The best of the brits hit VisionTV in May

This month catch the World premiere documentaries; Bruce Cockburn: Pacing the Cage and The Temple Mount. Also new is God’s Greatest Hits, added to VisionTV’s Friday night sing-alongs.

Best of the Brits

Upstairs Downstairs – Starts May 23

Wednesdays at 9pm ET / 6pm PT
One of the most loved television series of all time is brought back to life with a fresh cast and sumptuous production values. It’s 1936, and six years since parlourmaid Rose left 165 Eaton Place, fate brings her back, as housekeeper to its new owners: Sir Hallam and his wife Lady Agnes, and his mother Lady Holland. Rose recruits a new ‘downstairs’ family to help run the ‘upstairs’ world, but in both, it soon becomes apparent there lays a labyrinth of secrets, lies and scandal. The cast includes Dame Eileen Atkins (Gosford Park), Keeley Hawes (Ashes to Ashes), Ed Stoppard (Brideshead Revisited), Claire Foy (Little Dorrit), Jean Marsh (Sense & Sensibility), Anne Reid (Bleak House), Art Malik (Ben Hur), Neil Jackson (Flashforward), Adrian Scarborough (Cranford), Helen Bradbury (Lennon Naked), and Ellie Kendrick (The Diary of Anne Frank).

Downton Abbey

Wednesdays at 9pm ET / 6pm PT – Ends May 16
The Great War rages across Europe, and the men and women of Downton are doing their part both on the front lines and the home front even with the familiar passions, love, loss, blackmail, and betrayal.

EastEnders

Weekdays at 8pm ET / 5pm PT
Britain’s number one daily soap opera is set against a backdrop of real social issues in the heart of London’s East End. Love and lust, marriages and murder, bust-ups and bankruptcy – EastEnders has enticed audiences worldwide for over 25 years!

Benny Hill Show

Mondays at 8:30pm ET / 5:30pm PT
English comic Benny Hill became an international celebrity with his schoolboy brand of lecherous, burlesque humor. Bringing the tradition of the British vaudeville to television in 1955, the pudgy Hill hosted comedy series for the BBC and Thames Television over a period of thirty-four years. Featuring slapstick and sight gags, The Benny Hill Show always had a sexual energy, bursting with plenty of double-entendres and leggy starlets. And of course the theme song, “Yackity Sax.”

Are You Being Served?

Tuesdays at 8:30pm ET / 5:30pm PT
Fun and games in the world’s most eccentric department store! Camp Mr Humphries, Mrs Slocombe’s pussy and the ridiculous goings-on at Grace Bros have kept audiences laughing since 1973.This tongue-in-cheek farce, was written by top writers Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft.

Only Fools and Horses

Wednesdays at 8:30pm ET / 5:30pm PT
David Jason as Del-boy has a very special place in British viewers’ hearts and each character has become as well-known to fans as their own family and friends. Only Fools and Horses has won 13 top comedy awards, including two Best Comedy BAFTAs, and for his portrayal of Del, David Jason has received nine personal awards – making a total of 22 awards in all.

Yes, Prime Minister

Thursdays at 8:30pm ET / 5:30pm PT
Jim Hacker has ascended to the highest political office in the land. Fortunately for the country, his Machiavellian mentor Sir Humphrey Appleby is more than willing to help him steer the unsteady ship of state through the perilous waters of government. Starring Paul Eddington (The Good Life); Sir Humphrey Nigel Hawthorne (The Madness of King George); with Derek Fowlds as Bernard Woolley, Jim’s pig-in-the-middle Principal Private Secretary.

Last of the Summer Wine

Fridays at 8:30pm ET / 5:30pm PT
The world’s longest running sitcom! Did you know that Roy Abbot is a successful stand-up comedian as well as an actor. He had his own TV series: Russ Abbot’s Madhouse ran for 48 episodes between 1980 and 1985, and The Russ Abbot Show for six series between 1988 and 91. Trevor Bannister, who plays Toby the irascible golf captain, is better known as Mr. Lucas from Are You Being Served? He also played Colonel Masters in the cult 1975 sci-fi series The Tomorrow People, and Barbara Young played Doreen Fenwick in 53 episodes of Coronation Street between 1981 and 2007.

Great Documentaries

Living in the Time of Jesus: Crime and Punishment

Wednesday, May 2 at 10pm ET / 7pm PT
Two thousand years ago, temple guards and soldiers arrested Jesus, setting in motion the most infamous trial of all time. Host Arne Kislenko moves through modern Jerusalem to pick up clues about what law and order looked like in the first century.

Bruce Cockburn: Pacing the Cage – World Premiere

Friday, May 4 at 10pm ET / 7pm PT
This new documentary sheds light on Bruce Cockburn’s spirituality, and his thoughts on activism, politics, writing, and his life in the music industry. When he set out on tour to make a live solo album, “Slice ‘o’ Life”, the cameras were there. The filmmakers also followed Bruce to his home for candid conversations about his views on topics from religion to new parenthood.

The Temple Mount – World Premiere

Wednesday, May 23, May 30, and June 6 at 10pm ET / 7pm PT
This world premiere three part documentary series uncovers the mysteries of Solomon’s Temple, Herod’s Temple and the prophecy of a third temple. The history and future of the Temple Mount defines the intersection of three great religions and the story of the modern world.

Everyone’s Favourite Amateur Detective, J.B. Fletcher!

Look for Jessica to travel to Quebec on May 17 in Witness for the Defense.
Murder, She Wrote
Weekdays at 7pm ET / 4pm PT

Friday Night Sing-alongs

God’s Greatest Hits- World Premiere

Fridays at 10pm ET / 7pm PT starting May 11
Learn the history behind some of the most well-known and loved songs in the world, including Amazing Grace and Abide With Me. Hear various renditions the songs – both classic and contemporary.

Gaither Gospel Hour

Fridays at 9pm ET / 6pm PT
They perform to sell-out crowds across North America and you can see them every week on VisionTV. Bill and Gloria Gaither, along with the Gaither Vocal Band perform Southern Gospel along with a variety of musical guests.

Let’s Sing Again

Fridays at 10:30pm ET / 7:30pm PT
Louise Rose plays the piano, leads the singing and hosts this classic sing-along show that saw notable guests join in each week.

Great Canadian Drama

Heartland

Weekdays at 5pm ET / 2pm PT
Set against the stunning vistas of the Alberta Rocky Mountains, Heartland is a sprawling family drama that follows sisters Amy and Lou Fleming and their grandfather, Jack, through the highs and lows of life on a horse ranch. It is a realistic, edgy, sometimes humorous, multi-generational saga about a family getting through life together in both happy and trying times.

Due South

Weekdays at 6pm ET / 3pm PT
In the role that made Paul Gross famous, Constable Benton Fraser is a Canadian Mountie who goes to Chicago to find his father’s killer, but the trail eventually leads back to another Mountie. Fraser is then treated as “persona non grata” by other Mounties, and gets posted to Chicago with an American partner who is his polar opposite.

Sue Thomas F.B. Eye

Weeknights at 11pm ET / 8pm PT
Sue Thomas, a somewhat sheltered young deaf woman from Ohio, is about to start her
first real job in D.C. with the FBI. Relegated to Special Projects because of her handicap,
Sue is soon recruited by Special Agent Jack Hudson who discovers her unique lip reading
ability and enlists her to join the bureau’s elite surveillance team.

Tom Stone

Mondays at 9pm ET / 6pm PT
Tom Stone is the story of a Calgary ex-cop, ex-rig worker and ex-con who gets recruited to work undercover for RCMP Corporal Marina Di Luzio, a commercial crime specialist from Toronto. Between them, they go places that Marina’s official counterparts can’t and catch the bad guys who usually get away — criminals with influence and money.

Da Vinci’s Inquest

Mondays at 10pm ET / 7pm PT
Every death tells a tale, and it is Vancouver Coroner Dominic Da Vinci’s obsession to discover that story. Da Vinci is the first at the scene of a death and the last person to give his verdict on how death occurred. Operating in a big port city, with big city problems, Da Vinci navigates a complicated world. The series stars Nicholas Campbell, Sue Mathew, Donnelly Rhodes, Ian Tracey, Gwynyth Walsh, and Robert Wisden.

WHERE TO FIND VISIONTV:
Rogers 60 (GTA)
Rogers 237 (Digital)
BellTV 261
Shaw Direct 394/72
or check your local listings