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Categories: Drama: Classic & Period

  1. Breaking the Mould: The Story of Penicillin

    Drama uncovering the forgotten team involved in the development of penicillin.

    BBC Four

  2. Anna Sewell - Black Beauty

    A well-bred horse hits hard times and poor health due to overwork.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  3. Becoming Jane

    Anne Hathaway stars as the young Jane Austen, chronicling her romance with an Irishman.

    BBC Two

  4. Murder Rooms: the Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes

    Drama inspired by the real-life relationship between Arthur Conan Doyle and Joseph Bell.

    BBC Four

  5. Richard III

    Celebrating Maida Vale at 75, William Shakespeare's play about the tyrant's rise to power.

    BBC Radio 7

  6. George Orwell - Keep the Aspidistra Flying

    In 1930's London, would-be poet Gordon Comstock tries not to conform.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  7. Enid

    Surprising and illuminating drama about the life of children's storyteller Enid Blyton.

    BBC Four

  8. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum

    When a tornado lands Dorothy in Oz, she must battle her way to get back home...

    BBC Radio 4

  9. Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol

    Bitter miser Ebenezer Scrooge is taken on a ghostly journey of self-redemption.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  10. Hans Christian Andersen - The Snow Queen

    The classic, wintry fairy tale starring Diana Rigg, Bill Patterson and Dirk Bogarde.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  11. The Turn of the Screw

    A governess becomes fearful that something evil is stalking the children under her care.

    BBC One

  12. Cranford: Under the Bonnet

    Simon Woods goes behind the scenes to explore the success of Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford.

    BBC Four

  13.

    Hamlet

    The Royal Shakespeare Company's modern-dress production of Shakespeare's great play.

    BBC Two

  14.

    Macbeth

    Orson Welles stars in and directs a controversial version of Shakespeare's play.

    BBC Two

  15. Little Women

    Film based on the Louisa May Alcott story about 1860s America. With Winona Ryder.

    BBC Two

  16. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

    In 18th-century France, a perfumier goes on a ruthless quest for the ultimate scent.

    BBC Two

  17. Water

    A girl is sent to live in a house of widows on the banks of the River Ganges.

    BBC Four

  18. David Pownall - Dreams and Censorship

    Shakespeare fears revolution over James I's translated Bible, with the Dream of St John.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  19. CS Lewis - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

    Four young Blitz evacuees from London stumble upon a mystical land of perpetual winter.

    BBC Radio 7

  20. Nicholas McInerny - Scrooge Blues

    One year after the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge - what of his business?

    BBC Radio 7

  21. Toast

    Adaptation of chef Nigel Slater's autobiography, chronicling his bittersweet childhood.

    BBC One

  22. CS Lewis - The Silver Chair

    Arriving in the enchanted land of Narnia, Eustace and Jill must find a missing Prince.

    BBC Radio 7

  23. Shakespeare - Twelfth Night

    The Bard's comedy of mistaken identity, cruel practical jokes and lovelorn suitors.

    BBC Radio 7

  24. A Bronx Tale

    A father feels powerless when his son becomes increasingly corrupted by a local gangster.

    BBC One

  25. Glorious 39

    With Britain on the brink of war, a woman suspects she has stumbled upon a plot.

    BBC Two

  26. The Draughtsman's Contract

    An English noblewoman employs an arrogant artist to produce twelve pictures of her estate.

    BBC Two

  27. Far from the Madding Crowd

    A beautiful, headstrong young heiress has a profound effect on the three men in her life.

    BBC Four

  28. The Duchess

    The tumultuous life story of the 18th-century Duchess of Devonshire (Keira Knightley).

    BBC One

  29. Harley Granville-Barker - The Voysey Inheritance

    Edward discovers the family business he is inheriting has been defrauding its clients.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  30. Mark Twain - The Million Pound Bank Note

    Can a man given a £1m banknote survive a month without spending a single penny of it?

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  31. The Young Victoria

    After a controlled childhood, Victoria (Emily Blunt) faces a fight to become queen.

    BBC Two

  32. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

    Classic tale about a young man whose life is dogged by the machinations of his evil uncle.

    BBC Two

  33. David Copperfield

    Young David's happy childhood is blighted when his widowed mother remarries.

    BBC Two

  34. Dean Spanley

    A son attempts to find common ground with his distant father through spiritualism.

    BBC Two

  35. Tomasi di Lampedusa - The Leopard

    A family faces the 1860s demise of Sicilian aristocracy. Adaptation stars Stanley Townsend

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  36. David Pownall - Kitty Wilkinson

    One woman combats squalor and institutional indifference in 19th-century Liverpool.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  37. War and Peace

    Two Russian families face conflict as the nation prepares for Napoleon's invasion.

    BBC Two

  38. Bonifacio as t-samhradh/Bonifacio in Summertime

    Will Molly's mother, Queen Heloise, be tricked into marrying the evil scoundrel Bonifacio?

    BBC ALBA

  39. The Best of Men

    Entertaining drama about the birth of the Paralympics in 1948.

    BBC Two

  40. Jane Eyre

    A governess falls in love with her employer, unaware of his terrible secret.

    BBC Two

  41. Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky

    Period drama about fashion designer Coco Chanel's affair with composer Igor Stavinsky.

    BBC Two

  42.

    Henrik Ibsen - A Doll's House

    Ibsen's play transposed to India, 1879: Can Niru save her huband's reputation?

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  43. Samuel Taylor Coleridge - The Glittering Eye

    Celebrating Coleridge's captivating poem.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  44. Albert Nobbs

    Industrious but introverted Albert (Glenn Close) hides a secret from the world.

    BBC Two

  45. Radio Drama at Ninety: Julius Caesar

    Members of Phyllida Lloyd's all-female Donmar group re-enact the first ever radio drama.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  46. Wodehouse in Exile

    The story of how quintessential English author PG Wodehouse was exiled from his country.

    BBC Four

  47. Mansfield Park

    Period drama based on the Jane Austen novel and starring Frances O'Connor.

    BBC Two

  48. Wuthering Heights

    Adaptation of Emily Bronte's story of the tragic love affair. Starring Laurence Olivier.

    BBC Two

  49. Great Expectations (2012 film)

    Pip tries everything to win the heart of the rich, cold-blooded Estella.

    BBC Two

  50. GB Shaw - Androcles and the Lion

    Recorded in 1967, the Irish writer's interpretation of one of Aesop's Fables.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

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