Ana, la princesse d'Éboli, porte un cache-œil noir car, durant sa jeunesse et par accident elle est devenue borgne, lors d'un duel en défendant le roi Philippe II. Depuis cet incident, elle et le monarque maintiennent une profonde amitié et une passion qui ne se consommera jamais. Elle se marie avec un ministre du roi, le prince d'Éboli, mais devient vite veuve à la mort de ce dernier. Le roi fait appel à un roturier, Antonio Pérez, afin que celui-ci devienne le premier secrétaire en titre du monarque. Philippe II attend qu'Ana et Antonio deviennent amants pour créer un scandale à la Cour, maintenant des manigances permanentes au Palais Royal. Antonio est accusé du meurtre d'un secrétaire de Juan d'Autriche et est emprisonné. Ana se résiste à partir de Madrid et elle est également emprisonnée. Après un certain temps passé en détention, elle est enfermée dans son palais et surveillée en permanence. Cependant Antonio s'échappe et essaye de trouver la princesse afin de la convaincre de partir du pays avec son fils.
The Royal Navy is concerned about constant attacks on convoys by German submarines and having to keep "half the fleet" watching for the German battleship Tirpitz. The Tirpitz is 60 miles from the sea inside a Norwegian fjord and attempts by the Royal Air Force to sink her have failed. Commander Fraser (Mills) is determined to prove that an attack by human torpedoes is practical, despite scepticism from the higher echelons that such an operation would be feasible.
The British Rocket Group, headed by the taciturn Professor Bernard Quatermass, launches its first manned rocket into space. Shortly thereafter, all contact is lost with the rocket and its three crew: Carroon, Reichenheim, and Green. The large rocket later returns to Earth, crashing into an English country field.
British, French, Dutch and Polish Prisoners of War (POWs) (and some other nationalities), who have made escape attempts but been recaptured, are sent to Oflag IV-C, a supposedly secure castle in Saxony, in the heart of Germany during the Second World War. At first the different nationalities try to initiate their own plans until the senior British officer steps in and suggests co-operation between the different contingents. At first, the coordination fails because one of the prisoners is supplying information to the German guards. After he is discovered, plans remain secret and there follows a number of escapes; some successful, some not.
In the busy wholesale-retail world of London's East End everyone, it seems, has unattainable dreams. Then a small boy - Joe - buys a unicorn, in fact a sickly little goat, with just one twisted horn in the middle of its forehead. This, he has been led to believe by a local tailor, Kandinsky, will bring everyone good fortune.
In the early years of the Second World War, aeronautical engineer Barnes Wallis is struggling to develop a means of attacking Germany's dams in the hope of crippling German heavy industry. Working for the Ministry of Aircraft Production, as well as doing his own job at Vickers, he works feverishly to make practical his theory of a bouncing bomb which would skip over the water to avoid protective torpedo nets. When it came into contact with the dam, it would sink before exploding, making it much more destructive. Wallis calculates that the aircraft will have to fly extremely low (150 feet (46 m)) to enable the bombs to skip over the water correctly, but when he takes his conclusions to the Ministry, he is told that lack of production capacity means they cannot go ahead with his proposals.
Returning from a cricket match in Ireland, Peter Weston, an Englishman, is left a pet alligator by another passenger who abandons it to him. He is horrified and his first instinct is to get rid of it as soon as possible. However, he soon develops a bond with a young Irishwoman which appears to be centred almost entirely around the animal. He soon discovers that Daisy is very tame and domesticated, and seems to be the way to Moira's heart.
The story follows the fortunes of Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde), starting as a new medical student at the fictional St Swithin's Hospital in London. His five years of student life, involving drinking, dating women, and falling foul of the rigid hospital authorities, provide many humorous incidents.
In 1194, on his return from the Third Crusade, Richard the Lionheart is taken prisoner in Germany. Disguised as a troubadour, Robin Hood builds a plan to take out it of this tight spot. Unfortunately, he is captured. The Merry Men then have to fulfil a double mission: find Robin Hood and save the King.
Four friends go on a fishing trip but only three return. After an absence of four years, the fourth man, Philip Vickers, returns home an amnesiac. He tells of a "friend" who knocked him out, drugged him, and left him to die. Any one of the remaining men could be a suspect as Job Crandall, Bill Saul and Harry Bryce are all interested in Philip's attractive widow, Angie. Unfortunately, Philip's return coincides with a murder and he becomes the main suspect. Angie joins forces with her husband to help solve the mystery and clear his name.
Aged General O'Leary is fatally injured while trying to jump a wall with his horse. On his deathbed, the beloved old Irishman bequeaths £1000 each to his cousin and fellow landowner Major McGluskey and to Doctor Michael Flynn, and cancels all debts owed to him. The rest of the estate goes to a distant relative, Jasper O'Leary, who has never before set foot in the hamlet of Rathbarney.
Father Brown tries to transport an historically important cross to Rome engaging in battles of wits and faith with a thief and pursuing policeman. The thief, named Flambeau (Finch), is a master of disguise and is elusive, as Father Brown pursues him and tries to convince him to abandon his criminal career.
Willie Mossop (John Mills) is a gifted but unappreciated bootmaker employed by the tyrannical Henry Horatio Hobson (Charles Laughton) in his moderately upmarket shop in 1880s Salford in Lancashire. Hard-drinking widower Hobson has three daughters. Maggie (Brenda De Banzie) and her younger sisters Alice (Daphne Anderson) and Vicky (Prunella Scales) have worked in their father's establishment without wages and are eager to be married and free of the shop. Alice has been seeing Albert Prosser (Richard Wattis), a young up-and-coming solicitor, while Vicky prefers Freddy Beenstock (Derek Blomfield), the son of a respectable corn merchant. Hobson does not object to losing Alice and Vicky, but Maggie is far too useful to part with. To his friends, he mocks the plain, severe Maggie as a spinster "a bit on the ripe side" at 30 years of age.