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 works by Michelangelo, imagine... charts Viola's career over 12 years and follows him as he creates his most high-profile commission to date, Mary and Martyrs, a permanent installation for St Paul's Cathedral. \n\nGerry Fox's film follows Viola on set as he films, with stunt gear and pyrotechnics, his striking visual tableaux in fields, salt lakes and studios. Viola talks candidly about his preoccupations with life, death and suffering, alongside his wife and collaborator Kira Perov.
Source: 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 ...
08-06-2025
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 ...
08-06-2025
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 ...
08-06-2025
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 ...
03-06-2025
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 ...
20-05-2025
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 ...
18-05-2025
BBC 4
Summer 2009: 2. David Hockney - A Bigger Picture
Filmed over three years with unprecedented access, this documentary captures the return from California of England's favourite living artist.\n\nAs Hockney approaches the age of ...
06-05-2025
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 ...
29-04-2025
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 ...
18-05-2025
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
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
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
Summer 2009: 2. David Hockney - A Bigger Picture
Filmed over three years with unprecedented access, this documentary captures the return from California of England's favourite living artist.\n\nAs Hockney approaches the age of ...
06-05-2025
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