This lavishly photographed and costumed action-drama-epic sticks to what we know of Genghis's early years, although that's not much, telling the story of how a young tribal boy overcame many obstacles, including slavery, to become a legendary conqueror. The widescreen suits this 'big sky' country and there is something remarkably authentic about the yurts and the costumes. Chosen for marriage, at the age of nine, by a female child, Borte, while he thinks he's doing the chosing, she becomes one o find out more...

From the BBC's exhaustive and typically exemplary adaptations of some of the great bard's best known plays and, like this, a number of his lesser known works, all filmed in the late 70s and early 80s and performed by pretty much the cream of British theatre. The five acts depict a dizzying change of alliances, a Papal excommunication and subsequent acceptance, and the play ends finally with King John's death at the hands of a monk. find out more...