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Alan Yentob meets Douglas Stuart, the author of the Booker Prize-winning novel Shuggie Bain, which was based on Stuart’s own troubled upbringing amid poverty and addiction in 1980s Glasgow.
Alan Yentob follows acclaimed artist Sonia Boyce as she prepares to make history as the first black woman to represent Great Britain at the Venice Biennale.
Alan Yentob follows one of Britain’s best-loved writers: Malorie Blackman, former Children’s Laureate and the first children’s writer to win the prestigious Pen Pinter Prize. Bold, provocative and challenging, her books have plunged children’s literature into previously uncharted waters: her tragic reverse-racism novel Noughts and Crosses challenged assumptions and declared her a writer like no other. As she prepares to publish her long-awaited autobiography, Malorie discusses the key moments in her life that made her a writer.
Presenter Alan Yentob gains unique access to the extraordinary world of astonishing musician Jacob Collier. This 20-something year-old has managed to outdo the Beatles by winning Grammy Awards for each of his first four albums. As a virtuoso multi-instrumentalist, singer, and arranger, we meet the musicians Jacob has collaborated with including Stormzy, Chris Martin, and film composer Hans Zimmer.
Following the release of her autobiography, This Much Is True, actress Miriam Margolyes opens up to Alan Yentob about her career highs and her most vulnerable moments.
Alan Yentob profiles groundbreaking dance pioneer Wayne McGregor, the resident choreographer at the Royal Ballet, charting his ascent from childhood in 1970s Stockport.
Alan Yentob presents a film exploring the life and work of the Ivor Novello Award-winning black British singer-songwriter Labi Siffre.
Alan Yentob meets Marian Keyes to explore her incredible journey from hard-partying waitress to best-selling author and everything she's learned about life, love and storytelling.
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A revealing profile of the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, author of The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go, as he publishes his much-anticipated new book, Klara and the Sun.
Playwright Tom Stoppard tells Alan Yentob the extraordinary story of his life and his latest play, Leopoldstadt, in which he faces up to the pain and loss in his past.
Alan Yentob explores the remarkable life and work of the trailblazing Anglo-Nigerian writer Bernardine Evaristo, author of the Booker Prize-winning novel Girl, Woman, Other.
Alan Yentob explores the huge ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the UK's pioneering and world-renowned performing arts industry.
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Alan Yentob meets Lenny Henry as he publishes a first volume of autobiography, charting his early years in show business.
Performance artist Marina Abramovic invites Alan Yentob into her home, opens her archive, travels to her birthplace in Belgrade and talks about turning her life into art.
As the Young Vic celebrates its fiftieth anniversary, Alan Yentob meets its current artistic director, playwright and actor, Kwame Kwei-Armah, to discuss his life and career.
Alan Yentob meets choreographer and director Kate Prince as her ZooNation dance company embarks on a new West End production, Message in a Bottle.
Following the publication of his new memoir My Name Is Why, writer Lemn Sissay tells Alan Yentob what it was like to grow up as the only black child in a sleepy market town outside Wigan in the 1970s.
Remote cameras capture a lockdown concert performed by the Kanneh-Mason family from their home in Nottingham, with interviews with the seven musically gifted siblings.
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Following a ground-breaking arts intervention programme designed to change the course of the lives of young people from two east London estates.
Documentary following Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson and his studio in the run-up to his landmark exhibition, In Real Life, at Tate Modern.
Alan Yentob meets Harlem-born artist, author and activist Faith Ringgold as she prepares for her London show at the Serpentine Gallery.
Alan Yentob meets Irish novelist Edna O’Brien to discuss sex, books and a lifetime of defiance.
Charting the career of Bill Viola over 12 years, following him as he creates a permanent video installation for St Paul's Cathedral.
Alan Yentob looks into the life of comedian Jo Brand, marking a diverse career which began in 1980s stand-up comedy and has moved through writing, performing and presenting.
Alan Yentob follows celebrated young British playwright James Graham, whose award-winning works take audiences to the very heart of key political events.
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Andrea Levy's novel Small Island about the Windrush generation captured imaginations. imagine... finds out if the new adaptation of her book The Long Song follows suit.
A revealing insight into the life of Hollywood icon Cary Grant, featuring excerpts from his unpublished autobiography and newly discovered footage shot by Grant himself.
Artist Tracey Emin talks to Alan Yentob about her life, from her troubled early years in Margate to a series of breakthroughs in the 1990s.
Tracking the creation of celebrated composer Sir George Benjamin's latest opera Lessons in Love and Violence, which premiered at the Royal Opera House this year.
David Hockney undertakes a commission to design and install a stained-glass window in Westminster Abbey to commemorate the sixty-fifth year of Queen Elizabeth II's reign.
Alan Yentob joins Tacita Dean in her studio in Berlin to discover how the city has infused her work, and visits her in LA where she is completing a film inspired by her sister.
Alan Yentob meets Rose Wylie and delves into her curious and colourful world to discover how her memories and experiences have helped mould the artist that she is today.
Turkey's best-known writer, the Nobel Prize-winning Orhan Pamuk, glories in his city of Istanbul, showing Alan Yentob the places which have inspired his work.
The story of Rupert Everett's ten-year quest to write, direct and star in his own film about the tragic last years of his hero Oscar Wilde.
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Featuring exclusive access to their recent tour and their new album, this documentary reveals the fascinating world of Pet Shop Boys, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe.
imagine... profiles the UK’s most successful double act of the last 40 years, French & Saunders, exploring a brand of comedy based on satire, silliness and, above all, friendship.
imagine... tells the story of Aviva Studios, Manchester’s colossal new cultural venue, and goes behind the scenes at the world premiere of its opening production, Free Your Mind.
imagine… profiles Stephen Frears, acclaimed film director of Dangerous Liaisons and The Queen. Some say he’s grumpy, others that he’s mischievous. What drives this 81-year-old?
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Alan Yentob meets Douglas Stuart, the author of the Booker Prize-winning novel Shuggie Bain, which was based on Stuart’s own troubled upbringing amid poverty and addiction in 1980s Glasgow.
Alan Yentob follows acclaimed artist Sonia Boyce as she prepares to make history as the first black woman to represent Great Britain at the Venice Biennale.
As she prepares to publish her long-awaited autobiography, former children's laureate Malorie Blackman discusses the key moments in her life that made her a writer.
Alan Yentob meets virtuoso multi-instrumentalist, singer and arranger Jacob Collier, and hears from musicians Jacob has collaborated with, including Stormzy, Chris Martin and Hans Zimmer.
Following the release of her autobiography, This Much Is True, actress Miriam Margolyes opens up to Alan Yentob about her career highs and her most vulnerable moments.
Alan Yentob profiles dance pioneer Wayne McGregor, the resident choreographer at the Royal Ballet, charting his ascent from childhood in 1970s Stockport.
Alan Yentob presents a film exploring the life and work of the Ivor Novello Award-winning black British singer-songwriter Labi Siffre.
Alan Yentob meets Marian Keyes to explore her incredible journey from hard-partying waitress to best-selling author and everything she's learned about life, love and storytelling.
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Playwright Tom Stoppard tells Alan Yentob the extraordinary story of his life and his latest play, Leopoldstadt, in which he faces up to the pain and loss in his past.
Alan Yentob explores the remarkable life and work of the trailblazing Anglo-Nigerian writer Bernardine Evaristo, author of the Booker Prize-winning novel Girl, Woman, Other.
A revealing profile of the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, author of The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go, as he publishes his much-anticipated new book, Klara and the Sun.
Alan Yentob explores the huge ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the UK's pioneering and world-renowned performing arts industry.
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Performance artist Marina Abramovic invites Alan Yentob into her home, opens her archive, travels to her birthplace in Belgrade and talks about turning her life into art.
As the Young Vic celebrates its fiftieth anniversary, Alan Yentob meets its current artistic director, playwright and actor, Kwame Kwei-Armah, to discuss his life and career.
Alan Yentob meets choreographer and director Kate Prince as her ZooNation dance company embarks on a new West End production, Message in a Bottle.
Following the publication of his new memoir My Name Is Why, writer Lemn Sissay tells Alan Yentob what it was like to grow up as the only black child in a sleepy market town outside Wigan in the 1970s.
Remote cameras capture a lockdown concert performed by the Kanneh-Mason family from their home in Nottingham, with interviews with the seven musically gifted siblings.
Alan Yentob meets Lenny Henry as he publishes a first volume of autobiography, charting his early years in show business.
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Following a ground-breaking arts intervention programme designed to change the course of the lives of young people from two east London estates.
Documentary following Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson and his studio in the run-up to his landmark exhibition, In Real Life, at Tate Modern.
Alan Yentob meets Harlem-born artist, author and activist Faith Ringgold as she prepares for her London show at the Serpentine Gallery.
Alan Yentob meets Irish novelist Edna O’Brien to discuss sex, books and a lifetime of defiance.
Charting the career of Bill Viola over 12 years, following him as he creates a permanent video installation for St Paul's Cathedral.
Alan Yentob looks into the life of comedian Jo Brand, marking a diverse career which began in 1980s stand-up comedy and has moved through writing, performing and presenting.
Alan Yentob follows celebrated young British playwright James Graham, whose award-winning works take audiences to the very heart of key political events.
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Andrea Levy's novel Small Island about the Windrush generation captured imaginations. imagine... finds out if the new adaptation of her book The Long Song follows suit.
A revealing insight into the life of Hollywood icon Cary Grant, featuring excerpts from his unpublished autobiography and newly discovered footage shot by Grant himself.
Artist Tracey Emin talks to Alan Yentob about her life, from her troubled early years in Margate to a series of breakthroughs in the 1990s. Show more
The programme tracks the creation of celebrated composer Sir George Benjamin's latest opera Lessons in Love and Violence, which premiered at the Royal Opera House this year.
David Hockney undertakes a commission to design and install a stained-glass window in Westminster Abbey to commemorate the sixty-fifth year of Queen Elizabeth II's reign.
Alan Yentob joins Tacita Dean in her studio in Berlin to discover how the city has infused her work, and visits her in LA where she is completing a film inspired by her sister.
Alan Yentob meets Rose Wylie and delves into her curious and colourful world to discover how her memories and experiences have helped mould the artist that she is today.
Turkey's best-known writer, the Nobel Prize-winning Orhan Pamuk, glories in his city of Istanbul, showing Alan Yentob the places which have inspired his work.
The story of Rupert Everett's ten-year quest to write, direct and star in his own film about the tragic last years of his hero Oscar Wilde.
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he citizens of Cuba tell how the young revolutionaries of the 60s put their dreams into practice and set about building a brave new socialist world on America's doorstep.
Two-part film capturing the mood of Havana and its people, the Habaneros, at a pivotal moment in time. They share their experience of life in this extraordinary city.
Alan Yentob talks to Andrew Lloyd Webber about his autobiography, bohemian childhood and the memories he has chosen to reveal.
Documentary exploring Ingrid Bergman's journey from Swedish schoolgirl to Hollywood icon, using her archives of home movie footage, private diaries and letters.
Alan Yentob spends time with Philip Pullman in Oxford, discovering how the ex-teacher became an acclaimed author of fantasy fiction and an outspoken critic of organised religion.
With the aid of the BBC archive, Alan Yentob and Mel Brooks embark on an unpredictable journey through the city of stars, meeting the legendary Carl Reiner along the way.
A profile of English artist Rachel Whiteread. Alan Yentob visits Rachel in her studio and revisits her most acclaimed and controversial work, House.
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Alan Yentob meets Cameron Mackintosh to discover how he became the most successful man in the musical theatre business and changed the face of musical theatre across the globe.
Alan Yentob meets acclaimed writer Margaret Atwood in Toronto and discovers how a childhood spent between the Canadian wilderness and the city helped shape her.
An unflinching and uncompromising portrait of one of the most controversial photographers.
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Alan Yentob follows the celebrated Turner Prize-winning British artist Chris Ofili as he creates a spectacular contemporary tapestry - The Caged Bird's Song.
A portrait of a remarkable American artist. Alice Neel was an extraordinary and prolific figurative painter, and yet she spent most of her life working in obscurity.
Documentary celebrating the life and work of activist, poet and writer Maya Angelou, using film captured just before she died in 2014.
The author Nawal El Saadawi was a global legend. imagine... visited her in Cairo and travels with her to the village where she was born.
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An emotive and vivid portrayal of a man and actor who was by turns tremendously talented, tenacious and tormented. Featuring Marlon Brando's own audio tapes and home movie footage.
Maurizio Cattelan's work has bordered on criminal activity and regularly defies good taste. Maura Axelrod's film builds a compelling and intimate portrait of an enigmatic figure.
Alan Yentob explores the enthralling world of female crime fiction in the company of some of its best-selling authors, including Patricia Cornwell, Val McDermid and Paula Hawkins.
Alan Yentob joins South African artist William Kentridge as he prepares an epic frieze along the banks of the River Tiber in Rome.
Alan Yentob accompanies novelist Marlon James back to James's home country of Jamaica and finds in his novels a complex portrait of the turbulent history of his native country.
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Sir Rod Stewart has had a remarkable musical journey. Alan Yentob visits Rod at his homes and examines an entertaining career across five decades.
Thirty years after her death, to coincide with a major Tate Modern show, imagine... tells the story of Georgia O'Keeffe, one of the most inspiring artists ever.
Alan Yentob follows sculptor Cornelia Parker's creative process in a film that sees her delve deep into America's history, cinema and art, as well as her own personal past.
Alan Yentob tells the story of London's Olympic Opening Ceremony as seen through the eyes of its artistic director Danny Boyle and his creative team.
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Imagine follows Cuban ballet superstar Carlos Acosta as he masterminds a new production of Carmen for the Royal Ballet before embarking on a series of new projects in Cuba.
Alan Yentob talks to British architect David Chipperfield about his breakthrough in Berlin, his love of the city and the 11 years spent on the transformation of the Neues Museum.
Julien Temple updates the remarkable story of Dr Feelgood musician Wilko Johnson. Reflecting on his impending death, Johnson muses on the transformative power of mortality.
The story of British theatre and film producer Michael White who has produced over 300 shows including hits such as A Chorus Line, Sleuth and The Rocky Horror Show.
Imagine meets those involved with the stage production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and discovers how it has transformed the public's perception of autism.
Alan Yentob meets sculptor Antony Gormley, creator of the iconic Angel of the North, and uncovers the influences that have shaped his life and work.
Alan Yentob travels to the ghetto in Venice with award-winning novelist Howard Jacobson as he embarks on a retelling of Shakespeare's most performed play, The Merchant of Venice.
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2014 Man Booker Prize winner Richard Flanagan journeys with Alan Yentob through his native Tasmania, visiting the places that have inspired his novels.
Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison, America's first lady of literature, talks to Alan Yentob about her life and work. Contributors include Angela Davis and singer Jessye Norman.
Jay Bulger catches up with the irascible Cream drummer Ginger Baker at his ranch in South Africa. He reflects on his sixty-year career that led him to sellout stadium concerts.
As Jeff Koons' first retrospective takes over the Whitney Museum in New York and the Pompidou in Paris, imagine... asks what lies beneath the shiny surfaces.
Alan Yentob explores the colourful career of architect Frank Gehry, one of the world's most celebrated and famously provocative creative forces.
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Alan Yentob talks to acclaimed and curiously divided Irish writer Colm Toibin. Loud and affable in person, Toibin writes sombre stories of grief and quiet heartbreak.
Director Mike Leigh talks to Alan Yentob about his unique body of work and struggle to make films on his own terms. Actors he has worked with discuss his distinctive methods.
Alan Yentob joins Anselm Kiefer at his studios in France and Germany as he prepares for a retrospective at the Royal Academy.
imagine... presents this UK television debut of a tour de force from the Divine Miss M. Bette Midler performs many of her biggest hits including The Rose and Wind Beneath My Wings.
Alan Yentob joins Bette Midler on a journey through the chorus lines of Broadway and the bathhouses and nightclubs of the 1970s to the very top of the film industry.
Second episode of a two-part special documentary about a secret hoard of art discovered in Germany. The rightful owners begin the uphill struggle of reclaiming their property.
Two-part special documentary telling the story of a hoard of art that was hidden during the Third Reich as it was deemed 'degenerate' by the Nazis.
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Alan Yentob meets the five surviving members of Monty Python - John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam and Eric Idle - as they prepare to reunite on stage.
Alan Yentob talks to author Philip Roth about his exploration of some of the great themes of the American century, including civil rights, McCarthyism and the Vietnam war.
Hailed by many as America's greatest living writer, Philip Roth, in conversation with Alan Yentob, is ready to tell the whole story in this special two-part film.
As Brazil prepares to host the Fifa World Cup this summer and the Olympic Games in 2016, imagine... explores the cultural and social history of the city of Rio de Janeiro.
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Marking the 500th anniversary of Machiavelli's book The Prince, which has been a manual for tyrants from Napoleon to Stalin. Featuring performances from Peter Capaldi.
Documentary telling the story of Judith Kerr, creator of well-loved children's books including Mog and The Tiger Who Came to Tea. Now 90, she revisits her childhood home of Berlin.
Alan Yentob explores outsider art, examines why the oeuvre is only now being accepted by the art establishment and meets some visionary outside art creators and their enthusiasts.
Alan Yentob looks at the unique role Jews have played in creating the modern American musical, from Porgy and Bess to West Side Story and Cabaret.
Documentary following bestselling author Edmund de Waal over the course of a remarkable year, as he exhibits his pottery work for the first time and researches his next book.
The story of how a shy, former private in the 101st Airborne - Jimi Hendrix - became the greatest rock guitarist of all time, using never-before-seen performance footage.
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To mark David Bowie's comeback album and a new exhibition, Alan Yentob looks back at his 1975 documentary, Cracked Actor. The film follows Bowie during the 1974 Diamond Dogs tour.
Documentary, directed by and starring Beyoncé Knowles, giving an insight into the life of the 16-time Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, actress, wife and mother.
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lan Yentob charts the career of choreographer Matthew Bourne, and takes an exclusive look at preparations for his reinterpretation of Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty.
Nearly 30 years after her debut novel, Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, Jeanette Winterson returns with Alan Yentob to the scenes of her extraordinary childhood in Lancashire.
People often turn to music when words are not enough. Alan Yentob talks to musicians including Emeli Sande and Laurie Anderson about the emotional power of music.
William Klein is one of the world's most influential photographers; imagine... spends time with him to discover the personality behind a remarkable creative life.
The pianist performs Chopin and Beethoven at Latitude, Carnegie Hall and the Royal Albert Hall.
From child prodigy to global phenomenon, Alan Yentob reveals the extraordinary life of Lang Lang, China's classical music superstar.
Crime writer Ian Rankin invites imagine... to follow him as he writes his next novel, and as he ponders what to write about after retiring his most famous creation.
Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, tells for the first time the inside story of how it felt to be condemned to death by the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989.
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Alan Yentob meets the all-star creative team who are transforming mythological paintings of the goddess Diana into contemporary dance.
Alan Yentob meets some Turner Prize-winning artists to recount how Glasgow became a city as famed for its contemporary art as it once was for its shipbuilding.
Alan Yentob delves into the world of falsetto singing, the high-pitched vocal range sung by men that comes closer to the female voice.
Did Paul Simon's unique collaboration with South Africa's township musicians set back the clock of South African liberation or drive it forward?
From rehearsal room to triumphant performance, Imagine... follows the theatrical production of The Two Worlds of Charlie F, featuring professional front-line soldiers.
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Documentary on the art of stand-up comedy. Alan Yentob talks to comedians in Britain and America, exploring the evolution of stand-up and how it transfers to other mediums.
Alan Yentob presents the first of a two-part series on the art of stand-up comedy. He talks to comedians in Britain and America, exploring their backgrounds and influences.
Will the rise of electronic books mark the final chapter in the love story between traditional books and their readers? Alan Yentob discusses the subject with a host of writers.
The arts series takes a road trip round the desert state of Rajasthan, meeting musicians whose existence is under threat, including Bhopa bards and Gypsy dancers.
Craig Teper's film charts the career of Vidal Sassoon, the man who invented the bob-cut and created one of the world's most recognisable beauty brands
Imagine sets out to discover why playwright Sir Alan Ayckbourn is so popular, and a chorus of distinguished fans explain why he must be recognised as one of the great dramatists.
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel talk openly and eloquently about an extraordinarily creative period in their career - the making of Bridge Over Troubled Water.
Over two years Grayson Perry creates his most ambitious show at the British Museum, incorporating museum exhibits and 25 new works of art.
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With Iraq having a presence at the Venice Biennale for the first time since Saddam Hussein's rise to power, Imagine follows the chosen artists ahead of the show.
Alan Yentob introduces John Scheinfeld's documentary, which tells the story of the riotous life and music of Harry Nilsson, a friend and hero of John Lennon's.
Alan Yentob introduces Michael Epstein's film uncovering John Lennon and Yoko Ono's move to New York City, as Lennon sought to escape the mayhem of the Beatles era.
Alan Yentob visits Egypt's National Museum, possibly the most precious museum in the world, which stood at the centre of the action during the revolution on Cairo's Tahrir Square.
Alan Yentob meets clinical neurologist Dr Oliver Sacks. Through fascinating case studies, the film explores how humans see, not just with their eyes, but also with the mind.
Alan Yentob follows Tolstoy through the tortured second half of his life as he transformed from aristocrat to anarchist and turned his back on his wife.
Alan Yentob journeys through Tolstoy's Russia, examining how the country's great novelist became its great troublemaker, first looking back at his youth.
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Alan Yentob meets Ray Davies, the creative powerhouse behind The Kinks and author of some of the best-loved songs of the 60s, who candidly discusses the vicissitudes of his career.
Alan Yentob learns what links Radio 4 soap The Archers with Ben-Hur, one of the most epic Hollywood blockbusters of all time.
Bruce Springsteen describes his attempts to create a sequel to one of the most popular albums of all time.
A portrait of the pioneering forefather of cinema Eadweard Muybridge, whose work astounded audiences worldwide.
Leon Gast follows the world's first paparazzi photographer, Ron Galella, as he revisits his old haunts and recalls his encounters with the stars.
Alan Yentob reveals how Chinese artist Ai Weiwei continues to fight for artistic freedom of expression.
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Alan Yentob examines the extraordinary story of one of Britain's most recognisable pop icons, Sir Tom Jones. In a frank and revealing interview, Sir Tom describes his rise to fame.
Alan Yentob meets Diana Athill, who became a celebrity in her 90s thanks to her frank and entertaining memoirs which chart a life less ordinary.
Alan Yentob considers the influence of play with some leading British artists, including Tracey Emin, Grayson Perry, Marc Quinn, Gavin Turk and David Bailey.
Nigel Kennedy now lives in Poland, where he fronts an all-Polish jazz band. Alan Yentob follows him as he explores the rich musical traditions of his adopted homeland.
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The story of the making of The Rolling Stones' acclaimed 1972 album Exile on Main Street. Facing huge unpaid tax bills, the band fled to a crazy and chaotic French Riviera life.
Award-winning drama-documentary, presented by Alan Yentob, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role as Van Gogh, using dialogue sourced from the artist's letters to his brother.
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Scrabble is experiencing a renaissance. The younger generation have rediscovered the game online - through the copyright busting Scrabulous - and they're having night after night on the tiles. LANA BOTNEY sets out to discover why the word game leaves us spellbound, tracing its surprising history, meeting the American tournament Word Freaks, and paying a visit to the SAS-style training camp that the Nigerian government trains their players at. With triple word score contributions from Moby, Richard Herring, Lynn Barber and Noreena Hertz.
He has performed in 3,400 performances in over 130 roles, conducted upwards of 450 performances, and is general director of both the Washington National and Los Angeles Operas. Placido Domingo is at the peak of opera, and now at the age of 68, he has embarked on a role he has long dreamed of performing - Simon Boccanegra - his first as baritone in an opera. Exploring with him his astonishing career as a tenor leading up to this moment, the film looks back at his most famous opera roles and examines how Domingo won BBC Music Magazine's title of Greatest Singer in History.
The American singer-songwriter Joan Baez talks, more candidly then ever, about her personal life and a career spanning 50 years. Political ally to Martin Luther King, lover to Bob Dylan, she was the most admired and desired performer of her generation, using her unique voice to get her message of peace and racial equality heard around the world. Baez tells about her unconventional upbringing with Quaker parents, her near-breakdown due to stage fright, and her complicated relationships with lover Dylan, husband David Harris and son Gabe. Admirers David Crosby, Steve Earle, Bob Dylan and Jesse Jackson talk about her uncontested status as Queen of Folk and tireless champion for human rights.
There is a new breed of art collector on the block. No longer do you need to be fabulously wealthy to afford a Blake, a Banksy or a Hockney over your fireplace. Imagine meets a variety of people who are part of a small revolution in the art world. A factory worker, a pig farmer and a policeman are just some of those whose lives have been changed by an Arts Council scheme called Own Art, which has enabled them to take out an interest free loan to buy contemporary artwork.
Alan Yentob gains an insight into the creative world of Dame Shirley Bassey in a programme first shown in 2009. After a triumphant Glastonbury appearance and a major illness at the age of 72, Dame Shirley tentatively re-enters the ring to confront her life in song. Some of the best contemporary songwriters, including Gary Barlow, the Pet Shop Boys, Manic Street Preachers, Rufus Wainwright, Richard Hawley and KT Tunstall, along with James Bond composer John Barry and lyricist Don Black, have interpreted her life through song for an album produced by David Arnold. The songs frame and explore the myth of Shirley Bassey, the girl from Tiger Bay, and the voice and the desire are not found wanting. A backstory profiling Shirley, complete with archive of her greatest performances, tells the story of what makes her the living legend that she is today.
Anish Kapoor is one of the most influential sculptors of his generation, known for works of staggering complexity and scale. He now faces his biggest challenge yet as the first living British artist to have a solo show occupying the entire Royal Academy gallery. His response is a series of audacious installations. With exclusive access to his studio, Alan Yentob follows him through a period of intense productivity. Kapoor talks candidly about his childhood in India, his early years as an artist and his creative process. An insight into one of Britain's most accomplished and popular sculptors.
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In times like these, what is art worth? And what is art for? The big moment for publicly funded art in Britain was the Second World War. "Something absolutely remarkable happened during the war", says actor Simon Callow. "The theatre suddenly was right at the heart of society." After the war, the idea of "art for all" led to the founding of the Arts Council - "very much a response to the distress, the fear, the uncertainty of war." Alan Yentob asks if culture can play that role again today.
The Great Depression and the Second World War changed what was expected of the arts; Alan Yentob asks if this recession could see the next transformation. Artist Chuck Close talks about the New Deal in America in the 30s, when the government paid artists to work, while actor Simon Callow tells how thrilled actors were to feel their work mattered. And dealer Kenny Schachter explains how, in a perverse way, he feels this recession is the best thing that has happened to the art world in ten years.
William Eggleston is one of the most influential and original photographers alive today. A Mississippi aristocrat with a fondness for guns, drink and women, he dragged colour into the world of art photography. Reviled in the 1970s, he is now considered a legend whose unique visual style has influenced generations of photographers and filmmakers. Imagine shows the normally shy and elusive Eggleston at work - taking photographs on the road, in and around his home town of Memphis.
Alan Yentob explores the rapid rise of one of modern music's most mercurial talents, Rufus Wainwright. Wainwright talks candidly about his background, his family of musical luminaries (father Loudon Wainwright III, mother Kate McGarrigle and sister Martha Wainwright), his troubled personal history with drugs and the tensions that have informed his music. The film also follows his journey into the classical world as he creates his very first opera, Prima Donna.
Filmed over three years with unprecedented access, this documentary captures the return from California of England's favourite living artist. As Hockney approaches the age of 70, he re-invents his painting from scratch, working through the seasons and in all weathers out in the Yorkshire countryside, ending up with the largest picture ever made outdoors. It is at once the story of an unusual homecoming and also an intimate portrait of what inspires Hockney as his time runs out.
At an age when most people are content to take it easy, one group of pensioners have taken up contemporary dance for the first time. Alan Yentob follows them on their journey as they prepare to perform at Sadler's Wells, one of the top dance venues in the world. Save the Last Dance for Me challenges people's preconceptions about the physical and creative abilities of the over sixties.
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Rock doc Heavy Metal in Baghdad follows the struggles of Iraq's one and only metal band, Acrassicauda, and tells its own story about the horror of daily life in the war-torn city. Following the documentary's limited cinema release Imagine presents an edited down version of that film, then picks up the story as the four band members have fled Iraq and are attempting to re-form their band in the West. Lost in a nightmare of bureaucracy, the four young musicians hold onto their dream, which is simply to play their music.
Sculptor and giant of modern art Richard Serra discusses his extraordinary life and work. A creator of enormous, immediately identifiable steel sculptures that both terrify and mesmerise, Serra believes that each viewer creates the sculpture for themselves by being within it. To this end, a Japanese family are reminded of the Temples of Kyoto, a Londoner finds sanctuary in the Serra near Liverpool Street station, and most movingly, a Holocaust survivor sees one piece as a wall separating the living from the dead.
The Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, which caused a sensation at last year's Proms, is the product of an extraordinary music education system that has been running for more than 30 years. Children as young as two get intensive music lessons designed to steer them away from the dangers of the street. With Scotland now trying its own version of the scheme, Alan Yentob investigates the phenomenon and meets its most successful graduate, 27-year-old conductor Gustavo Dudamel, who next year becomes music director of the LA Philharmonic.
Alan Yentob meets artists who use light as both the source and inspiration for their work, including American James Turrell.
Alan Yentob explores the life and work of Jay-Z, following the rapper over a period of six months.
Alan Yentob embarks on a quest to find out what makes a great love story in literature, film or song. Among those offering their help in this labour of love are author Jeffrey Eugenides and lyricist Hal David.
In the final programme of the series the guitarists talk about how they find their own sound, and how the guitar has changed their lives. Since its invention, the electric guitar has unleashed a seemingly inexhaustible sonic invention among guitarists. Featuring Muse's Matt Bellamy, who turns out to be following in his father's space age footsteps, Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath, who talks about the invention of heavy metal, David Gilmour from Pink Floyd, Pete Townshend (Perhaps equally famous for smashing guitars), Johnny Marr from the Smiths on 'the mother of all riffs', Slash and The Edge from U2 among many others.
Following British-Bangladeshi choreographer Akram Khan as he takes the risk of his life. He has just months to teach Oscar-winning French actress Juliette Binoche to dance. She must also be confident enough to perform with her teacher in front of the National Theatre's discerning audience. Akram, for his part, will attempt to learn to act. Interviewees include Juliette Binoche, Sylvie Guillem, Joseph Fiennes, Antony Gormley, Nitin Sawhney and Anish Kapoor.
Alan Yentob presents a three-part series examining how the guitar became the world's favourite musical instrument. As the guitar turns electric, music is changed for ever. The world's first electric guitar had nothing to do with jazz or blues, but Hawaiian-style music and was known as the 'frying pan'. Yentob continues his investigation from the blues of the Mississippi to the guitar wars of the 1950s, when the Fender Stratocaster and the Gibson Les Paul were battling for supremacy.
Alan Yentob embarks on a three-part personal journey to discover how the guitar became the world's favourite musical instrument. Beginning with the rise of the acoustic guitar, the series takes him from an ancient Middle Eastern ancestor of the lute, to the iconic guitars draped round the necks of Bill Hailey and Elvis Presley and beyond. Featuring interviews with Bert Weedon - the man who taught Britain to 'Play in a Day', Pete Townshend, Bill Bailey, flamenco player Paco Pena and classical guitarist John Williams.
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Alan Yentob looks at the work of Anthony Minghella, the celebrated Oscar-winning director of The English Patient and The Talented Mr Ripley, who died suddenly in March. Minghella was a much-loved figure whose talents also embraced the worlds of opera, theatre and television. Those who worked with him and knew him best join the show to pay tribute. They include Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Alan Rickman and Ralph Fiennes.
Alan Yentob interviews German film director Werner Herzog, the uncompromising, often visionary director of more than 40 documentary and feature films including Rescue Dawn, Grizzly Man, Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre, Wrath of God. Herzog's back catalogue is littered with tales of casts, crews and studios tested to the extremes by his determination to capture the “real truth” on film.
Alan Yentob takes a jazz-fuelled tour of Japan to discover more about the often surreal work of reclusive bestselling novelist Haruki Murakami. En route, he meets some of the writer's fans and critics, and even a talking cat.
This compelling record of the Berlin Philharmonic during a concert tour of Asia proves as much an inner journey as an outer one, as musicans and their conductor Simon Rattle reflect on subjects such as the orchestra's organisation and traditions; its distinctive sound; life on the road; the demands of performance; and the effects of age on technique. As eloquent as these musings are the performances of Richard Strauss 's Ein Heldenleben and Thomas Ades 's Asyla to rapt audiences in Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo and beyond.
Alan Yentob explores the rapid rise of one of modern music's most mercurial talents, Rufus Wainwright. Wainwright talks candidly about his background, his family of musical luminaries - father Loudon Wainwright III, mother Kate McGarrigle and sister Martha Wainwright - his troubled personal history with drugs and the tensions that have informed his music. The film also follows his journey into the classical world as he creates his very first opera, Prima Donna.
Alan Yentob meets some of the people with strange musical disorders and powers who feature in Dr Oliver Sack 's book Musicophilia, which explores the extraordinary relationship between music and the brain. Among them are Tony Circoria , who developed an instant passion for playing the piano after he was struck by lightning, and Matt Giordano , who alleviates his Tourette syndrome by drumming.
Alan Yentob meets the 88-year-old winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature, with whom he explores the influence of her African upbringing, her extraordinarily varied life, and her lifelong struggle with her mother, with whom she seeks to come to terms in her latest book.
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The acclaimed industrial designer discusses his inspirations.
Alan Yentob traces the career of Richard Rogers, uncovering the influences that have produced some of the greatest landmarks in modern architecture.
Alan Yentob investigates the appeal of self-help books starting with an examination of the latest bestseller, The Secret.
Armed with 5,000 pounds of his own money to spend on art, Alan Yentob immerses himself in the frenzied fun of Frieze Art Fair week in London's Regent Park. He meets artists, dealers and collectors to investigate what is driving the current creative and sales boom in contemporary art, and also to find out what hot tips they can offer a novice collector.
Alan Yentob presents a profile of the provocative French-born American artist Louise Bourgeois, who was still producing cutting edge work at the age of 95.
As the popular typeface celebrates its 50th birthday, Imagine screens a shorter version of the witty film by Gary Hustwit about the history of the Swiss-designed “Kate Moss of fonts”.
Investigation into the profound impact music can have on the human brain. Alan Yentob investigates case studies from neurologist Dr Oliver Sacks' latest book Musicophillia, including a man who developed a passion for piano playing after being struck by lightning and a man whose severe Tourettes disappears when he plays the drums.
New series of the documentary strand. Profile of 88-year-old author and winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature, Doris Lessing. Alan Yentob meets Doris to discuss her literary output as well as her work with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. They also talk about her communist beliefs and how they help shape her books.
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Surrealism has been described as one of the most successful revolutions of the 20th century, a revolution in perception that broke down the barriers between the world of dreams and the world of everyday reality. Its influence can be felt everywhere, in design and architecture, fashion and furniture, cinema and advertising. Even so, Surrealism is disdained by most contemporary artists, its ambitions regarded as overblown, its ideas out-moded and its greatest artists, like Magritte and Dali, dismissed as poster-art for teenage bedrooms.
Alan Yentob tells the story of Scott Walker, who was one of the all time great voices of pop, and then disappeared. This is the story of one of the enigmas of modern music, who has influenced a huge range of artists from David Bowie to Lulu to Radiohead, told through his ever-changing music.
Alan Yentob tells the story of the struggle by 90-year-old Maria Altmann to recover five Gustav Klimt paintings stolen from her family by the Nazis in 1938 and which have hung in the Austrian National Gallery ever since. It chronicles Maria's early life in glittering fin-de-siecle Vienna, her escape from Nazi terror and her fight to recover the Klimts against all the odds, which takes her to the US Supreme Court and pits her not just against Austria, but also against the Bush administration.
Arts series presented by Alan Yentob. Over the last 40 years, British artists Gilbert and George have fascinated, outraged, delighted and confounded the art establishment. Since their first appearance as 'living sculptures' in the late 1960s, their work has persistently taken a provocative, often uncomfortable look at both their own lives and the life of the city that continues to inspire their art - London. Alan is invited into their East End home, where the couple have lived together for four decades, for an intimate look at what is the most unique, productive and long-standing partnership in contemporary art.
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Alan Yentob celebrates the 70th anniversary of the world's first scheduled high-definition television service, by the BBC from Alexandra Palace in 1936. He take some of the pioneering engineers and on-screen talent back to the studios to see what they can remember of TV's early days - from Picture Page to Muffin the Mule to the first news programme and the potter's wheel 'interlude'. Plus, some amazing archive footage and the Queen's 1953 coronation, the event that single-handedly changed how people viewed the fledgling TV service.
Alan Yentob journeys into the world wide web to find out how it began, who's out there, and where it's taking us. He meets Tim Berners Lee, the inventor of the web, and explores how Lee's creativity has fuelled the creativity of millions of others - such as Dandy blogger Dickon Edwards and sex blogger Abby Lee, the hardcore members of the Arctic Monkeys message board, masked animator David Firth, and Ewan Macdonald, the young Scot who wrote the millionth entry in Wikipedia.
Alan Yentob is granted an audience in the dressing rooms of some of the great operatic divas of today, from Angela Gheorghiu and Renee Fleming to Kiri Te Kanawa and Frederica von Stade. He explores what it takes to survive and succeed in this ultra-competitive world, for both stars and newcomers, and asks if these singers still need to be divas - in the modern sense of the word - to get to the top in this business.
Documentary which tells the stories of five people who spend their days guarding great treasures in museums and galleries. Some have tragic personal stories, and all began not caring or knowing much about art, but they feel that spending their days surrounded by the world's greatest masterpieces has been their salvation.
Something interesting seems to be happening in American cinema, with a new group of maverick American directors led by Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino having emerged to revitalise Hollywood. They include directors such as Wes Anderson, Alexander Payne and David O Russell. Alan Yentob meets them and asks how they managed to radicalise American cinema with Hollywood backing.
Alan Yentob presents a documentary about Jeremy Weller's attempts to get his play The Foolish Young Man ready in time for the reopening of Camden's Roundhouse theatre. His main problem is that he has only one actor, David Harewood, on his team. The rest of the cast is made up of young people from the streets, drop-in centres, those excluded from school and kicked out of home.
Imagine presents a portrait of the artist regarded by many as the greatest painter of all time. Court painter to Philip IV of Spain, Velazquez is the artist other painters most admire, and his masterpiece, Las Meninas is considered the high point of European Art - yet he virtually abandoned his art for material gain and social ambition.
To coincide with the publication of upcoming sequel Peter Pan in Scarlet, Alan Yentob presents a documentary which explores why JM Barrie's character has such lasting power and mythical status and looks at the secret behind its eternal appeal. He goes in search of the real JM Barrie, visiting the remote Scottish island of Eilean Shona, his home town of Kirriemuir near Dundee, Black Lake in Surrey where Barrie played, and Kensington Gardens, where Peter Pan was born.
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Alan Yentob presents a profile of painter Howard Hodgkin. Despite being one of Britain's most successful living artists, he doesn't like talking about his work and no one has seen him paint for over 20 years. With a major retrospective coming up at Tate Britain, he travels with Yentob to India, which has been described as his emotional lifeline. They seek out some of the great monuments of the Mogul empire, visit Hodgkin's huge mural in New Delhi, and go in search of the perfect Bombay sunset.
Alan Yentob presents a documentary profiling Thomas Heatherwick, most famous as the creator of the enormous sculpture The B of the Bang in Manchester. Heatherwick has established himself as one of the most exciting and innovative figures in British design. Described as a new Leonardo, he has turned his talents to everything from artworks and architecture to extraordinary feats of engineering and an ingenious handbag.
Alan Yentob presents a documentary telling the story of Yusuf Islam - the singer/songwriter who captured the hearts of a generation in the 60s and 70s with songs like Moon Shadow and Morning Has Broken under the name Cat Stevens.
Alan Yentob follows Welsh actor Wayne Cater and three other Hamlet hopefuls as they prepare for a Shakespeare role that has become a rite of passage for all who have taken it on. With advice and support from ex-Hamlets Ralph Fiennes, Derek Jacobi, David Warner, Jonathan Pryce and Simon Russell Beale.
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Self-confessed chair addict Alan Yentob encounters a vast range of his objects of desire in this whimsical journey through the changing styles of the modern chair - a furniture item intimately and inextricably intertwined with the physicality of our everyday lives, whose look has been transformed over the centuries by designers such as Le Corbusier and Terence Conran , from hand-crafted descendants of royal thrones to wipe-clean plastic garden chairs.
Critics say the British sitcom is dead by virtue of its middle-aged, middle-class “appeal”. Why then are our finest comic writers and performers making prize-winning shows? As he talks to Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Armando Iannucci, Graham Linehan and Chris Langham - and makes a surprise entrance on My Family - Alan Yentob finds the genre in rude health.
The joy of some collectors at owning what they believed to be genuine Andy Warhol works has been ruined by the artist's authentication board's declaring them fake. They speak of their disillusionment here as Alan Yentob visits New York to investigate acquiring art by the “Pope of Pop”, while Warhol collaborators reveal his unusual working methods.
Could New Orleans's days as a great musical powerhouse be coming to an end? As Alan Yentob traces the city's vast musical heritage, he meets musicians who have lived and worked there all their lives and are determined to return despite the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. With contributions from Paul McCartney, Dr John, Jools Holland and Elvis Costello.
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Can art change lives? Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra believe so - but can they convince 250 underprivileged teenagers from suburban Berlin? The aim is to stage Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, and Royston Maldoom is the British choreographer who must persuade the reluctant youngsters to get their steps up to performance standard.
As a child, portrait painter Chuck Close was written off as a failure because his dyslexia remained undiagnosed. Then, in 1988, he was partially paralysed by a stroke. Undaunted by these hardships, he continued to paint and his latest work is on display at London's National Portrait Gallery. Alan Yentob meets the American artist in New York.
Alan Yentob presents a portrait of Israel's most celebrated writer and political commentator, Amos Oz, whose childhood memoir A Tale of Love and Darkness gives an eyewitness account of the birth of Israel. Yentob takes Oz back to the settings of the childhood in Israel and reveals a fascinating portrait of the early years of Israel, the tragic story of Oz's family and his widely respected views on the conflict with Palestine.
Famous for his cello and violin concertos, it's not widely known that Edward Elgar also wrote sketches for a piano concerto. This often hilarious film shows how the embryonic piece - a performance of which follows - came to life.
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Alan Yentob gets under the lid of this extreme form of musicianship as he talks to Benjamin Grosvenor, the 12-year-old boy who last year won the piano section of the Young Musician of the Year competition. Is someone of such a young age ready to be subjected to this notoriously punishing and athletic musical discipline?
Alan Yentob travels to Mexico to take a closer look at the colourful life of the artist and feminist icon Frida Kahlo, and assess the complex portfolio she left behind. With some of her works sold for over $10m (£5.5m), since she died in 1954 she has become Latin America’s greatest artistic export.
Alan Yentob explores the magical and mysterious world of the best-selling children's author Roald Dahl to discover what made him such a great storyteller. This intimate portrait has exclusive access to his personal archive and features interviews with members of his immediate family, including his widow, Felicity, his first wife, the actress Patricia Neal, his children Tessa, Theo and Ophelia, and his granddaughter, the model Sophie Dahl.
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There are now more tall buildings in the Far East than in North America – the traditional home of the skyscraper – while China, the world’s largest country and fastest-growing economy, is building cities at a rate unprecedented in the history of mankind.
The skyscraper goes global, as Alan Yentob continues to chart the history of tall buildings, examining the cultural legacy of the tower and the rise of a new super class of sky-high buildings.
It begins with the extraordinary story of the technology that made it all possible: steel cage construction and the lift. Elisha Otis’s demonstration of his safety lift was the star turn at the New York Worlds Fair in 1854, run by the great American showman, PT Barnum. This streak of showmanship and element of popular entertainment runs through the New York skyscraper’s golden age.
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Will the staging of Wagner’s Ring Cycle provide a fitting climax to Antonio Pappano’s critically acclaimed first year as music director of the Royal Opera House? Alan Yentob follows the Italian conductor as he works on the opera and his many other projects, and charts Pappano’s distinguished musical career.
The brooding, raw and groundbreaking performances Marlon Brando gave in such films as A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront and The Godfather gave the actor an iconic status, despite his lifelong disdain for acting. Alan Yentob talks to Martin Scorsese , Francis Ford Coppola and Bernardo Bertolucci - as well as the Adler family of New York, with whom he was long associated - to piece together a portrait of a highly complex man.
A profile of the US contemporary artist whose sound installation is currently transforming the vast space of Tate Modern's Turbine Hall. The normally publicity-shy Nauman talks in detail about his oeuvre, while fellow artists Damien Hirst, Douglas Gordon and Tony Oursler offer their opinions of his work.
In 1966 Brian Wilson, the creative hub of the Beach Boys, embarked on an ambitious project - an attempt to record the greatest pop album ever. Instead, Wilson descended into a breakdown that lasted for over 30 years. Now, with the record Smile finally on release, the troubled genius talks about the origins of the madness and majesty in his music.
The American playwright’s Death of a Salesman and The Crucible were hailed as classics. But his arraignment during the 1950s communist witch-hunts and his marriage to Marilyn Monroe also made headline news. The arts series returns with Miller, now 89, talking to Alan Yentob about his life and career, and also about his latest play, which documents the making of Monroe's last film.
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Playwright and author Simon Gray 's recent autobiography offers a turbulent mixture of memoir and anecdote and charts his addictions to smoking and alcohol. To mark its publication and the opening of his latest play The Old Masters, Alan Yentob presents a rare insight into the 50-year career of one of Britain's foremost dramatists.
Is modern children's fiction a dangerously influential portrayal of a degraded culture or an instruction manual for life in the 21st century Along with contributions from authors including Salman Rushdie, Alan Yentob analyses the aptness of material that covers sex, drug taking, racial murder and the death of God.
With Vernon God Little, his 2003 Booker Prize-winning debut novel, writer and self-confessed conman DBC Pierre, aka Australian-born Peter Finlay, became the most controversial character to win the award. Alan Yentob joins the enigmatic novelist on a road trip across Texas and Mexico, exploring locations central to the book and the house where Pierre grew up, in a bid to find out the truth behind the bizarre stories of serial mendacity and drug addiction.
Forty years on from the release of the landmark album A Love Supreme, Alan Yentob charts the life of hugely influential jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. Lol Lovett’s film looks at how his improvisational technique impacted not only on jazz but also on other art forms - his innovations have been felt in performance art and even in contemporary dance music - and shows how his profound spirituality entered into every area of his life and work.
Now in his 80s, British artist Lucian Freud has always been at pains to preserve his privacy. Reasoning that the next best thing to interviewing the artist would be to talk to those with whom he has isolated himself day and night, director Jake Auerbach spent two years filming the often famous subjects of Freud's portraits - and gained an intimate insight into one of Britain's greatest living painters.
The mid 20th-century realist Edward Hopper’s enigmatic depictions of everyday Americana are celebrated for their ambivalence, dealing in not only the prosaic but also existentialist themes of loneliness and alienation - yet despite their popularity, surprisingly little is known about the artist's private life. For the first in a new run of the arts documentary strand, Alan Yentob travels to America to meet biographer Gail Levin and explore his love of cinema, the landscape of Cape Cod, and his complex relationship with wife and muse Jo.
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From the height of the British Empire right up to the digital age, Alan Yentob investigates the bizarre history of the Oxford English Dictionary, helped by poet Benjamin Zephaniah and author Julian Barnes.
The success of computer-created films such as Finding Nemo and Shrek has led to another “Golden Age” of animation. But does it spell the end for pencil-drawn animation? Toy Story’s John Lasseter and Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park are among those voicing their opinions.
Martin Parr is widely considered to be the most influential photographer of his generation. His work portrays the British way of life in all its idiosyncratic detail - Women’s Institutes, bird-watching, and fish and chips - iconic images that make up a retrospective exhibition currently on a world tour. Alan Yentob takes Parr back to his suburban past to reveal the root of his inspiration.
Born in 1753, Sir John Soane was the first great innovator of British architecture. Though only one of his creations remains intact, his influence resonates to this day. Alan Yentob’s arts strand continues with this drama-documentary - starring Corin Redgrave as Soane and Sam West as his student Wightwick - which tells the remarkable story of Soane's life.
A look at the process of remaking hit British sitcoms into mediocre US sitcoms.
The internationally acclaimed Welsh bass baritone talks to Alan Yentob as the arts strand returns for a new, six-part run. As well as learning more about the technical aspects of Terfel's voice, Yentob watches him perform at the opera - but is he prepared to duet with the maestro?
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In the year that the barrister turned bestselling author turns 80, Alan Yentob talks to family and friends about the man widely regarded as a passionate political campaigner, wit, bon viveur and legendary lothario.
Alan Yentob tells the story of Joshua Reynolds’ portrait of Britain’s first non-white celebrity, Omai, which the Tate Gallery is fighting to keep in Britain. One of the artist’s greatest works, and the first ever grand portrait of a non-white subject, the picture captures the image of a man who became an overnight sensation in 18th-century London after being plucked from obscurity in Tahiti.
Alan Yentob tells the inspirational story of Carlos Acosta, the gifted dancer who made the leap from the backstreets of Havana to become the first black principal dancer at the Royal Ballet. The film follows Acosta over six months as he embarks on the biggest challenge of his life - producing and choreographing his own show based on his upbringing in Cuba.
Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Moss and Vogue's Anna Wintour contribute to the tale of Stella McCartney's rise from student at St Martins to her big break into the fashion elite. Footage shot by McCartney and dating back to 1985, alongside interviews and archive material, help paint this portrait of the designer.
More than just a musical genre, hip-hop has become a global youth culture. But why does the voice of young black America resonate equally with British teenagers from city high-rises and suburban semis? Alan Yentob embarks on a journey of discovery, encountering both young UK rappers and big US stars.
A profile of Barbara Hepworth, the world's first internationally celebrated woman sculptor. Born in Yorkshire in 1903, she had to fight to establish herself in a world dominated by men, and could still wield a chisel in her seventies.
Alan Yentob presents a new seven-part series looking at the power and effect of the arts and their main protagonists. The elusive and intriguing Charles Saatchi has been hugely instrumental in shaping contemporary British art. As he launches his new gallery in London's former County Hall, this behind-the-scenes look reveals Saatchi's hands-on involvement in the collection's presentation, helped by partner Nigella Lawson.
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As part of a tribute night to broadcaster and television executive Alan Yentob, an interview with leading British artist Jenny Saville. One of the most successful figurative painters working today, she came to prominence as part of the YBA movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She has been reluctant to discuss her work for many years on television, until now. Alan Yentob was working with her on a film for Imagine and caught up with her in Vienna on the eve of two major 2025 exhibitions she is mounting. This was the last interview Alan Yentob conducted in a career spanning six decades at the BBC, bringing many of the world’s leading artists and creatives to the screen. Alan also persuaded Jenny to allow cameras into her painting studio for the first time in almost three decades.
Arts series. As part of an evening of programmes celebrating the life and work of the playwright and diarist, Simon Gray, who died in 2008. This updated Imagine is a rare insight into one of Britain's foremost playwrights, author of many West End hits, but best known for his work with Harold Pinter, and as the writer of the notorious Cell Mates. This intimate film gives a darkly entertaining account of his childhood experiences and very personal views on addictions to smoking, alcohol and the traumas of modern day life for a writer. By way of tribute, the conclusion to the film is provided by a number of friends, well known actors and writers, reading from Simon Gray's last volume of diaries, CODA.
To mark David Bowie's comeback album and a new exhibition at the V&A, Alan Yentob looks back at his legendary 1975 documentary, Cracked Actor. The film follows Bowie during the Diamond Dogs tour of 1974. Alan Yentob says "I'd caught him at what was an intensely creative time, but it was also physically and emotionally gruelling. Our encounters tended to take place in hotel rooms in the early hours of the morning or in snatched conversations in the back of limousines. He was fragile and exhausted, but also prepared to open up and talk in a way he had never really done before." Cracked Actor has become one of the classic rock documentaries of all time, remaining an enduring influence on generations of Bowie fans.
Following in the footsteps of Alan Yentob's 2008 profile of Jay-Z, imagine... presents the much-heralded Beyoncé: Life Is But a Dream. With Beyoncé herself in the director's chair, this unique and confessional film combines spectacular showpieces and video diary footage, giving a revealing insight into the life of the 16-time Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, actress, entrepreneur, wife and mother. This is Beyoncé, by Beyoncé.
Renowned as the bravura front man of one of Britain's greatest rock bands, Freddie Mercury's life outside Queen is rarely celebrated or explored. In a touching portrait, imagine... charts Mercury's solo projects and interests, including a previously unheard collaboration with Michael Jackson and the triumphant Barcelona project with Dame Montserrat Caballe, as well as the life of a gay man who was not yet publicly out. Rare interviews reveal a shy man in search of love, and a driven artist living behind the protection of his stage persona.
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Imagine presents a feature-length documentary about the making of U2's seminal album Achtung Baby. Early in 2011, U2 returned to Hansa Studio in Berlin to discuss the making of Achtung Baby in this film directed by Academy Award winner Davis Guggenheim (It Might Get Loud, Waiting for Superman, An Inconvenient Truth). From The Sky Down was then selected to open the Toronto International Film Festival on 8 September, the first ever documentary to open the festival in its 36-year history. Twenty years after the 1991 release of Achtung Baby, Davis Guggenheim traces the album's genesis using animation and previously unseen footage from Berlin and Dublin alongside interviews with the band as they reflect on what was a key chapter in their career.
Alan Yentob introduces a revealing documentary which tells the story of the making of The Rolling Stones' acclaimed 1972 album, Exile on Main Street. Facing huge unpaid tax bills in Britain, the band fled to the French Riviera. Life was crazy and chaotic there, yet the band still managed to make one of the seminal albums of rock and roll history.
The remarkable election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States has been propelled as much by his exceptional skill as an orator as by any other factor. From the silver-tongued to the tongue-tied, the sublime to the ridiculous, this programme takes a fond look at the art and history of the political speech. Alan Yentob joins the crowds at the inauguration in Washington, and traces the awesome power of orators from Cicero onwards, via Cromwell, Lincoln, Churchill, Hitler, Martin Luther King and many others. Among the contributors are Bill Clinton, Jesse Jackson, Bob Geldof, Neil Kinnock, Ted Sorensen, Tony Benn, William Hague, Geoffrey Howe, Diane Abbott, Charlotte Higgins, Alastair Campbell and Germaine Greer.
Drama-documentary presented by Alan Yentob, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role as Van Gogh. Every word spoken by the actors in this film is sourced from the letters that Van Gogh sent to his younger brother Theo, and of those around him. What emerges is a complex portrait of a sophisticated, civilised and yet tormented man. The film won a Rockie for Best Arts Documentary at the Banff World Media Festival in 2011, receiving critical acclaim for its fascinating insight into the life of the artist and its unique approach to storytelling.
Alan Yentob presents a documentary about cartoon pop group Gorillaz' foray into the world of Chinese opera, with Damon Albarn composing his first full length score and Jamie Hewlett designing a myriad of gigantic sets and elaborate costumes. Drawing on the 1970s cult television series, Monkey - Journey to the West has a cast that includes the cloud-hopping, mountain-somersaulting Monkey, his mates Pigsy, Sandy and Tripitaka, plus acrobats, martial artists, umbrella-twirling girls, a horse-eating dragon, a skeleton demon and a giant Buddha. Produced by Théâtre du Châtelet (Paris), in co-production with Manchester International Festival and the State Opera House in Berlin, they present a new contemporary opera entirely in Mandarin directed by Chen Shi-Zheng. This film follows Albarn and Hewlett on a journey from Beijing to Paris, working with martial artists and acrobats; leading up to its world premiere at the Manchester International Festival.
Film documenting the creation of Love, a spectacular collaboration bringing together the magic of The Beatles' music with the imagination of Cirque Du Soleil. The project was initially the idea of George Harrison, two years before his death from cancer in 2001. Sir George Martin, along with his son/co-producer Giles Martin demonstrate the process by which the soundtrack was created. Also features interviews with Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison.
In 2005, an extraordinary sculpture by leading Brit artist Marc Quinn of a naked, heavily pregnant, disabled Alison Lapper was unveiled on the empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. It's a project that's been dogged with controversy. Following the creation of Alison Lapper Pregnant over five years, this film tells the compelling story of how two very different people came together to challenge preconceptions about beauty and what is considered normal.
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