Arena Season 8 Episodes

Episode 1

Mike Leigh Making Plays

81 mins

Episode 2

A Genius Like Us: A Portrait of Joe Orton

A profile of Joe Orton by those that knew him.

Episode 3

A Play for Bridport

One of the most spectacular and unlikely theatre events of 1981 took place a long way from the West End of London in the small West Dorset town of Bridport. The Poor Man's Friend, written by playwright Howard Barker and performed by hundreds of local people, was the inspiration of Ann Jellicoe, best known as the author of The Knack. Barker's play looks at the history of the town where in the 19th century the best hanging-rope was made, and focuses on the figure of Dr Roberts, inventor of the famous patent medicine known as 'The Poor Man's Friend'. The documentary follows the making of the production, chronicling scenes on and off the stage - from casting to rehearsals to performance - as the whole of Bridport becomes absorbed in telling a story from their past.

Episode 4

Upon Westminster Bridge

Episode 5

Three Steps to Heaven

50 mins

Documentary which looks at the life and premature death of rock'n'roll star Eddie Cochran, with comment from Larry Parnes, Adam Faith, Marty Wilde, Joe Brown, Cochran's mother, and his fiancee Sharon Sheeley.

Episode 6

Angus McBean - Gielgud, Olivier, Thorndike, Coward

Episode 7

Rockaby

Episode 8

Guernica - The Long Exile

Episode 9

Last Waltz In Vienna

Episode 10

Classically Cuban: Alicia Alonso and the Cuban National Ballet

Episode 11

Hair

Episode 12

Boulez Now

Episode 13

Jazz Juke Box

Episode 14

Burroughs

86 mins

Documentary on the life of William S. Burroughs.

Episode 15

The Catherine Wheel

Episode 16

Kurt Vonnegut

Episode 17

It's All True

95 mins

Comprising many short segments about the state of the video industry, both real and imagined, many featuring cameos by celebrities.

Episode 18

The Life and Times of Don Luis Buñuel

98 mins

Luis Buñuel, born in 1900 in feudal Spain, was one of the great masters of the cinema. From his collaboration with Salvador Dali on "Un Chien Andalou" in 1928 to his last film "That Obscure Object of Desire" in 1977, his work was always passionate, subversive and entertaining. Arena goes in search of the spirit of this elusive and original man.