Sarah Lam

Lucy Kirkwood’s Maryland takes us to the dark heart of male violence against women but manages to do so with humour and wit. An outstanding cast explores an urgent issue.

When a young soldier appears, his hope of escape comes with suspicion. And as an old enemy also emerges, he is faced with an even greater temptation: revenge.

Beset by problems at home and abroad, a capricious king is forced to relinquish his ‘hollow crown’. As his supporters abandon him and his power trickles away, Richard reflects with startling eloquence on the disintegration of his status and identity. Adjoa Andoh and Lynette Linton direct the first ever company of women of colour in a Shakespeare play on a major UK stage, in a post-Empire reflection on what it means to be British in the light of the Windrush anniversary and as we leave the European Union.

Poppy is a celebration of Victorian values and exposes the hypocrisy, racism, drug dealing, money worship and sexual repression of the time through its favourite entertainment form, pantomime. Dick Whittington, his man Jack, Sally the Principal Girl, the Dame, two pantomime horses, a flying ballet, a transformation scene and even the traditional song-sheet are all brought on to tell the serious and finally devasting story of the single most profitable crop of the British East India Company.

No Problem! is a Channel 4 sitcom which ran from 1983 to 1985, created by the Black Theatre Co-operative. The show was written by Farrukh Dhondy and Mustapha Matura. 27 episodes were broadcast of the programme which focused on a family of Jamaican heritage, the Powells, living in a council house in Willesden Green, London. It was voted Britain's 100th best sitcom in a poll carried out by the BBC.

The Adventure Game was a game show, aimed at children but with an adult following, which was originally broadcast on UK television channels BBC1 and BBC2 between 24 May 1980 and 18 February 1986. The story in each show was that the two celebrity contestants and a member of the public had travelled by space ship to the planet Arg. Their overall task varied with each series. For example, the team might be charged with finding a crystal needed to power their ship to return to Earth. The programme is often considered to have been a forerunner of The Crystal Maze. The programme came about because Patrick Dowling had an interest in Dungeons and Dragons and wanted to televise a show that would capture the mood. The programme shares a similar sci-fi feel to the work of Douglas Adams. Patrick asked Douglas Adams to write the show but Douglas had already agreed to write a TV series of his own radio show The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The first two series were written and produced by Dowling and directed by Ian Oliver. The final two series were written and produced by Ian Oliver after Dowling had retired from the BBC.

The girls of St. Trinian's decide they are being asked to do too much work so they go on strike.