HBO will, from April, feature legendary films showcasing main protagonists battling against all odds. The programme band is called Great Escapes.

On 3 April, Christopher Lambert stars in Fortress 2. The enemy of an ultra powerful corporation must break out of a maximum-security prison 26,000 miles away from Earth in space and make his way back home to save his wife and son in this sci-fi action thriller.

The Clint Eastwood classic Escape From Alcatraz airs on 10 April. Based on a true story, a group of prisoners escape from the infamous maximum-security prison.

Flight of a different kind is on display in Escape Under Pressure. Fleeing terrorists, a scholar and her daredevil husband find themselves trapped on a sinking ship and must find a way to get out in time. The film stars Rob Lowe, Larissa Miller and Craig Wasson and and airs on 17 April.

Escape From L.A. the sequel to the cult classic Escape from New York airs on 24 April. Set in 2013, a former Special Forces hero played by Kurt Russell is sent to bring back a valuable destruction device from L.A. The city has now become an island and a penal colony for America's undesirables.