Matthew Goode to Host Masterpiece contemporary on PBS

Dynamic British actor Matthew Goode has been picked to host the premiere season of Masterpiece contemporary on PBS.

Goode, who recently starred in the feature film Brideshead Revisited and has appeared in My Family and Other Animals, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries and Miss Marple on Masterpiece, will make his hosting debut with the season opener The Last Enemy, a five-part thriller beginning Sunday, October 5, 2008.

"In the tradition of favorite Masterpiece actors, Matthew brings talent, charm and versatility to every role he plays," says Masterpiece executive producer Rebecca Eaton. "He's a wonderful fit for our new contemporary programming, which showcases some of the best young and interesting talent working today."

"It's exciting to be associated with a new venture like Masterpiece contemporary," says Goode. "I think the relevant themes of these provocative programs will attract a wide audience."

One of Hollywood's most sought after actors, Goode starred in Woody Allen's Match Point and Scott Frank's The Lookout before taking on the role of Charles Ryder in Julian Jarrold's Brideshead Revisited. He will next be seen as super villain Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias in Zack Snyder's highly anticipated Watchmen, opening March 6, 2009.

Masterpiece contemporary, which follows the successful launches of Masterpiece classic and Masterpiece mystery!, will present outstanding British television drama with contemporary themes.

The Masterpiece contemporary season begins on October 5 with The Last Enemy, a gripping new miniseries starring Benedict Cumberbatch (Atonement) and Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty), which probes the trend toward a surveillance society in the post-9/11 world. On November 9, Antony Sher (Primo), Dominic Cooper (Mamma Mia!), Stellan Skarsgard (Pirates of the Caribbean), and Stephen Dillane (John Adams) play a group of Auschwitz prisoners who put God on Trial, and on November 16, Filth, starring Julie Walters (Harry Potter), looks at the hot-button issue of censorship in the freewheeling culture of 1960s England. A Masterpiece special will air on November 23: The Unseen Alistair Cooke is a documentary about the distinguished journalistic career of the longtime Masterpiece Theatre host, who reported on life in America for nearly 70 years. The program marks the November centenary of Cooke's birth.