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imagine... Episodes
Vincent Van Gogh: Painted With Words
Drama-documentary presented by Alan Yentob, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role as Van Gogh. \n\nEvery word spoken by the actors in this film is sourced from the letters ...
15-10-2024
BBC 4
2019: 3. Bill Viola: The Road To St Paul's
Bill Viola is renowned the world over as a pioneer of video art. As the Royal Academy in London mounts a major exhibition of his vast and immersive installations, alongside work ...
04-08-2024
BBC 4
2019: 4. Edna O'brien: Fearful And Fearless
Edna O’Brien is one of the greatest literary talents and rule breakers of her generation. In 1960, her revolutionary debut novel ‘The Country Girls’ broke down ...
29-07-2024
BBC 4
Autumn 2016: Listen To Me Marlon
Stevan Riley's award-winning documentary Listen to Me Marlon uses hundreds of hours of Marlon Brando's own archival audio tapes and home movie footage, combined with excerpts fr ...
06-07-2024
BBC 4
Winter 2017/18: 5. Ingrid Bergman In Her Own Words
Widely regarded as one of the greatest actresses of the 20th century, Ingrid Bergman's talent was matched only by her incandescent screen presence. From her infamous performance ...
16-06-2024
BBC 4
Winter 2012: 1. Ian Rankin And The Case Of The Disappearing Detective
Britain's most successful crime writer, Ian Rankin, invites imagine... to get up close and personal and follow him as he writes his next novel. \n\nMaverick cop DI John Rebus pr ...
15-06-2024
BBC 4
Spring 2007: 1. Gilbert And George: No Surrender
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 ...
10-06-2024
BBC 4
Summer 2010 - Tom Jones - What Good Am I?
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.
08-06-2024
BBC 4
Winter 2017/18: 2. Mel Brooks: Unwrapped
At the age of 91, Mel Brooks is unstoppable, with his musical Young Frankenstein opening to great critical acclaim in London in late 2017. Alan Yentob visits Mel at home in Holl ...
30-05-2024
BBC 4
2021: Kazuo Ishiguro: Remembering And Forgetting
Filmed during lockdown, Alan Yentob invites us into the intriguing world of award-winning novelist Kazuo Ishiguro. The only living British author to hold the Nobel Prize in Lite ...
12-05-2024
BBC 4
2019: 5. Faith Ringgold: Tell It Like It Is
Harlem-born artist, author and activist Faith Ringgold painted some of the most truthful and empowering representations of African Americans during the civil rights and women&rs ...
05-05-2024
BBC 4
2023/24: Pet Shop Boys: Then And Now
Pet Shop Boys, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, are the most successful duo in the history of British pop. They have sold more than 50 million records, produced over forty Top 40 si ...
19-04-2024
BBC 4
Autumn 2008: Richard Serra: Man Of Steel
Sculptor and giant of modern art Richard Serra discusses his extraordinary life and work. \n\nA creator of enormous, immediately identifiable steel sculptures that both terrify ...
14-04-2024
BBC 4
Summer 2013 - Vivian Maier: Who Took Nanny's Pictures?
Alan Yentob with the story of a nanny who died in 2009 and left behind a secret hoard of photographs. Never seen in her lifetime, and found by chance, they now sell for thousands.
01-04-2024
BBC 4
Winter 2017/18: 6. Andrew Lloyd Webber: Memories
Andrew Lloyd Webber has reigned over musical theatre for nearly five decades and delighted millions worldwide with hit shows like Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Cats, The Phanto ...
28-01-2024
BBC 4
2023: French & Saunders: Pointed, Bitchy, Bitter
imagine... profiles the UK’s most successful double act of the last 40 years, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, and explores their unique brand of comedy, based on satire ...
27-12-2023
BBC 4
2023: The Factory: Made In Manchester
imagine... tells the story of Manchester’s colossal new cultural venue - Aviva Studios - the home of Factory International and the Manchester International Festival.\n\nWi ...
11-12-2023
BBC 4
2021: Bernardine Evaristo: Never Give Up
Alan Yentob explores the remarkable life and work of the trailblazing Anglo-Nigerian author Bernardine Evaristo, whose Booker Prize-winning novel Girl, Woman, Other has become a ...
26-10-2023
BBC 4
2022: Sonia Boyce: Finding Her Voice
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. Why does that matter ...
18-10-2023
BBC 4
2022: Malorie Blackman: What If?
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 Pe ...
12-10-2023
BBC 4
2020: 1. Lenny Henry: Young, Gifted And Black
Alan Yentob follows one of our best loved performers as he releases his first autobiography charting his early years in show business. In this revealing and poignant film Sir Le ...
10-10-2023
BBC 4
2018: Andrea Levy: Her Island Story
When Andrea Levy's father Winston stepped off the Empire Windrush in July 1948, he had no idea that in time the ship's name would come to describe a group of people betrayed by ...
03-10-2023
BBC 4
2020: Marina Abramovic: The Ugly Duckling
Marina Abramovic is the reigning queen of performance art. She invites Alan Yentob into her home, opens up her enormous personal archive and travels back to her birthplace, Belg ...
25-09-2023
BBC 4
2020: This House Is Full Of Music
In its first remote-access film, imagine... offers a unique and intimate portrait of an exceptionally gifted musical family in lockdown – the Kanneh-Masons. In 2016, celli ...
06-08-2023
BBC 4
David Bowie: Cracked Actor
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 ...
30-07-2023
BBC 4
2020: Kate Prince: Every Move She Makes
Kate Prince is a remarkable British dance pioneer whose renowned ZooNation dance company has transformed the profile of hip-hop and street dance. imagine… follows her as ...
04-06-2023
BBC 4
2018: Tracey Emin: Where Do You Draw The Line?
2018 has been an extraordinary year for British artist Tracey Emin. With large-scale commissions catapulting her from London's St Pancras station to the streets of downtown Sydn ...
21-05-2023
BBC 4
2022: Wayne Mcgregor: Dancing On The Edge
imagine... profiles arguably Britain’s most groundbreaking dance pioneer. Resident choreographer at the Royal Ballet and director of his own hugely adventurous dance compa ...
07-05-2023
BBC 4
2023: 1. Stephen Frears: Director For Hire
imagine… profiles acclaimed British director Stephen Frears. Despite decades of success across both cinema and television, Frears likes to fly under the radar, subscribin ...
23-03-2023
BBC 4
2022: Douglas Stuart: Love, Hope And Grit
Alan Yentob meets Douglas Stuart at a critical point in his career as he emerges from the starlight of his triumphant debut novel, and winner of the Booker Prize, Shuggie Bain. ...
14-11-2022
BBC 4
2020: Lemn Sissay: The Memory Of Me
Lemn Sissay's writings are a source of inspiration to huge numbers of people around the world. From poems on the walls and buildings of Manchester and beyond to the contemplativ ...
30-08-2022
BBC 4
Arthur Miller - Finishing The Picture
Renowned American playwright Arthur Miller discusses his life and work with Alan Yentob.
04-08-2022
BBC 4
2022: Jacob Collier: In The Room Where It Happens
Twenty-something virtuoso multi-instrumentalist, singer and arranger Jacob Collier has managed to outdo the Beatles by winning Grammy Awards for each of his first four albums. A ...
20-05-2022
BBC 4
2018: Becoming Cary Grant
Cary Grant was one of Hollywood's greatest leading men - suave, sophisticated and as comfortable in romantic comedies as he was in iconic Hitchcock thrillers. imagine...Becoming ...
12-05-2022
BBC 4
2022: Miriam Margolyes: Up For Grabs
Miriam Margolyes is one of Britain’s best loved and most provocative actresses. Across her eclectic career, she has played scene-stealing turns in Blackadder, voiced some ...
25-04-2022
BBC 4
Autumn 2007: 4. Louise Bourgeois: Spiderwoman
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. \n\nMemories of a dis ...
14-03-2022
BBC 4
2022: 2. Labi Siffre: This Is My Song
Alan Yentob presents a film exploring the life and work of the Ivor Novello Award-winning black British singer-songwriter Labi Siffre. An enigmatic and reclusive talent, Siffre ...
14-02-2022
BBC 4
2022: 1. Marian Keyes: My (not So) Perfect Life
Author Marian Keyes is loved and admired the world over for her darkly comic and confessional writing. Her novels, which are often described as comedy romance or chick lit, draw ...
07-02-2022
BBC 4
2020: My Name Is Kwame
Kwame Kwei-Armah is one of British theatre’s most exciting creative leaders. Currently the artistic director of London’s Young Vic, he has had a successful career as ...
06-02-2022
BBC 4
Autumn 2007: 7. Richard Rogers: Inside Out
As the Royal Academy in London launches a landmark exhibition to celebrate the remarkable career of the architect Lord Richard Rogers on his 80th birthday, Imagine offers anothe ...
17-01-2022
BBC 4
2021: Tom Stoppard: A Charmed Life
Tom Stoppard is perhaps the world’s leading, funniest and cleverest playwright. Ever since he hit the ground running in the 1960s with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dea ...
16-09-2021
BBC 4
2019: 2. Jo Brand: No Holds Barred
She is boldly outspoken, fearlessly funny and unfailingly kind - Jo Brand has become one of Britain's best-loved comedians. Brand burst onto the nation's largely male stand-up c ...
14-09-2021
BBC 4
Summer 2003: 2. Barbara Hepworth: Shapes Out Of Feelings
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 ...
19-07-2021
BBC 4
2018: Hockney, The Queen And The Royal Peculiar
It has been the site of royal weddings, funerals and nearly every British coronation since 1066, Westminster Abbey is also known as a Royal Peculiar - a church controlled not by ...
28-06-2021
BBC 4
Summer 2011: 3. Lennon: The New York Years
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 and focus on ...
15-05-2021
BBC 4
2021: We'll Be Back?
Alan Yentob explores the huge ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the UK's pioneering and world-renowned performing arts industry. \n\nDrawing on footage captured through ...
24-02-2021
BBC 4
Winter 2005: 6. Sweet Home New Orleans
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 ...
15-11-2020
BBC 4
2018: George Benjamin: What Do You Want To Do When You Grow Up?
He has been crowned with every laurel in contemporary classical music, composed operas which play on the world's most illustrious stages and been knighted for his services to mu ...
26-01-2020
BBC 4
Summer 2014 - Monty Python: And Now For Something Rather Similar
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.
22-01-2020
BBC 4
Winter 2017/18: 4. Philip Pullman: Angels And Daemons
Romantic, fearless, fantastical; this edition delves into the thrilling world of Philip Pullman and explores the author's own dark materials. \n\nPullman has been named both one ...
03-11-2019
BBC 4
2019: 1. James Graham: In The Room Where It Happens
Alan Yentob follows celebrated young British playwright James Graham, whose award-winning works take audiences to the very heart of the defining political events that shape peop ...
19-02-2019
BBC 4
Winter 2005: Amos Oz: The Conscience Of Israel
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 acc ...
05-01-2019
BBC 4
Summer 2018: 1. Tacita Dean: Looking To See
It is unprecedented for an artist to be exhibited simultaneously in three of London's leading galleries, each one exploring a different theme: landscape, portraiture and still l ...
20-08-2018
BBC 4
Summer 2018: 1. Rose Wylie: This Rose Is Blooming
Very few people would have recognised the name Rose Wylie until this remarkable artist was in her mid 70s. Youthful, playful and unpredictable at the age of 83, this is an artis ...
17-08-2018
BBC 4
Spring 2018: 2. Orhan Pamuk: A Strange Mind
Turkey's best-known writer, the Nobel Prize-winning Orhan Pamuk, glories in his city of Istanbul, which in his lifetime has grown from two to fifteen million people. Despite pol ...
12-07-2018
BBC 4
Spring 2018: 1. Rupert Everett: Born To Be Wilde
Prepare for an Odyssey. This is the remarkable 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 W ...
04-06-2018
BBC 4
Summer 2014 - Philip Roth Unleashed Part 2
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.
24-05-2018
BBC 4
Summer 2014 - Philip Roth Unleashed Part 1
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.
23-05-2018
BBC 4
Winter 2017/18: 8. Habaneros: You Say You Want A Revolution? Part Two
Almost sixty years on, Castro's Cuban revolution continues to split world opinion as decisively as it did when that small band of bearded guerrillas first entered Havana.\n\nIn ...
22-04-2018
BBC 4
Winter 2017/18: 7. Habaneros: You Say You Want A Revolution? Part One
Raul Castro has recently stepped down as president of Cuba, almost 60 years after his brother Fidel and a small band of bearded cigar-smoking guerrillas entered the capital Hava ...
21-04-2018
BBC 4
Winter 2017: 5. Rachel Whiteread: Ghost In The Room
An intimate portrait of British sculptor Rachel Whiteread as she unpacks her life's work for a major retrospective at Tate Britain in London. Though she rose to prominence with ...
11-01-2018
BBC 4
Summer 2017: 1. Mapplethorpe: Look At The Pictures
An unflinching and uncompromising portrait of one of the most controversial photographers.
29-07-2017
BBC 4
