At the peak of her international career, Maria Enders is asked to perform in a revival of the play that made her famous twenty years ago. But back then she played the role of Sigrid, an alluring young girl who disarms and eventually drives her boss Helena to suicide. Now she is being asked to step into the other role, that of the older Helena. She departs with her assistant to rehearse in Sils Maria; a remote region of the Alps. A young Hollywood starlet with a penchant for scandal is to take find out more...

One of the BBC's exhaustive and typically exemplary adaptations of one of the great Bard's lesser known works performed by pretty much the cream of British theatre. The play, one of Shakespeare's most popular in the 19th Century, focuses on the relationships between Henry, Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Cardinal Wolsey. To quote "'Tis better to be lowly born Than to be perk'd up in a glistering grief, And wear a golden sorrow". find out more...

Anthony Hopkins gives a masterful find out more...

Ran, Kurosawa's last great epic, is a Jidaigeki (Japanese period drama) depicting the fall of Hidetora Ichimonj, an ageing Sengoku-era warlord who abdicates as ruler in favor of his three sons. His kingdom slowly disintegrates as the sons struggle for power, murdering rivals and laying waste to the land, and Hidetora goes insane after watching his retainers slaughtered in an epic massacre, the centrepiece of the film. As the kingdom crumbles and rival warlords move in for the kill, the Ichimonji find out more...

It's the off-season at the lonely Beauregard Hotel in Bournemoth, and only the long-term tenants are still in residence. Life is stirred up, however, when the beautiful Ann Shankland arrives to see her alcoholic ex-husband, John Malcolm, who is secretly engaged to Pat Cooper, the woman who runs the hotel. Meanwhile, snobbish Mrs Railton-Bell discovers that the kindly if rather doddering Major Pollock, played by David Niven, who won an Oscar for his performance, a retired officer who likes to find out more...

Bassanio, a young Venetian, needs a loan of 3,000 ducats so he can properly woo Portia, a wealthy heiress. To get the necessary funds, Bassanio approaches his friend Antonio, a merchant. Antonio's money, unfortunately, is invested in merchant ships that are presently at sea; however, to help Bassanio, Antonio arranges for a short-term loan from Shylock, a Jewish usurer. Shylock, who has been humiliated on a number of occasions by Antonio decides to teach him a lesson by striking a frightening ba find out more...

A typically authentic BBC version, ergo recommended for students of the play. find out more...

A fine BBC adaptation of one of the bard's lesser known and earliest comedies observing the inevitable conflict between friendship and love when two friends travel to Milan and, regardless of their filial obligations, become besotted. find out more...

This outstanding BBC production captures all the magical quality and dramatically changing moods of this great tragicomedy, one of the greatest of Shakespeare's works. Like all the Beeb productions this is the best version for study courses. find out more...

"Josephine Decker has created a new style of thriller that employs allegory, incorporates touches of David Lynch as well as Magritte -esque imagery. Decker's setting of a remote farm feels like a metaphor for what turns out to be hell. The raw and emotional (and yes, sometimes funny) dialog tells a story that can seem familiar at points but really is meant to keep you guessing and off balance. I really enjoyed how the undertones of this film came to life through her very deft contrast of the find out more...