
Kwame Kwei-Armah is one of British theatre’s most exciting creative leaders. Currently the artistic director of London’s Young Vic, he has had a successful career as an actor, writer and director on both sides of the Atlantic. He came to fame playing paramedic Finlay Newton in the BBC drama Casualty, and his groundbreaking play Elmina’s Kitchen was one of the first by a black British writer to be staged at the National Theatre and in the West End.\n\nIn his first two years at the Young Vic, he has programmed a run of sell-out shows, including Death of a Salesman, Twelfth Night, Tree and the controversial Pulitzer Prize-winning Fairview.\n\nAs the Young Vic celebrates its 50th anniversary, Alan Yentob hears how a young Southall boy called Ian Roberts became the artist Kwame Kwei-Armah.
Source: BBC 4
Summer 2009: 2. David Hockney - A Bigger Picture
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BBC 4
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BBC 4
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BBC 4
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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 ...
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BBC 4
2020: 1. Lenny Henry: Young, Gifted And Black
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BBC 4
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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
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 ...
12-06-2026
BBC 4
2022: Malorie Blackman: What If?
Alan Yentob follows one of Britain’s best-loved writers: Malorie Blackman, former Children’s Laureate and the first children’s writer to win the prestigious Pe ...
12-10-2023
BBC 4
2021: Kazuo Ishiguro: Remembering And Forgetting
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 Lite ...
13-03-2025
BBC 4
Spring 2007: 1. Gilbert And George: No Surrender
Arts series presented by Alan Yentob. Over the last 40 years, British artists Gilbert and George have fascinated, outraged, delighted and confounded the art establishment. Since ...
10-06-2024
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
Summer 2018: 1. Rose Wylie: This Rose Is Blooming
Very few people would have recognised the name Rose Wylie until this remarkable artist was in her mid 70s. Youthful, playful and unpredictable at the age of 83, this is an artis ...
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BBC 4
2019: 2. Jo Brand: No Holds Barred
She is boldly outspoken, fearlessly funny and unfailingly kind - Jo Brand has become one of Britain's best-loved comedians. Brand burst onto the nation's largely male stand-up c ...
14-09-2021
BBC 4