Alan Yentob meets Douglas Stuart at a critical point in his career as he emerges from the starlight of his triumphant debut novel, and winner of the Booker Prize, Shuggie Bain. imagine... walks the streets of Glasgow’s East End and the East Village in New York as Douglas Stuart tries to unite two very different sides of his life through his writing.\n\nShuggie Bain centres around an alcoholic single mother and her queer son as they navigate life on a Glasgow sink estate. It is distilled through Stuart’s own troubled upbringing in poverty and addiction in 1980s Glasgow. imagine… takes him back to the old haunts in the novel: Sighthill, the Barras Market and the Grand Ole Opry.\n\nWe meet the two art teachers who, according to Stuart, saved his life. Just like his character Shuggie, he had lost his own mother to alcohol addiction. Douglas Stuart was on the cusp of homelessness, struggling to stay on at school, but in just a few years he went from a Glasgow bedsit to the Royal College of Art, and then landed in the epicentre of New York fashion, working for Calvin Klein.\n\nAlan Yentob retraces Stuart’s remarkable journey in New York, where he was now able to be open about his sexuality, having faced isolation and homophobia growing up. However, despite his astonishing success in the fashion world, he had not processed the memories of his childhood. In 2009, he started writing the early drafts of Shuggie Bain as he travelled on the subway into work.\n\nThis year sees the publication of Young Mungo, his second, highly anticipated novel, a love story about two teenage boys coming to terms with their queer identity in the sectarian Glasgow of the author’s youth.\n\nContributors include Alan Cumming, Val McDermid and Lulu, plus readings from local Glaswegians.
Source: 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
Autumn 2008: Richard Serra: Man Of Steel
Sculptor and giant of modern art Richard Serra discusses his extraordinary life and work. \n\nA creator of enormous, immediately identifiable steel sculptures that both terrify ...
14-04-2024
BBC 4
Summer 2013 - Vivian Maier: Who Took Nanny's Pictures?
Alan Yentob with the story of a nanny who died in 2009 and left behind a secret hoard of photographs. Never seen in her lifetime, and found by chance, they now sell for thousands.
01-04-2024
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 ...
10-02-2024
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 ...
28-01-2024
BBC 4
2023: French & Saunders: Pointed, Bitchy, Bitter
imagine... profiles the UK’s most successful double act of the last 40 years, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, and explores their unique brand of comedy, based on satire ...
27-12-2023
BBC 4
2023: The Factory: Made In Manchester
imagine... tells the story of Manchester’s colossal new cultural venue - Aviva Studios - the home of Factory International and the Manchester International Festival.\n\nWi ...
11-12-2023
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
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 ...
30-07-2023
BBC 4
2020: This House Is Full Of Music
In its first remote-access film, imagine... offers a unique and intimate portrait of an exceptionally gifted musical family in lockdown – the Kanneh-Masons. In 2016, celli ...
06-08-2023
BBC 4
2022: 2. Labi Siffre: This Is My Song
Alan Yentob presents a film exploring the life and work of the Ivor Novello Award-winning black British singer-songwriter Labi Siffre. An enigmatic and reclusive talent, Siffre ...
14-02-2022
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 ...
10-01-2022
BBC 4
2022: 1. Marian Keyes: My (not So) Perfect Life
Author Marian Keyes is loved and admired the world over for her darkly comic and confessional writing. Her novels, which are often described as comedy romance or chick lit, draw ...
07-02-2022
BBC 4
2022: Douglas Stuart: Love, Hope And Grit
Alan Yentob meets Douglas Stuart at a critical point in his career as he emerges from the starlight of his triumphant debut novel, and winner of the Booker Prize, Shuggie Bain. ...
14-11-2022
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 ...
14-05-2023
BBC 4