The Importance of Being Earnest on Stage

What really happened during Shakespeare's 'Lost Years'? Hopeless lute player Bill Shakespeare leaves his home to follow his dream.

What if Dee Dee Blanchard was a rich lady doctor who preyed on her roommates and also loved to watch Downton Abbey?

Sir Robert Chiltern is a successful government minister, well-off and with a loving wife. All this is threatened when Mrs Cheveley appears in London with damning evidence of a past misdeed. Sir Robert turns for help to his friend Lord Goring, an apparently idle philanderer and the despair of his father. Goring knows the lady of old, and, for him, takes the whole thing pretty seriously.

Sir Philip Ashlow (Stewart Granger), his neglected wife, Lady Ashlow (Ava Gardner) and his best friend Henry Brittingham-Brett (David Niven) are shipwrecked on a desert island. This potential ménage à trois where the two men compete for the lady's attention is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of a fourth inhabitant of the island.

At the height of his fame, Oscar Wilde angers the Marquis of Queensberry by having what is believed to be a romantic relationship with Queensberry's son Lord Alfred Douglas, who is twenty years Wilde's junior. When Queensberry slanders Wilde, the artist decides to take the matter to court and brings about his own downfall.

Based on Oscar Wilde's play, the films tells the story of how Salomé agrees to dance for King Herod in return for the head of John the Baptist.

The beloved Crawleys and their intrepid staff prepare for the most important moment of their lives. A royal visit from the King and Queen of England will unleash scandal, romance and intrigue that will leave the future of Downton hanging in the balance.

Algernon Moncrieff is surprised to discover that his affluent friend -- whom he knows as "Ernest" -- is actually named Jack Worthing. Jack fabricated his alter ego in order to escape his country estate where he takes care of his charge, Cecily Cardew. Cecily believes that Ernest is Jack's wayward brother and is keen on his raffish lifestyle. Algernon, seeing an opportunity, assumes Ernest's identity and sneaks off to woo Cecily.

Alfie Byrne is a middle-aged bus conductor in Dublin in 1963. He would appear to live a life of quiet desperation: he's gay, but firmly closeted, and his sister is always trying to find him "the right girl". His passion is Oscar Wilde, his hobby is putting on amateur theatre productions in the local church hall. We follow him as he struggles with temptation, friendship, disapproval, and the conservative yet oddly lyrical world of Ireland in the early 1960s.

Entirely shot on green screen, Shakespeare’s Macbeth has been reinvented by director Kit Monkman (The Knife That Killed Me) in an exciting new film adaptation. Starring Mark Rowley, (The Last Kingdom, Luther). Monkman’s unique adaptation successfully bridges the gap between theatre and film to create a wholly new type of imaginative space. This radical new adaptation puts the audience’s engagement with the story centre-stage, amplifying the theatrical context of the original and creating truly innovative and thrilling cinematic vistas, whilst maintaining the language and themes of Shakespeare’s original play. Using background matte painting and computer modelling to generate the world in which the action plays out, the green screen allows Monkman to create his vision of a multi-tiered globe in which the characters play out their various fates.

Doctor Faustus is Christopher Marlowe's most renowned and controversial work. Famous for being the first dramatised version of the Faustus tale, the play depicts the sinister aftermath of Faustus's decision to sell his soul to the Devil's henchman in exchange for power and knowledge. In the first-ever staging of this menacing drama at the Globe Theatre, Matthew Dunster's production features Paul Hilton as the arrogant, power-hungry Faustus and Arthur Darvill as the sardonic Mephistopheles, and includes several impressive magical stunts along the way.

Much Ado About Nothing is a comedic play by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599, as Shakespeare was approaching the middle of his career. The play was included in the First Folio, published in 1623. Much Ado About Nothing is generally considered one of Shakespeare’s best comedies, because it combines elements of robust hilarity with more serious meditations on honor, shame, and court politics. Like As You Like It and Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, though interspersed with darker concerns, is a joyful comedy that ends with multiple marriages and no deaths. Also known as "Globe on Screen: Much Ado About Nothing".

Helena loves the arrogant Bertram, and when she cures the King of France of his sickness, she claims Bertram as her reward. But her new husband, flying from Helena to join the wars, attaches two obstructive conditions to their marriage - conditions he is sure will never be met. Featuring Olivier-award winning actress Janie Dee as the Countess of Roussillon.

An aged king decides to divide his kingdom between his three daughters, according to which of them is most eloquent in praising him. His favourite, Cordelia, says nothing. Simon Russell Beale, whose recent appearances at the National include Timon of Athens and Collaborators, takes the title role in Shakespeare’s tragedy.

Antoni Cimolino’s chilling production of Macbeth takes you back to the stark reality of the 11th century, when the murderous king clawed his way to power. It has been praised as “a thrilling terror,” (Globe and Mail) “a bold and brutal take on the Scottish King’s tragic tale” (Toronto Star), and “a brilliant, terrifying show” that leaves people “gasping in the dark” (Chicago Tribune). Starring Ian Lake in “a galvanizing performance as an unusually young and sexually magnetic Macbeth” (New York Times) and Krystin Pellerin as “a standout Lady Macbeth … at once adorable yet devious” (Postmedia), this is a production that will haunt your dreams and leave you tingling. All hail Macbeth!

From England to Egypt, accompanied by his elegant and trustworthy sidekicks, the intelligent yet eccentrically-refined Belgian detective Hercule Poirot pits his wits against a collection of first class deceptions.

A chronicle of the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the post-Edwardian era—with great events in history having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy.

Running Wilde is an American comedy television series created by Mitchell Hurwitz for the Fox Network. It stars Will Arnett as Steve Wilde, a self-centered, idle bachelor and heir to an oil fortune. The series follows Wilde's awkward attempts to regain the affection of his childhood sweetheart, Emmy, an environmentalist who had been living in the South American jungle, but whose young daughter does not want to return there and who secretly enlists Steve's help to keep Emmy at his mansion, leading to farcical situations and misunderstandings.

Moist von Lipwig is a con-man with a particular talent-- he is utterly unremarkable. When his execution is stayed in Terry Pratchett's remarkable Discworld, he must work off his debt to society as the land's head Postman. Things are not always as they seem, and soon Lipwig is delivering mail for his very life!

John Barton holds a master class in how to play Shakespeare, using members of the RSC doing scenes, sonnets, and commentary as prime examples.

Gigglebiz is a children's television programme made in the UK. There have been two series, first broadcast on CBeebies, the BBC's younger children's channel, in 2009 and 2011. The programme's star and creator is Justin Fletcher, who plays the chief characters in all the comic sketches. Some sketches are filmed in the studio; one regular external location is Portmeirion, used for the town of Wiggyville where the Captain Adorable sketches are set. The sketches are interspersed with 'Giggle Box' - film segments of children viewers telling Justin jokes. The first series was broadcast in September 2009 and comprised 25 15-minute episodes. The second series of 15 episodes was shown in January 2011. The new series saw some characters disappear to make way for new ones.

Hidden is a 2011 British television drama starring Philip Glenister, Thekla Reuten, Anna Chancellor, Michael Winder, Andrew Scarborough and David Suchet which debuted on BBC One on 6 October 2011. The four part series was directed by Niall MacCormick, produced by Christopher Hall and written by Ronan Bennett.

In this mini-series in six parts from 1976 the Indian actor Kabir Bedi plays the lead role. Carol Andre plays Lady Marianna Guillonk and as Sandokans best friend Yanez de Gomera we see Phillipe Leroy. The noble prince Sandokan is a fighter of the first rank who are cruel to their enemies, but always loyal to his friends.

A thwarted Lady Maud runs off to her solicitor to start divorce proceedings and that gives Sir Giles his bright idea-why not run the proposed bypass for the area through their very own Cleene Gorge, thereby wrecking Lady Maud's ancestral home and copping rather a lot of compensation from the government to boot? Witness the frolics of the bumbling dundridge - the Y-front clad man from the ministry, Sir Giles' versatile Mrs Forthby - Mediterranean harlot and naughty schoolgirl extraordinaire, not forgetting Blott himself, gardener and mystery man, casting his enigmatic eye over the eccentricities of the great British aristocracy... Starring, George Cole, Geraldine James, David Suchet, Simon Cadell and Julia McKenzie

Exactly 100 years ago, the world of the British manor house was at its height. It was a life of luxury and indolence for a wealthy few supported by the labor of hundreds of servants toiling ceaselessly "below stairs" to make the lives of their lords and ladies run as smoothly as possible. It is a world that has provided a majestic backdrop to a range of movies and popular costume dramas to this day, including PBS' "Downton Abbey." But what was really going on behind these stately walls? "Secrets of the Manor House" looks beyond the fiction to the truth of what life was like in these British houses of yesteryear. They were communities where two separate worlds existed side by side: the poor worked as domestic servants, while the nation’s wealthiest families enjoyed a lifestyle of luxury, and aristocrats ruled over their servants as they had done for a thousand years.

Behind the gates of the world's most impressive castles, manor houses and mansions are secrets waiting to be revealed. See these amazing structures in all their glory and hear the remarkable, mysterious and bizarre tales tied to the rich and powerful who once resided there. From a German castle where a real life Dr. Frankenstein tried to breathe life into the dead to the magnificent Highclere Castle, which is now the setting for Downton Abbey, but was once the home of an English lord who unearthed King Tut's tomb, these stories will captivate and amaze. Go inside the castles, manors and mansions with our behind-the-scenes photos, and watch exclusive video of the stories and secrets hidden in their history. The first season of Mysteries at the Castle aired under the name 'Castles, Secrets and Legends'.

The enormous popularity of recent British dramas such as Downton Abbey, Mr. Selfridge, and Sherlock, has led to vast interest in the real-life stories and history of the icons of Great Britain. Each episode of this series visits a famous British building or institution to explore its past and present, meeting a wide range of experts and historians along the way.

In the summer of 1891, Oscar Wilde first met Lord Alfred Douglas — an encounter that will dramatically and tragically change both of their lives.

A Gay Victorian Affair is a gay fantasia of historical homosexual hanky panky. Set in Victorian England, the series follows Lord Reginald and Lady Vanessa Favershum, a gay man and lesbian woman who enter into a marriage of convenience in order to keep their true desires a secret – and then they help each other hook up. It’s Downton Abbey meets Queer As Folk as Reginald and Vanessa manœuvre through sexual escapades and dangerous secrecy, knowing that the slightest slip up could cause their entire world to come crashing down.

This do-it-yourself series features the creative talents and enthusiastic personality of the top-selling craft book author Mark Montano. The trend-setting former fashion designer and his guest experts create affordable, accessible and customizable projects for the whole family. Each episode allows Mark to explore a fun theme — from Halloween and Downton Abbey to Fashion Week.