We're in an English village shortly before Dunkirk. "Mr. Tom" Oakley still broods over the death of his wife and small son while he was away in the navy during WWI, and grief has made him a surly hermit. Now children evacuated from London are overwhelming volunteers to house them. Practically under protest, Mr. Tom takes in a painfully quiet 10-year-old, who gradually reveals big problems.
Contemporary thriller set partly on the island of Rhodes. A bankrupt former garage owner, now working as a waiter and a caretaker on the Greek isle, is hauled in by the local police when a young Englishwoman he has befriended goes missing. Under suspicion of murder, he flees the island and returns to England, where he begins trying to piece together the missing woman's background and her reasons for visiting Rhodes in the first place.
An apparently happy wife in an English village has a relationship with a local aristocrat's daughter.
Set at the turn of the 20th century, The Railway Children tells the story of three Edwardian children and their mother who move to a country house in Yorkshire after their father is mysteriously taken away by the police.
The duke of York, nicknamed Bertie, was born as royal 'spare heir', younger brother to the prince of Wales, and thus expected to spend a relatively private life with his Scottish wife Elisabeth Bowes-Lyon and their daughters, in the shadow of their reigning father, George V, and next that of his elder brother who succeeded to the British throne as Edward VIII. However Edward decides to put his love for a divorced American, Wallis Simpson, above dynastic duty, and ends up abdicating the throne, which now falls to Bertie, who reigns as George VI.
Seeking to escape the stifling London court society, the beautiful headstrong Lady Dona St. Columb flees to her family estate on the Cornish coast. Her new freedom swiftly brings her into contact with the dashingly handsome French privateer Jean Aubrey who sweeps her off her feet and into a world of adventure on the high seas very different from her dull and boring life at court with her husband Sir Harry. Together with Jean Aubrey and her enigmatic servant William, Lady Dona conceives a daring plan to steal a ship right from under the noses of the English authorities. The theft enrages the authorities who make every effort to trap the French Pirate. However, as the noose begins to tighten around the lovers, Lady Dona is faced with the dilemma of duty and children with Sir Harry or freedom and excitement with Jean Aubrey
Based on the novel by Bernard Cornwell, "Sharpe's Waterloo" brings maverick British officer Lt. Col. Richard Sharpe to his last fight against the French, in June of 1815.
Greg Wise (Sense and Sensibility) and Keeley Hawes (Karaoke) star in this sumptuous adaptation of Wilkie Collins' classic mystery, the first detective novel ever written. The Moonstone, a sacred Hindu diamond was stolen from the head of the Moon God, in its shrine by John Herncastle in 1799. The stone is said to be cursed if it is removed from the shrine. In 1848, a man named Franklin Blake announces to Rachel that the Moonstone has been bequeathed to her by Herncastle. Blake gives her the jewel on her birthday and offers to mount the jewel for her, in order that she might wear it. Inevitably, the jewel is found missing the next morning and Rachel believes Blake stole it. Determined to prove his innocence, Blake leaves in order to pursue the real truth behind the theft.
When Sharpe is ordered to whip the King of Spain's Irish Royal Brigade into shape, he faces dissent from the men who believe the British are slaughtering their relatives in Ireland and a spy from within.
Drama set in 1911 about a love triangle concerning a father, his son and their maid, Jane.
When wealthy, recently-widowed suburban housewife, Margery (PENELOPE KEITH), and her ‘rough diamond’ of a cleaner, Gladys (JUNE BROWN), disturb a house burglar, they knock him unconscious, panic and leave him for dead, fleeing in the cleaner’s wrecked old car. What follows is a comedy of misunderstandings in which these two very different, mature ladies are led on an unfortunate series of incidents which snowballs into a crime spree. They prove to be more than a match for the unlikely pair of policemen, DI Woolley (Roger Lloyd Pack) and DS Stringer (Martin Freeman), who are left to solve the ladies disappearance and puzzling string of crimes which follow. As the police net tightens around them, the two very different, mature ladies are propelled on a shared voyage of self-discovery as skeletons fall from the closets forcing both women to reflect on their past lives.
Made by Carlton Television for ITV (UK) , this adaptation of Laurie Lee's autobiographical novel follows a young man's maturation in the country town of Gloucestershire near the end of World War I. As young Laurie (Dashiell Reece) comes of age under the protective eye of his mother (Juliet Stevenson), he learns to live with an eccentric collection of friends, neighbours, and relatives. As he enters his teenage years, Laurie (now played by Joe Roberts) discovers women, specifically Rosie Burdock (Lia Barrow). Veteran screenwriter John Mortimer adapted Lee's book, with Lee narrating.
Rose and Antonia are two old friends who meet up again after the second world war. Unhappy in their relationships, they plan to 'accidentally' murder each others husbands.
On the eve of his Bar Mitzvah, young Elliot finds that all the grown men in his life are somewhat wanting.
A documentary about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has lasted for more than 50 years. Contains some interviews with the children in this conflict.
Based on the true story of Shelia Bowler, accused of murdering her elderly aunt.
Documentary about the making of the 1948 British film, including interviews with members of the production team.
Bessie Foley, kindly ladies' lavatory attendant, tells her tragic story.
When British Intelligence Officer Tracy Barnes attacks visiting German politician Dieter Krause, solicitor's clerk Joshua Mantle is called to help unravel the events which led to the assault.
Documentary profile of Stanley Baxter featuring his first in-depth interview for forty years and extracts from his comedy series and specials. With contributions from Billy Connolly, Robbie Coltrane, Stephen Fry and Clive James.
