This Month on CPTV

Tuesday, April 1 at 8 p.m.
Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the long-lost roots of actor Sheryl Lee Ralph and historian Lonnie Bunch – two African Americans with ancestors who broke boundaries and forged families as they moved from slavery to freedom.
WATCH A PREVIEW

Tuesday, April 1 at 9 p.m.
After the tragic death of her mother, a young Liza Minnelli – in the midst of personal and professional challenges – seeks out mentors to help polish her boundless raw talent.
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Wednesdays, April 2, 9, and 16 at 8 p.m. on CPTV
Katavi National Park is a remote wilderness, spanning 3,000 square miles of western Tanzania. Here lions, hippos, and crocodiles live more or less in harmony, until an unusual climatic cycle transforms the natural dry season into the toughest drought in almost a century, followed by heavy rains. Desperation pushes all these animals to the edge of their endurance, testing their survival skills.
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Thursdays at 10 p.m.
This quirky New Zealand mystery follows DI Mike Shepherd, who arrives to the seemingly peaceful town of Brokenwood with a classic car, a country music collection, and an indeterminate number of ex-wives. His assistant, DC Kristin Sims, is a by-the-book investigator 15 years younger than her boss's car. Shepherd soon discovers that Brokenwood is full of secrets and suspicions.
WATCH WITH PASSPORT

Scott Newton

Friday, April 4 at 9 p.m.
Music luminaries and some of the brightest stars in Austin City Limits' five-decade history return to the fabled ACL stage in Austin, Texas, to celebrate the show's fiftieth anniversary. The all-star line-up includes Leon Bridges, Billy Strings, Gary Clark Jr., Lyle Lovett, Shawn Colvin, Angela Aguilar, The Avett Brothers, Indigo Girls, Rufus Wainwright, The Mavericks and more. The two-hour broadcast offers salutes to ACL icons including Willie Nelson and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and features behind-the-scenes interviews along with rarely seen vintage clips from the ACL archives.
SEE THE TRAILER

Sundays at 8 p.m.
This moving, intimate, funny and true-to-life series, based on the best-selling memoirs of the late Jennifer Worth, tells colorful stories of midwifery and families in London's East End. Jenny Lee, a young woman raised in the wealthy English countryside, has chosen to become a nurse and now, as a newly qualified midwife, has gone to work in the poorest area of the city. Attached to an order of nursing nuns at Nonnatus House, Jenny is part of a team of women who minister to expectant mothers, many of whom give birth at home in appalling conditions. The drama follows Jenny as she meets her patients and learns to love the people who live in the East End.
WATCH WITH PASSPORT

Nick Briggs

Sundays at 9 p.m.
Thomas Cromwell emerges from the bloodbath of Anne Boleyn’s beheading to continue his climb to power and wealth, while King Henry VIII settles to short-lived happiness with Queen Jane. However, rebels in the North demand Cromwell's head and a return to the old Catholic ways. With Henry VIII beginning to contemplate his chief adviser's failings, Cromwell withdraws from court and receives unexpected news from across the sea.
BINGE NOW WITH PASSPORT

Sundays at 10 p.m.
Transforming from a young Dauphine to the Queen of Style and a true fashion icon, Marie Antoinette must learn the rules and secrets of the Court and attempt to recreate Versailles in her image: free, independent and feminist. But her successes provoke jealousy and rivalry, and her royal enemies will do everything they can to bring her down. When Marie Antoinette takes steps to protect herself and her unborn child, she unwittingly fuels the perception of her as an extravagant tart while Paris starves. For the first time, the people openly protest against her.
WATCH NOW WITH PASSPORT

Sundays at 11 p.m.
Intuitive profiler Chloe Saint-Laurent solves the most puzzling cases with the Paris homicide division in this suspenseful and fast-paced series based on actual criminal cases. Her exceptional sensitivity enables her to read the minds of killers and victims alike. After a woman files a rape charge, dozens of similar charges are found in her name. But Chloe sets out to understand what is behind her alleged lies. From Walter Presents, in French with English subtitles.
WATCH WITH PASSPORT

Monday, April 7 at 9:00 p.m.
What inspires architects and designers? How do architecture and interior design relate to the surrounding landscape? And what are the design lessons from industry-leading creatives that can help guide the improvement of homes and gardens of all sizes? Landscape architect Ed Hollander invites architects and designers to tour his favorite summer gardens in the Hamptons, and hosts conversations on the state of their field. The series offers more than just open access to the region’s premier gardens – each episode features an in-depth conversation with a renowned creative mind.
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Monday, April 7 at 9:30 p.m.
Former Rolling Stone music editor Mark Kemp wrote that if The Remains, a little-known group from New England, hadn’t broken up in 1966, “we might today be calling them...the World’s Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band.” Witness The Remains’ return to Los Angeles 40 years after they last appeared there opening for the Beatles. Three of The Remains – lead singer/guitarist Barry Tashian, keyboardist Bill Briggs and drummer Chip Damiani – grew up in Connecticut. The documentary captures The Remains’ return to Los Angeles 40 years after they last appeared there at Dodger Stadium opening for the Beatles. It is perhaps the quintessential story of a band that came this close to the mountaintop but never quite got there –and how they dealt with not reaching their ultimate destination.
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Tuesday, April 8 at 8 p.m.
Join Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. to uncover the surprising ancestral stories of cultural trailblazers with fascinating histories. Cutting-edge DNA detective work solves longstanding family mysteries for actor Laurence Fishburne and scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. – in the unique and emotional season finale where Gates finds himself as a guest on his own show for the first time.

Tuesday, April 8 at 9 p.m.
A syncopated voyage through the history of funk music, spanning from African, soul and early jazz roots, to its rise into the public consciousness. Featuring James Brown’s dynamism, the extraterrestrial funk of George Clinton’s Parliament Funkadelic, transformed girl group Labelle and Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat.
SEE THE TRAILER

Wednesday, April 9 at 9 p.m.
In April 1775, war breaks out in Britain's most troublesome territory. Now the American Colonial Army faces what seems like an impossible challenge – to militarily defeat the world's most powerful nation. We've all heard the stories of pluck and valor, but what really led to Britain's defeat and the birth of the United States? American and British archeologists and historians unpack the real story of technology, innovation, and luck that determined the outcome of key battles – from the Massachusetts militias who fired the first shots to the Naval clashes between British and American ships of the line. This unique film brings the latest science to bear to reveal the hidden history of the Revolutionary War.
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Monday, April 14 at 10 p.m.
After the Soviet Union's collapse, America became the world's sole superpower. But at what cost? Rare archives and in-depth testimony offer insights into the "what" and "why" behind the White House's key decision-makers.
WATCH A CLIP

Tuesday, April 15 at 9 p.m.
The first female cartoonist published in the United States and creator of the beloved Kewpie doll, Rose O'Neill's journey from Midwestern child prodigy to international millionaire is nothing short of remarkable. Artist, writer, suffragist, entrepreneur – explore the life of an American trailblazer.
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Tuesday, April 15 at 10 p.m.
Explore the life and career of cartoonist Art Spiegelman including the creation and ground-breaking impact of his Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel MAUS.
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Monday, April 21 at 9 p.m.
The Holocaust remembrance movement says “never forget,” but surveys find the problem is deeper — many young people lack basic knowledge of the Holocaust. hear personal stories – then and now. We look at links between antisemitism and extremism, visit a Connecticut classroom teaching the Holocaust, and explore the story of Sobibor, a secret Nazi death camp that was a site of bravery and resistance.
WATCH ANYTIME

Tuesday, April 22 at 9 p.m.
In the year marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the last concentration camps, renowned historian Sir Simon Schama confronts the history of the Holocaust as not just a Nazi obsession, but as a European-wide crime. In the most personal and unflinching film of his career, Simon visits mass killing sites in Lithuania, the home of his mother's family. He travels to the Netherlands, a nation famed for its long history of tolerance and where he lived and worked as a young historian, to answer the question of why fewer Jews survived here than in any other Western occupied country. And despite a lifetime dedicated to documenting Jewish history, this film also captures the emotional toll of Simon's first ever visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Friday, April 25 at 10:30 p.m.
This one-hour "best of Poland" special begins in Krakow, with a stunning square, historic castle and nearby, communist-era Nowa Huta and Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp memorial. Then a visit to bustling Warsaw showcases skyscrapers and Chopin, followed by gingerbread sweets in Torun and the awe-inspiring sights of the red-brick Malbork Castle.

Monday, April 28 at 10 p.m.
Spanning three generations of women, their narratives bear witness to the ever-evolving nature of inheritance and the hurt and protection entangled within familial bonds.

Tuesday, April 29 at 9 p.m.
Join chef Pati Jinich on a journey inspired by the Pan-American Highway to celebrate the many cultures of the Americas and how they enrich each other. Follow her as she travels from the top of Alaska through Alberta. Pati travels from the northernmost place in the United States to the remote island community of Halibut Cove – discovering that subsistence living transcends all differences.
WATCH THE TRAILER

Tuesday, April 29 at 10 p.m.
The story of the quiet revolutionaries who made a simple idea happen is told. From the pioneering women behind the "Free Library Movement" to today's librarians who service the public despite working in a contentious age of closures and book bans, meet those who created a civic institution where everything is free and the doors are open to all.
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Wednesday, April 30 at 9 p.m.
This two-hour feature documentary produced by acclaimed Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stanley Nelson traces the roots of systemic racism in the U.S. medical system and the biological impacts of discrimination on the body to understand why Black Americans experience such disproportionately poor health outcomes – and did long before COVID-19 highlighted the devastating health disparities in the country.

Friday, April 11 at 9 p.m.
Follow Scott Yoo and pianist Jan Lisiecki as they explore Chopin's life, his Polish roots, and his journey to Paris taking a closer look at the composer's musical evolution and his deep connection to his homeland while living in France.

Friday, April 11 at 10 p.m.
An incredible 89 curtain calls provide an enduring testament to the ballet history that was written at the Vienna State Opera on October 15, 1964. The event was a performance of Swan Lake choreographed by Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev, who also took on the lead male role of the Prince; his partner was the great British prima ballerina Margot Fonteyn. In his novel interpretation of this iconic favorite of classical ballet, Nureyev revolutionized the role of the male dancer, seeking to be Fonteyn's equal counterpart. This fascinating behind the scenes film features extensive excerpts from the legendary production, which was captured for posterity two years after its 1964 stage premiere. In new interviews, dancers Michael Birkmeyer and Gisela Cech, who danced alongside Nureyev at the premiere of Swan Lake, share personal insights on Nureyev's peerless virtuosity as well as his mercurial off-stage personality, while contemporary experts look back at Nureyev groundbreaking technique from a modern-day perspective.

Friday, April 25 at 9 p.m.
Follow Rachmaninoff's journey from a Russian aristocrat to an American artist after the Bolshevik revolution. Forced to rebuild at 44, he embraced modern technology, toured extensively and reinvented his career while longing for his lost homeland.

Steve Mundinger

Friday, April 25 at 10 p.m.
Celebrate International Jazz Day with host Jeremy Irons in a concert featuring Herbie Hancock, Dee Bridgewater and more. Enjoy powerful jazz, blues and Afrobeat collaborations, plus timeless classics, in this unforgettable musical event.