Ben Elton is one of Britain’s most prolific purveyors of TV comedy both as a performer and as a writer, with series such as Blackadder and The Young Ones to his credit. In interview, Elton talks about his career, examining the influences and motivations which drive his writing. The programme includes clips from his comedy shows and his to-camera routines, as well as dramatised extracts from his first novel, Stark.
Simone de Beauvior
The lifelong companion to Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir (1908-86) was a champion of women’s rights and one of the leading philosopher-novelists of the Existentialist school in France. In this, the last in-depth television interview she gave before her death, de Beauvoir talks about the most significant events that she and France faced during her lifetime. The film features dramatised extracts from her novels and archive footage.