By Chip Chandler — Digital Content Producer
New murder mysteries, the return of an old favorite, a spectacular live exploration of Alaskan frontiers and the ultimate July 4th party: All this and more is heading your way in July.
Murder in Suburbia
A sassy, unlikely pair of detectives will solve crimes in a new murder mystery series debuting in July.
Murder in Suburbia will air at 9 p.m. Sundays beginning July 1.
Kate Ashurst (Caroline Catz, Doc Martin) and Emma Scribbins (Lisa Faulker, MI-5) work in the Middleford Criminal Investigative Department for a bemused boss (Jeremy Sheffield, The Wedding Date).
Ash, who comes from a posh background, has an analytical mind, while Scribbs, who grew up in the working class, relies more on her instincts.
The Forsyte Saga
The lavish miniseries starring Damian Lewis and Rupert Graves returns in a special summer event.
The serial, based on John Galsworthy’s trilogy, follows the lives and loves of the Forsyte family over three generations. It'll air at 10:30 p.m. July 2 and 9 and 10 p.m. Sundays after that.
It first aired in 2002.
A Capitol Fourth
Emmy Award-nominated actor and producer John Stamos will host the 37th annual A Capitol Fourth on July 4.
The all-star musical and fireworks extravaganza, broadcast live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, will feature performances by soul men Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi of The Blues Brothers; iconic multi-platinum selling music legends The Beach Boys, with special guests Stamos (drums) and Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath (vocals); legendary Motown stars The Four Tops; The Voice Season 12 winner Chris Blue; and Tony-nominated Broadway star Phillipa Soo (Amélie, Hamilton); with the National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of top pops conductor Jack Everly and others to be announced.
Actress and singer Sofia Carson will perform the national anthem, and country star Trace Adkins will pay tribute to men and women in uniform with a performance of his song “Still a Soldier.”
The concert airs at 7 p.m. July 4 on PBS and encored at 8:30 p.m. The concert will also be live-streamed online on Facebook Live and at pbs.org/a-capitol-fourth and available as Video on Demand for a limited time only, July 4 to July 18.
Remember Me
Michael Palin (Monty Python's Flying Circus) stars as an elderly man who's the sole witness to a crime in Remember Me, premiering at 9 p.m. July 16.
The three-part series, which originally aired on the BBC, finds Palin's Tom Parfitt needing the help of teenage care assistant Hannah Ward (Jodie Comer, Dr. Foster) and detective Rob Fairholme (Mark Addy, The Full Monty) to solve the crime and unravel the riddle of his own mysterious past.
Wild Alaska Live
PBS viewers will journey to the northernmost parts of the United States with a new, live event in July. Wild Alaska Live — hosted by adventurer brothers Chris and Martin Kratt, creators and stars of Wild Kratts — will showcase the must-see natural spectacle of the summer feast.
The three-night event — airing at 7 p.m. July 23, 26 and 30 — is part of the PBS Summer of Adventure.
During the feast, some of the world’s most remarkable animals – bears, wolves, moose, orcas and eagles – gather by the thousands to make sure they can last through the rest of the year.
With some of largest areas of wilderness left on Earth, Alaska is the best place in the world to see the huge animals and top predators in all their glory. The three-night live presentation, produced in partnership with the BBC, also explores the challenges of preserving America’s last frontier, as scientists, filmmakers, photographers and other experts gather there to tell some of the planet’s extraordinary wildlife stories.
And for kids, Wild Kratts Alaska: Hero’s Journey will premiere on PBS Kids at 8 p.m. July 24. The special finds the Kratts taking part in the salmon run in an attempt to recover one of Aviva’s breakthrough inventions. It will repeat multiple times on both PBS and PBS Kids.
Joe’s Violin
An Oscar-nominated short film about how music unites across generational and cultural differences will debut in July on PBS.
Joe’s Violin will air with Shalom Italia, a film about Italian Jewish brothers revisiting a cave in which they hid from Nazis, in a special presentation on POV at 9 p.m. July 24.
In the first film, Joseph Feingold, a 91-year-old Holocaust survivor, donates the violin he bought shortly after being freed from his concentration camp to an instrument drive. The short documentary also profiles Brianna Perez, the 12-year-old Bronx schoolgirl who was picked by her school to receive the instrument.
In the second film, octogenarian brothers Emmanuel, Andrea and Bubi rediscover a cave in the Tuscan countryside where they hid from the Nazis for months.
Chip Chandler is a digital content producer for Panhandle PBS. He can be contacted at Chip.Chandler@actx.edu, at @chipchandler1 on Twitter and on Facebook.
