Jane Lapotaire

There's Only One Jimmy Grimble

Jimmy Grimble is a shy Manchester school boy. At school he is constantly being bullied by the other kids, and at home he has to face his mother's new boyfriend. However, through football, and some special boots, he manages to gain the confidence to succeed and leads his school football team towards the final of the local schools cup.

The Search for Alexander the Great

Friends, contemporaries and even enemies of Alexander the Great gather in a tent to tell his tale through their eyes.

Performance

In underworld terms, Chas Devlin is a 'performer,' a gangster with a talent for violence and intimidation. Turner is a reclusive rock superstar. When Chas and Turner meet, their worlds collide—and the impact is both exotic and explosive.

Broadway's Lost Treasures II

The annual Tony Award broadcast provides the only filmed record of Broadway's best for audiences to experience as if they were front-row-center on opening night. This second compilation of great musical moments from the Tonys features another dazzling array of stars and performances. Hosts Lauren Bacall, Bebe Neuwirth, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Jerry Orbach introduce these one-of-a-kind performances and share their personal Broadway and Tony memories.

Elizabeth David: A Life in Recipes

Elizabeth David is the most important cookery writer of the 20th century. David's public image was of an elegant, respectable and somewhat austere figure. In reality she was a deeply unconventional person with a profound passion for food, life and men.

The Asphyx

Hugo is a brilliant turn-of-the-century scientist, loved and respected by his family and friends, admired by his colleagues. But he is a man quickly becoming obsessed with a curious and frightening question...What is the mysterious apparition found in the photographs of his dying subjects?

Crescendo

An innocent project transforms into a perilous nightmare when researcher Susan Roberts arrives in France in search of information on a deceased composer.

The Dark Angel

The Dark Angel is a sensual and stylish adaptation of Uncle Silas - Sheridan le Fanu’s influential Victorian literary masterpiece. Sheltered heiress Maud Ruthyn's troubles begin when her father hires a new governess. Madame De La Rougierre (played with considerable relish by Jane Lapotaire) is a cruel, brandy-swigging schemer with an unhealthy interest in Maud's inheritance and an approach to childcare that would make Mary Poppins faint. When Maud's father dies she has no choice but to live with her wicked uncle Silas, who will inherit the family fortune if Maud should happen to die. This is not a recipe for domestic bliss and soon it seems that everyone but Maud is either bad, mad, or both.

Macbeth

Macbeth and his wife murder Duncan in order to gain his crown, but the bloodbath doesn't stop there, and things supernatural combine to bring the Macbeths down.

Circles Of Deceit

Philip, a painter who specialises as a copyist, has always been dominated by strong women with secrets.

To Catch a King

Robert Wagner plays an American who owns a Lisbon nightclub and Teri Garr is a slightly dippy chanteuse who has stumbled across a Nazi plot to kidnap the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, living at the time (1942) in Portugal.

Can't Stop Breathing

A daughter struggles to care for a mother stricken with dementia.

One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing

Escaping from China with a microfilm of the formula for the mysterious "Lotus X", Lord Southmere, a Queen's Messenger, is chased by a group of Chinese spies.

Windsor Castle: After the Fire

Windsor Castle is a wonderful living example of the power and tradition of the Royal Family. For nearly 1,000 years it has stood as a symbol of the monarchy's strength, it is the largest working castle in the world and is still a cared for home of the Royal Family. But on one fateful day all that was threatened. On the morning of November 20th, 1992, fire broke out in the castle.It was a threat that nearly destroyed a building that centuries of warfare and change had not even dented. The blaze raced through state apartments, the Royal Chapel, St George's Hall, bedrooms and corridors, wiping out almost everything in its path. This is the story of that fire, as told by those who witnessed it and by those for whom Windsor Castle is a home. But it is also the amazing story of the astonishing effort that was made to restore the castle to its former glory and prove that there was life for Windsor Castle after the fire.

Eureka

After striking it rich on a large gold strike, a prospector retires to the quiet life on a Caribbean island but ends up coping with an alcoholic wife, a headstrong daughter, and Miami mobsters who want to build a casino.

Stocker's Copper

In August 1913 a strike at a Cornish clay pit leads to Welsh police being sent to keep order. Having no other source of income, a striking miner is forced to take in one of the policemen as a lodger. They soon become friends, but escalating tension at the mine means that conflict will become inevitable.

Antony and Cleopatra

Adaptation of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, a historical drama that attempts to bring an epic visual style to the Bard's original stage play. The story concerns Marc Antony's attempts to rule Rome while maintaining a relationship with the queen of Egypt (Hildegarde Neil), which began while Antony was still married. Now he is being forced to marry the sister of his Roman co-leader, and soon the conflict leads to war.

RSC Live: Henry V

Henry IV is dead and Hal is King. With England in a state of unrest, he must leave his rebellious youth behind, striving to gain the respect of his nobility and people. Laying claim to parts of France and following an insult from the French Dauphin, Henry gathers his troops and prepares for a war that he hopes will unite his country. Gregory Doran continues his exploration of Shakespeare's History Plays with Henry V performed in the 600th anniversary year of the Battle of Agincourt. Following his performance as Hal in Henry IV Parts I & II Alex Hassell returns as Henry V.

Smyrna

Members of the Baltatzis family recount the 1922 burning of Smyrna, Greece, including the assault on vibrant Greek and Armenian communities.

On Call

Roy and Jean's happy life is shattered by Jean's sudden illness and actually finding a doctor who can help her.

The Other Woman

A lesbian artist creates a love triangle when she moves in with a closeted teenage girl and the man in her pre-arranged heterosexual marriage.

Murder on the Moon

After a nuclear war on Earth, the Soviet Union and the U.S. both establish outposts on the moon. When a murder occurs on the outpost, both U.S. and Soviet investigators are forced to work on the case together.

The Master Builder

Ibsen's play is the story of Halvard Solness, Master Builder of a town in Norway. Solness is a successful architect but he's afraid of the being surpassed by those younger than himself. The arrival of a young woman called Hilda stirs up memories and feelings with stories of a promise he made her many years ago.

Bella and the Boys

13 years after Bella, Martin and Lee were there, the manager of their children's home is retiring and the home being shutdown. As they meet up together at a reunion/retirement celebration it sparks old memories of their time together at the home.

Shooting Fish

Two con artists hire an unwitting medical-school student as a secretary for their latest scam.

Lady Jane

The death of King Henry VIII throws his kingdom into chaos because of succession disputes. His weak son, Edward, is on his deathbed. Anxious to keep England true to the Reformation, a scheming minister John Dudley marries off his son, Guildford to Lady Jane Grey, whom he places on the throne after Edward dies. At first hostile to each other, Guildford and Jane fall in love, but they cannot withstand the course of power which will lead to their ultimate downfall.

Giving Tongue

Jessie Fielding is a young MP who is trying to get an anti-hunting bill through the two Houses of Parliament, which is a little surprising as she hunted as a teenager with friend Barb Gale. Matters are complicated when she rekindles her friendship with Barb, who still works for a hunt. The plot thickens further when it becomes aparent that the House of Lords is likely break with convention and block the bill, an event which the Prime Minister hopes to use for his own ends.

Lucan

Drama about infamous aristocrat Lord Lucan, who mysteriously disappeared in 1974 after being accused of murdering his children's nanny.

Surviving Picasso

The passionate Merchant-Ivory drama tells the story of Francoise Gilot, the only lover of Pablo Picasso who was strong enough to withstand his ferocious cruelty and move on with her life.

Piaf

Piaf is a play by Pam Gems that focuses on the life and career of French chanteuse Édith Piaf. This recording presents the Tony Award-winning stage play with its original Broadway cast.

Antony & Cleopatra

Octavius Caesar (later renamed Augustus Caesar, son of the murdered Julius Caesar), Marc Antony, and Lepidus form the triumvirate, the three rulers of the Roman Empire. Antony, though married to Fulvia, spends his time in Egypt, living a life of decadence and conducting an affair with Queen Cleopatra. In Antony's absence, Caesar and Lepidus worry about Pompey's increasing strength.

Rebecca

After a whirlwind romance with a wealthy widower, a naïve bride moves to his family estate but can't escape the haunting shadow of his late wife.

The Barretts of Wimpole Street

Jane Lapotaire and Joss Ackland star in this adaptation of Rudolph Besier's play. Elizabeth Barrett is kept a virtual prisoner by her father. Then the poet Robert Browning bursts into her life.

RSC Live: Richard II

A monarch ordained by God to lead his people. But he is also a man of very human weakness. A man whose vanity threatens to divide the great houses of England and drag his people into a dynastic civil war that will last 100 years.

The Captain's Doll

The wife of a British army officer discovers his affair with a Polish countess in Germany circa 1918.

The Black Dog

A daughter visits her father after being estranged for 3 years and schemes to destroy his relationship with another woman.