A Midsummer Night’s Dream must be one of the most enduringly popular of Shakespeare’s plays, and it is not difficult to see why: the work blends several kinds of comedy with a powerful atmosphere of magic and mystery and a satisfying set of contrasts between city and country, reason and imagination, love and infatuation.

In this BBC full-cast production of The Merchant of Venice, love, bigotry, greed, and justice are entwined.Shakespeare's classic play explores the eternal themes of love and hate, mercy and justice, with parallel stories centred on the moneylender, Shylock, and the lovers, Portia and Bassanio. Shylock's angry insistence on the repayment of his debt from Bassanio ends in the Venetian courts, where he demands his pound of flesh. Portia meanwhile, a wealthy y...

Twelve make-believe spoof comedy documentaries charting the lives of celebrated fictional characters‘Gorgeously silly’ The IndependentHave you ever wondered what became of the protagonists from your favourite childhood stories? Well, wonder no more: in these hilarious mockumentaries, the astonishing afterlives of some of the most famous figures in fiction are revealed...The scourge of smugglers and the stalwart of ...