Catch up TV

Episode 07 October 2024

Sir Simon Schama’s first foray into TV presenting, Landscape and Memory, presented a unique take on the links between nature and art. The series was based on his 1995 book, about which he had said, 'If ever there was a book that was impossible to televise, this would be it.' He tells us how he was persuaded otherwise.\n\nSimon explains the background to this thought-provoking series, in which each episode had an aspect of nature - forests, seas, rivers and mountains - as its theme. We discover how it came to combine the imaginative use of a studio, stunning landscape shots and fascinating archive.\n\nJoin us as we learn how a baby crocodile and some Nile toads helped explain why a mosaic of the flooded Nile ended up in Rome, how Simon discovered Tom Waits and how his love of film helped inspire some of the series’ standout moments.

Source: BBC 4