Beacon Hill the Series is a three-time Emmy nominated web drama starring a who’s who of daytime most recognizable actors.
Executive Produced by actress/producer Crystal Chappell (Guiding Light, Days of our Lives, Venice the Series) and Linda and Jessica Hill, owners of the LGBTQI publisher Bella Books, the series returns for its long-awaited season two. First episode dropped on April 17th and a new episode will release each Friday.
When Senior Massachusetts Senator William Preston (Ron Raines) suffers a stroke, his rebellious granddaughter Sara (Nadia Bjorlin) is called home to Boston. Once there, Sara finds that her ailing grandfather has a new wife barely older than herself, that her mother Claire (Crystal Chappell) is still hiding in her room with her favorite bottle, and that her brother Eric (Mark Hapka) is playing nursemaid in between board meetings.
Sara also discovers that her ex, State Representative Katherine Wesley (Marem Hassler), is being mentioned as a possible Senatorial candidate in a cat-and-mouse game controlled by Sara’s grandfather.
When Sara and Katherine reconnect after six years apart, it seems unlikely that they’ll ever be able to put their past behind them. And with the political turmoil, family intrusions and the press interfering, it may be downright impossible. Who can you trust when your heart is involved?
We chat with Beacon Hill creator, writer and executive producer Jessica Hill.
It’s been four years since the first season of Beacon Hill and fans have been eagerly waiting for a season two. Why now?
We never stopped working on Season Two. We’ve learned so much more about filming a television show since Season One and we’ve been working hard toward making it happen again. A lot of it had to do with raising sufficient funds to film on location in and around Boston. And our incredible fans stepped up and helped us get to what we think is a great season. We knew we had left too many questions unanswered. And there’s that longest cliffhanger ever. I mean really—who is at the door? Through the years, that is the one question that fans kept asking us. And now we’re finally ready to tell that story.
Beacon Hill is a family and political drama. Katherine is a State Senator, Sara’s grandfather is a Senator. Has the recent political climate changed your thinking going into this season?
Like many, we were certainly discouraged by the election and we’re not immune to the exhaustion with our current political climate. But then we started thinking about what the show in its entirety is about. Politics are certainly the backdrop, but Beacon Hill is really about relationships—star-crossed lovers and dysfunctional families. It’s also about romance, ambition and how both can affect those relationships. The anchor story is and will always be about these two women (Katherine and Sara) who have loved and lost each other and the way they try and reconnect after years apart. We needed to come back for all of those reasons. We have a lot of stories to tell!
In this upcoming season we won’t shy away from the Washington dysfunction. But we also know that people want and need entertainment. They want an escape. They want to root for love. And I think we have enough intrigue, romance, unrequited passion, and drama to keep people entertained. And the journey that Katherine and Sara are on is intriguing for all of those reasons. Will they find their way back to each other? Or will they finally move on alone or with other partners?
You can expect a fun and amazing season. It will be filled with a lot of twists and turns. I can promise you romance, surprises and a great love story. Things will start to be clearer for all of our characters and the direction they need to go in. Ambition vs love is always good drama. And we promise all of that.
Can you give us any teasers about the relationship between Katherine and Sara? When we last saw them, things were pulling them apart again. Is there hope for them?
They will continue to struggle with who they were and who they are now. They’re different women than when they were first together out of college. They have to come to grips with that. They are now pulled by personal ambition, family issues and unresolved feelings for each other that they are hesitant to revisit. They also are in new relationships that compete with those unresolved feelings. Neither of them wants to give up who they are now. On top of that are trust issues that need to be dealt with before they can find their way back. Sara will continue to build her career as a reporter. Katherine on the other hand is tempted about running for a higher office. She’s being wooed so who wouldn’t be tempted? But what happens if she does decide to run? Can a politician and a reporter trust each other enough to ignore the competing ambitions? Inevitably, those two paths will collide.
You can also access the show through the website www.beaconhilltheseries.com