Aidan Mcardle Movies and TV Shows

In the spring of 1913, Parisian businessman Gabriel Astruc opens a new theater on the Champs Elysées. The first performance is the premiere of Igor Stravinsky's 'The Rite of Spring', danced by the Ballet Russes. The rehearsal process is extremely fraught: the orchestra dislike Stravinsky's harsh, atonal music; the dancers dislike the 'ugly' choreography of Vaslav Nijinsky. The volatile, bisexual Nijinsky is in a strained relationship with the much older Sergei Diaghilev, the Ballet Russes' charismatic but manipulative impresario. Public expectation is extremely high after Nijinsky's success in 'L'apres-midi d'un faune'. Finally, 'The Rite of Spring' premieres to a gossip-loving, febrile, fashion-conscious Parisian audience sharply divided as to its merits.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Leopoldstadt was the old, crowded Jewish quarter of Vienna, Austria. But Hermann Merz, a factory owner and baptised Jew now married to Catholic Gretl, has moved up in the world. We follow his family’s story across half a century, passing through the convulsions of war, revolution, impoverishment, annexation by Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. A company of 40 actors represent each generation of the family in this epic, but intimate play.

A coming-of-age story set in 1919 about 14 year old Faisal, an Arab prince who is dispatched from the deserts of Arabia to London by his warrior father, Prince Abd Al-Aziz, on a high stakes diplomatic mission to secure the formation of his country.

A drama-documentary presented by Alan Yentob, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role.

Charlotte Bronte's classic about an orphan girl who grows up to become a governess in a gloomy manor in Yorkshire, where she falls in love with the mysterious Edward Rochester.

Beautiful People is a British comedy drama television series based on the memoirs of Barneys creative director Simon Doonan. The series takes place in Reading, Berkshire, in 1997, where thirteen-year-old Simon Doonan and his best friend Kylie dream of escaping their dreary suburban surroundings and moving to cosmopolitan London "to live amongst the beautiful people." The first episode aired on BBC Two on 2 October 2008 and recorded overnight ratings of 1.5 million viewers and positive critical reaction. Episodes are self-contained, but do follow a loose story arc throughout the course of each series. The second and final series finished airing on 18 December 2009.

The true tale of pioneering 18th century barrister William Garrow, who acted as counsel for the accused, introducing the concept of 'innocent until proved guilty' at London's Old Bailey.

Powerful historical drama series, based on the lives of real people, telling the story of young 19th-century apprentices taking their lives into their own hands for the first time.

Professor James Murray begins work compiling words for the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary in the mid 19th century, and receives over 10,000 entries from a patient at Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, Dr. William Minor.

During the height of the Cold War, Victor Godeanu, the right-hand man and closest advisor to Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, and secret agent for the KGB, must escape Romania and Ceaușescu before his cover is blown. Helped by an undercover Stasi agent and an up-and-coming CIA agent, Godeanu must elude the KGB and his own country’s spooks, fully aware that his defection is putting his family back home in mortal danger.

Over 100 years ago, Albert Einstein grappled with the implications of his revolutionary special theory of relativity and came to a startling conclusion: mass and energy are one, related by the formula E = mc2. In "Einstein's Big Idea," NOVA dramatizes the remarkable story behind this equation. E = mc2 was just one of several extraordinary breakthroughs that Einstein made in 1905, including the completion of his special theory of relativity, his identification of proof that atoms exist, and his explanation of the nature of light, which would win him the Nobel Prize in Physics. Among Einstein's ideas, E = mc2 is by far the most famous. Yet how many people know what it really means? In a thought-provoking and engrossing docudrama, NOVA illuminates this deceptively simple formula by unraveling the story of how it came to be.

A chronicle of the life of 18th century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who was reviled for her extravagant political and personal life.

A police detective returns to her hometown and becomes involved in a missing person case, which is linked to her traumatic past and the town's dark history.

In 1847, when Ireland is in the grip of the Great Famine that has ravaged the country for two long years, Feeney, a hardened Irish Ranger who has been fighting for the British Army abroad, returns home to reunite with his estranged family, only to discover the cruelest reality, a black land where death reigns.

The true story of Sonja Henie, one of the world's greatest athletes and the inventor of modern figure skating, who decides to go to Hollywood in 1936 to become a movie star.

Danish secret service agent Katrine Poulson and British spy Beatrice Ogilvy are thrown together in a race against time. As a terrorist plot against the British PM unfolds, Poulson and Ogilvy are tangled up in a web of lies, murder and power struggles; they can't trust anyone, and they soon realise the deadly conspiracy could be part of a far-reaching geopolitical masterplan.

The film follows the fortunes of an avant garde Morris team in their struggle to evolve Morris Dancing.

Ella lives in a magical world in which each child, at the moment of their birth, is given a virtuous "gift" from a fairy godmother. Ella's so-called gift, however, is obedience. This birthright proves itself to be quite the curse once Ella finds herself in the hands of several unscrupulous characters whom she quite literally cannot disobey. Determined to gain control of her life and decisions, Ella sets off on a journey to find her fairy godmother who she hopes will lift the curse. The path, however, isn't easy -- Ella must outwit a slew of unpleasant obstacles including ogres, giants, wicked stepsisters, elves and Prince Charmont's evil uncle, who wants to take over the crown and rule the kingdom.

New York, 1937. A teenager hired to star in Orson Welles' production of Julius Caesar becomes attracted to a career-driven production assistant.

Michael Garrett, a New York corporate troubleshooter, is sent to a small town in Ireland to close a deal on a construction site believed to be inhabited by leprechauns. Michael sets out to get the approval of the town’s leprechaun expert, Sarah Cavanaugh, and soon finds that is easier said than done.

Drama following the tensions and romantic crises among a group of friends over the course of a single wedding day.

Retired Detective Inspector Alex Ridley is lured back into service as a consultant detective when his former protégée, Carol Farman, needs help cracking a complex murder case.

What happened after Einstein fled Nazi Germany? Using archival footage and his own words, this docudrama dives into the mind of a tortured genius.

Vatican investigators are sent to the British West Country to investigate paranormal activity, and they find the events are more disturbing than they first imagined.

The story of the working and personal relationship between the comedians Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, a hugely popular duo in the UK during the 1960s and 1970s. Focusing primarily on Cook, the film traces the pair from their first meeting through their career as part of the Beyond the Fringe review, their television series Not Only... But Also and various other projects before their later estrangement as Moore became a successful Hollywood film star and Cook remained in the UK.

The story follows Kate, a woman who discovers that her husband is having an affair during a luxurious holiday somewhere in the Mediterranean. The troubled couple are sharing a villa with four of Kate’s closest friends, one of which is the adulterous partner, but she doesn’t realise that the guilty party could be prepared to kill in order to keep their secret safe.

Sally Wilson's daughter Amanda is stricken with a brain tumour and each day, her condition appears to be worsening. Sally is at her wits end as to how to help her daughter and knows a life saving operation in America that she can't afford would be the answer. When the harassed single Mum is called to the office of a swish city lawyer, she never expects a life or death proposition. She’s been bequeathed £5 million! But in order to qualify for this amazing transfer of funds, Sally must first kill a man who deserves to die.

Late Bloomers stars Isabella Rossellini and William Hurt as a married couple pulled apart by the threat of old age. Each reacts in a different way: Hurt’s distinguished architect chases after his glory days, while Rossellini’s housewife installs handrails about the house.

A black comedy set in a working-class Dublin hair salon where the stylists become accidental vigilantes and community heroes as they take on the gang members and gentrifiers threatening their community.

Car dealer Frank Mallon (Adam Fergus, Being Erica) is watching his life fall apart around him. His wife has left, his cars aren't selling, and his teenage daughter is out of control. Desperate for a solution, Frank devises a plan to fix his money problems while also getting revenge on the people who make his life miserable.

Paralysed from the waist down after a car crash, Julie Hill struggles to get used to her disability and to save her marriage. It looks as if her husband will leave her. Then doctors try a revolutionary treatment which feeds electrical impulses to her leg muscles - allowing her to ride a bicycle once again and so go out for bike rides with her family. Her marriage survives and she and her husband end up closer together than before.

Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman, wakes up in his bed to find himself transformed into a large insect. After the metamorphosis, he becomes confined to his room and neglected by his family.