Taking Leave

Follow Robbie Williams' journey from childhood, to being the youngest member of chart-topping boyband Take That, through to his unparalleled achievements as a record-breaking solo artist – all the while confronting the challenges that stratospheric fame and success can bring.

An Irish rogue uses his cunning and wit to work his way up the social classes of 18th century England, transforming himself from the humble Redmond Barry into the noble Barry Lyndon.

The sinking of the Titanic is presented in a highly realistic fashion in this tense British drama. The disaster is portrayed largely from the perspective of the ocean liner's second officer, Charles Lightoller. Despite numerous warnings about ice, the ship sails on, with Capt. Edward John Smith keeping it going at a steady clip. When the doomed vessel finally hits an iceberg, the crew and passengers discover that they lack enough lifeboats, and tragedy follows.

Hotshot gambler Jake Green is long on bravado and seriously short of common sense. Rarely is he allowed in any casino because he's a bona fide winner and, in fact, has taken so much money over the years that he's the sole client of his accountant elder brother, Billy. Invited to a private game, Jake is in fear of losing his life.

In the 1970s, a young transgender woman called “Kitten” leaves her small Irish town for London in search of love, acceptance, and her long-lost mother.

Resistance leader Omar Mukhtar opposes Italian colonization before World War II. The brutal guerrilla war against Italian General Rodolfo Graziani and the Fascist forces of Benito Mussolini highlights the struggle for Libyan independence and the harsh tactics utilised by the colonisers.

After her adoptive mother dies, Hortense, a successful black optometrist, seeks out her birth mother. She's shocked when her research leads her to Cynthia, a working class white woman.

After spending 12 years in prison for keeping his mouth shut, notorious safe-cracker Dom Hemingway is back on the streets of London looking to collect what he's owed.

The turbulent personal and professional life of actor Peter Sellers (1925-1980), from his beginnings as a comic performer on BBC Radio to his huge success as one of the greatest film comedians of all time; an obsessive artist so dedicated to his work that neglected his loved ones and sacrificed part of his own personality to convincingly create that of his many memorable characters.

Boasting an amazing selection of the most watched, most influential and most highly acclaimed programmes ever made, The 50 Greatest Television Dramas presents a long overdue assessment of the rich heritage television drama has to offer. Channel 4 invited over 200 of Britain's top television drama professionals – writers, directors, producers and commissioners – to take part in an exclusive poll to discover what they consider the finest dramas ever produced.

Based on the true story of the 1981 hunger strike in a British prison, in which IRA prisoner Bobby Sands led a protest against the treatment of IRA prisoners as criminals rather than as prisoners of war. The film focuses on the mothers of two of the strikers, and their struggle to save the lives of their sons.

Orphaned by smallpox, young Lancashire country lady Fanny Hill cheerfully accepts her friend Esther Davies's offer to join the London 'working girls' with Mrs. Brown, a madam who recruits her as charmingly fresh enough to wait, in-living, on gentlemen.

Charlie returns to the East End after two years at sea to find his house demolished and wife Maggie gone. Everyone else knows she is now shacked up with married bus driver Bert and a toddler, and they all watch with more than a little interest at the trail of mayhem Charlie leaves as he goes about sorting things out.

In this fictionalised account of the Great Train Robbery, career criminal Paul Clifton plans an audacious crime: the robbery of a mail train carrying millions in cash.

In early 1960s Northern England, Frank Machin is mean, tough and ambitious enough to become an immediate star in the rugby league team run by local employer Weaver.

Six London school-leavers attempt to make it in the world, balancing the challenge of trying to make a name for themselves in the music industry against the pressures and tragedies of everyday life.

Cold War thriller set in Iceland – a British agent and his Icelandic fiancee try to protect an electronic device from falling into the clutches of the KGB.

World War I. Lili Smith is a beloved British music hall singer, often providing inspiration for the British and French troops and general populace singing rallying patriotic songs. She is also half German and is an undercover German spy, using her feminine wiles to gather information from the high ranking and generally older military officers and diplomats she seduces.

A young man journeys from a difficult childhood to maturity, exploring social injustice, personal development, and the complexities of human relationships.

A young woman, struggling with the direction of her life, spends Christmas watching over a retirement home filled with demanding residents.

A successful lawyer struck with blindness in middle age continues his battles in the courtroom with the assistance of his family. As his son deals with bitter memories of their relationship, he also seeks his father's respect and love and in the process learns to love in return.

The vengeful spirit of a dead motorcyclist is reluctant to leave his wrecked machine and manifests itself to a woman journalist as motorbike noise.

Mr. Armistead is the referee for an amateur league Sunday Football match. Disliked and abused by all the players he tries to play fair and ensure they follow the rules. By the end of the match he's had enough and really uses his head to show them that he's not as useless as they all think.

The story of a brutal crime in a high-rise estate; a girl walking home at night is raped and murdered, and the attitude of some is not always sympathetic.

Reprising the television series roles which first made them household names, Richard Beckinsale and Paula Wilcox star as Geoffrey Scrimshaw and Beryl Battersby, a hesitant, inexperienced, young couple attempting to negotiate the sexual minefield of the ‘permissive’ society. This big-screen transfer of Jack Rosenthal’s hugely likeable sitcom sees old-fashioned girl Beryl continuing to slap down the advances of her frustrated boyfriend, whose clumsy attempts to initiate ‘Percy Filth’ suggest he’s not quite up to speed himself! Like everyone else, Geoffrey and Beryl want to fall in love – or they think they do; like everyone else, since Adam and Eve. But Adam and Eve didn’t live in Manchester in 1972…

Based on the book "Spend, Spend, Spend" by Vivian Nicholson and Stephen Smith. Story of pools winner, Vivian Nicholson.

As a collection of history's worst tyrants and criminal masterminds gather to plot a war to wipe out millions, one man must race against time to stop them.

A British spy ship has sunk and on board was a hi-tech encryption device. James Bond is sent to find the device that holds British launching instructions before the enemy Soviets get to it first.

An account of Baron Munchausen's supposed travels and fantastical experiences with his band of misfits.

A mad scientist ignores each of his creations when he shifts his attention to the next monster. His first creation, Stitch Head, searching for purpose, takes it upon himself to look after all the other monsters.

Sherlock Holmes is as dashing as ever, but with a little secret: Dr. Watson is the brains behind the operation. When Reginald Kincaid, the actor he has hired to play Holmes becomes insufferable, Watson fires him and tries to go out on his own, but finds that he has done too good a job building Holmes up in the public's mind.

Jack Carter is a small-time hood working in London. When word reaches him of his brother's death, he travels to Newcastle to attend the funeral. Refusing to accept the police report of suicide, Carter seeks out his brother’s friends and acquaintances to learn who murdered his sibling and why.

A cinema remake of the classic sitcom Dad's Army (1968). The Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard platoon deal with a visiting female journalist and a German spy as World War II draws to its conclusion.

Two sophisticated jewel thieves join forces to steal $30 million in uncut jewels.

School headmaster Brian Stimpson is obsessed with timeliness, order, and discipline. Brian misses his train after meticulously preparing a speech for an education conference. With no one else to turn to, he asks young former student Laura Wisely for a ride. Laura, upset over a break-up, agrees to drive him in her parents' car - which alarms her mother and father, who worry that she has run away with a married man and subsequently alert the police.

Czechoslovakia, 1942. Three brave Czech patriots risk everything to rid their country of its brutal Nazi leader, SS-General Reinhard Heydrich.

British agent Bulldog Drummond is assigned to stop a master criminal who uses beautiful women to do his killings.

He's Irish, he's ageing, he drinks, is a touch cynical and when he has time writes a newspaper column. On the eve of the country's first election as an independent state, Dan Starkey's life is about to change after he finds the young woman he has just made love to dead and his only ally is a nun

Beautiful young European girl, Carol, is possessed by the spirit of Ayesha – “She Who Must be Obeyed” – and led to the lost city of Kuma, where she is destined to become queen.

When a robbery at a racetrack goes wrong ex-con Johnny Bannion is caught and sent back to prison. He won't tell the rest of the gang where he has stashed the loot leading to violent consequences.

A boy declares his love for his girlfriend, only to die the same night. He is brought back to life by his mother as a flesh-craving zombie, who sires more teen undead while trying to control his, er, appetite for his beloved.

A group called The Knights Of Avalon are unhappy with the justice system so are taking the law into their own hands by executing criminals using medieval methods such as jousting.

The Ken Campbell Roadshow brings entertainment to the streets and pubs of Kirkby New Town.