Jonathan Rhys Meyers stars in this original, history-based drama series as the young, vibrant King Henry VIII, a competitive and lustful monarch who navigates the intrigues of the English court and the human heart with equal vigor and justifiable suspicion.

This expansive drama series stars Oscar winner Jeremy Irons in his Golden Globe-nominated role as Pope Alexander VI, the cunning, manipulative patriarch of the infamous Borgia dynasty, who builds an empire by bribing, buying and muscling his way into the papacy.

Set against some of Britain's most beautiful landscapes, The Virgin Queen explores the full sweep of Elizabeth I's long and eventful life, from the young princess to the successful Queen, who turns England into a major world power.The drama explores her days of fear as a potential victim of her sister's terror and her great love affair with Robert Dudley. Some of the important political and historical events during her reign are highlighted as she balances personal life with the pressures of being a monarch. Her years of triumph over the Armada, her old age and her last enigmatic relationship with the young Earl of Essex are also captured.

A mature Queen Elizabeth endures multiple crises late in her reign including court intrigues, an assassination plot, the Spanish Armada, and romantic disappointments.

The early years of the reign of Elizabeth I of England and her difficult task of learning what is necessary to be a monarch.

Two-part miniseries event that explores the intersection of the private and public life of Elizabeth I in the latter half of her reign, offering a personal look at her allies, her enemies and her suitors as she struggled to survive in a male-dominated world.Elizabeth I sheds light on both the personal and public side of England's most enigmatic queen. The daughter of King Henry VIII, Elizabeth I (1533-1603) reunited a nation divided by religious strife, faced down the Spanish Armada and, after an unprecedented 45-year reign, died one of England's best-loved monarchs. During her time as Queen, poets and playwrights wrote about her, artists painted her, and composers dedicated works to her, all contributing to the legend of the "Virgin Queen" who never married. In the public's mind, Elizabeth's romantic life is nearly completely overshadowed by her political achievements and military triumphs. Elizabeth I looks beyond the myth at the woman behind the crown, striking a balance between the queen's desire to find love and passion, and her responsibility to the monarchy.

Two sisters contend for the affection of King Henry VIII.

A dramatization of the last days of the queen. It starts on the 2nd of May 1536 when a unit of the kings guard arrives with a warrant for the arrest of the Queen of England, because of incest, adultery and for conspiring against the king.

The Spanish Princess, the latest chapter in the dynastic saga of Tudor England, is a powerful, epic story that not only returns the audience to the world of royal court intrigue as seen uniquely through the perspective of the women, but also sheds light on a previously untold corner of history – the lives of people of color, living and working in 16th century London.

The story of Lady Jane Grey, who was Queen of England for only nine days.

While casually browsing the bookshelves at a local library, a young woman stumbles across a book about the sixteen year old martyr, Lady Jane Grey. As she attentively ingests each word, her mind is captivated by the realism of the events unfolding before her. Pages continue to turn as moments turn to hours. Her imagination soon gives way to reality as we are transport...Read all

In this three-part series for BBC Four, historian Helen Castor pieces together the astonishing true story of Lady Jane Grey - the first reigning Queen of England.We may think we know the history: an innocent teen thrust onto the throne and beheaded as a traitor after reigning for just nine days. But Helen discovers original documents that reveal a Tudor thriller - an epic story of dynastic rivalry, intrigue and betrayal. A young woman manipulated by older men who ends up losing her life as a result.In July 1553, Tudor England is rocked by a constitutional crisis. Henry VIII's young son Edward dies with no male heir to inherit the throne. Having never had a reigning Queen, England now has two who claim the title. Two women prepared to fight for the throne - the 37 year-old Catholic Mary Tudor and the teenage Protestant Jane Grey.

Mary Stuart's (Saoirse Ronan's) attempt to overthrow her cousin Elizabeth I (Margot Robbie), Queen of England, finds her condemned to years of imprisonment before facing execution.

A queen who lost three kingdoms. A wife who lost three husbands. A woman who lost her head.

Christopher Columbus' discovery of the Americas and the effect this has on the indigenous people.

During the sixteenth century, the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots engages in over two decades of religious and political conflict with her cousin, the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I of England, amidst political intrigue in her native land.

Historical drama chronicling the rise of Thomas Cromwell, the son of a humble blacksmith who became King Henry VIII's chief minister, as he navigated the corridors of power in the Tudor court.

The theory that it was in fact Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford, who penned Shakespeare's plays. Set against the backdrop of the succession of Queen Elizabeth I and the Essex rebellion against her.

King Henry VIII wants to divorce his wife, and seeks the approval of the aristocracy. Sir Thomas More is a man of principle and reason, and is thus placed in a difficult position: should he stand up for his principles, risking the wrath of a corrupt King fond of executing people for treason? Or should he bow to the seemingly unstoppable corruption of King Henry VIII, ...Read all

The story of Sir Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and remarry.

After inheriting his father's title, the young noble, Hugh O'Connell, is taken hostage by the English viceroy but escapes to lead an uprising.

In a society, the proud and arrogant Golden Age Spain, riding blind towards the end of the Empire and in which the honor and loyalty are all, a Spanish soldier who has travelled Europe fighting under the flag of "Tercio Viejo de Cartagena", survives in the Austrias' Madrid as a mercenary swordsman hired four coppers on request. Brave, honest and loyal man, Diego Alatriste will be involved in intrigues and conspiracies of various kinds that require him to make good use of his steel.

Viggo Mortensen plays the Spanish soldier-turned-mercenary Captain Alatriste, a heroic figure from the country's 17th century imperial wars.

Famed builder Le Notre is tasked with building an ethereal palace for King Louis XIV that transcends beauty. Le Notre hires Sabine de Barra to design and construct the outdoor ballroom and is soon captivated by her beauty.

King Henry VIII of England discards one wife, Catharine of Aragon, who has failed to produce a male heir, in favor of the young and beautiful Anne Boleyn.

Comedy set in different historical periods that features the ill-fated exploits of the mean-spirited Edmund Blackadder and his dim sidekick Baldrick.

At a New Millennium Eve party, Blackadder and Baldrick test their new time machine and ping pong through history encountering famous characters and changing events rather alarmingly.

The name Borgia stands for betrayal, intrigue and corruption in the Vatican, which was the center of the world during the Renaissance.

A portrait of the bloody dynasty that spawned a pope, Alexander VI, as well as the role model for Machiavelli's "The Prince," his son Cesare Borgia, and a legend of femme duplicity, daughter Lucrezia Borgia.

The charismatic swordsman-poet and provocateur in 1640s Paris helps a young guardsman woo the woman he loves, complicated by the politics of the nobility and the war with Spain.

Famed swordsman and poet Cyrano de Bergerac is in love with his cousin Roxane. He has never expressed his love for her as he his large nose undermines his self-confidence. Then he finds a way to express his love to her, indirectly.

A Venetian courtesan becomes a hero to her city, but later becomes the target of an inquisition by the Church for witchcraft.

The Brothers Grimm arrive at the home of a wealthy Grande Dame who speaks of the many legends surrounding the fable of the cinder girl before telling the "true" story of her ancestor.

A young peasant maid working in the house of painter Johannes Vermeer becomes his talented assistant and the model for one of his most famous works.

A dramatized biography of William Tyndale, the 16th Century reformer determined to translate the Bible into English, which illegal act set him at odds with the Catholic Church, Sir Thomas More and King Henry VIII.

London, 1605. Robert Catesby, a 33-year-old Warwickshire gentleman, devises a plot to blow up Parliament and and kill the king.

Award-winning writer Jimmy McGovern and film director Gillies MacKinnon bring the story behind the Gunpowder Plot to BBC TWO in two original films exploring the lives of Mary Queen of Scots and her son James 1st.The first concentrates on Mary's short-lived reign and the battles she has to fight with both her Protestant subjects and the English Queen, Elizabeth 1st. She conspires with the Earl of Bothwell to assassinate her miscreant husband Lord Darnley.The story continues with her son James VI of Scotland (who, on Elizabeth's death, became James 1st of England), and the plot against his reign masterminded by the influential Catholic Robert Catesby - a plot planned by Guy Fawkes to blow up the Houses of Parliament in order to rid the nation of an oppressive Protestant monarch.

The love story that transformed Juana, Queen of Spain, into Juana "the Mad". A story of passions, lies and jealousy with a political motive behind.

Set in 17th century England, a young woman falls in love with a humble villager whose community suffers under the rule of her despotic landowning family.

John Ridd was just a boy when the villainous Carver Doone callously murdered his father. Now a young man, John has two driving passions: his thirst for revenge against the outlaw Doones, and his love for the beautiful Lorna, daughter of his sworn enemies.

Against a backdrop of political and religious upheaval, a farmer falls in love with the "queen" of the notorious Doone clan --a family that he has sworn vengeance on.

Passionate love story set in 17th century rural England, charting the young John Ridd's search for revenge after his father's murder, and the chance encounter with beautiful Lorna Doone that changes the course of his life.

After Queen Elizabeth I commands him not to grow old, a young nobleman struggles with love and his place in the world.

Imprisoned for debt, playwright Molière is rescued by an aristocrat who needs his help in order to seduce a young marquise.

Young lovers, and soon to wed, Hero and Claudio conspire to get verbal sparring partners and confirmed singles, Benedick and Beatrice, to wed as well.

Set in the early 17th Century, Jamestown tells the story of three courageous, dynamic women who leave their dark pasts behind in England, and make the journey of a lifetime across the ocean for a new life in America.

Gripping drama set in the turbulent 1680s. This sequel to The Devil's Whore follows two young men and two young women who commit their lives to a fairer future, with blood, passion and urgency.

The exiled royal doctor to King Charles II devotes himself to helping Londoners suffering from the plague, and in the process falls in love with an equally poor woman.

An extravagant, exotic and moving look at Rembrandt's romantic and professional life, and the controversy he created by the identification of a murderer in the painting 'The Night Watch'.

Based on the classic didactic novel, the action centers on the noble lady who soon becomes exposed to the sexual and political intrigues of the French court of the religious wars era.

Young Queen Margot finds herself trapped in an arranged marriage amidst a religious war between Catholics and Protestants. She hopes to escape with her new lover, but finds herself imprisoned by her powerful and ruthless family.

In 1713 Scotland, Rob Roy MacGregor is wronged by a nobleman and his nephew, becomes an outlaw in search of revenge while fleeing the Redcoats, and faces charges of being a Jacobite.

When two young members of feuding families meet, forbidden love ensues.

Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes a pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows doth with their death bury their parents' strife.

Romeo and Juliet secretly wed despite the sworn contempt their families hold for each other. It is not long, however, before a chain of fateful events changes the lives of both families forever.

History's greatest playwright is young, out of ideas and short of cash, but meets his ideal woman and is inspired to write one of his most famous plays.

A young artist is commissioned by the wife of a wealthy landowner to make a series of drawings of the estate while her husband is away.

In this dark take on the fairy tale, the growing hatred of a noblewoman, secretly a practitioner of the dark arts, for her stepdaughter, and the witch's horrifying attempts to kill her.

Snow White's mother dies during childbirth, leaving baby Snow and father John for dead on an icy field, who then receives a visit from one of Satan's representatives, granting him three wishes.

From the bitter quest of the Queen of Longtrellis, to two mysterious sisters who provoke the passion of a king, to the King of Highhills obsessed with a giant Flea, these tales are inspired by the fairytales by Giambattista Basile.

A hapless carnival performer masquerades as the court jester as part of a plot against an evil ruler who has overthrown the rightful King.

A female theatre dresser creates a stir and sparks a revolution in seventeenth century London theatre by playing Desdemona in Othello. But what will become of the male actor she once worked for and eventually replaced?

A Salem resident attempts to frame her ex-lover's wife for being a witch in the middle of the 1692 witchcraft trials.

Masterpiece Theatre brings its four-hour fling with a scandalous 18th century heroine, in a broadcast of Moll Flanders. A costume drama which follows the fortunes of Moll Flanders in 18th Century England. Her determination to reach a secure place in society results in incest, bigamy, adultery, wealth and poverty. Based on the novel by Daniel Defoe.

THE GIRL KING paints a portrait of the brilliant, extravagant Kristina of Sweden, queen from age six, who fights the conservative forces that are against her ideas to modernize Sweden and who have no tolerance for her awakening sexuality.

The story of John Wilmot, a.k.a. the Earl of Rochester, a 17th century poet who famously drank and debauched his way to an early grave, only to earn posthumous critical acclaim for his life's work.

The story of the English exploration of Virginia, and of the changing world and loves of Pocahontas.

In England, during the 17th century, a Dutch garden architect is drawn into a web of passion and treachery after being hired by a wealthy merchant.

Geoffrey Thorpe, a buccaneer, is hired by Queen Elizabeth I to nag the Spanish Armada. The Armada is waiting for an attack on England and Thorpe surprises them with attacks on their galleons where he shows his skills with the sword.

San Francisco's A.C.T. company presents Shakespeare's classic take with a Commedia dell'Arte flair, as if it were a inn yard performance by a traveling company.

The swaggering Petruchio agrees to marry the spitting hellcat, Katherine.

The White Queen is a riveting portrayal of one of the most dramatic and turbulent times in English history. A story of love and lust, seduction and deception, betrayal and murder, it is uniquely told through the perspective of three different, yet equally relentless women - Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret Beaufort and Anne Neville. In their quest for power, they will scheme, manipulate and seduce their way onto the English throne.

The year is 1464, before the Tudor dynasty ruled the country, and war has been ravaging throughout England over who is the rightful King. It is a bitter dispute between two sides of the same family, The House of York and The House of Lancaster.

The House of York's young and handsome Edward IV is crowned King of England with the help of the master manipulator, Lord Warwick "The Kingmaker." But when Edward falls in love with a beautiful Lancastrian commoner, Elizabeth Woodville, Warwick's plan to control the throne comes crashing down.

A violent, high-stakes struggle ensues between Elizabeth, her most fierce adversary, Lancastrian Margaret Beaufort, and Anne Neville, the pawn in her father's power game - each woman vying for the crown.

The White Princess tells the story of one of the most fascinating periods of British history, spanning the winter court of Henry Tudor – uniquely from the women's point of view. The most ruthless players in history will stop at nothing to support their own causes and those of the ones they love.

A thrilling world of action, adventure and romance inspired by Dumas' legendary characters.On the streets of 17th century Paris, law and order is more a fledgling idea than reality, and the Musketeers, Athos, Aramis and Porthos, are far more than merely royal bodyguards for King Louis XIII; they are inseparable, loyal unto death and committed to upholding justice. Together, this crack team of highly trained soldiers fight for honour, for valour, for love, and just for the pure thrill of it.

France, 1654: D'Artagnan's girl grows up in a convent. When the mother superior is murdered, Eloïse suspects a plan to murder the king and hopes to prevent this and revenge the murder by finding her father and the 3 musketeers.

A young swordsman comes to Paris and faces villains, romance, adventure and intrigue with three Musketeer friends.

France, 1625. Young d'Artagnan heads to Paris to join the Musketeers, but the evil cardinal has disbanded them. d'Artagnan meets Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, three rogue musketeers, and joins them on their quest to save the king and country.

The hot-headed young D'Artagnan along with three former legendary but now down-on-their-luck Musketeers must unite and defeat a beautiful double agent and her villainous employer from seizing the French throne and engulfing Europe in war.

This movie focuses on a dozen of the five hundred characters depicted in Bruegel's painting. The theme of Christ's suffering is set against religious persecution in Flanders in 1564.

Versailles, 1667. Louis XIV was 28 years old. To rise to the heights of the nobility and wield its absolute power, he launched the construction of Versailles... it proved to be a snare. Louis XIV is a young King haunted by childhood trauma, the Fronde civil, a rebellion of the nobility against his father, Louis XIII... It will prove be a strategic policy out of the ordinary, manipulative, Machiavellian, and he will "invent" Versailles for the nobles of Paris, to keep them under control, and gradually transform the castle into a golden prison. But how will Louis live as the greatest King in the world?Historical fiction of the court figures and the more humble villagers, guiding us in a world of betrayals and secrets, politicking and declarations of love.

The early life of Elizabeth I, from her childhood until her accession to the throne of England in 1558.

Winstanley explores the attempt by Gerrard Winstanley who formed 'The Diggers' and with a group of followers attempted to form a small farming community in one of the first proto-Communist attempts at collective agriculture.

During the reign of Elizabeth I, a young man's fervent devotion to the crown and to his sweetheart, a lady-in-waiting, lead him to battle for England's victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588.

During the reign of Henry VIII, Mary Tudor seeks to flee a forced marriage with the French king by escaping to America with her true love, but her plans are not so easily executed.

A dramatization of Lady Jane Grey's short life, from her forced marriage (which she resisted), to her brief reign as monarch of England, and finally to her beheading. This movie portrays her as an innocent set up for the slaughter, while the scheming courtiers and pretenders to the throne barely pay her mind, as they stab each other in the back in their attempts to ga...Read all

The recently widowed Mary Stuart returns to Scotland to reclaim her throne but is opposed by her half-brother and her own Scottish lords.

A depiction of the love/hate relationship between Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex.

King Henry VIII marries five more times after his divorce from his first wife Catherine of Aragon.

Swashbuckling tale of romance, betrayal, jealousy, banditry, murder, and court intrigue set in the 1660s, during the Restoration to the English throne of King Charles II.

Seeking to escape the stifling 17th Century London court society, the beautiful headstrong lady Dona St. Columb (Tara FITZGERALD) flees with her two young children to her secluded family estate and manor on the Cornish coast on the British Atlantic shoreline. Her new freedom puts into contact with the dashingly handsome French privateer Jean Aubrey (Anthony DELON) who...Read all

An English lady falls madly in love with a French pirate.

Historian Lisa Hilton discovers how, in just fifty tempestuous days, Charles I's rule collapsed, laying the foundations for civil war, the loss of royal power and, ultimately, the king's head.

The true story behind various nursery rhymes is explored.

In early-18th-century London, Queen Anne, the last of the House of Stuart, is a weak ruler. She is committed to peace in the War of Spanish Succession. The Duchess of Marlborough, whose husband is commander-in-chief of the British Army, has high hopes of a war.

In the 16th century in the Cévennes, a horse dealer by the name of Michael Kohlhaas leads a happy family life. When a lord treats him unjustly, he raises an army and puts the country to fire and sword in order to have his rights restored.

The Stuart dynasty lived through arguably the most eventful, bloodthirsty and trying period in British history, and this series reassesses the royal house's history and legacy in a new and unique way.

Hidden between the lines of the history books is the story of Mary Stuart, the young woman the world would come to know as Mary, Queen of Scots. Queen of Scotland since she was six days old, the teenage Mary is already a headstrong monarch - beautiful, passionate, and poised at the very beginning of her tumultuous rise to power. Arriving in France with four close friends as her ladies-in-waiting, Mary has been sent to secure Scotland's strategic alliance by formalizing her arranged engagement to the French king's dashing son, Prince Francis. But the match isn't signed and sealed, it depends more on politics, religion and secret agendas than affairs of the heart. With danger and sexual intrigue around every dark castle corner, Mary rallies her ladies-in-waiting and steels herself, ready to rule the new land and balance the demands of her country and her heart.

Set in 17th century colonial Massachusetts—a significant time in the history of American politics, religion and society— Salem brings you the real story behind the infamous witch trials. In Salem, witches are real, and they're behind it all. Salem Village and Salem Town feuded over property, grazing rights and church rights. The government was dominated by Puritan leaders. People were scrutinized closely and this resulted in obvious discord. They were afraid of being persecuted for anything that may offend the Puritan mindset. The word "witch" seemed an easy and appropriate curse hurled at someone who behaved abnormally.

1703: Robinson Crusoe has to leave Scotland for a year, but after months sailing, a storm wrecks his ship. He ends up as only survivor on a desolate island.

Professor Robert Bartlett tells the extraordinary story of England's most dysfunctional, yet longest ruling, royal dynasty.