Illuminations

Renowned Shakespearean actor Patrick Stewart features as the eponymous anti-hero in this Soviet-era adaptation of one of Shakespeare's darkest and most powerful tragedies.

After getting a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, newly engaged couple Brad and Janet encounter the eerie mansion of the flamboyant, seductive Dr. Frank-N-Furter and a variety of eccentric characters. Through elaborate dance and rock music, the mad scientist unveils his latest creation: a perfect, muscular man.

David Tennant stars in a film of the Royal Shakespeare Company's award-winning production of Shakespeare's great play. Director Gregory Doran's modern-dress production was hailed by the critics as thrilling, fast-moving and, in parts, very funny.

Hamlet captures the Almeida Theatre's 2017 acclaimed production of William Shakespeare's great play, recorded as-live in its West End transfer on the stage of London's Harold Pinter Theatre. Robert Icke's innovative modern-dress production, featuring Andrew Scott, Juliet Stevenson, Angus Wright and Jessica Brown Findlay, has been widely acclaimed as a dazzlingly intelligent, forcefully contemporary staging. The Evening Standard hailed Andrew Scott's 'career-defining performance... he makes the most famous speeches feel fresh and unpredictable.'

The first installment of Phyllida Lloyd’s groundbreaking all-female Shakespeare Trilogy sees Harriet Walter take on the role of Brutus, who wrestles with his moral conscience over the murder of Julius Caesar.

After Channel 4 screened the finale of their 1984 repeats of The Prisoner, they broadcast this special show to delve into the mysteries about the enigmatic series. Featuring interviews from actors, writers, and directors of the show, it most importantly featured an interview with the man himself, Patrick McGoohan, then living in Canada. The story behind the making of this special was revisited in the 2017 documentary 'In My Mind'.

Phyllida Lloyd’s final installment of the Donmar Shakespeare Trilogy concludes with an all-female version of The Tempest starring Harriet Walter as Prospero. This captivating reimagining explores themes of freedom and justice in the context of a women’s prison.

The mother of the Indian female singer Pallavi (Kitu Gidwani) is at the end of her life. She was master and teacher for her daughter for the art of Indian singing. But she will not be able to complete her lessons. So Pallavi experiences the lack of the guru of her mother. Finally she finds him in a very young street-girl who is able to sing marvelously. But this girl keeps disappearing again and again...

Marking Play for Today’s 50th anniversary, Drama Out of a Crisis is a compelling exploration of the series, its origins, achievements, controversies and legacies. Featuring a rich and surprising range of archive extracts and original interviews with many who created the series, including producers Kenith Trodd, Margaret Matheson and Richard Eyre, and directors Mike Leigh, David Hare and Ken Loach.

The incompetent Richard II is deposed by Henry Bolingbroke and undergoes a crisis of identity once he is no longer king.

Harriet Walter takes the lead in the second installment of the Donmar Shakespeare Trilogy directed by Phyllida Lloyd. Featuring a diverse company of women, this unique interpretation combines both parts of Shakespeare’s history plays about King Henry IV and his son Prince Hal.

William Shakespeare’s Sonnets are among the most beautiful and most fascinating poems ever written. All of the poems, together with their enigmatic Dedication, are featured in readings by a star-studded cast.

One of a series of films combining music and images: an office cleaner, and what happens to some of the people who work in the building.

Filmed on location across England and Ireland, this program takes a close look at the Lindisfarne Gospels—a priceless work of art and one of Christianity’s most enduring symbols of faith—and the historical and religious contexts in which it was created. Michelle Brown, curator of illuminated manuscripts at the British Library, explains who made it and why, presents new findings about its dating, and shows how it unites a remarkable range of motifs and styles from the Celtic Iron Age, Germanic prehistory, ancient and Christian Rome, Coptic Egypt, and Byzantium. A wealth of other devotional objects and images from early Christianity are also featured.