Stories by Daniel Hautzinger

A cholera outbreak strikes a neighborhood of London, and Victoria and Albert champion new scientific research to discover how the disease is spread. They do so separately, however, since they are not even on speaking terms as they continue to feud. 

While wealthy Victorians hosted elaborate, multi-course meals with expensive ingredients, the working class stretched the rare piece of meat as far as they could. Watch the owners of Pleasant House Pub prepare wealthy and working class Victorian meals – and yes, there is a sheep's head. 

The confines of a small island cause tensions to flare between Victoria and Albert and provide the perfect context for other noble intrigue, while Palmerston's enthusiastic welcoming of a democratic agitator to London in the queen's absence worries her.

January brings not just polar weather (which you can endure via a Nature special), but also Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday (which you can honor with an American Experience) and the returns of two very popular shows: Finding Your Roots and Victoria.

Two of the five films nominated for Academy Awards this year in the Documentary category will soon air on PBS: Hale County This Morning, This Evening and Minding the Gap. Watch a trailer and interview with a director here. 

The year Chicago was incorporated also saw the founding of the city’s first temperance group and first brewery, and the two factions grew and clashed for the following decades, leaving their mark on the city and suburbs, until temperance briefly won out with the ratification of Prohibition 100 years ago.

As the Chartists prepare a mass demonstration on behalf of the working class, Victoria is forced to decide whether to trust her faith in the people or the concern of her advisors. Will Britain erupt in popular revolt like the other countries of Europe?

Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice revolutionized opera two and a half centuries ago, and now it inaugurates a new collaboration rife with possibilities between two of Chicago's largest arts organizations, the Joffrey Ballet and Lyric Opera. Their production airs Friday, January 18 on Great Performances. 

Victoria is back, but the queen's reign may be in danger. It's 1848, and liberal revolutions are sweeping away despots and the old order across Europe, starting with Victoria's sometime ally Louis Philippe of France. As Victoria faces popular unrest, a new political rival emerges. 

Bruce Cumings, a historian of modern Korea who often bucks conventional wisdom on North Korea, explains the U.S.'s role in North Korea's nuclearization, digs into how the dictatorship has lasted 70 years, and expresses cautious optimism about the future of U.S.-North Korea relations.

Meet the guests appearing on the new season of The Interview Show with Mark Bazer, which premieres Thursday, January 10, from an author behind blockbuster movies to an ESPN commentator, young musicians to multifaceted Chicagoans.

"I’m fortunate in that I get to do stories about people that I like," says Jay Shefsky. And even though they're everyday people, they're often extraordinary, with fascinating stories, jobs, or passions. "I want to share their stories and their work."

Chicago is renowned for its architecture, but a small-scale, domestic building unique to this city often goes unrecognized: the Chicago bungalow. The history of this style of house encompasses the story of Chicago's immigrants and infamous discrimination.

The beginning of a new year always brings the excitement of eagerly anticipated shows, and 2019 is no exception. From Oscar-buzzy documentaries to sweeping histories from Ken Burns and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. to new dramas and adaptations, it's going to be a good year. 

As Christmas approaches, the Nonnatus sisters are called back to the Mother House to elect a new Mother Superior. There, they care for newly arrived orphans from China as well as a pregnant woman who used to live there. Back in Poplar, Trixie returns and helps with a birth in an unusual place.