This series examines the lives and principal works of ten great modernist writers, the giants of European literature at the turn of the nineteenth Century, whose thought and writing foreshadowed the age to come and whose influence is still felt today. Each programme explores the unique imaginative world of its subject, combining drama, documentary and critical explanation. “Anyone who sees the series, will acquire a remarkably clear idea of the Modern movement in literature and what it represents: in technique, experimentation and introspection; in content, paranoia and despair.” (Financial Times) Joseph Conrad (R0327) Fyodor Dostoevsky (R0225) T.S. Eliot (R0311) Henrik Ibsen (R0310) James Joyce (R0199) Franz Kafka (R0273) Thomas Mann (R0275) Luigi Pirandello (R279) Marcel Proust (R0281) Virginia Woolf (R0274) A follow-up programme is available, in which a panel of writers, including series consultant Malcolm Bradbury, discusses ideas which have been raised. Silver Medal, New York International Film and TV Festival Cable Ace, Best International Cuitural Series
Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel is one of the world’s most sought-after bass-baritones. It is the burly Welshman’s ability to express and colour words in a way that moves even the coldest of hearts that has established his ascendancy in the most illustrious vocal company. This profile charts his rise to fame and focuses on his development of various roles in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. He is seen preparing the role of the Don himself with Sir Georg Solti.
Dame Judi Dench
Gifted as both a comedienne and a tragic actress, Dame Judi Dench’s career spans over four decades and has encompassed stage, television and film roles. For this programme, the cameras were allowed generous access to film Dench as she rehearsed the lead role in the Sondheim musical A Little Night Music at the Royal National Theatre in London. In addition to this fascinating insight into her method of developing a role, there is an in-depth interview with this remarkable actress.
Luciano Pavarotti
Pavarotti has sold more records, performed for more people and commanded higher fees than any other tenor. This rare television interview was given at his summer home in Pesaro in northern Italy. In a frank and characteristically humorous exchange, he talks about his life, his career and his remarkable talent. The programme features lavish excerpts of Pavarotti in performance and there are contributions from his parents and his first singing teacher.
Edward Albee
Albee is one of America’s most important modern dramatists. In this overview of his work, he talks candidly about his writing and discusses one of its central themes: the essential stripping away of illusion and self-delusion in order to live the extraordinary experience of life to the full. Filmed in New York, the programme is illustrated with extracts from stage and screen versions of his plays including Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, A Delicate Balance and Three Tall Women.
Billy Connolly
Scottish comedian Billy Connolly has become internationally famous as a comic performer, best-known for his unstinting examinations of bodily functions and his broadsides on political and religious establishments. In this profile, he talks about his life and his work, expressing, with typical frankness, his uncompromising attitudes to his family, to wealth and to his treatment by the press. The programme includes extracts from his twenty-fifth anniversary show in Glasgow.
Sylvie Guillem
Sylvie Guillem is a dance superstar whose breathtaking technique ranks her beside the likes of Nureyev and Baryshnikov. She rarely agrees to interviews but co-operated fully with director Nigel Wattis for this profile. The programme centres on film of Guillem rehearsing and performing a range of pieces, both contemporary and classical, which display her astonishing virtuosity. She talks incisively about working with some of the world’s top choreographers.
Anthony Hopkins
Famed for his Oscar-winning portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, the charismatic actor Anthony Hopkins talks frankly about his career in this revealing profile. He talks about the sense of isolation he suffered for much of his life, about his alcoholism and the moment he chose to stop drinking his life away. With location filming in his native Wales and in America, the programme traces his formative influences and looks at his career on both sides of the Atlantic.
Kiri Te Kanawa – A Concert Special
At a spectacular open-air concert in New Zealand, Dame Kiri sang music ranging from Puccini to Gershwin to an audience of over seventy-five thousand. A year later she performed a programme of Handel and Mozart for an invited audience at the Wren chapel of the Royal Naval College in London. Highlights of these two quite different, but equally memorable, occasions are brought together in this concert special, which showcases the unique beauty and versatility of Dame Kiri’s voice. This delightfully varied programme of music includes the famous soprano aria ‘Tu che di gel’ from Puccini’s Turandot; ‘O mio babbino caro’ from the same composer’s Gianni Schicci; Mozart’s ‘Exsultate Jubilate’; a traditional Maori song; and ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’ from the musical My Fair Lady.
Steve Martin
Comedian Steve Martin is a major box office draw. This programme looks at the development of his career in American entertainment and focuses on his work as the screenwriter and star of L. A. Story, a romantic comedy with a surrealistic Hollywood backdrop. Interviewed during filming, Martin is seen at work on the set, as well as in clips from his films, television appearances and stand-up routines.