
The Mayor of Casterbridge
"The Dennis Potter adaptation of Thomas Hardy's classic tale"
Synopsis
The Mayor of Casterbridge is a 1978 BBC seven-part serial based on the eponymous 1886 book by the British novelist Thomas Hardy. The six-hour drama was written by dramatist Dennis Potter and directed by David Giles, with Alan Bates as the title character. Michael Henchard, an out-of-work hay-trusser, gets drunk at a fair and, for five guineas, sells his wife and child to a sailor. When the horror of his act finally sets in, Henchard swears he will not touch alcohol for twenty-one years. Through hard work and acumen, he becomes rich, respected, and eventually the mayor of Casterbridge. But eighteen years after his fateful oath, his wife and daughter return to Casterbridge, and his fortunes steadily decline.
Episodes
Photos
You might also like

Miss Austen takes a literary mystery – Cassandra Austen notoriously burning her famous sister Jane’s letters – and reimagines it as a fascinating, witty and heart-breaking story of sisterly love, while creating in Cassandra a character as captivating as any Austen heroine.
Miss Austen

A chronicle of the country music power couple George Jones and Tammy Wynette, whose complicated-but-enduring relationship inspired some of the most iconic music of all time.
George & Tammy

After a murder shatters the lives of three best friends, their decades-long bond is tested when an investigation reveals betrayals and shocking truths.
Imperfect Women

Two college students, Frances and Bobbi, forge a strange and unexpected relationship with a married couple.
Conversations with Friends

Richard Mayhew leads an ordinary life in London when one day a girl named Door falls, injured, across his path. The next thing he knows, his life is gone and he's pulled into the fantastical world of London Below. Pursued by the murderous Messrs. Croup and Vandemar, Door and Richard with the help of Hunter and the Marquis de Carabas, attempt to find the Angel Islington, who knows the secret behind the murder of Door's family, and possibly a way for Richard to go home.
Neverwhere

A respected London surgeon's affair with his son's fiancée turns into an erotic infatuation that threatens to change their lives forever.
Obsession

Amanda Knox arrives in Italy for her study abroad only to be wrongfully imprisoned for murder weeks later. Follow Knox's relentless fight to prove her innocence and reclaim her freedom and examines why authorities and the world stood so firmly in judgment.
The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox

When Jess takes her baby to hospital with an unexplained head injury, her close friend, A&E doctor Liz, makes the excruciating decision to call social services, igniting an explosive chain of events.
Little Disasters

Wrongfully committed to New Hyde Psychiatric Hospital, one man faces secretive doctors, dangerous patients, and something even worse …
The Terror: Devil in Silver

Set against the complex tapestry of Hong Kong residents, a multifaceted group of women sets off a chain of life-altering events that leaves everyone navigating the intricate balance between blame and accountability.
Expats

When an English professor becomes obsessed with a handsome new colleague, her already complicated marriage and career are thrown into total chaos.
Vladimir

After spending graduation night together, Emma and Dexter go their separate ways — but their lives remain intertwined.
One Day

Because of their "new money" background, four American girls have difficulty breaking into the upper-crust society of New York. Laura Testvalley, the governess of one of the girls, suggests a London season and thus the young women set sail for England and the unsuspecting English aristocracy. In England, all the girls soon find eligible husbands and the youngest girl, Nan, seems to land the best husband of them all: the handsome and very wealthy Julius, Duke of Trevennick. The girls soon discover that English upper-class men are not at all what they expected and hoped for.
The Buccaneers

The story of the romantic and creative partnership between Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon. He was a filmmaker and one of theater's most influential choreographers and directors; she was the greatest Broadway dancer of all time. Together, they changed the face of American entertainment — at a perilous cost.
Fosse/Verdon

Hannah Wells tutors hockey captain Garrett Graham to win over her crush. Their deal becomes real connection as they face their pasts. Friends Logan, Dean, Tucker, and Allie navigate college life and love.
Off Campus

In the worlds of politics, academia, and the beaches of Martha’s Vineyard, Talcott Garland is an Ivy League law professor whose quiet life is shattered when his father, Judge Oliver Garland, dies of an apparent heart attack. The nature of the judge’s death is questioned by Tal’s sister, Mariah, a former journalist and inveterate conspiracy theorist, who believes that the judge, a failed Black nominee to the Supreme Court, met with foul play.
The Emperor of Ocean Park

After a crippling injury leaves her husband impotent, Lady Chatterly is torn between her love for her husband and her physical desires. With her husband's consent, she seeks out other means of fulfilling her needs.
Lady Chatterley

When Lucy Albright and Stephen DeMarco meet at college, they are at that formative age when seemingly mundane choices lead the way to irrevocable consequences. They quickly fall into an addictive entanglement that will permanently alter not only their lives, but the lives of everyone around them.
Tell Me Lies

A critical and often humorous look at the upper class, tracking the protagonist's harrowing odyssey from a deeply traumatic childhood through adult substance abuse and, ultimately, toward recovery.
Patrick Melrose

The adventures of Miss Jane Marple, an elderly spinster living in the quiet little village of St Mary Mead. During her many visits to friends and relatives in other villages, Miss Marple often stumbles upon mysterious murders which she helps solve. Although the police are sometimes reluctant to accept Miss Marple's help, her reputation and unparalleled powers of observation eventually win them over.
