In 1962, the young pianist, John Ogdon wins international success in Moscow and embarks on a whirlwind career. Ten years later he suffers the onset of mental illness that threatens to destroy his playing, marriage and sanity.

A legendary collection of miniature paintings have been locked up in the storeroom of an Indian palace for years; the collection's fame attracts a group of art lovers and fortune seekers who converge simultaneously on the palace.

Annie, a single mother who is devoted to her son Charlie, starts a relationship with Mack. The problems start when Mack asks Annie and Charlie to move to New York with him.

Following the banning and burning of his novel, "The Rainbow," D.H. Lawrence and his wife, Frieda, move to the United States, and then to Mexico. When Lawrence contracts tuberculosis, they return to England for a short time, then to Italy, where Lawrence writes "Lady Chatterley's Lover."

The 'Beaux': Mr Aimwell and Mr Archer, two charming, dissolute young men who have blown their fortunes in giddy London. Shamed and debt-ridden, they flee to provincial Lichfield. Their 'Stratagem': to marry for money. Lodged at the local inn, posing as master and servant, they encounter a teeming variety of human obstacles: a crooked landlord, a fearsome highwayman, a fervent French Count, a maid on the make, a drunken husband, a furious butler, a natural healer and a strange, turbulent priest. But their greatest obstacle is love. When the Beaux' meet their match in Dorinda and Mrs Sullen they are most at risk, for in love they might be truly discovered.

A comedy special starring Robbie Coltrane as a variety of different characters.