Ian Richardson

After eighteen years as a political prisoner in the Bastille, the aging Doctor Manette is finally released and reunited with his daughter in England. There the lives of two very different men, Charles Darnay, an exiled French aristocrat, and Sydney Carton, a disreputable but brilliant English lawyer, become enmeshed through their love for Lucie Manette. From the tranquil roads of London, they are drawn against their will to the vengeful, bloodstained...

Trapped in a loveless political marriage to the dissolute nephew of the ailing Russian Empress Elizabeth, young German princess Sophia Fredericka bides her time, chooses her lovers carefully and plots her path to the throne. Skillfully manipulating the Russian triumvirate of church, army and aristocracy, she adroitly rides the shifting currents of social change and unrest to become one of Russia's most unforgettable and beloved rulers, Catherine the...

"At the court of Chancery, the Jarndyce and Jarndyce case grinds on for years with no end in sight. Entangled in the lawsuit are a growing number of innocent victims: Ada Clare and Richard Carstone, whose inheritance is gradually being devoured by legal costs; Esther Summerson, a child with mysterious parentage; and even Jo, the destitute little crossing-sweeper. As the case staggers onward, yet more people become embroiled in the furious legal battle,...

Survey of the religious ideas of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance and those who dissented from them. Also explores the role of dissent in the modern world.

Examination of scientists of the Renaissance and how their investigations altered our view of the natural world.

Traces the creation of new styles and roles for art through the lives and work of various masters including Donatello, Brunelleschi, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian and Caravaggio.

In 1888 London's Whitechapel slums, poor women like Mary Kelly and her friends walk the streets for a living. When the streetwalkers begin to be murdered one by one, it attracts the attention of Inspector Abberline, who takes a personal interest in the case, and Mary Kelly. Now he must use his psychic abilities to stop the most notorious serial killer in history -- Jack the Ripper -- before Mary is killed.

Edinburgh 1878. Mr. Doyle becomes fascinated with Dr. Bell's uncanny talent for outwitting the most clever criminals.

In 1878, when Mr. Doyle meets the brilliant teacher, Dr. Bell, the young medical student is drawn into a new world of crime investigation. As he assists Bell in solving gruesome police cases, Doyle becomes fascinated with his tutor's uncanny talent for outwitting the most clever criminals. But, one particularly vicious cat-and-mouse game has a different ending. Doyle finds his life completely changed ... and even Dr. Bell's agile mind cannot predict...

Artist Walter Hartright arrives at Limmeridge House to instruct wealthy half-sisters Marian and Laura Fairlie. Their peaceful lives are marred by a strange woman dressed in white, who brings disturbing warnings to the family. When Laura announces her engagement to the dashing Sir Percival Glyde, it seems the darkness haunting them is lifting. But new dangers lurk closer than ever, and the only hope for averting disaster lies with the secret held by...