Agent Scully to Host Masterpiece Theatre

by Jarrett Martineau | December 11, 2007 at 08:55 am

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Since striking sci-fi gold with her starring role as Agent Dana Scully on the X-Files, Gillian Anderson has been trying to expand her range. First, there was her moody attempt to speak/sing over earnest 90s electronica -- then, well, a quiet decade elapsed.

And now...Masterpiece Theatre? Sounds like quite the conspiracy. I wonder if she'll use her American accent or the British one...

After 37 years, PBS' "Masterpiece Theatre" is getting spruced up.

The revered anthology series will be split into three mini-seasons, each with its own theme and host - one of whom is Gillian Anderson, already familiar to "Masterpiece" fans for her 2006 performance as Lady Dedlock in "Bleak House."

Anderson, even better known as Agent Dana Scully from the Fox series "The X-Files," will make her debut as host of the renamed "Masterpiece Classic" on Jan. 13. Through May, she will present 10 programs that include adaptations of all six of Jane Austen's novels plus a new biopic; "Cranford," a three-part miniseries starring Judi Dench; "My Boy Jack," starring Daniel Radcliffe and Kim Cattrall; and a new adaptation of E.M. Forster's "A Room with a View" by Andrew Davies.