PBS Boards BBC Newspaper Drama 'Press'

"I'd much rather see that than another series on cupcakes."

It will serve as a co-producer and premiere the six-part show in the U.S. on PBS Masterpiece.

PBS has boarded BBC One’s upcoming newspaper business drama, Press, written by Mike Bartlett (Doctor Foster, Charles III) and produced by Deep Indigo, Lookout Point and BBC Studios, as a co-producer.

PBS Masterpiece will premiere the six-part show in the U.S. The deal was brokered by BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, and Lookout Point.

Press is set in the world of newspapers, "its past riven by hacking scandals, its present at the mercy of the digital age and the 24-hour news cycle, its future uncertain," according to a plot description. It will "explore the turbulent media landscape through the fortunes of competing broadsheet and tabloid papers and the very different and colorful characters who work for them."

Said producer Nigel Stafford-Clark: "At a time when both the nature and the role of the press have themselves become part of the news, there's never been a better moment to focus on this unique world as the basis of a major television series. And I can't think of anyone better to take that on than Mike Bartlett."

The series will be executive produced by Bartlett, Faith Penhale for Lookout Point, Bethan Jones for BBC Studios and Rebecca Eaton for PBS Masterpiece.

Paula Kerger, PBS president and CEO, was the last executive to meet with the press at the Television Critics Association's winter press tour Sunday morning. Asked about the GOP majority in Congress and a Donald Trump White House and what they could mean for public funding of PBS, she said: "It's too early to tell."