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Season 2001
A programme exploring the work of crime writer James Ellroy, whose credits include 'LA Confidential', 'The Black Dahlia', and 'My Dark Places', the latter a harrowing memoir of his own
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A programme exploring the work of crime writer James Ellroy, whose credits include 'LA Confidential', 'The Black Dahlia', and 'My Dark Places', the latter a harrowing memoir of his own mother's murder. Ellroy later moved on from crime writing to pen his own secret history of the United States. Timed to coincide with the UK publication of the second volume of his 'Underworld USA' trilogy - 'The Cold Six Thousand' - in 2001, the film takes a tour of Ellroy's often disturbing world.
There is seemingly no endeavour for which there is not an award, from Preacher of the Year to Street Sweeper of the Year. Arena asks what lies at the heart of our fascination with awards
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There is seemingly no endeavour for which there is not an award, from Preacher of the Year to Street Sweeper of the Year. Arena asks what lies at the heart of our fascination with awards and prizes, and society's desire to pick winners and losers. Featuring contributions from, among others, Glenda Jackson MP and Nick Park.
Eighty-six-year-old novelist Budd Schulberg talks to old friend Hugh Mcllvanney about his life and his long and varied career - including his screenplay for the multiple Oscar-winning film 'On the Waterfront'.
Eighty-six-year-old novelist Budd Schulberg talks to old friend Hugh Mcllvanney about his life and his long and varied career - including his screenplay for the multiple Oscar-winning film 'On the Waterfront'.
Dramatises the story behind the leading artists who personified the Beat Generation, which saw its roots in the meeting of Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs in the
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Dramatises the story behind the leading artists who personified the Beat Generation, which saw its roots in the meeting of Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs in the forties. Examining their bohemian life in the fifties through a set of vignettes - featuring Dennis Hopper as Burroughs, Johnny Depp as Kerouac and John Turturro as Ginsberg - it also charts the subsequent San Francisco and West Coast renaissance, the hippie, political and spiritual movements of the sixties and seventies, and their influence in today's popular culture.
During the past 30 years the photographic work of Brazilian-born Sebastião Salgado has helped to bring conditions of famine and poverty to international attention.
During the past 30 years the photographic work of Brazilian-born Sebastião Salgado has helped to bring conditions of famine and poverty to international attention.
Joseph Stalin is seen outside his native land as one of history's most deplorable tyrants, but throughout the former Soviet states a cult of Stalin still exists. This film documents
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Joseph Stalin is seen outside his native land as one of history's most deplorable tyrants, but throughout the former Soviet states a cult of Stalin still exists. This film documents Stalin's development from would-be provincial priest to ruthless autocrat, and shows how he exploited the repression of the Russian Orthodox Church, using visual propaganda, to reinvent himself as a quasi-religious idol.
A one-off film in which author Beryl Bainbridge chronicles the extraordinary relationship during the 18th century between Samuel Johnson and Hester Thrale, the wife of rich London brewer
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A one-off film in which author Beryl Bainbridge chronicles the extraordinary relationship during the 18th century between Samuel Johnson and Hester Thrale, the wife of rich London brewer Henry Thrale, which forms the basis for her latest novel, 'According to Queeney'. Johnson lived with the Thrales for most of the last 20 years of his life, during which time Hester nursed him through his bouts of melancholia and gout - until she ran off with her daughter Queeney's Italian singing teacher. Jim Carter and Suzannah Harker read extracts from letters Johnson and Mrs Thrale wrote to each other. Beth Goddard and Bainbridge herself read from 'According to Queeney'.
Writer, performer and director, the late Eric Sykes was the renaissance man of British comedy. This episode of Arena opens the doors of the room that was his creative home for forty
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Writer, performer and director, the late Eric Sykes was the renaissance man of British comedy. This episode of Arena opens the doors of the room that was his creative home for forty years. Post-war Britain saw Sykes catapulted to fame in the hugely successful 'Variety Bandbox' and 'Educating Archie'. He quickly became the country's highest paid comedy writer. The film takes him through a day at his beloved office, an Aladdin's Cave of triumphs and treasures. There he muses on his life and career, and the other greats he knew and worked with.
Charlie Drake is perhaps best known as the "little man" taking on the world in such films as 'The Cracksman' and television series like 'The Worker'. Drake himself had much to overcome:
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Charlie Drake is perhaps best known as the "little man" taking on the world in such films as 'The Cracksman' and television series like 'The Worker'. Drake himself had much to overcome: marital, financial and career troubles dogged him, but, after reinventing himself as a "straight" actor, he won acclaim for roles in Harold Pinter's 'The Caretaker' and a BBC production of 'Bleak House'. At his home in south London, Drake recalls his highs and lows.
2001x10
Night of Entertainers (3): The 1812 Overture in E Flat Major Opus 49
Episode overview
The sketch, first shown in 1967, that took the Golden Rose at Montreux. Drake plays the conductor and all of the musicians in an orchestra.
The sketch, first shown in 1967, that took the Golden Rose at Montreux. Drake plays the conductor and all of the musicians in an orchestra.
2001x11
Night of Entertainers (4): Max Bygraves - I Wanna Tell You a Story
Episode overview
Since a 1951 breakthrough appearance on the long-running radio series 'Educating Archie', Bygraves has proved a hit with the British public, whether he performs as an actor, a comedian
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Since a 1951 breakthrough appearance on the long-running radio series 'Educating Archie', Bygraves has proved a hit with the British public, whether he performs as an actor, a comedian or a ballad singer. He still entertains today, dividing his time between Britain and a second home in Australia. Tonight's Arena finds out what makes the entertainer tick.
In 1986, Dirk Bogarde burnt most of his personal papers at his home in southern France. However, 12 cans of home movies, shot mostly by Bogarde's long-term partner Anthony Forwood,
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In 1986, Dirk Bogarde burnt most of his personal papers at his home in southern France. However, 12 cans of home movies, shot mostly by Bogarde's long-term partner Anthony Forwood, survived the flames. This two-part Arena special draws on this footage to present for the first time a comprehensive portrait of the reclusive actor, who died in 1999. The first film chronicles Bogarde's idyllic Sussex childhood and charts his meteoric rise to "idol of the Odeons" status in the fifties. Bogarde's sister, brother and grandmother, and Anthony Forwood's son Gareth offer their recollections.
The second of Arena's two-part film about Bogarde plots his progress to the forefront of European cinema in films such as Joseph Losey's 'The Servant' and Luchino Visconti's 'Death in
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The second of Arena's two-part film about Bogarde plots his progress to the forefront of European cinema in films such as Joseph Losey's 'The Servant' and Luchino Visconti's 'Death in Venice', before retiring from acting to become a writer. Tributes come from co-stars James Fox, Michael York and Charlotte Rampling.
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