George Barker
This film was made with George Barker (1913-91), the charismatic English poet, novelist and critic, a few years before he died. It looks back over his prolific writing career, traces his full and extraordinary life, and includes Barker reading from his own work.
Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal has long been a thorn in the side of the American establishment, which he goads constantly with his liberal opinions, his controversial political analyses and his incisive wit. In interview, Vidal – as outspoken as ever – discusses his work and the birth and death of the American empire.
George Bernard Shaw
For biographer Michael Holroyd the writer George Bernard Shaw is an all-consuming passion. This programme follows Holroyd’s detective processes, his research through paperwork and visits to locations where Shaw spent time, to get under the skin of the renowned playwright and political theorist. Rare archive footage of Shaw is used as Holroyd considers to what extent Shaw’s life fed his art – and vice versa. The writer’s role as biographer also comes under scrutiny.
Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature, has established herself as a leading chronicler of the black experience in America and as one of the country’s finest novelists. She talks in interview about her highly-acclaimed novel, Beloved. Based on a true story, it tells how a mother murders her baby rather than have it taken into slavery. Morrison talks about the problems of dealing with such painful material.
George V. Higgins
In a series of literary thrillers, starting with The Friends of Eddie Coyle, Higgins (1939-99) drew a convincingly tough, cynical and humorous picture of crime and politics in Boston. His ear for authentically scabrous dialogue was unmatched as he blurred the distinction between the illicit dealings of the underworld and the outwardly respectable goings-on in the city’s State House. This film, shot in Boston, features an interview with Higgins, visits locations he used and dramatises extracts from his novels.
The Death and Life of Garcia Lorca
Spain’s most revered twentieth-century poet and dramatist was born in 1899 and assassinated in 1936 during the early days of the Spanish Civil War. Location filming in Spain traces the sources of his imagery and poetic imagination, and extracts from his poems, plays and letters are intermixed with the story of his life and the events leading up to his brutal murder. His biographer, lan Gibson, also contributes, together with surviving relatives, friends and witnesses.