Results
22 results found for all records.
The Secret Life of Books Series 2
Confessions of an English Opium Eater
- Broadcast
- 2015 (29 mins)
Poet and writer John Cooper Clarke explores the story behind Thomas de Quincey’s notorious nineteenth century book Confessions of an English Opium Eater. One of the first portrayals of recreational drug...
The Secret Life of Books Series 2
The Faerie Queen
- Broadcast
- 2015 (29 mins)
Dr Janina Ramirez uncovers the surprising story behind one of the most influential poems in the English language: Edmund Spenser’s 16th century epic The Faerie Queene. Written at the end of the 16th...
The Secret Life of Books Series 2
Swallows and Amazons
- Broadcast
- 2015 (29 mins)
First published in 1930 Swallows and Amazons recounts the adventures of the Walker and Blackett children and their idyllic summer holiday camping and sailing in an imaginary Lake District landscape;...
My Shakespeare
Taming The Shrew
- Broadcast
- 2014 (45 mins)
In 1990, Morgan Freeman famously starred in a Wild West version of The Taming of The Shrew for Shakespeare in the Park in New York. One of the bard’s very first works, Freeman sets out to understand how...
My Shakespeare
Othello
- Broadcast
- 2014 (45 mins)
In 1997, David Harewood was the first ever black actor to play Othello on stage at the National Theatre in London. In this episode, he unravels the complex issues of prejudice and jealousy which are threaded...
My Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- Broadcast
- 2014 (45 mins)
Hugh Bonneville started his career as an understudy for Ralph Fiennes in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Open Air Theatre in London’s Regent’s Park. He revisits the theatre where his love for...
My Shakespeare
Antony and Cleopatra
- Broadcast
- 2014 (44 mins)
Kim Cattrall has played the role of Cleopatra twice and meets others who have as well - like Janet Suzman who is renowned for her performance with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Together, they begin to...
My Shakespeare
King Lear
- Broadcast
- 2014 (45 mins)
Actor Christopher Plummer originally played the role of King Lear under the direction of Sir Jonathan Miller, who has directed the play six times. Plummer explores how the work might have been staged during...
My Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet
- Broadcast
- 2014 (44 mins)
The star of Shakespeare in Love examines Royal Ballet productions, musicals such as West Side Story, and Baz Luhrmann’s extraordinary cinematic re-imagination of Romeo & Juliet to understand why the love...
Great Thinkers: In Their Own Words
Human, All Too Human
- Broadcast
- 2011 (59 mins)
The 20th century was a time of unprecedented change and conflict. Violence and war spread across Europe and the World. And as new technology trumped old it became possible to harm others on a previously...