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Categories: Drama: Classic & Period

  1. Glorious 39

    With Britain on the brink of war, a woman suspects she has stumbled upon a plot.

    BBC Two

  2. The Draughtsman's Contract

    An English noblewoman employs an arrogant artist to produce twelve pictures of her estate.

    BBC Two

  3. Far from the Madding Crowd

    A beautiful, headstrong young heiress has a profound effect on the three men in her life.

    BBC Four

  4. The Duchess

    The tumultuous life story of the 18th-century Duchess of Devonshire (Keira Knightley).

    BBC One

  5. The Voysey Inheritance by Harley Granville-Barker

    Edward discovers the family business he is inheriting has been defrauding its clients.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  6. Mark Twain - The Million Pound Bank Note

    Can a man given a £1m banknote survive a month without spending a single penny of it?

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  7. The Young Victoria

    After a controlled childhood, Victoria (Emily Blunt) faces a fight to become queen.

    BBC Two

  8. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

    Classic tale about a young man whose life is dogged by the machinations of his evil uncle.

    BBC Two

  9. David Copperfield

    Young David's happy childhood is blighted when his widowed mother remarries.

    BBC Two

  10. Dean Spanley

    A son attempts to find common ground with his distant father through spiritualism.

    BBC Two

  11. Tomasi di Lampedusa - The Leopard

    A family faces the 1860s demise of Sicilian aristocracy. Adaptation stars Stanley Townsend

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  12. David Pownall - Kitty Wilkinson

    One woman combats squalor and institutional indifference in 19th-century Liverpool.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  13. War and Peace

    Two Russian families face conflict as the nation prepares for Napoleon's invasion.

    BBC Two

  14. Bonifacio as t-samhradh/Bonifacio in Summertime

    Will Molly's mother, Queen Heloise, be tricked into marrying the evil scoundrel Bonifacio?

    BBC ALBA

  15. The Best of Men

    Entertaining drama about the birth of the Paralympics in 1948.

    BBC Two

  16. Jane Eyre

    A governess falls in love with her employer, unaware of his terrible secret.

    BBC Two

  17. Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky

    Period drama about fashion designer Coco Chanel's affair with composer Igor Stavinsky.

    BBC Two

  18. Henrik Ibsen - A Doll's House

    Ibsen's play transposed to India, 1879: Can Niru save her huband's reputation?

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  19. Samuel Taylor Coleridge - The Glittering Eye

    Celebrating Coleridge's captivating poem.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  20. Albert Nobbs

    Industrious but introverted Albert (Glenn Close) hides a secret from the world.

    BBC Two

  21. Radio Drama at Ninety: Julius Caesar

    Members of Phyllida Lloyd's all-female Donmar group re-enact the first ever radio drama.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  22. Wodehouse in Exile

    The story of how quintessential English author PG Wodehouse was exiled from his country.

    BBC Four

  23. Mansfield Park

    Period drama based on the Jane Austen novel and starring Frances O'Connor.

    BBC Two

  24. Wuthering Heights

    Adaptation of Emily Bronte's story of the tragic love affair. Starring Laurence Olivier.

    BBC Two

  25. Great Expectations (2012 film)

    Pip tries everything to win the heart of the rich, cold-blooded Estella.

    BBC Two

  26. GB Shaw - Androcles and the Lion

    Recorded in 1967, the Irish writer's interpretation of one of Aesop's Fables.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  27. The Tempest

    Prospera is banished from Milan by her brother and finds herself stranded on an island.

    BBC Two

  28. Renoir

    Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir is revitalised by an inspirational young muse.

    BBC Two

  29. Molly Keane - Good Behaviour

    1920s tale of an aristocratic Anglo-Irish family. Revenge is sweeter for taking its time.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  30. What Would Elizabeth Bennet Do?

    A 21st-century update of Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Can James win his girlfriend back?

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  31. Stanley Houghton - Hindle Wakes

    Lancashire, 1912. Can Fanny Hawthorn defy her parents' wishes for her future?

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  32. 102 Boulevard Haussmann

    Marcel Proust hires a string quartet and befriends the war-wounded viola player.

    BBC Two

  33. The Duchess of Malfi: BBC Arts at the Globe

    From London's Globe, a production of John Webster's revenge tragedy The Duchess of Malfi.

    BBC Four

  34. Everlasting Moments

    An abused Swedish housewife's amateur photography helps her cope and see the world anew.

    BBC Two

  35. War Horse

    The beloved horse of a farmer's son is sold to the army on the dawn of the First World War

    BBC Radio 2

  36. Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness

    Sea captain Marlow is ordered to sail up the Congo.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  37. Gwyneth Hughes - Victory

    Drama about the love triangle of Horatio Nelson, William Hamilton and Emma, Lady Hamilton

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  38. Shakespeare - Henry at Agincourt

    A sequence from Shakespeare's Henry V, broadcast on the eve of St George's Day 1956.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  39. Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse (Omnibus)

    Despite the weather forecast, young James is determined to reach the lighthouse off Skye.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  40. Kate Chopin - The Awakening (Omnibus)

    Adaptation of the novel that shocked America in 1899.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  41. Dylan Thomas: The Outing

    Actor Matthew Rhys reads Dylan Thomas's story of a trip to the seaside.

    BBC Radio Wales

  42. Dostoyevsky - The Friend of the Family

    Russia, 1859: Chaos in the Manor of Stephanchikovo when an ex-sergeant assumes a new role.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  43. Franz Kafka - The Trial

    Joseph K is an unexceptional man. Then one day he is arrested, but what is his crime?

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  44. The White Countess

    A countess (Natasha Richardson) saves a blind ex-diplomat (Ralph Fiennes) from an attack.

    BBC Two

  45. Juliette Binoche: Antigone at the Barbican

    Sophocles's tale of family loyalty, courage and tragedy, filmed at the Barbican in London.

    BBC Four

  46. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim (Omnibus)

    An advert in The Times lures four women from rainy London to the Italian Riviera.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  47. Cyrano de Bergerac (Omnibus)

    Glyn Maxwell's adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  48. Finishing School

    Teenage Virginia is so unhappy at her finishing school that she even contemplates suicide.

    BBC Two

  49. Shirley Gee - Moonshine

    London, 1937: Harriet must battle Ada, the new nanny, for the love of her young daughter.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  50. Lady Chatterley's Lover

    A beautiful young aristocrat embarks on a forbidden affair with a servant.

    BBC One

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