Ian Richardson

Low-level bureaucrat Sam Lowry escapes the monotony of his day-to-day life through a recurring daydream of himself as a virtuous hero saving a beautiful damsel. Investigating a case that led to the wrongful arrest and eventual death of an innocent man instead of wanted terrorist Harry Tuttle, he meets the woman from his daydream, and in trying to help her gets caught in a web of mistaken identities, mindless bureaucracy and lies.

Frederick Abberline is an opium-huffing inspector from Scotland Yard who falls for one of Jack the Ripper's prostitute targets in this Hughes brothers adaption of a graphic novel that posits the Ripper's true identity.

In 1960s China, French diplomat Rene Gallimard falls in love with an opera singer, Song Liling – but Song is not at all who Gallimard thinks.

A man struggles with memories of his past, including a wife he cannot remember, in a nightmarish world with no sun and run by beings with telekinetic powers who seek the souls of humans.

A biographical portrait of a pre-fame Jane Austen and her romance with a young Irishman.

Led by Kim Philby, Plan Aurora is a plan that breaches the top-secret Fourth Protocol and turns the fears that shaped it into a living nightmare. A crack Soviet agent, placed under cover in a quiet English country town, begins to assemble a nuclear bomb, whilst an MI5 agent attempts to prevent it's detonation.

When a small British owned island in the Caribbean is invaded and the world's most dangerous terrorist kidnaps a member of the Royal family, the countdown to World War 3 begins. If anyone can prevent the oncoming apocalypse it's the American President, but her closest ally the British Prime Minister appears to have gone stark raving mad.

Alice d'Abanville and Louis Ruinard are two extraordinary personalities. They were the most strikingly glamorous couple of the 70s. But this pair haven't seen each other in thirty years.

France, 1914, during World War I. On Christmas Eve, an extraordinary event takes place in the bloody no man's land that the French and the Scots dispute with the Germans…

It's the night before Hogswatch, usually a time of joy on Discworld, but there are suspicious going-on and the criminal underworld is abuzz. The beloved Hogfather - the jolly bearer of glee and pork-related gifts for children everywhere - has vanished. Suddenly, Discworld's entire mythical system is under threat. The fate of this magical time rests in the hands of a very motley group: A band of wizards headed up by a mystical university president named Mustrum Ridcully (Joss Ackland), a loyal manservant called Albert (David Jason), a level-headed governess called Susan Sto Heilt (Michelle Dockery), and her grandfather, who happens to be - Death (Marnix van den Broeke).

Yet another variation on Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee At King Arthur's Court." Here, a computer malfunction causes a science researcher to be sent back in time with her laptop, which she uses to amaze the court.

Based on actual accounts, this film portrays the days and hours before and during the invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentina, which eventually lead to the Falklands War. As the Argentine forces land on the main island and make their way towards Government House, the handful of British defenders batten down the hatches and prepare to defend the Governor Rex Hunt, his family and their fellow islanders from the invaders.

Harry Donovan is an art forger who paints fake Rembrandt picture for $500,000. The girl he meets and gets into bed with in Paris, Marieke, turns out to be an arts expert Harry's clients are using to check the counterfeit picture he painted.

Two clueless homegirls move to L.A. to become dancers, but instead find themselves scamming a dying millionaire to eventually become B*A*P*S (Black American Princesses).

Five motherless children, with the help of a famous doctor, are determined to save their financially strapped father.

Trapped in a loveless arranged marriage to the immature future Czar, a young German Princess proves a skillful political infighter and rises to become Catherine the Great.

Shortly after she moves into her own flat in Brighton, Bella finds she is being spied on and generally harassed by a man living across from her. Finally driven to solving the problem with a hammer, she realises she is then ready for a crusade against other such problem males

Sherlock Holmes comes to the aid of his friend Henry Baskerville, who is under a family curse and menaced by a demonic dog that prowls the bogs near his estate and murders people.

Kim Jameson is a university professor while Kate Jameson - also known as Dominique, Kim’s twin sister - is a troubled model working in Paris. Kate is a drunk, in desperate need of rehabilitation. Kim checks her twin sister into a rehab center, agreeing to fill in for Dominique during her absence, but by doing so takes on more than she bargained for.

Charlie Muffin, top British Intelligence operative, has just broken up a major Soviet spy network in England. However, a new Director with new ideas takes over and wants Charlie out. But then a high-ranking Soviet spy-master hints that he wants to defect, and both British Intelligence and the CIA want him and will do anything to get him. Charlie may be the only man who can bring the defection off successfully, but is the whole thing an elaborate set-up? And when your so-called allies are stabbing each other and you in the back to get this prize, whom can Charlie trust on either side?

The Master of Ballantrae is a 1984 TV movie based on the 1889 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson.[2] It was a co production between the US and England for the Hallmark Hall of Fame

In 1727, an Arab colt is born with the signs of the wheat ear and the white spot on his heel: evil and good. And thus begins the life of Sham. He is a gift to the King of France, through a series of adventures with his faithful stable boy, Agba, he becomes the Godolphin Arabian, the founder of one of the greatest thoroughbred racing lines of all time.

Sir Alec Guiness stars with Leo McKern in the story of a friendship between a Catholic priest and a Communist Mayor. Together they travel from their remote village to Madrid and back exploring their friendship, the demands of belief and constancy of faith. This lavish production filmed entirely on location captures the wit, warmth, and vitality that make the original novel by Graham Greene a unique work of literature.

While recuperating in a sanatorium in the mountains, a young boy becomes very close friends with an older baron. But the baron is only using the boy to get to know his mother, the wife of an older diplomat. When the boy realises the baron’s intentions, he becomes jealous, moody and depressed.

Peter Hall's film adaptation of Shakespeare's comedy, filmed in and around an English country house and starring actors from the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Year of the Comet is a 1992 romantic comedy adventure film about the pursuit of the most valuable bottle of wine in history. The title refers to the year it was bottled, 1811, which was known for the Great Comet of 1811, and also as one of the best years in history for European wine.

'The Canterville Ghost' is one of the most popular choice for making a film in Oscar Wilde's works, and the original short story deserves the popularity. It is a witty spoof about a ghost and the 'haunted' mansion where a rich American family start to live. In this story, the family are not annoyed by the presence of the ghost; no, it is the ghost who is annoyed by the family who just refuse to be terrified. After all, why should we be scared by an old man wearing rusty coat of mail, whose best trick is to walk in the middle of night making big noises?

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson try to track down the Great Mogul, the second-largest diamond in the world.

In the sixteenth century, Miguel de Cervantes, poet, playwright, and part-time actor, has been arrested, together with his manservant, by the Spanish Inquisition. They are accused of presenting an entertainment offensive to the Inquisition. Inside the huge dungeon into which they have been cast, the other prisoners gang up on Cervantes and his manservant, and begin a mock trial, with the intention of stealing or burning his possessions. Cervantes wishes to desperately save a manuscript he carries with him and stages, with costumes, makeup, and the participation of the other prisoners, an unusual defense--the story of Don Quixote.

Trapped in an isolated cottage, Captain Cavendish thinks he is seeing ghosts. The only person who might understand and help is Kate Lethbridge-Stewart ... but when she arrives, she realises that Cavendish is key in a plot to summon the Daemons back to the Earth. With time running out, Kate discovers that sometimes even the familiar can turn out to be your worst nightmare.

Based on the turbulent life of the temperamental French painter, Paul Gauguin, and his compulsive search for creative freedom which caused him to abandon his wife and five children in Paris for a life of contentment in Tahiti.

Danton's Death is arguably the most dramatic and penetrating study of revolution ever written. Georg Büchner concentrates on that moment in 1794 when the Reign of Terror, already well established, spills over into a total blood-bath. The play, adapted by director Alan Clarke and Stuart Griffiths, both highly imaginative and closely documentary, shows how the great hero of the early phase of the Revolution, Danton, sickened by the excesses of the guillotine, which he helped to create, wants to call a halt. But Robespierre and Saint-Just, leaders of the Jacobins, with a ferocious puritanical zeal, spur on 'the wild horses of the Revolution'.

The doomed marriage of the Prince Regent and Caroline of Brunswick.

The Booze Cruise is a series of three feature length comedy dramas written for British television by Paul Minett and Brian Leveson. In this episode the same characters go on a treasure hunt, and end up with their car being washed out to sea on a beach. Marcus (a businessman who deals with Dave's company) first appears in this episode.

The gang return for their third adventure, this time on a trip to scatter Grace's mother's ashes on the Yorkshire Moors.

A dramatic story, based on actual events, about the friendship between two men struggling against apartheid in South Africa in the 1970s. Donald Woods is a white liberal journalist in South Africa who begins to follow the activities of Stephen Biko, a courageous and outspoken black anti-apartheid activist.

The story of Charles Darwin's journey on The Beagle.

An adaptation directed by Claude Whatham for the BBC's Theatre 625 slot. Essentially a recording of John Barton's acclaimed Royal Shakespeare Company production starring Catherine Lacey (the Countess), Ian Richardson (Bertram), Lynn Farleigh (Helen), Clive Swift (Parolles) and Sebastian Shaw (the King), it was broadcast on 3 June 1968.

One of the earliest hits for the newly established RSC, Michael Elliott’s sparkling version of Shakespeare's comedy is still remembered with joy by a generation of theatre-goers. The design was dominated by a huge oak tree, but the production is most memorable for Vanessa Redgrave’s luminous Rosalind, supported by Max Adrian and Ian Bannen.

In pre-WW1 England, a youngster is expelled from a naval academy over a petty theft, but his parents raise a political furor by demanding a trial.

A historical recreation of the 1944 attempt by several German High Command Officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler and take control of the German government.

As a young boy, future emperor Nero witnesses the mad Emperor Caligula kill his father and exile his mother. While in exile in the pontine islands, Agrippina, his mother, sees a vision telling her that her son can become emperor, but she will have to die first. She accepts the proposal. Back in Rome, Nero, now being raised by emperor Claudius after Caligula's death, Agrippina returns. She poisons Claudius' food and Nero becomes emperor. At first, Nero cuts taxes and introduces successful programs and invades Brittania. Soon he meets a beautiful slave named Claudia Acte, and marries her, throwing off his engagement with Claudius' daughter, Claudia Octavia, telling her she can marry someone she will be happy with. Heartbroken, she arrives at an island and kills herself. Nero enjoys being married to Claudia Acte, but soon he gradually goes mad with power and sets fire to Rome.

Ghost hunters are on the trail of a supernatural phenomenon and legendary figures in Scotland. The forest of Duffus Castle - long one of Scotland's most powerful fortresses - is as much the scene of eerie encounters as Kilneuair Cemetery or Duart Castle on the Isle of Mull. Let the blue mist of eerie Scottish nights waft into your living room and experience the fascinating 3-D effects up close!

Lorraine Barrie, a fading but brilliant actress with a penchant for manipulating every theatrical endeavour to her best advantage, meets her match when she must trust her success to an equally willful stage director.

Two minor characters from the play "Hamlet" stumble around unaware of their scripted lives and unable to deviate from them.

A modern adaptation of the classic children's story 'Alice through the Looking Glass', which continued on from the popular 'Alice in Wonderland' story. This time Alice is played by the mother, who falls asleep while reading the the bedtime story to her daughter. Walking through the Looking Glass, Alice finds herself in Chessland, a magical and fun world. There she meets the Red and White Queens, as well as many other amusing friends on her journey across the chessboard countryside onto become a crowned queen.

Widowed Welsh mother Anna Loenowens becomes a governess and English tutor to the wives and many children of the stubborn King Mongkut of Siam. Anna and the King have a clash of personalities as she works to teach the royal family about the English language, customs and etiquette, and rushes to prepare a party for a group of European diplomats who must change their opinions about the King.

Anthony Blunt is an eminent Cambridge-educated art historian who is also working as a spy for the Soviet Union. In love with double agent Guy Burgess, he helps Burgess get yet another treasonous British agent to safety in Moscow. When Burgess unexpectedly defects as well, the government becomes suspicious of Blunt, but investigators have trouble believing such a refined and aristocratic gentleman would ever betray his nation and his class.

This is the true story of a little dog that refused to leave his master's graveside in Edinburgh. The dog visited the grave for years.

The complicated relationship between Winston Churchill and the leaders of the British army during World War II.

The medieval legend of a supernatural knight who challenges the king's men to kill him.

Two TV Plays by Vaclav Havel, one called 'Audience', and one called 'Private View'.

In 1928 Dublin, during séances concerning Jonathan Swift, the spirits of his former lovers, Stella and Vanessa, emerge to resume their ancient quarrel.

Based upon Wilkie Collins Victorian mystery, the gothic tale tells of a pair of half sisters whose lives end up caught in a grand conspiracy revolving around a mentally ill woman dressed in white. As the story unfolds, murder, love, marriage, and greed stand between the two women and happy lives. Their only hope is the secret the woman in white waits to tell them.

Shaw turned to the classic Victorian melodrama to focus on the insincerity of much that his audience held dear, especially family and marriage. In 1777 as the American War of Independence rages, Dick Dudgeon returns to the family he revolted against years ago. But his life is about to take another twist as the british arrive and seem set on an execution...

In Charenton Asylum, the Marquis de Sade directs a play about Jean Paul Marat's death, using the patients as actors. Based on 'The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade', a 1963 play by Peter Weiss.

Get ready for a howling good time as an all new assortment of irresistible animal heroes are unleashed in this great family tail! In an unlikely alliance, the outrageous Waddlesworth - a parrot who thinks he's a Rottweiler - teams up with Oddball - an un-marked Dalmatian puppy eager to earn her spots! Together they embark on a laugh-packed quest to outwit the ever-scheming Cruella De Vil.

A village cricket match on the lawn of a great country house - a traditional setting for the perfect English murder. A natural case for the Yard's best technicolor detective, except for the victim-the 20th-century lord of the manor, Sheik Ali Ben Hassim.

Timmy Sugrue is a persecuted guesthouse keeper and writer who lives with his mad mother in a very rainy part of the Irish midlands. His only consolation are his visits to Dr. Drudy, a psychiatrist whom he can tell about the love of his life - the President of Ireland. A new motorway puts Timmy's guesthouse off the map. A strange Spanish pilot named Marcel comes to visit and create havoc in the guesthouse. Timmy goes to a scriptwriters' conference where only fast, urban and up-beat stories are expected, nothing like Timmy's own story. Uneasy in any of the four provinces of Ireland, he desperately tries to reach the Fifth Province, the province of magic, of passion, of possibility.

Dramatically presented and narrated by the late internationally renowned actor of stage and screen Ian Richardson, with exquisite Shakespeare readings by Britain’s most successful and award winning actress, Dame Judi Dench, Life Trustee of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

A boy, a girl, a tramp and a piano with the most amazing effect on people, find each other in a park in a heatwave.

During a rugby tour of Britain and Ireland in 1888, a young New Zealander searches for his father who he has never met. While there he falls in love with the daughter of an aristocrat.

Two couples find love and comfort in London. A reserved, but lonely aging American female college professor meats a self-confident, married, but disillusioned aging American and aging English actress meats a young lively American.

A memorial of sorts to the plinth on St. Peter's Hill, Grantham, which stood empty for two years before a statue of Margaret Thatcher was mounted in 2022.

Arthur Conan Doyle reveals the story behind Sherlock Holmes and his mysteries by telling about Dr. Joseph Bell, from whom he drew his inspiration, after meeting him as a medical student in Edinburgh. This TV movie served as the pilot for the later released minisseries Murder Rooms: Mysteries of the Real Sherlock Holmes produced by the BBC. The series then picks up with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's time as a general practitioner in Southsea, solving mysteries with the help of his mentor, Dr Joseph Bell, who is still based in Edinburgh. The series name in the pilot was Mr Bell and Mr Doyle instead Murder Rooms. Some of the cast of the pilot was also changed in the series.

Nicky Wells, a TV journalist who is renowned for her hard-hitting reports from the worlds most dangerous spots, is haunted by the disappearance of her fiancé.

Eisenhower the military man is the focus of this mini-series, his relationships with the other wartime leaders, and, very discreetly, his personal relationship with his driver, Kay Summersby.

The generous John Jarndyce, struggling with his own past, and his two young wards Richard and Ada, are all caught up, like Lady Dedlock, in the infamous case of Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce, which will make one of them rich beyond imagination if it can ever be brought to a conclusion. As Tulkinghorn digs deeper into Lady Dedlock's past, he unearths a secret that will change their lives forever, and which is almost as astounding as the final outcome of the Jarndyce case.

At the Castle of Gormenghast, the Groan family has ruled with dusty ceremony for more than seventy generations. A clever and ambitious new kitchen boy, Steerpike, begins to insinuate himself into the affections of Lady Fuchsia Groan and to murder his way to power.

Private Schulz is a BBC television comedy drama serial set mostly in Germany, during and immediately after World War II. It stars Michael Elphick in the title role and Ian Richardson playing various parts. Other notable actors included Tony Caunter, Billie Whitelaw, Billy Murray and Mark Wingett. Over six one-hour episodes, it tells the story of a German fraudster and petty criminal who is forced against his will to serve in the SS. In a story based on the real, though unrealised, plot by the Germans known as Operation Bernhard, he tricks the Nazis into making counterfeit British five pound notes, millions of which will be used to destroy the British economy. However, Schulz is primarily interested in stealing them. Other elements of the story based on the history of the period include the Venlo incident, when two British intelligence officers were abducted from the Netherlands at the very start of the war, and Salon Kitty. This was a Berlin brothel which was secretly run by the SD, for the purpose of spying on its wealthy clients, who were often prominent German government officials or military officers. Additionally, many of the main characters are real people.

Frustrated at a new moderate Conservative government and deprived of a promotion to a senior position, chief whip Francis Urquhart prepares a meticulous plot to bring down the Prime Minister then to take his place.

A four-part comedy about bureaucratic bribery and corruption in the European Union.

Cambridge, Great Britain, 1980s. When the headmaster of Porterhouse College dies without naming a successor, the government appoints a former graduate whose ideas clash with the extreme conservatism that reigns at the institution.

George Smiley, the aging master spy of the Cold War and once heir apparent to Control, is brought back out of retirement to flush out a top level mole within the Circus. Smiley must travel back through his life and murky workings of the Circus to unravel the net spun by his nemesis Karla 'The Sandman' of the KGB and reveal the identity of the mole before he disappears.

George Smiley, the aging master spy of the Cold War and once heir apparent to Control, is brought back out of retirement to flush out a top level mole within the Circus. Smiley must travel back through his life and murky workings of the Circus to unravel the net spun by his nemesis Karla 'The Sandman' of the KGB and reveal the identity of the mole before he disappears.

The world of John Strange is no ordinary place - full of malevolent demons that must be stopped from wreaking havoc upon the Earth. In his quest he is joined by nurse Jude Atkins, computer whiz Toby and Kevin, a man who can pick up on strange vibes. But the mysterious Canon Black remains a thorn in John's side, fervent in his efforts to prove the non-existence of anything remotely demonic or paranormal...

Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The longest-running primetime series in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning during 1951 and continuing into 2013. From 1954 onward, all of its productions have been shown in color, although color television video productions were extremely rare in 1954. Many television movies have been shown on the program since its debut, though the program began with live telecasts of dramas and then changed to videotaped productions before finally changing to filmed ones. The series has received eighty Emmy Awards, twenty-four Christopher Awards, eleven Peabody Awards, nine Golden Globes, and four Humanitas Prizes. Once a common practice in American television, it is the last remaining television program such that the title includes the name of the sponsor. Unlike other long-running TV series still on the air, it differs in that it broadcasts only occasionally and not on a weekly broadcast programming schedule.

Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.

Play of the Month is a BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays which were usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983; the producer most associated with the Play of the Month was Cedric Messina. Some of the 121 episodes are missing from the archives, having been junked in the 1960s and 1970s. Unless stated otherwise, the indication that the play is "lost" is taken from the lostshows.com website page as of 25 May 2013.

In Victorian England, Laura and her half-sister Marian are entwined in a terrifying web of deceit. Laura's doppelganger, a mysterious woman dressed all in white, may hold the key to unlock the mystery.

Drama series about the private lives of seven British prime ministers who lived in Number 10 Downing Street between the 1780s and the 1920s: William Pitt the Younger, the Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley), Benjamin Disraeli, William Ewart Gladstone, David Lloyd-George, Herbert Henry Asquith and James Ramsay MacDonald.

Beautiful and naïve Maggy Lunel arrives in Paris completely broke. She becomes an artist's model and the toast of Paris, attracting the attention of Picasso-like painter Julien Mistral, an arrogant and selfish man who places his work above everything. Their paths diverge as Mistral's art catches the eye of a rich American woman who becomes his patroness and eventually his wife. During the war years in France, Mistral collaborates with the Nazis in order to continue with his work, a decision that will come back to haunt him years later. In the meantime, Maggy has a daughter named Teddy who grows up and falls in love with Mistral with whom she has a child named Fauve. As Mistral ages, he comes to terms with his selfish past and wartime betrayal through his art, leaving a beautiful legacy for his daughter, Fauve.

The adventures of Miss Jane Marple, an elderly spinster living in the quiet little village of St Mary Mead. During her many visits to friends and relatives in other villages, Miss Marple often stumbles upon mysterious murders which she helps solve. Although the police are sometimes reluctant to accept Miss Marple's help, her reputation and unparalleled powers of observation eventually win them over.

If Arthur Conan Doyle based Sherlock Holmes on a real person to any degree, it was on his former professor, forensic pathologist Dr. Joseph Bell. This series recounts the fictional murder investigations that Bell might have undertaken with the assistance of young student Doyle.

The Magician's House is a quartet of children's fantasy books by William Corlett. Two mini-series were produced in 1999 for British television, which were directed by Paul Lynch. The series featured Jennifer Saunders and Stephen Fry voicing some of the animal characters. The books were published in the early 1990s, and named as follows: ⁕The Steps up the Chimney ⁕The Door in the Tree ⁕The Tunnel behind the Waterfall ⁕The Bridge in the Clouds Although in a rural setting, this series' focus on subjects such as industrial development and the combining of present-day and past settings in the plotline gives it a feeling tending more towards urban fantasy than simply contemporary fantasy. In addition, though there is no specific mention of Welsh myths and legends, the strong part nature plays in the stories and the settings bring to mind other British children's authors. Authors like Alan Garner, who is perhaps best known for The Owl Service and Elidor, and Susan Cooper, famous for The Dark Is Rising sequence of books, who allude more specifically to British myth and legend in their writings.

Based on Patricia Highsmith short stories. Displaying a sinister atmosphere, delving into the darkest depths of human nature.

Sir John Gielgud is joined by an outstanding repertory of actors in this pioneering, imaginative series demonstrating the immense variety and emotional impact of English-language poetry, from the fourteenth century to the contemporary era.

A fictitious Balkan state adaps to life after Communism.

Urquhart aims to secure his legacy on the international stage, but faces threats both from abroad and closer to home.

Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy was a British television series which first aired on ITV in 1986. It depicts Lord Mountbatten's time as Viceroy of India shortly after the Second World War in the days leading up to Indian independence.

Francis Urquhart's survival at the top is threatened by the new king's populist agenda.

In 1919, Major Brendan Archer arrives in Ireland to reunite with his fiancée, Angela Spencer. Unfortunately, the family home, The Majestic Hotel, is a decaying shadow of its former self, as is Angela. Puzzled by the changes, Archer's attentions are soon drawn to her lively friend, Sarah Devlin, a passionate Irish Nationalist. They fall in love, but the Major soon discovers some disturbing aspects about their relationship, which threatens to explode into violence, destruction, and murder.

The Phantom of the Opera is a 1990 NBC two-part drama television miniseries. It is adapted from Arthur Kopit's book for his then-unproduced stage musical Phantom, which is based loosely on Gaston Leroux's novel.

As a young boy, future emperor Nero witnesses the mad Emperor Caligula kill his father and exile his mother. While in exile in the pontine islands, Agrippina, his mother, sees a vision telling her that her son can become emperor, but she will have to die first. She accepts the proposal. Back in Rome, Nero, now being raised by emperor Claudius after Caligula's death, Agrippina returns. She poisons Claudius' food and Nero becomes emperor. At first, Nero cuts taxes and introduces successful programs and invades Brittania. Soon he meets a beautiful slave named Claudia Acte, and marries her, throwing off his engagement with Claudius' daughter, Claudia Octavia, telling her she can marry someone she will be happy with. Heartbroken, she arrives at an island and kills herself. Nero enjoys being married to Claudia Acte, but soon he gradually goes mad with power and sets fire to Rome.

In Victorian England, Laura and her half-sister Marian are entwined in a terrifying web of deceit. Laura's doppelganger, a mysterious woman dressed all in white, may hold the key to unlock the mystery.

Duncan MacLeod cannot die -- he is a 400-year-old immortal, who has seen his share of humanity's history. Still, he risks his life in battle against other immortals and tries to save people from harm.

The best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.

The Merv Griffin Show is an American television talk show, starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, September 20, 1965 to August 15, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 at 11:30 PM ET weeknights on CBS and again in first-run syndication from February 14, 1972 to September 5, 1986.

Sir Kenneth Clarke guides us through the ages exploring the glorious rise of civilisation in western man. Beginning with the bleakness of the dark ages to the present day, we consider civilisation's articulations and expressions in some of man's finest works of art.

On the night before Hogswatch, the holiday where kids anticipate presents from the beloved Hogfather, Death notices that the Hogfather's life-timer is lying broken on the floor of his castle. Could it be that Hogswatch will not happen this year?