Derek Jacobi

"Romeo and Juliet", one of William Shakespeare's most iconic tragedies, tells the poignant tale of young love and family conflict. Set in Verona, Italy, the story revolves around the passionate romance between Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, members of feuding families. The star-crossed lovers meet at a masquerade ball and quickly fall deeply in love, despite their families' bitter rivalry. Their secret relationship leads to a series of events...

"Nobody Owens, known as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn’t live in a graveyard, being raised by ghosts, with a guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor the dead. There are adventures in the graveyard for a boy—an ancient Indigo Man, a gateway to the abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible Sleer. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, he will be in danger from the man Jack—who has already...

"London, 1890. 221B Baker St. A fine art dealer named Edmund Carstairs visits Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson to beg for their help. He is being menaced by a strange man in a flat cap--a wanted criminal who seems to have followed him all the way from America. In the days that follow, his home is robbed, his family is threatened. And then the first murder takes place. Almost unwillingly, Holmes and Watson find themselves being drawn ever deeper...

Star of stage, screen and television, and one of only two people to be awarded two Knighthoods, Sir Derek Jacobi is one of Britain's most distinguished actors. 'If you want to be an actor, don't. If you need to be an actor, do.' The world of theatre could not have been further from Derek's childhood: an only child, born in Leytonstone, London. With his father a department store manager and his mother a secretary, his was very much a working-class...

"Hendrik Groen may be old, but he is far from dead and isn't planning to be buried any time soon. Granted, his daily strolls are getting shorter because his legs are no longer willing and he has to visit his doctor more than he'd like. Technically speaking he is...elderly. But surely there is more to life at his age than weak tea and potted geraniums? Hendrik sets out to write an exposé: a year in the life of his care home in Amsterdam, revealing...

Rome, 37-38 CE. On his deathbed, Tiberius names Caligula heir to the Roman throne. Caligula promises the people bread and circuses, and a new age of prosperity seems about to begin. Then Caligula falls into a coma, awakens, and proclaims himself a god. He fears just one thing: his unborn son by his own sister..

Rome, 40-41 CE. Now totally mad, Caligula has turned the palace into a brothel, complete with gambling and orgies. His lame old uncle Claudius serves as doorkeeper. With the empire in financial ruin, conspirators plot an assassination. Later, as soldiers loot the palace, Claudius hides behind a curtain.

Rome, 54 CE. Claudius marries Agrippinilla, mother of Nero and the deadliest woman in Rome. A prophecy has told him that Nero will be Rome's next ruler. Claudius knowingly seals his fate and that of his own son by naming Nero his heir. He finishes his book and buries a copy to be found centuries later.

Rome, 13-14 CE. After decades of deception, Augustus learns of Livia's plots and writes a new will naming Postumus his heir. Soon after Livia visits the temple of the Vestal Virgins, keepers of the emperor's will, Augustus suffers severe stomach pains. With Livia's hopes finally realized, she sends Sejanus to tie up loose ends.

Rome, 47-48 CE. While Claudius is away invading Britain, Messalina challenges a leading prostitute to a tournament of sex. She wins, scandalizing Rome, but Claudius remains in the dark. He is compelled to act when a final humiliation endangers his life. Soon after, Claudius learns that the British have made him a god.