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Categories: Drama: Classic & Period

  1. The Tempest

    Prospera is banished from Milan by her brother and finds herself stranded on an island.

    BBC Two

  2. Renoir

    Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir is revitalised by an inspirational young muse.

    BBC Two

  3. Molly Keane - Good Behaviour

    1920s tale of an aristocratic Anglo-Irish family. Revenge is sweeter for taking its time.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  4. What Would Elizabeth Bennet Do?

    A 21st-century update of Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Can James win his girlfriend back?

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  5. Stanley Houghton - Hindle Wakes

    Lancashire, 1912. Can Fanny Hawthorn defy her parents' wishes for her future?

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  6. 102 Boulevard Haussmann

    Marcel Proust hires a string quartet and befriends the war-wounded viola player.

    BBC Two

  7. The Duchess of Malfi: BBC Arts at the Globe

    From London's Globe, a production of John Webster's revenge tragedy The Duchess of Malfi.

    BBC Four

  8. Everlasting Moments

    An abused Swedish housewife's amateur photography helps her cope and see the world anew.

    BBC Two

  9. War Horse

    The beloved horse of a farmer's son is sold to the army on the dawn of the First World War

    BBC Radio 2

  10. Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness

    Sea captain Marlow is ordered to sail up the Congo.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  11. Gwyneth Hughes - Victory

    Drama about the love triangle of Horatio Nelson, William Hamilton and Emma, Lady Hamilton

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  12. Shakespeare - Henry at Agincourt

    A sequence from Shakespeare's Henry V, broadcast on the eve of St George's Day 1956.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  13. Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse (Omnibus)

    Despite the weather forecast, young James is determined to reach the lighthouse off Skye.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  14. Kate Chopin - The Awakening (Omnibus)

    Adaptation of the novel that shocked America in 1899.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  15. Dylan Thomas: The Outing

    Actor Matthew Rhys reads Dylan Thomas's story of a trip to the seaside.

    BBC Radio Wales

  16. Dostoyevsky - The Friend of the Family

    Russia, 1859: Chaos in the Manor of Stephanchikovo when an ex-sergeant assumes a new role.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  17. Franz Kafka - The Trial

    Joseph K is an unexceptional man. Then one day he is arrested, but what is his crime?

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  18. The White Countess

    A countess (Natasha Richardson) saves a blind ex-diplomat (Ralph Fiennes) from an attack.

    BBC Two

  19. Juliette Binoche: Antigone at the Barbican

    Sophocles's tale of family loyalty, courage and tragedy, filmed at the Barbican in London.

    BBC Four

  20. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim (Omnibus)

    An advert in The Times lures four women from rainy London to the Italian Riviera.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  21. Cyrano de Bergerac (Omnibus)

    Glyn Maxwell's adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  22. Finishing School

    Teenage Virginia is so unhappy at her finishing school that she even contemplates suicide.

    BBC Two

  23. Shirley Gee - Moonshine

    London, 1937: Harriet must battle Ada, the new nanny, for the love of her young daughter.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  24. Lady Chatterley's Lover

    A beautiful young aristocrat embarks on a forbidden affair with a servant.

    BBC One

  25. George Bernard Shaw - Press Cuttings

    Written in 1909, Shaw pokes fun at the suffragettes' votes for women campaign.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  26. Dion Boucicault - London Assurance

    4 Extra Debut. 1840: Sir Harcourt Courtly is aiming to capture young Grace Harkaway.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  27. The Dresser

    Stage hand Norman struggles to support the tyrannical head of a theatre company.

    BBC Two

  28. Alexandre Dumas - The Lady of the Camellias Omnibus

    Armand is too late to see the love of his life Marguerite before she dies.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  29. Utopia by Thomas More

    Explorer Raphael Hythloday tells Thomas More about a mystical island.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  30. John Galsworthy - The Forsytes: Omnibus

    An epic story of sex, money and power in an upper class family across 50 years.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  31. John Galsworthy - The Forsytes Continues: Omnibus

    A newly married Fleur embraces the social whirl of 1920s London. Starring Jessica Raine.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  32.

    A Midsummer Night's Dream

    Classic Shakespeare play adapted for television by Russell T Davies.

    BBC One

  33. The Seagull by Anton Chekhov

    1896 on a Russian country estate. Stars Diana Quick and Helena Bonham Carter.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  34. John Galsworthy - The Forsytes Returns Omnibus

    Soames fears history will repeat itself as Fleur rushes headlong towards Jon.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  35. Babette's Feast by Karen Blixen (Omnibus)

    A few years after the French Revolution, maid Babette cooks her employers a special meal

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  36. King Lear

    A portrait of a man unravelling - pitted against his daughters, nature and the universe.

    BBC Four

  37. Shakespeare: Lord of Misrule

    Jerry Brotton looks back at the power of Shakespearian mischief.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  38. The Lady Vanishes

    A beautiful young socialite faces danger while trying to solve a disappearance.

    BBC One

  39. The Happy Lands

    The journey of a mining community as they are pushed inevitably towards a labour conflict.

    BBC Two Scotland

  40. The Whale

    Dramatic retelling of the fateful last voyage of the Nantucket whaleship Essex.

    BBC One

  41. Under Milk Wood

    A production of Dylan Thomas's famous play enacted by a community of Welsh performers.

    BBC One Wales

  42. An Inspector Calls

    A mysterious inspector interrupts a wealthy family's party with shocking news.

    BBC One

  43. Alice Through the Looking Glass

    Dramatisation of Lewis Carroll’s classic tale, in which Alice enters a surreal world.

    BBC

  44. Cider with Rosie

    Adaptation of Laurie Lee's memoir of growing up in the Slad Valley during and after WWI.

    BBC One

  45. Twelfth Night

    Shakespeare’s classic comedy of gender confusion, filmed in Castle Howard in Yorkshire.

    BBC

  46. Alice in Wonderland

    Adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic novel. Directed by Jonathan Miller.

    BBC One

  47. Tower of London: The Innocent

    Fourteen years since the civil war’s bloodshed, many are plotting to seize the crown.

    BBC

  48. Under Mik Wood

    An adaptation of Dylan Thomas's famous 'play for voices' reimagined for television.

    BBC

  49. Cider With Rosie

    A play based on Laurie Lee's book, recalling his childhood in an English village.

    BBC

  50. The Gathering Storm

    A look at Winston Churchill's life and struggles in the years leading up to World War II.

    BBC

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