Synopsis
Series of plays about the romantic entanglements hidden behind the public images of famous historical figures.
Episodes
Season 11E1A Dream of LivingSuccessful novelist Scott Fitzgerald tries desperately to cope both with his rivalry with Ernest Hemingway and with his mentally ailing wife Zelda.2E2Caesar and ClarettaRobert Hardy and Helen Mirren star as Benito Mussolini and his lover Claretta Petacci in this dramatization of their last night together, locked in a small peasant cottage. Having admired Mussolini since she was a schoolgirl, Claretta finally had a chance to meet the Italian leader at the age of 24. For the next 10 years she was Mussolini's official mistress, and was the only woman with him when they and a group of supporters were captured by Communist partisans during an escape attempt. On April 28, 1945, Mussolini and Petacci were shot by their captors. Even though Claretta was offered her freedom, she refused to leave her lover, a touching declaration of a woman's love despite the dubious reputation of the object of her affections.3E3Mr. Garrick and Mrs. Woffington4E4The Statue and the RoseCharles Stewart Parnell is the great hope of Irish politics, but he's in love with a married woman.5E5Husband to Mrs. FitzherbertIn 1799, George, Prince of Wales and heir to the throne of mad King George III, awaits the Pope's judgment on his marriage to twice-widowed Mrs. Fitzherbert.6E6Mrs. Weekley's Lover
