
Filmed during lockdown, Alan Yentob invites us into the intriguing world of award-winning novelist Kazuo Ishiguro. The only living British author to hold the Nobel Prize in Literature, Ishiguro’s novels and short stories have been translated into more than fifty languages. Two of his most popular novels, The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go, have also enjoyed success as star-studded film adaptations. \n \nIn this revealing profile, Ishiguro explores the significance of his early life in Nagasaki and the experience of growing up in the aftermath of the atomic bomb. He shares memories of feeling like the only Japanese boy in the home counties of England in the early 1960s, and how this helped to shape his viewpoint as a writer. As a young man, he harboured ambitions to be a singer-songwriter, and he shares his lifelong emotional connection to music and lyrics, and the impact that particular songs have had on his writing. \n \nAlongside contributions from writers Hanya Yanagihara and Bernardine Evaristo, as well as Ai-Da, an AI robot artist, Ishiguro charts the development of his work across the four decades of his writing career. He discusses the recurring themes of memory, history and the redemptive power of love, and reveals how he has turned his gaze to the future for his much-anticipated new book, Klara and the Sun.
Source: 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 ...
29-12-2025
BBC 4
2020: 1. Lenny Henry: Young, Gifted And Black
Alan Yentob follows one of our best loved performers as he releases his first autobiography charting his early years in show business. In this revealing and poignant film Sir Le ...
16-12-2025
BBC 4
Summer 2010 - Tom Jones - What Good Am I?
Alan Yentob examines the extraordinary story of one of Britain's most recognisable pop icons, Sir Tom Jones. In a frank and revealing interview, Sir Tom describes his rise to fame.
28-10-2025
BBC 4
Winter 2017/18: 4. Philip Pullman: Angels And Daemons
Romantic, fearless, fantastical; this edition delves into the thrilling world of Philip Pullman and explores the author's own dark materials. \n\nPullman has been named both one ...
21-10-2025
BBC 4
2020: Marina Abramovic: The Ugly Duckling
Marina Abramovic is the reigning queen of performance art. She invites Alan Yentob into her home, opens up her enormous personal archive and travels back to her birthplace, Belg ...
06-10-2025
BBC 4
2018: George Benjamin: What Do You Want To Do When You Grow Up?
He has been crowned with every laurel in contemporary classical music, composed operas which play on the world's most illustrious stages and been knighted for his services to mu ...
31-08-2025
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
2018: Hockney, The Queen And The Royal Peculiar
It has been the site of royal weddings, funerals and nearly every British coronation since 1066, Westminster Abbey is also known as a Royal Peculiar - a church controlled not by ...
28-06-2021
BBC 4
Vincent Van Gogh: Painted With Words
Drama-documentary presented by Alan Yentob, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role as Van Gogh. \n\nEvery word spoken by the actors in this film is sourced from the letters ...
15-10-2024
BBC 4
2018: Tracey Emin: Where Do You Draw The Line?
2018 has been an extraordinary year for British artist Tracey Emin. With large-scale commissions catapulting her from London's St Pancras station to the streets of downtown Sydn ...
21-05-2023
BBC 4
Winter 2005: Amos Oz: The Conscience Of Israel
Alan Yentob presents a portrait of Israel's most celebrated writer and political commentator, Amos Oz, whose childhood memoir A Tale of Love and Darkness gives an eyewitness acc ...
05-01-2019
BBC 4
2019: 1. James Graham: In The Room Where It Happens
Alan Yentob follows celebrated young British playwright James Graham, whose award-winning works take audiences to the very heart of the defining political events that shape peop ...
19-02-2019
BBC 4
2023/24: Pet Shop Boys: Then And Now
Pet Shop Boys, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, are the most successful duo in the history of British pop. They have sold more than 50 million records, produced over forty Top 40 si ...
19-04-2024
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