitzpatrick.

Humor is a hallmark of Fielding’s novel, which has been a bestseller for nearly three centuries and was famously depicted in the exuberant Academy Award-winning 1963 movie adaptation starring Albert Finney and Susannah York.