When it comes to new programming on PBS, June is going to get off to a slow start. But by the middle of the month, three British dramas — D.I. Ray, Grantchester, and Professor T — will all be back with new seasons. And if you’re looking for some light-hearted competition to watch, the third season of The Great American Recipe is also arriving just in time for summer.
PBS’ mandate is programming that serves the public interest. This month, PBS is doing that with a Frontline investigation into the ongoing campus protests about the war in Gaza, as well nature specials, documentaries, and a Great Performances’ presentation of Carmen. And it’s all free to watch, thanks to viewers like you.
If you missed the best shows on PBS from May, you can still stream those online. But you will have to wait for the premiere dates listed below to catch everything coming to PBS in June.
Frontline — Crisis on Campus
Premieres: Tuesday, June 11
The inside story of the protests dividing college campuses over Israel and the war in Gaza. With Retro Report, investigating the polarizing debate over free speech, antisemitism, Israel and the Palestinians, and the political forces behind the crisis.
Great Performances at the Met — Carmen
Premieres: Friday, June 14
Acclaimed English director Carrie Cracknell makes her Met debut with this classic story retold in the modern day. Told through today’s issues like gender violence, abusive labor structures, and the desire to break through societal boundaries, mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina leads the cast in the title role alongside tenor Piotr Beczała as Carmen’s troubled lover, Don José. Daniele Rustioni conducts Bizet’s score and Matthew Polenzani hosts.
Professor T
Season premiere: Sunday, June 16
The multi-award-winning, much-loved crime drama Professor T, starring Ben Miller, Frances de la Tour, and Juliet Stevenson, is back for a third season. The professor is in jail and must find a way to get his old life and job back. The police need his expertise to help crack some tricky and intriguing crimes.
Grantchester on Masterpiece
Season premiere: Sunday, June 16
It’s 1961, and times are changing in Grantchester. Will has begun to seek new challenges elsewhere, while Geordie and Cathy deal with an independent Esme being free in a dangerous world. It’s not long before Reverend Alphy Kottaram arrives as the new vicar, immediately enchanted by the glorious village. But will the locals ever be able to accept him as one of their own?
D.I. Ray
Season premiere: Sunday, June 16
After being suspended from the force when her fiance was found to have links to organized crime, D.I. Rachita Ray returns to homicide to investigate another sensitive and high-profile case centering on the murder of Frank Chapman, the head of a notorious crime family, and a local nurse caught in the crossfire. Their deaths ignite tensions across the city, putting D.I. Ray in a race against time to uncover the truth before the Chapman family act out their revenge and an all-out gang war erupts on the streets.
All evidence points toward a rival crime family, the Mochanis, being responsible for the murders, but as D.I. Ray starts pulling at the threads of the case, a much more insidious mystery begins to unravel.
The Great American Recipe
Season premiere: Monday, June 17
Season 3 of PBS’ popular cooking competition series The Great American Recipe returns with eight new home cooks, two new judges, and one new location. Award-winning chef and Los Angeles restaurateur Tim Hollingsworth and Francis Lam, host of public radio’s The Splendid Table, are new judges for season 3, joining returning host Alejandra Ramos and judge Tiffany Derry at a new filming location in Nashville, Tennessee. An upbeat cooking competition that spotlights the amazing variety of tastes and traditions found across the country, The Great American Recipe celebrates the roots of America’s diverse cuisine.
Each week the judges will determine which home cook has the winning dish, and, in the final week, the top three will compete for a chance to win this year’s competition.
Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution
Premieres: Tuesday, June 18
Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution is a new three-part series featuring The Village People’s Victor Willis, Labelle’s Nona Hendryx, The Trammps’ Earl Young, The Father of House Music Marshall Jefferson, Scissor Sisters’ Ana Matronic and Jake Shears, Sylvester’s Jeanie Tracy, MNEK, Kim Petras, Jocelyn Brown, Jessie Ware, George McCrae, Dexter Wansel, Candi Staton, Anita Ward, David Morales, Honey Dijon, DJ Hollywood, Jamie Principle, Robert Williams, Ron Trent, and more.
The series tells the surprising and overlooked history of disco: the origins, triumphs, and legacy. Told by the original musicians, promoters, and innovators — as well as modern day musical icons — the series charts disco from its inception in the early 1970s to global domination in the latter part of the decade and up to its violent end in the summer of 1979. Reveling in iconic disco tracks and remarkable archive footage, the series tells a powerful, revisionist history of the disco age.
Dynamic Planet
Premieres: Wednesday, June 19
Dynamic Planet is an epic new series filmed over three years that travels to the extremes on all seven continents to meet an extraordinary group of people and animals living and working on the front line of climate change. They reveal how science, nature, and tradition can prepare us for the future.
Hope in the Water
Premieres: Wednesday, June 19
The groundbreaking, character-driven, three-part docuseries from four-time James Beard Award and Emmy Award winner Chef Andrew Zimmern and his production company Intuitive Content travels the globe to discover the creative solutions and breakthrough blue food technologies that could not only feed us but help save our threatened seas and fresh waterways. The series highlights the stories of amazing innovators, aquafarmers, and fishers who are working toward a sustainable future for the planet.
Celebrated environmental enthusiasts Shailene Woodley, Martha Stewart, Baratunde Thurston, and José Andrés reveal hidden underworlds jeopardized by climate change, irresponsible fishing and exploitation, and habitat destruction. They are each authentically tied to a particular story, seeking smart solutions to a planet in peril.
Roots of Comedy with Jesus Trejo
Premieres: Friday, June 21
Part comedy, part social commentary, part travelogue, the series follows the host, Mexican-American comedian Jesus Trejo, as he embarks on an emotional odyssey and telling the “stories behind the laughs,” revealing how the most memorable comedy traces back to the roots of a community with themes that are central to the series.
Along his journey, Trejo visits six U.S. regions (Denver, Portland, Minneapolis, Austin, Los Angeles and Chinle, Arizona) where he meets with six rising comedians who explore the mosaic of our nation through the lens of stand-up comedy.
