Inspired by the writings of Sei Shonagon, a poet and lady-in-waiting to the Empress of the 10th Century Japanese court.
Series 1
1) Within the palace walls, a series of disturbing crimes throws the court into confusion and unrest. Sei Shonagon's brilliance and wit is called upon for more than her Empress's amusement.
2) In the snow-covered palace, the thefts are moving in a slow spiral towards the inner chambers of the Emperor, the Sun God himself.
3) Shonagon has been appointed guide and assistant to Lieutenant Yukinari as he investigates a series of thefts within the palace walls. Her lover Tadanobu is uncomfortable about the nature of the contract between the pair.
4) The Demon Shiki is discovered sitting on the throne itself, suggesting that the supernatural is at work within the palace walls. Meanwhile, Shonagon and Yukinari continue to search for some human motive behind the escalating crimes.
5) The palace criminal is discovered, but exposing him may cost Shonagon and Yukinari their lives.
Series 2
1) It has been nine months since Lieutenant Yukinari and Lady Shonagon solved the crimes in the palace, and nine months since they parted. A chill wind brings ominous news, and a blood-stained letter from Yukinari.
2) Yukinari has been beaten and left for dead in a blacksmith's bothy. Someone has been sending him writings which speak of The Day of Fire, and an Incorruptible Lord - a Lord Yukinari believes may now be in the Palace itself.
3) Lieutenant Yukinari is convinced that one of three Lords of the Palace is the leader of a rebellion which threatens the life of Emperor, the Sun God himself.
4) An earthquake has shattered the Palace walls. Gifts arrive from across Japan, and from the Emperor of China himself. But Yukinari fears that the gifts are not as innocent as they seem.
5) Shonagon and Yukinari find themselves in a damp cellar of the Palace in the middle of the night, face to face with Lord Oshika - a young man of high ideals and convictions, and perhaps deadly intent.
Series 3
Shonagon and Yukinari return to investigate a new crime in 10th Century Japan. A favourite of the Emperor is found drowned in a pool in the Palace Gardens. But before Yukinari can investigate, the body is given a ceremonial burial and all trace of the crime washed away by the spring rains.
Series 4
The young Emperor has disappeared from the Palace into the wilds of Japan, to learn the ways of his people. Mischievous as ever, he leaves behind him a challenge addressed to his champion and favourite, Lieutenant Yukinari, to find him. And, of course, Yukinari must be accompanied by his guide in the ways of palace life, the Lady Shonagon. The Emperor makes two conditions: that the couple travel unaccompanied and in disguise, dressed in peasant garb, a prospect that Lady Shonagon - a connoisseur of all the finer luxuries of life - finds both appalling and humiliating.
Series 5
Lady Shonagon and Lieutenant Yukinari reunite for a new mystery in 10th century Japan.
Yukinari returns to the palace to find that the Lady Shonagon's affections are no longer his, and furthermore his lover is not pleased to see him. Instead she is focused on unravelling a mystery that Yukinari cannot understand: the mystery of her friend's marriage - a passionate affair between a woman of royal blood and a young low-born poet that seems to be moving towards an increasingly dark place.
Meanwhile, the entire palace is captivated by the Emperor's new pet - a tiger sent all the way from India.
Series 6
Yukinari is summoned to visit his old friend Takashi. Shonagon is confined in the palace
Lady Shonagon and Lieutenant Yukinari return! But this time, not together...
Despite her conviction that she is unable to bear children, Shonagon has fallen pregnant by Yukinari. She has gone into labour prematurely, and the process is as distasteful to her as the idea of being a mother is.
Meanwhile, Yukinari, believing the child to be due a month later has answered the summons of a childhood friend, Takashi. He arrives at the rural outpost where the two boys grew up to find his old friend much changed.
Series 7
Thriller and love story set in 10th-century Japan, inspired by the diary of Sei Shonagon, a court lady to the Empress Sadako. Yukinari takes the Emperor to see an underground cave sparkling with a thousand diamonds - but all is not as it seems when the stones crumble at the touch, and the caves are patrolled by a pack of wolves and a strange un-wolf-like leader.
Series 8
1) Lieutenant Yukinari's patience with the affairs and intrigues of the palace is reaching breaking point. On the Empress' command, the policeman finds himself interviewing a palace lord without any sense of the crime that may have been committed.
2) Lieutenant Yukinari turns renegade as he doggedly attempts to root out conspirators in the Palace, regardless of the consequences.
3) Yukinari finds himself unexpectedly thrown together with his oldest friend Takashi, a man who seems much changed since the two of them last met.
Meanwhile, within the Palace, Shonagon is determined to find out where Yukinari has gone and whether Lord Asaji may hold the key to the policeman's disappearance.
4) Shonagon investigates Yukinari's disappearance from the Palace. Meanwhile the Lieutenant finds himself held hostage by his childhood friend, Takashi, who - it appears - has been commissioned to deliver the Lieutenant's head to someone within the Palace walls.
5) Shonagon receives an invitation to visit Lord Asaji in his grotto. Meanwhile Takashi delivers the Lieutenant Yukinari's head, as he was commissioned to do.
Series 9
Shonagon and Yukinari find themselves finally alone in a small house in the country. Their solitude is interrupted by the death of the Empress’ father - a man who alone protects the Empress’ position at court. And if the position of the Empress is at risk, so too is the safety and security of Lady Shonagon herself.
Series 10
Following the Empress Teishi’s father’s death, a new Chancellor holds power in the Palace. He has ensured his daughter now occupies the throne, as Empress and First Consort to the Emperor.
1) Summoned to a meeting with the new Empress, Shonagon is visited by a disturbing vision.
2) Lady Shonagon has disgraced herself in front of the new Empress who has sent her spies out to investigate.
3) Shonagon begins to connect the visitations by her Empress Teishi with a story she was once told by a drunken, but earnest, Lord - about a living ghost.
4) Shonagon leaves the palace during a storm in an attempt to find some peace, but she is pursued by disturbing visions.
5) The storm is passing, so Lady Shonagon decides to revisit a game of her youth and wander the palace corridors at night. She intends to wander alone, but that is not to be.
Series 11
1) The new young empress has been on the throne for a year and the iron-fist of her rule is being felt by all within the palace. Meanwhile, Empress Teishi is in bed waiting to give birth and while the emperor waits fretfully outside, only Lady Shonagon is permitted to attend her.
2)Shonagon begs to be allowed to summon the midwife, while Shoshi enters Teishi's chamber uninvited and unannounced.
3)The Emperor breaks with all rules of palace etiquette to be with his beloved Empress Teishi.
4) The Emperor invites Shonagon to compose a list while they wait - a list of moments in the life of Lady Shonagon.
5) The Empress Teishi is dead - Empress Shoshi begins her devastating reforms in earnest.
Final Story
With the Empress Teishi dead, Lady Shonagon has been banished from the Imperial Palace and separated from her policeman. Under Imperial guard, she is sent back to her only remaining relative, her brother Takai.
But there has been no love lost between Shonagon and her brother since they were children, and Shonagon must set out once more on her own in search of her friend Saisho.
Meanwhile, the villain Ikiryo walks abroad, and no one is safe.
Principal Players:
Shonagon....Ruth Gemmell
Yukinari...Mark Bazeley/ Cal MacAninch/ Stuart McQuarrie
Produced and Directed by Lu Kemp
https://1drv.ms/f/s!ArrWZcg2lV80hySjuD1l8REtWFsx
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Replies
Thank you William! I've been meaning to try this series for some time. Nice to have it all in one place :)
Thanks!
William, I thank you very much for this promising series-sweet anticipation:-)