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
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 ...
06-07-2024
BBC 4
Winter 2017/18: 5. Ingrid Bergman In Her Own Words
Widely regarded as one of the greatest actresses of the 20th century, Ingrid Bergman's talent was matched only by her incandescent screen presence. From her infamous performance ...
16-06-2024
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
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
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.
08-06-2024
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 ...
30-05-2024
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 ...
12-05-2024
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
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
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 ...
30-05-2024
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
Spring 2018: 1. Rupert Everett: Born To Be Wilde
Prepare for an Odyssey. This is the remarkable story of Rupert Everett's ten-year quest to write, direct and star in his own film about the tragic last years of his hero Oscar W ...
04-06-2018
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 ...
26-01-2020
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: Kate Prince: Every Move She Makes
Kate Prince is a remarkable British dance pioneer whose renowned ZooNation dance company has transformed the profile of hip-hop and street dance. imagine… follows her as ...
04-06-2023
BBC 4
Autumn 2007: 7. Richard Rogers: Inside Out
As the Royal Academy in London launches a landmark exhibition to celebrate the remarkable career of the architect Lord Richard Rogers on his 80th birthday, Imagine offers anothe ...
17-01-2022
BBC 4