Paul Copley

A veteran washerman hangs thousands of wet clothes under the scorching sun: one oddity, he doesn't want them dry.

Father Michael, a Catholic priest presiding over a Northern urban parish, who is modern, maverick, and reassuringly flawed, must be confidante, counselor and confessor to a congregation struggling to reconcile its beliefs with the challenges of daily life.

8.1/10
8.5%

In June 2003, Reg Keys and his wife Sally return to their home in the Welsh countryside. As they switch on the TV to hear six military policemen have been murdered in Iraq, two men arrive bearing the terrible news that their son, Tom, was among them.

7/10

Two-hour Christmas special and the series finale. Mary endeavors to build bridges with her sister while Edith's secret continues to pose a threat. As Henry settles into the role of husband and stepfather, finding his place at Downton proves more difficult.

Based on the extraordinary true story of Alec Jeffreys' discovery of DNA fingerprinting and its first use by Detective Chief Superintendent David Baker in catching a double murderer.

7.6/10

When Christine brings a man home from a costume party, her life begins to unravel. Her happiness slowly turns to sorrow.

9.2/10

Popular musical The Sound of Music is brought to life on soundstages at London's Three Mills Studio, in a live TV dramatisation of the timeless story of Maria and the von Trapp family.

7.3/10

Series looking at the British genius for woodwork over the centuries.

The interwoven lives of seven people whose relationships are forged in the white heat of the 60s through to the present day.

7.1/10
4.2%

In the summer of 2012, a company of nine actors and director Tim Crouch came together to create a production of King Lear specifically for young audiences. It toured to schools across England before touring to New York's Park Avenue Armory, where the production was filmed.

Christmas 1919. Downton Abbey is hosting a lavish Christmas party, yet despite being the season of goodwill, tensions are rife and Bates' arrest has cast a shadow over the festivities.

An ordinary day becomes a world of terror, as every single child in the world stops. A message from the stars is sent to the British government. "We are coming."

Sally Lockhart crosses paths with the nefarious industrialist Axel Bellman, the richest and most powerful man in Europe. She's determined to prove him guilty of corruption and fraud, whilst Bellman will stop at nothing to destroy her case.

6.5/10

Johnny Maxwell stumbles upon a time machine when he helps an old woman, but little does he know that his journeys back to 1941 cause a chain of events which alter history. Johnny and his friends must go back in time to reverse the changes and save his own existence.

6.8/10

Dead Man Weds is a 6-part comedy series shown on ITV on British TV in January and early February 2005. The series was written by Dave Spikey who played the part of Jerry St Clair in Phoenix Nights. It was produced for ITV by the independent producers Red Production Company. There are two lead parts, one being Dave Spikey and the other being Johnny Vegas. The series is based on the fictional newspaper, The Fogburrow Advertiser. New editor, Gordon Garden, is determined to shake up the small rural newspaper office. Acting editor and all-round lazy slob Lewis Donat is furious at Gordon's appointment, convinced that the job should be his. Lewis's school of journalism involves going on a break as soon as he gets in, stealing stories from old piles of newspapers and getting the rest of the news from Joan at the cake shop, Cake That. The show's title was inspired by a headline from the Bolton Evening News. The series was filmed in Castleton in Derbyshire. The theme music, also used as incidental music and stings throughout the series, was a version of the Jonathan King composition "It's Good News Week", a 1965 hit for Hedgehoppers Anonymous.

8/10

School teacher Chris Bevan is a dutiful husband to his dull wife, Josie, and ingrate daughters. His best friend knows Chris' heart always belonged to Marian, his vibrant, flippant fiancée, who mysteriously disappeared years ago. Suddenly he sees her in a shop and can't help following her. He gives up as she has a new identity, as wife of plumber Bernie Sullivan. Bernie's real passion is Houdini-era 'real' magic, while in fact she's his terrified captive, forced to replace his late assistant. Furthermore one of Bevan's daughters has a phone-relationship he forbids, deeming it dangerous on principle, ignoring this is real and ties in to Marian's plight. Written by KGF Vissers

6.4/10

The Hornblower series is based on C.S. Forester's classic maritime adventures - the story of one young man's struggle to become a leader of men. Set against the back drop of the 18th century Anglo-French wars, the bloodiest time in British naval history. Admiral Pellew interrupts Hornblower's wedding reception and tasks him to locate a British ship which has disappeared off the French coast, where Napoleon's troops are engaged in covert activities.

8/10

The story of three generations told against the backdrop of the 20th century. The drama focuses on the life of Mary Corrigan, from her days as a rebellious mill worker in 1915 and her doomed love affair for a man who must fight for his country, through to her final days in the run up to the British General Election of 1997.

Hornblower is given a dangerous mission to deliver an emigre French nobleman to a secret rendezvous near Brest while coping with enemy agents in his own ranks.

8.1/10

How Clean Is Your House? is a British entertainment/lifestyle television programme in which expert cleaners Kim Woodburn and Aggie MacKenzie visit filthy homes and then clean them. The thirty-minute show is produced by Talkback Thames, the UK production arm of FremantleMedia, and airs on Channel 4 and many of its subsidiary channels. It was first broadcast in 2003 and was an immediate ratings success.

7.3/10

After killing his English partner, a Canadian businessman assumes his identity. Things begin to fall apart for him when the murdered man's body is found.

6.5/10

The Hornblower series is based on C.S. Forester's classic maritime adventures - the story of one young man's struggle to become a leader of men. Set against the back drop of the 18th century Anglo-French wars, the bloodiest time in British naval history. Hornblower and his comrades come under the command of a revered but obviously mentally unstable captain and eventually must mutiny.

8.2/10

Hornblower and the other officers of the Renown must return to Jamaica to face a court-martial and possible execution for their actions in relieving their unstable captain.

8.3/10

The annual British Hairdressing Championship comes to Keighley, a town where Phil and son Brian run a barbershop and Phil's ex-wife Shelly and her lover Sandra run a beauty salon.

6.2/10
1.9%

The Hornblower series is based on C.S. Forester's classic maritime adventures - the story of one young man's struggle to become a leader of men. Set against the back drop of the 18th century Anglo-French wars, the bloodiest time in British naval history.Lt. Hornblower and his mates are sent to accompany a doomed royalist invasion of revolutionary France.

8/10

Horatio Homblower, now promoted to Acting Lieutenant, captures the French ship Le Reve off the Spanish coast. The Captain of the French ship is furious that such a youngster has pulled off such a coup. But far more daunting is Hornblower's first taste of the high life, when he is invited to dine with the Governor of Gibraltar and his wife. The prospect of this is frightening enough, but an unexpected guest, the glamorous Duchess of Wharfedale, adds another spin to his evening.

7.9/10

The Hornblower series is based on C.S. Forester's classic maritime adventures - the story of one young man's struggle to become a leader of men. Set against the back drop of the 18th century Anglo-French wars, the bloodiest time in British naval history. Pellew, Captain of the Indefatigable, decides to put forward his protege Horatio Hornblower for the examination for lieutenant. Leading up to the exam Hornblower comes up against many challenges to prepare him for the difficult life as a lieutenant.

8.1/10
8%

Hornblower is the umbrella title of a series of television drama programmes based on C. S. Forester's novels about the fictional character Horatio Hornblower, a Royal Navy officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. The series ran from 1999 to 2003 and starred Ioan Gruffudd in the title role. It was produced by the British broadcaster Meridian Television, and was shown on ITV in the UK and A&E in the US.

The Hornblower series is based on C.S. Forester's classic maritime adventures - the story of one young man's struggle to become a leader of men. Set against the back drop of the 18th century Anglo-French wars, the bloodiest time in British naval history. Spithead, Portsmouth, 1794. Under thundery skies and in lashing rain, a 17 year old midshipman takes the first tentative steps of his naval career, but a deadly feud with a despicable mate is causing complications.

8.2/10

A best selling author finds his horror novels coming to life.

5.7/10

Compelling BBC1 drama series embracing sex, death and Catholic guilt, set in a small community in the Lake District. The first four-part series centred on newcomer Danny Kavanagh; the second 10-part series featured other characters in the community.

8/10

In late 19th-century England, Jude aspires to be an academic, but is hobbled by his blue-collar background. Instead, he works as a stonemason and is trapped in an unloving marriage to a farmer's daughter named Arabella. But when his wife leaves him, Jude sees an opportunity to improve himself. He moves to the city and begins an affair with his married cousin, Sue, courting tragedy every step of the way.

6.9/10
8.1%

Roughnecks is a BBC comedy-drama series that ran over two series between 1994 and 1995 on BBC One. The show centred on the working and personal lives of those who worked on the fictional oil rig "The Osprey Explorer" in the North Sea.

8.9/10

Receiving a tip from his dentist Jack Shorter, policeman Peter Pascoe takes a closer look at the Calliope Kinema Club, a film club notorious for showing adult entertainment movies. Shorter is convinced that one particular scene in a movie he recently saw was too realistic to have been staged with fake blood, but when Pascoe and his bluff superior Andy Dalziel starts investigating, they soon comes across the actress in question, Linda Abbott, who obviously didn't suffer from any harm and assures Pascoe that the concerns are unnecessary.

A rule bound head butler's world of manners and decorum in the household he maintains is tested by the arrival of a housekeeper who falls in love with him in post-WWI Britain. The possibility of romance and his master's cultivation of ties with the Nazi cause challenge his carefully maintained veneer of servitude.

7.8/10
9.5%

During World War II a young city boy is evacuated to the country.

7.1/10

Oedipus's wanderings come to an end when he finds his final resting place, as foretold by the gods. But his brother-in-law and his son each try to take him away.

7/10

The documentary features the British miners and their family experiences told through songs, poems, pictures and words.

6.9/10

Adaption of George Eliot's novel. When a respectable weaver is wrongfully accused of theft, he becomes a virtual hermit until his own fortune is stolen and an orphaned child is found on his doorstep.

7.3/10

Examines contradictory male attitudes towards women in 1980's Britain

3.9/10

Documentary drama.

"They're nice affable gobblers and we're in the nice affable gobbling business." But Tom and Gwen soon find that their gastronomical retreat from the rat race is anything but an escape when the Porters come to dine.

James van Santen, a white South African writer facing imminent arrest for acts of sabotage, has escaped to England. He leaves behind him not only a violent political life but also his handsome lover, Stephen. With little money or inclination to work, he fights a battle of wills with his Jamaican landlady, Katherine.

"That order to scatter was as good as a death sentence to those merchant ships. And there isn't one officer or rating who doesn't agree with me." A British Allied convoy designated for the Soviet Union comes under attack from German forces during World War II.

A journalist investigates a newspaper story of the execution of an Arab princess.

7.6/10

In 1879, the British suffer a great loss at the Battle of Isandlwana due to incompetent leadership.

6.7/10
5%

A watchmaker finds his livelihood is threatened by cheaply imported digital watches.

9.2/10

'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.

A small town shopkeeper is conned into standing for an extreme right-wing party at a by-election and later discovers his financed by the corporation that has dispossessed him of his business.

"If I could work my will, every idiot that goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips would be boiled with his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly in his heart" So spoke the immortal words of Christmas’ most famous miser, Charles Dicken’s Ebenezer Scrooge. Too mean to join in with the festivities; he sits alone on Christmas Eve. The scene is set for a visitation by the ghost of his late business partner, Marley, now bound to earth by eternal chains and his introduction to the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. For it is they who will take him through his life to face the truth about himself…

6.7/10

Operation Market Garden, September 1944. The Allies attempt to capture several strategically important bridges in the Netherlands in the hope of breaking the German lines.

7.4/10
6.4%

Treasure Island is a 1977 television adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous 1883 novel. It was filmed in 1977 on location in Plymouth and Dartford, and in Corsica, and also at BBC Television Centre at Wood Lane, London. Jim Hawkins discovers a treasure map and embarks on a journey to find the treasure, but pirates led by Long John Silver have plans to take the treasure for themselves by way of mutiny. This four-episode adaptation by John Lucarotti, while particularly faithful to the original, adds an expanded narrative concerning the declining Daniel Hawkins, as well as clarifying Squire Trelawney's naiveté in trusting Blandly and Silver. This takes place in the first episode; Billy Bones tempts Jim's father into arranging a two-man treasure voyage, the corrupt shipping agent Ezra Blandly guesses their intentions and tips off Silver, who hoodwinks and then cruelly tortures the information out of a hapless alcoholic Mr Arrow. Billy Bones plans founder, and Hawkins snr catches pneumonia in the rain, which finishes him. Lucarotti's additions to the original provide useful backstory, and the pirate idiom is sufficiently well captured for these additions not to be too obvious.

6.9/10

The miners have been locked out because they refuse to accept wage cuts. Lloyd George has sent troops to the coalfields: the revolution in Russia is fresh in people's memory.

7.5/10

In 1925, the coal owners decided to reduce the miners' wages whilst asking them to work longer hours, resulting in a strike.

7.3/10

Alfie Darling is a 1975 British comedy drama film directed by Ken Hughes. It is the sequel to the 1966 film Alfie. This time Alan Price takes over Michael Caine's role of Alfie. It based on the novel of the same name by Bill Naughton (who wrote the play upon which the first film was based).

4.7/10

The Matthews are country people. If they can get a living with their hard work they want no changes or dealings with the outside world. Their children are different. They feel the earth moving under them and are excited and full of hope. They could not imagine what will happen to their world during the next ten years. The war itself is to bring vast changes. For Ben the army is to open up disturbing new horizons; while for his brother-in-law Philip the war is a dilemma demanding morality and courage.

8.1/10

Less than 20 years after its birth, the Labour Party forms a government with Ramsay MacDonald as Prime Minister. Although outnumbered in Parliament by Conservatives and Liberals, Labour is the largest party. Many feel the task of legislating socialism into existence can now begin.

6.9/10

Teenager Diane Weaver lives in a small council flat with her brooding father, the groundskeeper of a local church. What no one realizes is how close Diane and her father are.

7.2/10

Days of Hope is a BBC television drama serial produced in 1975. The series dealt with the lives of a working-class family from the turmoils of the First World War in 1916 to the General Strike in 1926. It was written by Jim Allen, produced by Tony Garnett and directed by Ken Loach.

8.3/10

Speech Day is a bit of a laugh if you are not one of nature's prize-winners. But now that they've finished with school and school with them, what comes next for Ronnie, Wally and Rob?