In the household of a playwright in Ancient Rome, a slave helps his master to finish writing his latest opus. Little does the slave know that he has effectively conceived his own death.

A frustrated writer invents an elderly relative as an excuse to get time off work so that he can start work on his novel. When the doorbell rings and he comes to face-to-face with "Aunt Janet" he discovers that his lie has come to life.

An out of work actor agrees to take part in making an advert for tea in an isolated former Soviet-bloc country. Years later he returns to the country to discover that his character Sir Slurpington-Boots has become a national treasure.

In 1850, a man wakes from a long illness to find that he is being cared for by a group of strangers and a beautiful woman. If, as they insist, he is their guest why is he not allowed to leave the house.

Beth is contacted out-of-the-blue by a reclusive woman who has used Beth's picture on a dating website. Now she wants Beth to pose as her and go and meet the man she has formed a relationship with over the web.

In New York City in the 1940s, the baritone in a barbershop quartet unwittingly agrees to sell his soul to the devil to make sure that his group win in the national finals.

In London in 1910, an illusionist performs his famed "the lady vanishes" act. Only this time his assistant really has vanished without a trace. Has he actually acquired real magic powers?

A down on his luck man, a former aristocrat who squandered away his fortune, stumbles upon an old house with a mysterious inhabitant.