Maureen Lipman
Christopher Columbus believes he can find an alternative route to the far East and persuades the King and Queen of Spain to finance his expedition…
The true story of pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman’s experiences in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city find themselves forced into a ghetto, Szpilman finds work playing in a cafĂ©; and when his family is deported in 1942, he stays behind, works for a while as a laborer, and eventually goes into hiding in the ruins of the war-torn city.
Rita, a witty 26-year-old hairdresser, wants to ‘discover’ herself so she joins an Open University where she meets the disillusioned professor of literature, Dr. Frank Bryant. His marriage has failed, his new girlfriend is having an affair with his best friend and he can’t get through the day without downing a bottle or two of whisky. What Frank needs is a challenge… and along comes Rita.
A young Jew in 1911 Wales tries to make his living by selling fabrics door to door, but to do so he must hide his nationality. On one of his sales he meets and falls in love with a demure young woman with a strong-willed father and a Jew-hating brother. The two fall in love and she becomes pregnant, but only then does she learn of his ethnic background. When anti-Jewish riots break out, the two are forced to flee and become separated.