Yellow Wallpaper, The

In this retelling of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," Kathy, deemed "too sensitive for her own good" and told to control herself, is confined to a child's bedroom with barred windows and garish decor by her well-meaning husband. As the enforced idleness of a rest cure begins to drive her mad, Kathy imagines there is someone imprisoned within the wallpaper, and she works to set the shadowy figure-and herself-free. Gilman's short story was a commentary on the passive, infantilized role that women of her era were urged to adopt and is now considered a classic of feminist fiction.

Touted as one of the first major feminist writers, Charlotte Perkins Gilman spent her life fighting to liberate women from the yoke of domesticity. This is a stunning BBC dramatization of Gilman's autobiographical account of a woman driven to madness by the repressive mores of Victorian culture. Stephen Dillon as the husband, John, and Julia Watson as the despondent heroine give stellar performances in this production directed by the BBC's John Clive.