The Back Page

When the widowed Mrs Bing goes into hospital for a routine operation, she little realises she will soon make a dramatic bid for the most essential freedom of all.

It's such a simple, natural thing to have a baby, thinks Mary. But she and husband Paul are preoccupied with their careers. Can their young neighbour Tessa help, or are the emotions around a new baby more complex than anyone had expected?

What do Rose from Devon and Christina from Stuttgart have in common? And in what way is their fate linked to that of wealthy Fiona Dunkerley?

After his wife leaves him, Paul (John Stride) seeks solace at a sophisticated health spa run by a pair of sinister siblings (played by Geoffrey Burridge and Elizbeth Romilly). Strangely attracted by the scent of a vine that grows on the old ice house in the spa's grounds, Paul is drawn ever deeper into a horrifying mystery.

'I'm an expert on pigs now. How many people can claim they've castrated 1.000 baby pigs? Not many.' Brian is enthusiastic about his new job, but Thomas has seen it all before.