Bill Paterson

Set in 1941, as World War II rages over Europe, Michael Kitchen stars as detective Christopher Foyle, whose loyalties are put to the test as his investigations uncover unpleasant truths that powerful people would rather keep hidden.

Local MP and schoolmaster Thomas Gradgrind raises his children, Louisa and Tom, in the utilitarian fashion, stressing reason and fact and dismissing imagination and emotion. Under his influence, Louisa grows cold while Tom turns to a secret life of drinking and gambling. To be nearer her brother, Louisa accepts an offer of marriage from his boss, the self-made, self-important banker Josiah Bounderby, though she does not love him. But soon she finds...

A dry-witted, sexual, angry, grief-riddled woman hurls herself at modern living in London. She often escapes into momentary fantasy asides -- letting an imaginary audience hear her unspoken gibes -- as she navigates her father's emotional distance, her godmother-turned-stepmother, her perfect sister and horrible brother-in-law as well as her seemingly-doomed love life.

A biography of British legislator William Wilberforce, who led a decades-long movement to end the British slave trade.

Macbeth is the chef in a 3-star restaurant; Beatrice and Benedick are rival co-anchors; Titania and Bottom carouse in a tawdry theme resort; and Petruchio sets out to tame the conservative Kate in a politically incorrect marriage of convenience.