Performance Series 2: Episode Guide & Ratings

Among the residents of Los Angeles during the 1940s were Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Bertolt Brecht and, according to this play, the Austro-Hungarian dramatist Odon Von Horvath, our guide to the sun-soaked boulevards and the bizarre cultural collisions of wartime Hollywood.

Years ago, Nora Helmer committed a forgery in order to save the life of her authoritarian husband Torvald. Now she is being blackmailed, and lives in fear of her husband finding out.

Beatie returns to her family home in Norfolk, having been "educated" in cultural and political matters by Ronnie, the boyfriend she lived with in London. Through trying to pass on the things she's learnt to her uninterested family, she discovers her own voice and views—which are no longer just an echo of Ronnie's.

David and Joan's life has been one continuous party, but their marriage is loveless. Suddenly a young girl appears in their world and announces that she's in love with David and wants to change his life for ever. Critics called it Terence Rattigan's most serious and truthful play, but it has not been seen for 50 years.

Originally set in a theatre, this new version of Luigi Pirandello's classic play takes place in a film studio in 1950 and is recorded in black and white. A family carrying a great personal tragedy of shame and despair have come to the studio to find somebody who can describe their experiences and explain what they've done to each other.