One of the obsessive speculations in American history is whether Thomas Jefferson, in the years before he became president, had an affair with (and fathered a child with) his 15-year-old slave Sally Hemings. JEFFERSON IN PARIS follows Jefferson to France (as the U.S. ambassador to the court of Louis XVI), following the death of his wife his friendships and flirtations with the French, his relationship with his daughters and slaves from home (especially Sally), against the backdrop of the beginning of the French Revolution.

When Scottish young gentleman David Balfour's father dies, he leaves school to collect his inheritance from uncle Ebenezer, who in turn sells the boy as a future slave to a pirate ship. When staunch Stuart dynasty supporter Alan Breck Stewart accidentally boards the ship, he takes David along on his escape back to Edinburgh. They part and meet again repeatedly, mutually helpful against the Redcoats and respectful, although David is loyal to the English crown, but learns about its cruel oppression. Both ultimately face their adversaries.

15-year-old Davie Balfour is poised to receive a vast inheritance when he's lured onto a cargo ship, knocked unconscious, and kidnapped by his malevolent uncle Ebenezer, who devises a ...

Painter Francisco Goya faces a scandal involving his muse, who is labeled a heretic by a monk.

On the glorious battlefields of the American Revolution, two great generals distinguished themselves; George Washington and Benedict Arnold. Washington is remembered as America's founding father, Arnold as America's most notorious traitor. Benedict Arnold rose from humble origins to become the most respected and feared of America's generals. He won brilliant military victories against the English colonists and was Washington's favorite soldier. But two conflicting forces battled inside Arnold's heart; a deep concern for his country and his passionate love for an enchanting and manipulative Philadelphia woman, Peggy Shippen. Blinded by desire, Arnold defected to the English army, orchestrating an attempt to assassinate his own mentor, George Washington.

Drama documentary reconstructing the life and times of Catherine the Great of Russia.

In this romanticized biography, a small German principality's inexperienced princess, Catherine, becomes the bride of czarevitch Peter, the mad and abusive nephew and heir of the Russian czarina Elizabeth. From Elizabeth she learns the cynical ropes of wielding absolute imperial power at any cost, including sacrificing her lover, young guards officer Saltykov, who must give her an heir that Peter can't and is then sent abroad. After Elizabeth's death, she quickly moves to seize power with military and court support. She then works to enlarge and modernize the empire, again putting statesmanship ahead of her lover, a military genius who defeats the Ottomans and governs the conquered territories for her.

A scheming widow and her manipulative ex-lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman.

When Felicity meets Penny, a beautiful copper - colored mare, she knows with all her heart that she must free Penny from her cruel owner. Felicity desperately wishes for that same sureness of heart about the rumors of revolution swirling through Williamsburg. Felicity's father believes that the colonies should be free from England's rule, but her beloved grandfather and her best friend Elizabeth both support the king. With fiercely conflicting loyalties dividing the colonists, something as simple as a cup of tea could divide Felicity from her best friend forever. As Christmas draws near, Felicity struggles to hold her family and friends close, and to find ways for love and friendship to rise above the growing conflicts.

In a Napoleonic era insane asylum, an inmate, the irrepressible Marquis De Sade, fights a battle of wills against a tyrannically prudish doctor.

To get royal backing on a needed drainage project, a poor French lord must learn to play the delicate games of wit at court at Versailles.

Young Fiona lives with her grandparents in a small fishing village where she takes an active role to unravel the mysterious secrets.

During the late 19th century, a strict religious community in a Danish village takes in a French refugee from the Franco-Prussian War as a servant to the late pastor's daughters.

A young thief (Antonio Banderas), seeking revenge for the death of his brother, is trained by the once great, but aged Zorro (Sir Anthony Hopkins), who also pursues vengeance of his own.

Despite trying to keep his swashbuckling to a minimum, a threat to California's pending statehood causes the adventure-loving Don Alejandro de la Vega (Antonio Banderas) and his wife, Elena (Catherine Zeta-Jones), to take action.

In the 1840s, the foppish Don Diego de la Vega returns from Spain to his family in California to find that his father has been replaced as ruler of the region by the cruel Don Luis Quintero. Despite being a skilled swordsman, Diego downplays his skills in front of the evil Captain Esteban and shows himself to be rather a clown in front of his family. However, Diego secretly picks up the sword of justice as the masked hero Zorro and fights to return justice to the region and his people.

In 1799 rural England emotions run high when two men, one rich and one poor love the same girl, driving the confused girl to drastic measures.

An "inspirational" saga of a pioneer woman who is abducted by Shawnee Native Americans.

A despairing scholar sells his soul to Satan in exchange for one night with a beautiful young woman.

Farinelli is the artistic name of Carlo Broschi, a young singer in Handel's time. He was castrated in his childhood in order to preserve his voice. During his life he becomes a very famous opera singer, managed by his mediocre brother (Riccardo).

A look at the platonic relationship between Marie Antoinette and one of her female readers during the first days of the French Revolution.

After a genial spirit shows the benevolent Ebenezer Blackadder visions of his unscrupulous ancestors, he resolves to mend his generous ways.

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.

Rowan Atkinson and the cast of legendary comedy series Blackadder are back for this one-off documentary special to mark 25 years since the original BBC transmission in 1983. Featuring fascinating interviews and behind-the-scenes insight from its renowned cast and writers, including the first ever in-depth interview with Rowan Atkinson, on his personal experience of playing Edmund Blackadder.

Set against the background of the Battle of Waterloo, Becky Sharp is the story of Vanity Fair by Thackeray. Becky and Amelia are girls at school together, but Becky is from a "show biz" family, or in other words, very low class. Becky manages to insinuate herself in Amelia's family and gets to know all their friends. From this possibly auspicious- beginning, she manages to ruin her own life, becoming sick, broke, and lonely, and also ruins the lives of many other "loved ones". In the movie we get to see the class distinctions in England at the time, and get a sense of what it was like for the English military at the time of the Napoleonic wars.

An Irish rogue wins the heart of a rich widow and assumes her dead husband's aristocratic position in 18th-century England.

An account of the romance between the Maratha general, Baji Rao I and Mastani, princess of Bundelkhand.

A young queen, who is married to an insane king, falls secretly in love with her physician - and together they start a revolution that changes a nation forever.

The dramatic story of Lady Hamilton's rise and fall in European society during the 1700s and early 1800s, including the romantic love story with Lord Nelson.

Drama looking at artist William Hogarth and his relationship with the prostitute that inspired his most famous piece.

Follows a jealous countess, a wealthy businessman, and a young orphaned boy across Portugal, France, Italy and Brazil where they connect with a variety of mysterious individuals.

A reimagined account of the early life of Maria Anna 'Nannerl' Mozart, five years older than Wolfgang, and a musical prodigy in her own right.

How can Napoleon, the man of war and pioneering military strategist, meekly accept being locked up on a storm-lashed rock in the middle of the Atlantic ocean? What system of defence, and thus of attack, can he dream up to loosen his jailers' grip? On Saint Helena, the far-flung island chosen by his enemies, Napoleon fights a mysterious battle, his last and most important, and one that History has kept secret all these years?

A blind pianist living in 18th-century Vienna forms an extraordinary relationship with the physician who is trying to restore her sight.

The story about Pierre Riviere, who tired of the constants demands of her mother to her father decides to kill her, but also his brother and his sister.

In 1714 Peru, a friar is tried by the Inquisition for questioning God's intentions when five die in the collapse of an Andean rope bridge.

The story of Abraham Lincoln's childhood in the harsh wilderness of Indiana and the hardships that shaped him, the tragedy that marked him for ever and the two women who guided him to immortality.

Fed up with their Captain's harsh discipline, a sailing ship's crew decides to take action.

In the 1830's in northern England, Riah Millican, a widow with three children, takes a job as housekeeper to a reclusive former teacher, Percival Miller. Miller makes Riah the gift of a black velvet gown, and even educates her children. But when Riah discovers the reason behind Miller's gifts, she vows to leave his house, but Miller has a hold on her, even after his death, when he leaves his house to her on the condition that she never marry. Riah's daughter, Biddy, grows up and becomes a laundress in a large house where her education keeps her from fitting in and makes her a target. But it also catches the eye of a son of the house, and with Miller's legacies, Biddy may yet find her way to happiness.

In the early 19th century, a young woman with a harelip falls foul of her family's ambition and the superstitions of the local community, but meets a man who may see her differently.

Ross Poldark returns from war to right wrongs and reunite with the love of his life.

In the opulent St. Petersburg of the Empire period, Eugene Onegin is a jaded but dashing aristocrat - a man often lacking in empathy, who suffers from restlessness, melancholy and, finally, regret. Through his best friend Lensky, Onegin is introduced to the young Tatiana. A passionate and virtuous girl, she soon falls hopelessly under the spell of the aloof newcomer and professes her love for him.

Set in Baroque France, a scheming widow and her lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman. The lover, Valmont, bets that he can seduce her, even though she is an honorable woman. If he wins, he can have his lover to do as he will. However, in the process of seducing the married woman, Valmont falls in love. Based on the same novel as "Dangerous Liaisons."

In a French forest in 1798, a child is found who cannot walk, speak, read or write. A doctor becomes interested in the child and patiently attempts to civilize him.

In nineteenth century Yorkshire wealthy orphan Anne Lister lives with an aunt and uncle, anxious for her to marry well and blissfully - unaware that she is a lesbian. Anne is recording her thoughts and exploits in a coded diary. When her lover Mariana Belcombe makes a marriage of convenience to rich old Charles Lawton she feels betrayed and, although Mariana visits her,the relationship is going nowhere. Helped by old flame Tib she makes a play for innocent Miss Browne but sees she is barking up the wrong tree and diverts herself by renovating the family hall. A drunken Tib almost exposes her secret and scornful mine-owner Christopher Rawson, whose marriage proposal she rejects, tells her that her sexuality is a subject of local gossip....

The spectacular scenery of Wessex and the Dorset coast provides the backdrop for this adaptation of a Thomas Hardy short story. Set in nineteenth century rural England, this is the story of forbidden romance between a German hussar serving with King George III's personal cavalry, Matthaus Singer, and the only daughter of a West country solicitor, Frances Groves. The German legion is encamped on the downs as the threat of war with Napoleon looms. Matthaus longs for his homeland and Frances is trapped in an interminable engagement to one of her father's business associates, Humphrey Gould. Illicit meetings between Frances and Matthaus flare into a passionate affair as each searches for escape and happiness. Were they to be discovered, she would be branded a soldier's whore and he a disgrace to his regiment...

During the French Revolution, a mysterious English nobleman known only as The Scarlet Pimpernel (a humble wayside flower), snatches French aristos from the jaws of the guillotine, while posing as the foppish Sir Percy Blakeney in society. Percy falls for and marries the beautiful actress Marguerite St. Just, but she is involved with Chauvelin and Robespierre, and Percy's marriage to her may endanger the Pimpernel's plans to save the little Dauphin.

Sir Percy Blakeney(in the guise of the masked Scarlet Pimpernel), an Englishman who with the aid of a band of his friends, is engaged in spiriting FRench aristocrats across the English Channel to escape the guillotine. Robespierre, the ruthless revolutionary, informs the chief of the police he must capture the Scarlet Pimpernel or lose his own head to the blade. Blakeley's wife is abducted and taken to France forcing him to follow in a rescue attempt.

An eighteenth century drama details the scandalous life of Lady Seymour Worsley.

In 1745, a German Princess, renamed Catherine (Elisabeth Bergner), arrives to marry Grand Duke Peter of Russia (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.), whom she initially likes. But his suspicious, unstable nature gradually estranges them, and Peter finds solace with pretty courtiers. Catherine invents her own (fictitious) lovers, temporarily improving matters. Alas, accession to the throne brings out the worst in Peter, and loyal Catherine is urged to assume power.

Nell Trent lives with her grandfather, the proprietor of the Old Curiosity Shop. Grandfather has a disquieting secret, a gambling addiction fed by high-interest loans from the bully Daniel Quilp. The villainous Quilp wants to get possession of the shop, and Nell. In league with his lawyer Samson Brass and Samson's sister Sally, Quilp seizes Grandfather's assets. But Nell organizes an escape from the shop in the dead of night, and she and Grandfather begin a harrowing odyssey through the English countryside with their nemesis in hot pursuit. Convinced that there is a family fortune to be gained, Nell's brother Fred and his friend Dick Swiveller join in the chase. Meanwhile, Nell and Grandfather encounter a slew of eccentric characters, including Mrs. Jarley, who runs a lurid traveling waxworks where Nell and Grandfather earn a meager wage for a brief time. Nell and her grandfather are eventually forced to beg for survival. Will Nell's young friend Kit Nubbles and a mysterious stranger arrive in time to rescue the despairing duo?

When young Nell Trent's (Sally Walsh's) grandfather (Sir Peter Ustinov) loses the investment money of wharf owner Daniel Quilp (Sir Tom Courtenay) with cards, Quilp develops an everlasting urge to get him put in the madhouse. Nell and her grandfather flee the city.

Lawyer Wakem takes away the mill on the river Floss from Edward Tulliver, whose ancestors owned it for 300 years, and becomes the worst enemy of Tulliver's family. When Edward's daughter, Maggie, grows up, she falls in love with Wakem's son Philip, but her brother Tom, true to the memory of their father, forbids her to meet him again. When she visits her cousin, Lucy Deane, Lucy's fiance Stephen Guest falls in love with Maggie at first sight, further complicating matters.

Mr. Tulliver owns a mill on the Floss River in Lincolnshire. He has two children, hot-headed and arrogant Tom and kind-hearted Maggie. Maggie has a friendly relationship with the lame Philip Wakem, a good lad who is deeply fond of Maggie. But Tom cares little for Philip, the result of a long-running feud between Tom's father and Philip's, a wealthy man to whom Mr. Tulliver is in debt. As the children grow to adulthood, the bad blood between Tulliver and Wakem comes to a boil, with tragic results. Tom, now a responsible but still hot-tempered young man, tries to restore the family's lost fortunes, but also tries to stop what he perceives to be a growing romance between Maggie and Philip. But when Stephen Guest, the fiancè of Tom's and Maggie's cousin Lucy, enters the picture, a chaotic clash of romance, family pride, and deception leads to disaster.

A young man named Kaspar Hauser suddenly appears in Nuremberg in 1828, barely able to talk or walk, and bearing a strange note.

In 19th-century England, a misanthropic weaver named Silas Marner hoards his gold. But his life changes when his gold is stolen, and then a baby girl wanders into his life. He raises little Eppie, but her real father is not far away.

The rise and fall of a beauteous actress. She rises from an impoverished background to become a favorite of the Sun King, Louis XIV.

Phillipe Charboneau is the illegitimate son of an English duke. When he travels from France to England to claim his inheritance, he incurs the wrath of his father's family, and is forced to flee to America, where he becomes involved in the events leading to the American Revolution.

A perfect red-colored violin inspires passion, making its way through three centuries over several owners and countries, eventually ending up at an auction where it may find a new owner.

In Wales, around 1800, Catherine Morgan is widowed young, her husband a war casualty whose unpaid gambling debts threaten both the loss of home and farm and destitution for her and her daughters Elen and Emily. Catherine hopes to save them by selling their cattle at a distant market. She must overcome the hardships of the cattle drive across the craggy Welsh countrysi...Read all

During the French Revolution, a Scottish aristocrat and her former lover, the Duke of Orleans, find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict.

On his death bed in the 1820s, King Ferdinando I of Naples tries to escape the ghosts of his bloody kingship by remembering his younger days, when he was allowed to go hunting and have fun, and inventing love games. Then he was obliged to marry Mary Caroline of Austria, daughter of Empress Mary Theresa, in a political marriage: unexpectedly, they became happy lovers, until court power games divided them, and a different historical season arrived.

In 1727, an Arab colt is born with the signs of the wheat ear and the white spot on his heel: evil and good. And thus begins the life of Sham. He is a gift to the King of France, through a ...

In the mid-18th Century, as England and France battle over control of Canada, an epic romance between a peasant woman and a trapper unfurls.

In June of 1791, a group of passengers in a stagecoach find themselves caught up in the events of the French Revolution, when they find themselves in the city of Varennes when revolutionists arrest the fleeing King Louis.

A history of the French Revolution from the decision of King Louis XVI to convene the Etats-Generaux in 1789 in order to deal with France's debt problem. The first part of the movie tells the story from 1789 until August 10, 1792 (when King Louis XVI lost all of his authority and was put in prison). The second part carries the story through the end of the terror in 1794, including the deaths by guillotine of King Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, Danton, and Desmoulins.

Action opens in November of 1793, with Danton returning to Paris from his country retreat upon learning that the Committee for Public Safety, under Robespierre's incitement, has begun a series of massive executions, The Terror. Confident in the people's support, Danton clashes with his former ally, but calculating Robespierre soon rounds up Danton and his followers, tries them before a revolutionary tribunal and dipatches them to the guillotine.

Francisco Goya (1746-1828), deaf and ill, lives the last years of his life in voluntary exile in Bordeaux, a Liberal protesting the oppressive rule of Ferdinand VII. He's living with his much younger wife Leocadia and their daughter Rosario. He continues to paint at night, and in flashbacks stirred by conversations with his daughter, by awful headaches, and by the befuddlement of age, he relives key times in his life, particularly his relationship with the Duchess of Alba, his discovery of how he wanted to paint (insight provided by Velázquez's work), and his lifelong celebration of the imagination. Throughout, his reveries become tableaux of his paintings.

Billy Budd (Terence Stamp) is an innocent, naive seaman in the British Navy in 1797. When the ship's sadistic master-at-arms is murdered, Billy is accused and tried.

When M. Beaucaire, a handsome barber, catches the Duke of Winterset cheating at gambling, Beaucaire exacts Winterset's cooperation in sneaking Beaucaire into a great ball, disguised as the Duke de Chartres, and to introduce him to the beautiful Lady Mary. The disguised barber successfully pulls off the masquerade and is soon the toast of society. But Winterset is embittered at having been blackmailed so, and he sets out to destroy Beaucaire if he can do so without revealing his own duplicity.

Beaucaire is a barber for the Royal French court who becomes a real "royal pain" for the king. As a result he is sent to the guillotine - however he is saved by the Duc de Chandre, who rescues and transports him to the Spanish court. While there Beaucaire poses as a noblesman. The only problem is, he gets into even more trouble.

The Great Garrick (Brian Aherne) is the most celebrated London theater actor of his day (eighteenth century) and is invited to Paris to star at the Comedie Francaise, the most important theatre in France. Before his departure for Paris he is mistakenly quoted as saying that he is 'going to France to teach the French how to act'. The Comedie Francaise actors and director hear about this and take this as a serious insult and thus plot to embarrass The Great Garrick when he gets to France with a great big prank. The Comedie Francaise troupe takes over an inn on Garrick's road to Paris where he spends the night. What the Comedie Francaise actors don't know is that The Great Garrick is in on the joke and just plays along. A wrench is thrown into the plot when a lone, lovely traveler (Olivia de Havilland who was later Aherne's sister-in-law), who is not part of the prank, shows up looking for a room at the inn that the Comedie Francaise troupe has taken over. Garrick treats her as though she is one of the troupe but she falls in love with him. An always delightful Edward Everett Horton plays The Great Garrick's valet.

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born with a superior olfactory sense, creates the world's finest perfume. His work, however, takes a dark turn as he searches for the ultimate scent.

After aspiring poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe fails his law exams, he's sent to a sleepy provincial court to reform. Instead, he falls for Lotte, a young woman who is promised to another man.

An epic, sweeping and riveting tale of an impossible love set across two time periods and continents.

An account of the adventures of two sets of identical twins, badly scrambled at birth, on the eve of the French Revolution. One set is haughty and aristocratic, the other poor and somewhat dim. They find themselves involved in palace intrigues as history happens around them. Based, very loosely, on Dickens's _A Tale of Two Cities_, Dumas's _The Corsican Brothers_, etc.

A noblewoman doomed to a loveless marriage falls into a scandalous affair with the dashing Lord Byron.

During the Napoleonic era, in Spain, a young postulant called Teresa falls in love with handsome British captain Michael Stuart, who is recovering with others of his regiment after being wounded. Before leaving, Michael asks Teresa to leave the convent and marry him. Devoted to the statue of the Virgin Mary, Teresa asks for a heavenly sign, but leaves when nothing happens. Then the statue of the Virgin descends from its pedestal and takes Teresa's place, as the young woman joins a gypsy caravan believing Michael has been killed.

A younger boy falls in love with a tragic girl who flirts with, and manipulates, her older suitors in 1800's Russia.

At an estate auction in WWII England, two strangers meet and muse about their families' history and possible connections. Flashbacks reveal the story of the sweet, rich, and beautiful Clarissa Richmond and her friendship with bitter, impoverished Hesther Snow. Their fates are intertwined even as their paths diverge. Clarissa marries the handsome but cruel Marquis of Rohan while Hesther becomes an actress. Eventually, the two women meet again and Clarissa brings the scheming Hesther into her household. As Clarissa searches for true love, Hesther plots to take away everything that belongs to her.

In the beginning of the 19th Century, many white Americans are settling in the Mexican province of Texas. As the years go by, political conflicts between the settlers and the Mexican government are escalating which would lead to war and Texan independence.

Jacquou is a determined and attractive young man who transforms his vow of vengeance into a struggle against injustice.

The Swedish King Gustav III is bold and courageous regarding government. He is to marry a Danish princess. But when it comes to love and courtship, the king feels lost. Therefore he asks the loyal and experienced Captain Munck for assistance.

A newspaper reporter investigates the lives of juvenile delinquents.

In 1775, Daniel Boone leads thirty settler families to Kentucky where they face two threats: Indian raiders led by renegade white Simon Girty, who opposes settlement; and the schemes of effete Stephen Marlowe to seize title to the new lands. Perils, battles, escapes, and a love interest round out the story.

Daniel Boone leads settlers into Kentucky, but must battle Shawnee Indians who have been persuaded by a French renegade that Boone and the settlers are there to kill them and steal their land.

Sold into slavery, delivered from a terrible storm at sea, a troubled young man finds amazing grace in the darkest moments and becomes driving force behind the move to abolish the slave trade.

The film is based on the third battle of Panipat which took place on the 14 of January in 1761 between the Marathas and the King of Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Abdali.

A young officer of Peter I's First Guard, Ivan Demarin, on the instructions of the tsar, is sent to the depths of Siberia - to border Tobolsk. Here Ivan meets his first love and, together with his regiment, finds himself drawn into a conspiracy by local princes, who are hunting for Yarkand's gold. His fortress is surrounded by hordes of wild jungars and there's no place to wait for help .

In 1636, King Injo hides in the mountains to avoid being part of the Qing dynasty.

The early years of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Jenny Marx, between Paris, Brussels and London.

After 200 years under lock and key, all the personal papers of one of our most important monarchs are seeing the light of day for the first time. In the first documentary to gain extensive access to the Royal Archives, Robert Hardman sheds fascinating new light on George III, Britain's longest-reigning king.

Simon Bolivar fought over 100 battles against the Spanish Empire in South America. He rode over 70,000 miles on horseback. His military campaigns covered twice the territory of Alexander the Great. His army never conquered -- it liberated.

Lucy Worsley untangles Louis XIV's complex world of court etiquette, fashion and feasting, while court politics expert Helen Castor delves into the archives and unpicks the Machiavellian world that Louis created.

Set in 18th century Korea, long-ruling King Yeongjo's struggle with his son, Sado, sees the king take extreme measures in order to deal with his heir.

Based upon the short but fruitful life of illness-racked Italian poet and philosopher Giacomo Leopardi.

The year is 1755, and the English colonies are being ravaged by the atrocities of war. Opposing European powers have clashed over the fertile Ohio valley, and entire families are devastated by the ensuing violence. Hostile native tribes are raiding the vulnerable frontier farms, and two young sisters are among those taken captive. While hoping for rescue...

An innkeeper's life of monotony suddenly changes when he comes into possession of a treasure map.