Catherine Hall

Biography of Russian physicist & dissident Andrei Sakharov focuses on his first acts in his civil rights.

Writer and Director Mike Leigh discusses the techniques used to create his plays.

Adapted from the D. H. Lawrence novel this tells the romantic story of Siegmund and Helena. Siegmund, an orchestral violinist who is married with three children, has tutored Helena for several years and they've fallen in love but he will not leave his wife or consummate their passion physically. Helena arranges for them to go on an idyllic holiday to the Isle of Wight, hoping that will convince Siegmund to break away from his marriage and they can be together.

Stephen (Paul Henley) works in a bank. A virgin, he shows no interest in sex, and is cruelly scorned by an aggressive female neighbour when he rebuffs her advances. He lives with his mother, an overbearing woman who mocks him for being wet. But Stephen has a secret – he likes to wear women’s clothing. When his horrified mother finds out, she takes him to meet a fellow cross-dresser to ‘solve’ the problem. But the meeting ends unexpectedly, when the other man realises that Stephen is not transvestite, but transsexual.

Slice-of-life look at class divisions among employees of a brokerage house. Alan, with his portrait of the Queen and love of the peerage; his wife April, who raises cats; youthful and pretentious friends Nigel, Giles, and Anthony, who gather for a wine-soaked dinner party with the chatty and risque Samantha and the mousy Caroline; the plummy Lord and Lady Crouchurst, in a spot of bother needing the help of Francis, a senior partner, to assist with the family's cash flow. Alan comes home from work to find Mr. Shakespeare doing a photo shoot of one of April's cats and a wealthy stranger, Miss Hunt, waiting to purchase one. His instincts for sycophantic palaver kick in.