Anna Madeley stars as Mrs. Isabella Beeton.

Just as Nigella Lawson and Martha Stewart have turned us into nations of wannabe domestic goddesses, the Victorians had their own preacher in the shape of Mrs. Isabella Beeton. How did a woman who couldn't cook produce the world's most famous recipe book? Masterpiece Theatre reveals her story with "The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton , " airing Sunday, May 20 at 9/8 p.m. CT on KET1 and Thursday, May 24 at 9/8 p.m. CT on KET2.

Dead by the age of 28, this cultural icon was not the dumpy, crinolined matron Britons have been led to believe, but instead a sassy, feisty and very talented journalist and editor with an entrepreneurial husband, Sam.

Theirs was an extraordinary marriage -- the meeting of two creative minds to the enhancement of both. But it was the start of this marriage that led to Isabella's untimely death, and the revelation of a dark secret.

"The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton" traces her transformation from young wife to journalist to publishing phenomenon. The program s tar s J . J . Feild as Sam and Anna Madeley as Mrs. Beeton.

Masterpiece Theatre "The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton" is a production of WGBH/Boston.