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In case you forgot, the venerable Michael Caine is actually retiring from acting, yes really this time. (Caine, if you’re on the set of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey right now, we swear to God…) He figured he “might as well leave” on the 2023 film The Great Escaper, co-starring the late, great Glenda Jackson, because “I’ve got wonderful reviews. What am I gonna do to beat this?” That’s as good an advertisement as any for the movie, which will have its U.S. television premiere on PBS Masterpiece later this year.
The Great Escaper “tells the true story of Bernard Jordan (Michael Caine) who made global headlines in the summer of 2014. He had staged a ‘great escape’ from his care home to join fellow war veterans on a beach in Normandy, commemorating their fallen comrades at the D-Day Landings 70th anniversary,” per a synopsis from Masterpiece. His 48-hour adventure “also marked the culmination of his 60-year marriage to Rene (Glenda Jackson)—The Great Escaper celebrates their enduring love but always with an eye to the lessons we might learn from the Greatest Generation.”
On Wednesday, Masterpiece also announced a new adaptation of The Count Of Monte Cristo, starring Sam Claflin and Jeremy Irons, which will premiere in 2026. Directed by two-time Palme d’Or and Oscar-winner Bille August, Claflin stars as the Alexandre Dumas hero Edmond Dantes, a young sailor who is falsely accused of treason and imprisoned for years on a French island fortress. He escapes years later, discovers hidden treasure with the help of his mentor, and assumes a new identity to take revenge on his accusers. You can check out a first look at Claflin as the brooding Count below; exact release dates for both programs have yet to be announced.
Sam Claflin as Edmond Dantes; Courtesy of MASTERPIECE and Mediawan.
