In the late eighteenth century, the gardens at Vauxhall on London’s River Thames were transformed into a place of lavish and exotic entertainment. Windgassen’s innovative film uses Chromakey techniques to recreate the ‘goings on’ in the gardens and includes performances of popular songs of the day by Donald Grobe and Reri Grist. This witty evocation makes full use of the music of the classical composers of the age, such as Arne, Bach, Handel, Hook and Giordani.
Africa
This major eight-part series reveals the rich and diverse drama of African history and is presented by the distinguished historian and scholar Basil Davidson. Covering a vast time scale – from the origins of some of the world’s greatest civilisations, to colonisation, the rise of nationalism and the emergence of modern Africa – the story is unfolded on location all over the continent with the help of archive film, carefully illustrated eye-witness accounts, interviews with statesmen and leaders, dramatic reconstructions and specially-shot film of festivals, ceremonies and life there today.
Which side are you on?
Film-maker Ken Loach has gained an international reputation for making films concerned with social injustice. He made this film in 1984/85 at the time of a miners’ strike – the longest ever national strike in Britain. It is a record of the miners’ bitter struggle to save their jobs, incorporating the poems, songs and art they created to express their solidarity in the face of hardship.
Ivo Pogorelich
Piano virtuoso Ivo Pogorelich stepped into the limelight when he was dropped from the finals of the 1980 Warsaw Chopin Competition amid a controversy about his unsuitable dress and unconventional interpretation. Pogorelich has remained in demand on the concert platform and fuelled his reputation as an enfant terrible by marrying his teacher, Alice Kezeradse – twenty years his senior. This programme shows them together, working on Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit and talking in interview.
The new Pacific
An eight-part series produced and directed by Michael Macintyre The Pacific Basin contains a third of the world’s population. No other region in the world has so great a diversity of race, religion, culture, social organisation and language. With rapid developments in trade, tourism and telecommunications, the peoples of the Pacific are being brought closer together, and they are experiencing constant challenges to their traditional lifestyles. Their economies are thriving as never before, but can they preserve their own unique identities in the face of such change? This series looks at what is happening in the Pacific and considers what the future holds in store.
Rudolf II
This dramatised portrait of the Bohemian king brings to life the court where he amassed an art collection beyond value and brought together leading writers, artists and humanist scholars of his day, including astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johan Kepler, artist Arcimboldo, and mystics such as Giordano Bruno and John Dee. Rudolf suffered the torments of schizophrenia and was a sick and humiliated man when he died in 1612, but his reign was still a golden age in the cultural history of Prague.
Dancer
Peter Schaufuss presents a four-part series which puts the male dancer centre-stage, dispelling the shadow so often cast by his female partner. The programmes focus on the dancer as athletic virtuoso and as partner, and survey his role in the established repertoire, as well as in new work created by modern choreographers. Each film makes extensive use of specially shot dance extracts, featuring some of the world’s greatest dancers, companies and choreographers.
Gesualdo the Prince
The story of Carlo Gesualdo (1560-1613) is one of the most famous and most blood-curdling in musical history: it tells of a crime of passion involving a great composer who was also a prince. This dramatised film takes the form of a mystery – Gesualdo’s terrible secret surfaces slowly until the events that shattered his life and set a dark tone to his music are revealed. Peter Eyre is Gesualdo and the Schütz Consort, directed by Sir Roger Norrington, plays his music.
Naked Nashville – My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
This hard-edged series probes behind the hype for the true story of country music in America. “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys” investigates why new and exciting Dale Watson and established 70s star Willie Nelson just can’t cut a record deal, whilst the MCA Records marketing machine gets to work on singer-songwriter Keith Harling.
Naked Nashville – I Won’t Die for any Man
This hard-edged series probes behind the hype for the true story of country music in America. I Won’t Die For Any Man follows three generations of Nashville women – Mindy McCredy, Reba McEntire and legend Tammy Wynette (whose last interview before her death finds her still having to work for a living).