“I’m finally in a place where I can use my gift.”
That’s what Martha Williamson, the woman responsible for the critically acclaimed Touched By An Angel TV series, told Guideposts.org when we chatted with her about her popular Signed, Sealed, Delivered series on Hallmark’s Movies & Mysteries channel.
Now, the Colorado native, who’s amassed 25 years of experience working in the entertainment industry, is continuing to use her gift, this time to spotlight a group of people who don’t often get the recognition they so deserve.
Williamson’s The Impossible Dream – the latest installment in her Signed, Sealed, Delivered series – premieres this Sunday on Hallmark’s sister channel and the executive producer says it’s a story she couldn’t wait to tell.
The Impossible Dream is a follow up of the last film, Truth Be Told, which focused on the postal workers quest to find out what happened to a young girl’s mother who was serving overseas. In this latest entry, hero Oliver O’Toole and his friends at the postal office fight on behalf of the girl’s mother who is being held as a prisoner of war.
Williamson says that though the story may be fiction, representing the military honestly was important to her and her team.
“We sought out military professionals to advise us and guide us and read the scripts and correct us. We did the best we could with the time we had to make this as inspiring, and honest and honoring as we could.”
She also shared why centering a show on military families and the struggles they go through at home was so important to her.
“I don’t think there’s a better example of sacrifice in our country than the families who keep the home fires burning and carry the torch while their father or mother or brother or sister or daughter or son serve our country,” Williamson says. “I’ll take any opportunity I can to remind our audience of what it means to live in a free country, what it requires and how many sacrifices are made. There’s more than one battlefield in this war. So many are fought on the playground, in the workplace, in the supermarkets and the churches, people forget that the people who are left behind don’t often have the same resources for support that the soldiers do.”
Williamson hopes her Signed Sealed Delivered series can bring back a bit of positivity to television programming. She wants her brand of inspiring entertainment to make it possible for families to share screen time together and bring a bit of goodness back into the world.
“I have two teenage girls and it’s very difficult to get all of us together in front of the same screen,” Williamson says. “It was a lot easier to do that on Touched by an Angel. We got letters all the time from people saying ‘Our whole family watches this show together’ because nobody had devices to take off into their corners. Now, it’s harder and harder to find common ground, but humor and love will always be common ground for people. If they can find it, they’ll hold on to it. The secret is good, kind-hearted humor. It doesn’t have to be soft humor. We’re funny, but we’re not unkind. You can move people, entertain people, touch people’s hearts, challenge people and encourage people without scaring them or bringing them down.”
Signed, Sealed, Delivered: The Impossible Dream premiere Sunday, Oct. 4th at 9 p.m. on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.
