“Downton Abbey,” “Sherlock” and More High Drama from PBS at TCA

It was a day of high drama Saturday during the opening hours of PBS’ time at the Summer 2015 Television Critics Association tour. Steven Moffat, the executive producer of the award-winning “Sherlock” series starring Benedict Cumberbatch, was on hand to confirm that there would be another three-episode season of the show sometime in the not too distant future, as well as a stand-alone special that would be set in Victorian London rather than the present day, as the “Sherlock” franchise has been. That was followed by introductions of two very promising new series: “Indian Summers,” the next addition to the “Masterpiece” family, and “Mercy Street,” an original Civil War-era drama that with an impressive young cast (pictured above). And then it was time for drama of a higher order: The final TCA session for the soon to conclude “Downton Abbey.”

On hand for the final “Downton” session and the cocktail party that followed: Cast members Joanne Froggatt, Michelle Dockery, Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Laura Carmichael and Penelope Wilton (pictured below, left to right), along with executive producer Gareth Neame (who is also the executive producer of BBC America’s upcoming “The Last Kingdom”). They were accompanied by “Masterpiece” executive producer Rebecca Eaton, who began the press conference by fretting, “Oh dear, oh dear. I never thought this day would come.”

Eaton’s wistfulness was understandable, given the many ways in which PBS and the “Masterpiece” franchise have benefited from “Downton” – the highest rated drama in PBS history.

“Mercy Street” looks to be another potential keeper. It follows the lives of doctors, nurses and others working at the Mansion House Hospital in Union-occupied Alexandria, Virginia in the early years of the Civil War, and it feels like it has enough soap opera elements to appeal to the “Downton” fan base (or fans of any fast-moving drama with multiple storylines and conflicting character relationships). The cast would seem to be more at home on Fox or The CW than PBS; it includes AnnaSophia Robb (“The Carrie Diaries”), Jack Falahee (“How to Get Away with Murder”), Josh Radnor (“How I Met Your Mother”), Cameron Monaghan (“Shameless”) and Mary Elizabeth Winstead (“The Spectacular Now”) along with Gary Cole (“The Good Wife”), Norbert Leo Butz (“Bloodline”), Tara Summers (“You’re the Worst”) and striking young unknown Hannah James, who will turn up in a major broadcast or cable series within a year or two, if not in feature films. You read it here first.

“Downton Abbey,” “Sherlock” and More High Drama from PBS at TCA

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Ed Martin