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Categories: Drama: Classic & Period

  1. A Horseman Riding By

    Drama following the life of Paul Craddock, who was severely injured during the Boer War.

    BBC One

  2. Sense and Sensibility

    The story of two sisters with very different approaches to life and love, by Jane Austen.

    BBC One

  3. The Pickwick Papers

    Mr Pickwick, Tupman, Winkle, Snodgrass and Sam Weller begin their travels through England.

    BBC One

  4. Oliver Twist

    The 1985 adaptation of the novel by Charles Dickens.

    BBC One

  5. Madame Bovary

    Adaptation of Gustave Flaubert's novel.

    BBC Two

  6. The Moonstone

    Hugh Leonard's 1970s adaptation of the novel by Wilkie Collins.

    BBC

  7. Lorna Doone

    Dramatized screen adaptation of R. D. Blackmore’s classic novel.

    BBC One

  8. Madame Bovary

    Adaptation of Gustave Flaubert's novel.

    BBC

  9. Jude the Obscure

    Drama based on the Thomas Hardy novel.

    BBC

  10. The Old Curiosity Shop

    Drama adaptation of the novel by Charles Dickens.

    BBC One

  11. Fingersmith

    Drama set in Dickensian London adapted from the novel by Sarah Waters.

    BBC One

  12. David Copperfield

    David Copperfield is one of the greatest and most popular of Dickens works.

    BBC

  13. Byron

    Drama series based on the life of Lord Byron

    BBC Two

  14. The Portrait of a Lady

    The classic story by Henry James.

    BBC

  15. Charles II: The Power and the Passion

    Rufus Sewell stars in a four-part dramatisation of the life of the charismatic monarch.

    BBC One

  16. Dancing on the Edge

    An explosive 1930s drama following a jazz band in London at a time of huge change.

    BBC Two

  17. Death Comes to Pemberley

    A three-part adaptation of PD James's bestselling homage to Pride and Prejudice.

    BBC One

  18. The Crimson Field

    In an army hospital the staff heal the bodies and souls of men wounded in the trenches.

    BBC One

  19. The Casual Vacancy

    Pagford is charming, but what lies behind the pretty facade is a town at war.

    BBC One

  20. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

    With magic long since lost to England, two men are destined to bring it back.

    BBC One

  21. Pride and Prejudice

    Andrew Davies's award winning adaptation of Jane Austen's classic Regency romance.

    BBC

  22. Barnaby Rudge

    Mini-series based on Charles Dickens classic novel set amidst the Gordon riots of 1780.

    BBC

  23. Partners in Crime

    1950s spy drama, adapted from Agatha Christie's classic books.

    BBC One

    Show available episodes

  24. Hound of the Baskervilles

    Tom Baker and Terence Rigby star in this adaptation of the classic Sherlock Holmes story.

    BBC

  25. Nicholas Nickleby

    Adaptation of Charles Dickens’ tale of the life and adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.

    BBC

  26. Casanova

    Dennis Potter offers his take on the famed Italian adventurer and libertine, Casanova.

    BBC

  27. Tender is the Night

    Adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel. Written by Dennis Potter.

    BBC

  28. Christabel

    Dennis Potter’s dramatization of Christabel Bielenberg's extraordinary wartime memoirs.

    BBC

  29. Wessex Tales

    Adaptations of a selection of short stories by Thomas Hardy.

    BBC

  30. Diana

    Jan is a poor country lad, who meets Diana, the daughter of a rich landowner.

    BBC

  31. The Way We Live Now

    David Suchet stars in Anthony Trollope’s epic tale of Victorian power and corruption.

    BBC

  32. The Railway Children

    Dramatisation of E Nesbit’s classic tale about three children who move to Yorkshire.

    BBC

  33. Aristocrats

    Chronicling the lives of the Lennox sisters in eighteenth century England.

    BBC

  34. The Diary of Anne Frank

    A four-part adaptation of one of the most heart-rending stories of World War II.

    BBC

  35. An Age of Kings

    An adaptation of Shakespeare’s fifteen sequential history plays.

    BBC

  36. My Cousin Rachel

    Four-part adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's tale of obsession, paranoia and jealousy.

    BBC

  37. Notorious Woman

    Drama following the life of the French novelist George Sand.

    BBC

  38. The Phoenix and the Carpet

    Adaptation of E Nesbit’s story about an Edwardian family’s magical adventures.

    BBC

  39. Tipping the Velvet

    A tempestuous love story between Victorian women, adapted from the novel.

    BBC

  40. Our Mutual Friend

    A twelve part dramatisation of the classic Charles Dickens novel.

    BBC

  41. Elizabeth R

    Glenda Jackson stars as Queen Elizabeth I in this dramatisation of her reign.

    BBC Four

    Show available episodes

  42. War and Peace

    Leo Tolstoy's epic story of life, love and loss in nineteenth-century Russia.

    BBC One

    Show available episodes

  43. Crime and Punishment

    Psychological thriller based on Dostoyevsky's literary masterpiece, starring John Hurt.

    BBC

  44. To Serve Them All My Days

    A shell-shocked veteran returns from the trenches, and starts a job at a boarding school.

    BBC

  45. Mr Wroe’s Virgins

    In 1830s Lancashire, an apocalyptic prophet has seven virgins to serve him.

    BBC

  46. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

    The swashbuckling legend of Robin of Locksley (Kevin Costner) and his band of outlaws.

    BBC One

  47. Jude

    A stonemason's aspirations are thwarted by unyielding social convention.

    BBC Two

  48. Pandaemonium

    The story of the relationship between Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth.

    BBC Four

  49. The Horseman on the Roof

    Lavish historical romance set in Provence during the 19th-century cholera epidemic.

    BBC Two

  50. Whistle and I'll Come to You

    Jonathan Miller's chilling adaptation of an MR James ghost story of solitude and terror.

    BBC Four

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