Celebrates the French drama of the seventeenth century. Regarded as a golden age for the genre, the period witnessed Racine perfecting the classical rules, Corneille breaking from the past and Molière caricaturing society rather than ignoring its vices. 'The Vices of Mankind' features extracts from seventeenth-century masterpieces Le Cid, L'Impromptu de Versailles and Tartuffe (performed in a specially reconstructed Tennis Court Theatre, in accordance with the series's strict emphasis on theatrical authenticity), in order to bring the history of French theatre to life.