In the first of six interviews with prominent figures from the arts and media, Jeremy Isaacs talks to writer/comedian Ben Elton.

Ian McKellen talks to Jeremy Isaacs about his acting career and also recalls the decision to come out.

Singer Joan Baez engages in a frank and sometimes prickly look back over her career in the company of Jeremy Isaacs.

After 30 years as a war reporter for the BBC, Martin Bell made his own headlines by standing, and winning, as an Independent in the Cheshire constituency of Tatton. He talks to Jeremy Isaacs about the personal effects of reporting in Bosnia and his new political career.

For over 30 years, artist/musician Yoko Ono has been one of the world's most famous women. She talks to Jeremy Isaacs about her life and work, meeting John Lennon and coping with media and public hostility after the break-up of the Beatles.

David Mamet is one of America's greatest living writers, best known for his explosive contemporary plays such as Sexual Perversity in Chicago, American Buffalo, Oleanna and Glengarry Glen Ross. His film screenplay credits include The Untouchables and The Verdict, and he has also written and directed the films House of Games and Homicide. Mamet - who has recently completed his second novel, three new screenplays and a book of essays on acting talks to Jeremy Isaacs about what it is like to be Jewish in America, his childhood in fifties Chicago, and his fondness for hunting deer.

In a special edition of the one-to-one interview programme, the tables are turned as James Naughtie takes the inquisitor's seat to fire questions at regular presenter Jeremy Isaacs. They discuss Isaacs's 40-year career in TV, during which time he has been controller of Thames Television and the first chief executive of Channel 4.