Bill Paterson

In an effort to give their younger brother, Norman a project to keep him busy now that he has joined the family publishing house, the older Warne brothers agree to publish Miss Beatrix Potter's first children's book. They don't expect the book to sell well, but they need to keep Norman busy. As a single woman living in Edwardian London, Beatrix suspects this endeavor may provide her with a small measure of freedom. But she also has very specific ideas...

In the first series, Ben Coulter wakes up with a hangover and blood on his hands after a one-night stand. Lying beside him, fatally stabbed, is the body of a woman. A nightmare begins that changes Ben's life forever, as damning evidence emerges to incriminate him in a murder that he has no recollection of committing. While in prison awaiting his trial, Ben must endure terrifying forms of 'justice' from hardcore inmates. Will he survive prison long...

Local MP and schoolmaster Thomas Gradgrind raises his children, Louisa and Tom, in the utilitarian fashion, stressing reason and fact and dismissing imagination and emotion. Under his influence, Louisa grows cold while Tom turns to a secret life of drinking and gambling. To be nearer her brother, Louisa accepts an offer of marriage from his boss, the self-mad, self-important banker Josiah Bounderby, though she does not love him. But soon finds herself...

Macbeth is the chef in a 3-star restaurant; Beatrice and Benedict are rival co-anchors; Titania and Bottom carouse in a tawdry theme resort; and Petruchio sets out to tame the conservative Kate in a politically incorrect marriage of convenience.