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31 Episodes 2015 - 2018
Episode 1
A retrospective look at television appearances made over the years by Some Like It Hot and Days of Wine and Roses star Jack Lemmon, with interviews from the archive and classic clips capturing the highlights of his life and career.
Episode 2
29 mins
A look at television appearances made over the years by Oscar-winning actress Shelley Winters, with interviews from the archive and classic clips capturing the milestones and highlights of her life and career.
Episode 3
Sixty years after its original release, Talking Pictures examines On the Waterfront, one of the greatest films in US cinema history. Archive interviews with the director, writer and cast members, including Marlon Brando, reveal how behind its success lies a story of betrayal and resentment, born from America's anti-communist fervour of the 1950s.
Episode 4
33 mins
A retrospective look at television appearances made over the years by award-winning actor Albert Finney, with interviews from the archive and classic clips capturing the milestones and highlights of his life and career.
Episode 5
A retrospective look at television appearances made over the years by award-winning actor and playwright Noel Coward, with interviews from the archive and classic clips capturing the milestones and highlights of his life and career.
Episode 6
A retrospective look at television appearances made over the years by Bafta-winning actor Kenneth More, with interviews from the archive and classic clips capturing the milestones and highlights of his life and career.
Episode 7
A retrospective look at the careers of some of the greatest and most successful directors in movie history, talking about their favourite films, the stars they worked with and their sometimes difficult relationships with Hollywood's studio bosses. Features rarely seen interviews with a line-up of directing legends, including John Ford, Frank Capra, Sidney Lumet, George Cukor, Billy Wilder and Cecil B DeMille.
Episode 8
A retrospective look at television appearances made over the years by Richard Harris, with interviews from the archive and classic clips capturing the milestones and highlights of his life and career.
Episode 9
To this day, Alfred Hitchcock is looked on as one of cinema's best and most influential directors. But how did the stars of his films finding working with the great man? To some he was 'the master', to others 'the manipulator'. Talking Pictures explores the relationship between Hitch and his leading actors, using rarely seen interviews of the man himself and a line-up that includes Kim Novak, Tippi Hedren, Joan Fontaine, Janet Leigh and Sean Connery.
Episode 10
Sometimes called the king of horror, Sir Christopher Lee was an icon of British cinema. In BBC interviews from over six decades, he discusses his screen villains and talks about his major roles, from Count Dracula to Count Dooku.
Episode 11
29 mins
A look back at the life of the actor Omar Sharif, who died in July 2015 at the age of 83. Using archive from his interviews with the BBC and featuring contributions from director David Lean, Sylvia Syms explores Sharif's dramatic entrance into the film world of the 1960s with Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, sees him considering his reputation as a playboy, and examines how his passion for cards and gambling at one point threatened to eclipse his reputation as an actor.
Episode 12
Talking Pictures tells the story of the Hollywood musical, using interviews with stars from the genre's golden age, as well as some of the directors and songwriters who helped create them. Among the big names remembering their experiences are Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Julie Andrews, Rex Harrison, Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli and Judy Garland - and the films under discussion include some of the best-loved in cinema history: Singin' in the Rain, On the Town, My Fair Lady, Funny Girl and The Sound of Music.
Episode 13
A look back at the life of the Oscar-winning actor Sir Anthony Hopkins. In interviews conducted with the BBC over the course of his career we see him discuss his approach to acting, his hell-raising years and the famous films and roles that helped make him a star including Remains of the Day, Shadowlands, Nixon and, of course, The Silence of the Lambs, in which he first portrayed his most celebrated character, Dr Hannibal Lecter.
Episode 14
A retrospective look at television appearances made over the years by actor and director John Huston, with interviews from the archive and classic clips capturing the milestones and highlights of his life and career.
Episode 15
Sylvia Syms looks back on the legendary leading ladies of Hollywood - the glamorous and often powerful stars who helped define what it was to be a woman in cinema's golden age. Featuring Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Lauren Bacall, Natalie Wood, Debbie Reynolds and Doris Day, the programme uses rarely seen archive and interviews to examine the relationships these great stars had with audiences, studio bosses - and sometimes with each other.
Episode 16
Sylvia Syms looks back on the great British comedy stars who over the years have had cinema audiences rolling in the aisles with laughter. Featuring rarely-seen interviews from the BBC's archives, the programme starts with the great George Formby and the early days of British cinema, and works its way forwards in time, exploring, amongst others, the classic Ealing comedies, the much-loved Doctor series, the saucy postcard humour of the Carry On films, Peter Sellers and the Pink Panther series, and the ground-breaking movies of Monty Python.
Episode 17
With classic interviews and rarely seen archive footage, Sylvia Syms examines the world of the big screen's smallest stars - the child actors. Featuring Shirley Temple, Hayley Mills, Jack Wild, Macaulay Culkin, Christian Bale, Jodie Foster and the stars of the Harry Potter films, the programme looks at their different careers and explores how these young talents fared once they had all grown up.
Episode 18
Sylvia Syms looks at the handsome heroes and gorgeous heroines, pin-ups and bombshells who came to be known as cinema's greatest sex symbols. They were the actors who made audiences' hearts beat fastest - the men and women whom the camera just seemed to love that little bit more than most. The programme hears from the stars themselves talking about what their sex symbol status meant to them, and the good-looking line-up includes Gary Cooper, Jane Russell, Brigitte Bardot, Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Hollywood's ultimate sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe.
Episode 19
A look back at the great British war films that boosted the nation's morale in the postwar years and launched the careers of some of our best-loved actors and directors. Featuring contributions from the likes of Noel Coward, Richard Attenborough, David Lean, Alec Guinness, Kenneth More and John Mills, the programme examines classic films like In Which We Serve, Reach for the Sky, Bridge on the River Kwai and The Dam Busters. Narrated by Sylvia Syms, it also includes her own memories of the making of one of the most enduring films of the genre, Ice Cold in Alex.
Episode 20
A retrospective look at television appearances made over the years by American actor Bing Crosby, with interviews from the archive and classic clips capturing the milestones and highlights of his life and career.
Episode 21
A retrospective look at some of the best-loved and most popular black stars to have graced cinema screens over the past seven decades, from Gone With the Wind right up to 12 Years a Slave. The programme examines how black actors' achievements have been recognised by the movie industry and the Oscars Academy, and explores Hollywood's complicated role in America's fight for civil rights - sometimes praised for championing black artists, often condemned for perpetuating racial stereotypes. Featuring rarely seen interviews with Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Whoopi Goldberg and Halle Berry.
Episode 22
A look back at the life and work of Alan Rickman, one of Britain's best-loved actors, who died in January 2016. We hear from the man himself, talking at different key stages of his career in several rarely seen interviews. The conversations, filled with insight and anecdotes, reveal how one of the leading lights of British theatre found movie stardom with Die Hard, and take us through all his favourite film roles, including his special part in the phenomenon that is the Harry Potter franchise.
Episode 23
A look back at the life of the actress Debbie Reynolds - one of the best-loved stars of Hollywood's golden age, who died in December 2016. In a selection of rarely seen interviews, we find Debbie discussing her favourite film roles, including her career-making appearance in Singin' in the Rain. She also talks about her husband Eddie Fisher leaving her for Elizabeth Taylor and the ensuing scandal that rocked Hollywood, and discusses life as Princess Leia's mum and her relationship with her daughter Carrie Fisher, who also passed away in December 2016, just one day before Debbie's own death.
Episode 24
A look back at the life and work of Sir John Hurt - one of Britain's acting greats, who died last month aged 77 after a career that spanned six decades and took in over 100 films. In a selection of rarely seen interviews, we find John discussing some of his most iconic screen creations - most notably Quentin Crisp from The Naked Civil Servant, John Merrick from The Elephant Man and Max from Midnight Express. The conversations also cover John's personal perspective on the craft of acting, the tragedy that claimed the life of the woman he planned marry and his reputation for being a hard-drinking hellraiser - which he felt was largely undeserved.
Episode 25
Sylvia Syms explores the BBC's archives and chooses a selection of rarely seen interviews that tell the story of the acting stars who made 60s Britain swing. We find Sean Connery wrestling with the pressures of Bond-mania, and the man who replaced him - George Lazenby - talking about the pressures that came with his licence to kill. Peter Sellers discusses his affection for Inspector Clouseau and Peter O'Toole explains how he got into character for Lawrence of Arabia. Julie Christie, the actress who personified swinging London, talks about her stunning rise to Oscar-winning stardom, while her ex-boyfriend Terence Stamp describes how he nearly killed her when they co-starred in Far from the Madding Crowd. Finally, and friends with them all, is Michael Caine, who talks here about how secret agent Harry Palmer was the anti-Bond, how he wasn't living the life of Alfie and how he came up with the plan for one of the decade's great feel-good films, The Italian Job.
Episode 26
Actor Warwick Davis - AKA Professor Flitwick and Griphook - explores the BBC archives and conjures up the story of the Harry Potter films - a tale that starts with the casting of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, and ends with the trio firmly established as internationally recognised teenage superstars. The programme uses rarely seen footage and interviews to explore behind the scenes, looks at how the franchise became one of the biggest in cinema history and gets the unique perspectives of the series' producer, directors, actors and JK Rowling herself.
Episode 27
59 mins
Sylvia Syms explores the BBC archives for a look back at the life and career of one of Britain's best-loved actors, Sir Roger Moore, who died in 2017, just months before his 90th birthday. Interviews with the star from over the years reveal how he went from knitwear model to one of the world's most recognisable faces, thanks to TV shows like The Saint and The Persuaders. They also show how Roger always seemed destined to play James Bond, and how the humour he brought to the franchise and his self-deprecating style guaranteed its success throughout the 1970s and 80s - and made him Britain's greatest cinematic export of the era. We also get the tale of his life post-Bond, which included working as an ambassador for Unicef, a role he judged his most important - putting it even above 007.
Episode 28
As double-Oscar winner Jane Fonda approaches her 80th birthday, Sylvia Syms explores the BBC archives for a look back at the life of one of Hollywood's most successful and controversial actresses. Interviews with the star from over the years reveal how the legacy of her father Henry has hung over her entire career, and show the journey that has taken her from 60s sex kitten, to feminist icon and political activist, to queen of the fitness video and award-winning producer. The programme also explores how Fonda's opposition to the Vietnam war impacted on her film choices and earned her the nickname she still struggles to shake off, Hanoi Jane.
Episode 29
Sylvia Syms looks through the BBC archives to tell the story of one of Hollywood's greatest ever feuds - the rivalry between legendary actresses Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Interviews from the 1960s and 70s reveal the mutual loathing that came to a head when, against all expectations, they starred together in the classic psychological thriller Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?. The programme looks in detail at the making of the film, examines the fallout when Bette and not Joan received an Oscar nomination for her performance, and shows how, despite the hatred, the pair had more in common than audiences appreciated.
Episode 30
Rory Bremner explores the BBC archives for an affectionate look back at the career of Barry Norman, who hosted the BBC's Film Review show for 26 years, and passed away in June 2017 at the age of 83. The programme pieces together a selection of Barry's best bits, from famous interviews to reviews of classic movies, encompassing his frequent trips to Hollywood and the Cannes Film Festival. Barry's love of language and ability to puncture the ego of Hollywood's most pompous superstars made him the nation's favourite film critic. Plus a look at his life before television beckoned, discovering how his first love wasn't films at all; he actually preferred cricket.
Episode 31
Sylvia Syms looks through the BBC archive to discover what makes an epic. The programme looks at the history of epics, which featured lavish budgets and huge sets, from the Ten Commandments and Ben Hur through to Titanic and Gladiator. Including interviews from some of the biggest stars in the world, who starred in some of the biggest films in the world.