Brother Cadfael is a monk, with a difference, who lives at Shrewsberry abbey. Given a choice, he would rather enjoy being a simple gardener and herbalist for his home. However, events seem to force him to use his other talent as a master detective in response to mysterious crimes happening in and around his community. While he investigates these crimes, he often finds himself at odds with the contemporary attitudes of the times

Eight French Christian monks live in harmony with their Muslim brothers in a monastery in the mountains of North Africa in the 1990's. When a crew of foreign workers are massacred by an Islamic fundamentalist group, fear sweeps though the region. The army offers them protection, but the monks refuse. Should they leave? Despite the growing menace in their midst, they slowly realize that they have no choice but to stay, come what may

Told through the eyes of celebrated Spanish painter Francisco Goya. Set against political turmoil at the end of the Spanish Inquisition and start of the invasion of Spain by Napoleon's army. Captures the essence and beauty of Goya's work which is best known for both the colorful depictions of the royal court and its people, and his grim depictions of the brutality of war and life in 18th century Spain. When Goya's beautiful muse is accused of being...

Nicholas Vreeland walked away from a worldly life of privilege to become a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Grandson of legendary Vogue editor, Diana Vreeland, and trained by Irving Penn to become a photographer, Nicholas' life changed drastically upon meeting a Tibetan master, one of the teachers of the Dalai Lama.

Ireland, 1209. A small group of monks begin a reluctant pilgrimage across an island torn between centuries of tribal warfare and the growing power of Norman invaders. Escorting their monastery's holiest relic to Rome, the monks' progress is seen through the eyes of a pious young novice and a mute lay brother with a violent past. As the true significance of the bejeweled relic becomes dangerously apparent, their path becomes increasingly fraught with...

Twelfth century Shrewsbury comes dramatically to life in Ellis Peters' story of Brother Cadfael--a good man in an evil world

In November 1139 A.D., Brother Cadfael becomes involved in the search for two missing orphans and their escort.

"Brothers from Ramsey come to Shrewsbury looking for money to rebuild their monastery, which has been ransacked by rebel soldiers. They claim that a loan of Saint Winifred's Holy Relics, which are housed at Shrewsbury, would be suitable generosity. Cadfael and the Abbot opt to provide the men with a gift of precious gems instead. Then, during a cataclysmic night of violent storms, the Holy Relics disappear. Cadfael is dispatched to recover them and...

When a woman's skeleton is discovered in a local potter's field, Cadfael must find the culprit before he himself is found lynched by an angry mob.

These riveting programs star Sir Derek Jacobi (I Claudius, Gladiator) as Brother Cadfael, the medieval crime-solving monk who tackles mysteries that arise in the dark world of twelfth century Shrewsbury.