Hester Collyer is rescued by a neighbor after attempting suicide in the flat she shares with her young lover, ex-RAF pilot Freddie Page. The neighbors alert her husband, who arrives at the flat only to find her fully recovered...
Social & External
The people behind it
Penelope Wilton
Hester Collyer
Colin Firth
Freddie Page
Ian Holm
Sir William Collyer
Carmel McSharry
Mrs. Elton
Wojciech Pszoniak
Mr. Miller
Stephen Tompkinson
Philip Welch
Geraldine Somerville
Ann Welch
Edward Tudor-Pole
Jackie Jackson
When a polyamorous trio seems to be living its peaceful everyday life, the arrival of a girl is ready to upset their balance and change their destinies forever.
Five episodes depict how young women get into precarious sexual situations in their search for love.
Stella Maris is a beautiful, crippled girl, who is cared for by a rich family. They shield her from the harsh realities of the world, so that she has no idea of the cruel things that some people do. Unity Blake is a poor orphan all too familiar with the harsh realities of the real world. These two young women both fall in love with John, love which is complicated by the fact that he is still married to (though separated from) a bad wife.
In school, Wang Hsiao-hsia and her childhood friend Yuzu are seen as a couple, but Hsiao-hsia secretly longs for the transfer student Cheng Yih. Cheng Yih, admired for his exceptional grades, talent, and fighting skills, captivates her heart. Despite her poor academic performance, Hsiao-hsia tries various methods to win his affection, but nothing works. Unbeknownst to her, Cheng Yih harbors feelings for Hsiao-hsia as well. Meanwhile, Yuzu, fiercely protective of Hsiao-hsia, is wary of anyone trying to get close to her. As summer arrives, a fragrant first love begins to bloom among the three of them, reminiscent of lemongrass.
A woman is waiting in a motel for her boyfriend, when an old flame turns up and tries to take her back to the life she is trying to leave behind.
After cheating on his wife with a prostitute, Peter must try and forge ahead with his idyllic family surroundings while carrying the guilt, but that doesn't stop his wandering eye or the temptation to do it again. Meanwhile, his wife Katarina receives mysterious text messages that might be indicative of her own indiscretions. As the two drift further apart while living in secret, their teenage daughter takes after their behavior while exploring her own sexuality, careful not to divulge too much information to her parents. A portrait of a family in a constant state of calm before the inevitable storm of discontent and discovered lies.
A woman tries to help her teenage daughter when she becomes the victim of online bullying.
London, England, November 5th, 1892, Guy Fawkes Night. The famous playwright Oscar Wilde and his lover Lord Alfred Douglas discreetly go to a luxury brothel where the owner, Alfred Taylor, has prepared a surprise for the renowned author: a private and very special performance of his play Salome, banned by the authorities, in which Taylor himself and the peculiar inhabitants of the exclusive establishment will participate.
In Krapp's Last Tape, which was written in English in 1958, an old man reviews his life and assesses his predicament. We learn about him not from the 69-year-old man on stage, but from his 39-year-old self on the tape he chooses to listen to. On the 'awful occasion' of his birthday, Krapp was then and is now in the habit of reviewing the past year and 'separating the grain from the husks'. He isolates memories of value, fertility and nourishment to set against creeping death 'when all my dust has settled'. One part of 19 parts for series "Beckett on Film" featuring filmed versions of Beckett plays, some screened at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival and some on Channel 4 television in the UK in June 2001.
In 1902, 13-year-old Horace toils on a run-down plantation in rural Texas to buy a tombstone for the father he lost a year earlier. Soll, the crusty old Confederate who owns the plantation and depends on convict labor to keep his farm running, takes a liking to Horace. However, Soll is aging and sinking into senility, making the possibility of Horace ever getting his pay increasingly unlikely. On Christmas Eve, as Soll becomes obsessed with his own mortality, he makes a grand promise... forcing Horace to confront his fear of death and the harsh truths of a decadent society.
It is 1955 and the government in Czechoslovakia has declared an amnesty for post-war emigrants. Many of them returned to their families, only young Pavel Kocián's single mother waits in vain for him. Despite her protests, Tomáš Stach, an assembler, is accommodated in her flat as a lodger. Until recently, his fiancée Jana was also waiting for Pavel's return, but she has given up hope and visits Mrs Kocián only out of pity. One evening, an unknown man who introduces himself as Jonáš and claims to know Pavel visits her.
Unable to cope with the fact that his girlfriend cheated on him with his best friend, a 22-year-old schizophrenic sets an elaborate revenge plan into motion before taking his own life.
Alex wants to become a father. Steven, his partner, has to confront his insecurities and fear of change after a lifetime smothered by superficiality. Unable to adopt legally, but still eager to become parents, they decide to turn to the black market, adopting a child from a desperate young woman, who's return with a dangerous new boyfriend, threatens to destroy everything they love.
Titus is unlucky in life. His handicap is his red hair, which prevents him from finding a job. He ends up in a brewery, where he claims to be the son of the owner. He is exiled under humiliating circumstances and ends up in a castle, where he starts a game of substitutions, which is materialized in disguises in various wigs. These wigs also allow Titus to rise socially, leading to a comical denouement...
When a disturbed teen named Todd runs out of bullets in an attempt to commit suicide his call to a former bullet shop turned pizza place changes his life, hopefully for the better.
Bihter, who is desperate for love, sees Adnan, a wealthy and respected older guy, as a way out of the stereotype that society and her materialistic mother have given her. But she soon discovers that she is not satisfied with his attention and has other needs.
A stuffy family man cheats on his wife but she refuses him a divorce at first. Meanwhile his mistress resents her second class status.
A jobless gay actor is offered the dream role of a lifetime in a feature film, but he must play an elderly drag. He will be forced to overcome his fears and prejudices to understand better himself and the others.
Inspired by a true story, Girl Fight recounts the harrowing story of a 16-year-old, stellar high school student whose life spirals downward when her former friends conspire to upload onto the Internet a shocking video of them beating her up.
Fanny Price is sent to live with her wealthy relatives, the Bertrams, where she is treated poorly by most except her cousin Edmund. Her life is complicated by the arrival of the worldly Mary and Henry Crawford
An adaptation of the successful stage musical based on Victor Hugo's classic novel set in 19th-century France. Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France.
Manipulated by his jealous ensign Iago, the Moorish general Othello is driven to believe that his new wife Desdemona is unfaithful, setting in motion a chain of deception, jealousy, and violence that leads to tragedy.
A disillusioned, angry university graduate comes to terms with his grudge against middle-class life and values.
Two separate stories mesh - in the first, a young music teacher, Maggie Andrews, begins dying of a heart condition and her son Nathan tries to get a pair of Christmas shoes for her before she dies. In the second, lawyer Robert Layton and his wife Kate are slowly drifting apart and the matter comes to a head during Christmas when Kate takes over for Maggie for the school choir.
A college student must take care of her 7-year-old half sister after the death of their parents.
The Sheffield family reveal and go through some home truths as their middle child inherits the Foxworth mansion. The family's ghosts looming over, and more tragedies are in store as the curse lives on.
Ambulance driver Frank Jessup is ensnared in the schemes of the sensuous but dangerous Diane Tremayne.
Lizzie is a young piano teacher working at a music school while trying to save enough money for a Steinway piano. The school is gearing up for their major Christmas fundraiser and she has committed much of her time to plan the event. One afternoon, she meets Brad who takes an interest in her playing and asks if she will teach his uninterested teenage daughter. She begins to break through to the young girl, and sparks begin to fly with Brad, but she is shocked to find out that his interest is not solely in her playing, but in the property that houses the music school. She sets out to save the school and the event, but can she work things out with Brad?
Holly Parker, the wife of a wealthy diplomat, is compromised by the accidental death of a man who has been romantically pursuing her. She is forced by her mother-in-law to assume a new identity in order to save the reputation of her husband and infant son. She wanders the world, trying to forget her heartbreak with the aid of alcohol and unsavory men. Eventually returning to the city of her downfall, she murders a blackmailer who threatens to expose her past. Amazingly, Holly is represented at her murder trial by her now adult son, who has become a public defender. In the hope of protecting her family, she refuses to reveal her real name and is known to the court as "Madame X".
London, 1953. Mr. Williams, a veteran civil servant, is an important cog within the city's bureaucracy as it struggles to rebuild in the aftermath of World War II. Buried under paperwork at the office and lonely at home, his life has long felt empty and meaningless. Then a devastating medical diagnosis forces him to take stock, and to try and grasp some fulfilment before it passes permanently beyond reach.
On Christmas Eve, a fighter pilot on his way home becomes lost while flying over water and needs a miracle to land safely.
Young Cedric Errol and his widowed mother live in genteel poverty in 1880s Brooklyn after the death of his father. Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, has long ago disowned his son for marrying an American. But after the death of the Earl's remaining son, he decides to accept Cedric as his heir.
An optimistic, talented teen clings to a huge secret: she's homeless and living on a school bus. When tragedy strikes, can she learn to accept a helping hand?
London, 1929. Frank Webber, a very busy Scotland Yard detective, seems to be more interested in his work than in Alice White, his girlfriend. Feeling herself ignored, Alice agrees to go out with an elegant and well-mannered artist who invites her to visit his fancy apartment.
When her American lover visits London, a wealthy woman’s jealous husband hatches a plan to murder her and inherit her fortune.
Willy Loman, an aging, failing salesman, struggles to accept reality and his failure to achieve the American Dream.
Jane Austen is about to turn 40, but she still hasn't found her ideal man. When Jane is approached by her niece Fanny and asked to help select the perfect husband for the young girl, the aging spinster begins to wonder why it is that she never found a man to share her own life with.
After the sudden death of their father, four children face cruel treatment from their ruthless grandmother.