Explore TV Series

Vittorio De Seta presents the drama of the Vietnamese refugees who arrived in the great Asian metropolis.

In each episode of this series, noted painting instructor and infamous forger Tom Keating examines the work of a famous artist. Through painting exact replicas of well-known works, Keating offers viewers insight into the creation of these masterworks and offers tips to add to their own painting arsenals. In each, biographical sketches of each artist are also offered.

Drama series about the internal tensions behind the façade of a northern English family.

Central Weekend is a British television debate show which ran from 1986 to 2001. Known for the confrontational nature of its studio audience and topics, it was presented for many years by Nicky Campbell. It was broadcast late on a Friday night in the Central region, and debated various topics and current affairs issues - usually subjects that had been featured in the week's news. Though Campbell was the main host, there were a number of other presenters who joined him throughout the show's time on air. These included Anna Soubry, Adrian Mills, Kaye Adams, Sue Jay, Roger Cook, Bibi Baskin, Paul Ross, John Stapleton, James Whale, Ed Doolan, Victoria Derbyshire, Patricia Mitchell and Claudia Winkleman.

It's tough fighting a divorce but when your wife decides to show your children your sponge bag in order to promote you as being one of the three most evil men - along with Nero and Attila the Hun - then you are in trouble. Roger Flower, an impoverished composer, is one such man and his acrimonious divorce from his well-heeled wife, Emma, is doing him no favors. He has, however, found some consolation in the arms of Rose, who finds an adulterous relationship a major turn on. In order to maintain their healthy sex-life she marries an all-in wrestler called Stanley on the morning of his divorce!

Divided into four episodes, it is a film about the passage of time and mutations. De Seta returns to his home Sicily, where he shot his famous first short films in the 1950s, in search of the vestiges of a culture erased by the economic, social and cultural policies of the post-war period.

Follows the lives of a group of people and an 11-year old orphan who unexpectedly become drawn together in 1898, when a ship is wrecked on the Cornish coast near Falmouth.

Alan Bennett documentary series covering music.

Recently divorced Laura Kingsley arrives home after ten years in California to find her beloved Britain much changed.

BBC 2 series of comedy pilots.

The serial is based on the true story of the writer Jack Ronder's own Jewish family after his grandfather fled Lithuania from the persecution of Tsarist Russia in 1885. Believing themselves heading for New York the immigrants were put ashore near Dundee by an unscrupulous sea captain, and left to fend for themselves with little money and even less language. The drama follows his fortunes over a period of 70 years.

Three generations of the Grant family live and work on the Severn Valley branch of the Great Western Railway, from the Victorian era to the Second World War.

A family variety series presented by the Krankies which also featured magic from the Great Soprendo and live music from pop bands. The series was their third solo programme since Crackerjack, this time on the BBC. Featured in a total of three series.

This snooker-based quiz show from Tyne Tees appeared to be something of a forerunner to BBC's Big Break, with Tom O'Connor and Len Ganley taking the roles of Jim Davidson and John Virgo. However, in contrast to its memorable successor, this series has disappeared into obscurity.

Rev. Bill Duncan and Father Jack Sampson are both short-listed for job as Airport Chaplain at Glenning Airport, when they meet it changes both their lives.

The history of the activities of the Culmv (Compagnia Unica dei Lavoratori Merci Varie) in the Port of Genoa, spanning from the 14th century to the present day. The documentary is structured in three parts: "Caravana e Camalli," "Compagnia Unica Lavoratori Merci Varie," and "Il Sacco e il Container."

A David Nobbs sitcom about a group of British residents in Spain. Life on a Mediterranean island, far from strike-torn Britain, is a paradise. Or is it? The Halhdays aren't sure, and neither, it seems, is anybody else.

Renzo Arbore Shows

Documentary on the decline of Britain's Railways

Stratford Johns plays the title role of Brond, the menacing mastermind behind the Scottish liberation army. John Hannah stars as Robert, a Glasgow University student drawn into the web of political intrigue. Robert is the sole witness to the murder of a small boy. That same evening he encounters the assailant, Brond, at a party hosted by his professor. Brond is introduced as an old friend by Professor Gracemont, which stops a perplexed Robert from exposing him. Margaret (Louise Beattie), a fellow student who Robert is keen on, asks him to keep a parcel safe for Brond. Despite Robert s desperate efforts to get rid of it, he and the mysterious package are taken to Brond. Brond appears to take a keen interest in him and, against his will, Robert is pulled into a succession of violent and horrifying events. A tale of evil and exploitation in the nightmarish landscape of a Glasgow where nothing is as it seems.

Happy Families is a children's television series made in the late 1980s based on the Happy Families series of books by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. Each tale is about a family of characters which in turn is based on the Happy Families card game. The cast played several different characters throughout the series with many recurring roles for the main cast including Milton Johns, Annette Badland and Elizabeth Estensen. Happy Families ran for two series, 24 episodes in all, and was shown on Children's BBC in 1989 and 1990.

In 1975, the BBC hired Mike Leigh to create a series of Five-Minute Films. Leigh, a master of kitchen sink naturalism, explained his garrulous bursts of plot and character: ‘I thought it was a cracking idea, and I would have done forty of them or fifty ‘ so you’d see them all the time, and sometimes you might see a character you never saw again, sometimes you might see somebody popping up for a moment and then be a main character in another one, or there’d be a couple of ones that would run on to a narrative. It would be a whole microcosm of the world. There was debate about whether they should be shown at the same time or they should be dotted around the channel, like currants in the pudding, as Tony Garnett, the producer, called it.’ Although these were made in 1975, they were not broadcast until 1982. Mike Leigh had originally intended to make around 50 of these five-minute stories, but only these five pilots ended up getting made.

Gnostics was a 1987 4-part drama-documentary series made by Border TV for Channel 4. It was re-broadcast in 1990. The writer of the series, Tobias Churton, also released an accompanying book. The body of the programmes was compiled of documentary material on Gnostic movements and the Cathars. Among those interviewed were academics and writers Hans Jonas, Gilles Quispel, Elaine Pagels and James Robinson, as well as Muhammad Ali al-Samman who unearthed the texts at Nag Hammadi. Within the frame of documentary dramatized sections were acted by Nigel Harrison with other actors including Brian Blessed, Marius Goring, Ian Brooker, and James Tillett.

The Corries were a Scottish folk group that emerged from the Scottish folk revival of the early 1960s. The group was a trio from their formation until 1966 when founder Bill Smith left the band but Roy Williamson and Ronnie Browne continued as a duo until Williamson's death in 1990. They are particularly known for the song "Flower of Scotland", written by Williamson, which has become an unofficial national anthem of Scotland.

After his business partner Robert Shriving is killed by an exploding computer, Duncan Free (Ian Ogilvy) sets out to uncover a network of powerful individuals who are using technology to collect personal data for their own ends.

1000 Meisterwerke was a German art series. It was the German version of the British 100 Great Paintings. From 1980 through 1994, the German broadcaster WDR produced the series, which was broadcast by ARD, ORF and BR. In each of the 10-minute broadcasts, a single painting was presented and analyzed by an art historian. The Sunday evening broadcasts had five million viewers.