Lyndy Saville

Discovering Sci Fi on Film

Ian Nathan, Neil Norman and Stephen Armstrong run through their top 25 sci-films of the last century, including The Matrix and Planet of the Apes.

Max von Sydow

One of the greatest actors of the twentieth century, von Sydow is best known for his long creative partnership with director Ingmar Bergman, whose psychologically probing dramas—including their most famous collaboration, THE SEVENTH SEAL—gave the actor freedom to bare his soul and showcase his unfailingly commanding screen presence. In addition to the string of masterpieces he made with the Swedish auteur, von Sydow embodied a wide range of characters in films by art-house titans such as Jan Troell, Lars von Trier, and Wim Wenders, leaving behind a body of work that spans more than six decades and a dozen different countries. He appeared in more than one hundred and fifty films and television series in multiple languages. Max von Sydow received his French citizenship in 2002 and lived in France for the last two decades of his life.

Dracula Unearthed

Commemorates 100 years since the release of the German classic, Nosferatu, by FW Murnau, and explores the general fascination of Count Dracula, a figure who resonates with audiences across the literary, art, mythological and historical worlds.

Discovering Buñuel

Luis Bunuel, the father of cinematic Surrealism, made his film debut with 'Un Chien Andalou' in 1929 working closely with Salvador Dali. Considered one of the finest and controversial filmmakers with, 'L’Age d’Or' (1930), attacking the church and the middle classes. He won many awards including Best Director at Cannes for 'Los Olvidados' (1950), and the coveted Palme d’Or for 'Viridiana' (1961), which had been banned in his native Spain. His career moved to France with 'The Diary of a Chambermaid' with major stars such as Jeanne Moreau and Catherine Deneuve.

The Summer of Love

In 1967 an expressive, colourful musical force painted a backdrop of social change, fashion, love, turmoil and war. The world remembers the Summer of Love in 1967 as one of those moments when a unique and creative explosion of music and popular culture arrived in the UK and USA.

Julia Roberts : Le Coup de foudre d'Hollywood

Discovering Hamlet

Journey into "Hamlet"-the play and the man-through the experiences of some of the major actors and directors who have brought Shakespeare's great tragedy to life. Christopher Plummer, David Tennant, John Nettles, John Simm, Sir Trevor Nunn, Franco Zeffirelli, Philip Saville, and others explore the enduring appeal of the Prince of Denmark more than 400 years after his stage debut.

Discovering: Hergé

A look at the life of Tintin creator Georges Remi, known by the pen name Hergé, whose tales of reporter Tintin and his canine sidekick Snowy have stood the test of time, despite controversy over his early work.

Discovering Sci Fi on Film

Ian Nathan, Neil Norman and Stephen Armstrong run through their top 25 sci-films of the last century, including The Matrix and Planet of the Apes.

Max von Sydow

One of the greatest actors of the twentieth century, von Sydow is best known for his long creative partnership with director Ingmar Bergman, whose psychologically probing dramas—including their most famous collaboration, THE SEVENTH SEAL—gave the actor freedom to bare his soul and showcase his unfailingly commanding screen presence. In addition to the string of masterpieces he made with the Swedish auteur, von Sydow embodied a wide range of characters in films by art-house titans such as Jan Troell, Lars von Trier, and Wim Wenders, leaving behind a body of work that spans more than six decades and a dozen different countries. He appeared in more than one hundred and fifty films and television series in multiple languages. Max von Sydow received his French citizenship in 2002 and lived in France for the last two decades of his life.

Dracula Unearthed

Commemorates 100 years since the release of the German classic, Nosferatu, by FW Murnau, and explores the general fascination of Count Dracula, a figure who resonates with audiences across the literary, art, mythological and historical worlds.

Discovering Buñuel

Luis Bunuel, the father of cinematic Surrealism, made his film debut with 'Un Chien Andalou' in 1929 working closely with Salvador Dali. Considered one of the finest and controversial filmmakers with, 'L’Age d’Or' (1930), attacking the church and the middle classes. He won many awards including Best Director at Cannes for 'Los Olvidados' (1950), and the coveted Palme d’Or for 'Viridiana' (1961), which had been banned in his native Spain. His career moved to France with 'The Diary of a Chambermaid' with major stars such as Jeanne Moreau and Catherine Deneuve.

The Summer of Love

In 1967 an expressive, colourful musical force painted a backdrop of social change, fashion, love, turmoil and war. The world remembers the Summer of Love in 1967 as one of those moments when a unique and creative explosion of music and popular culture arrived in the UK and USA.

Julia Roberts : Le Coup de foudre d'Hollywood

Discovering Hamlet

Journey into "Hamlet"-the play and the man-through the experiences of some of the major actors and directors who have brought Shakespeare's great tragedy to life. Christopher Plummer, David Tennant, John Nettles, John Simm, Sir Trevor Nunn, Franco Zeffirelli, Philip Saville, and others explore the enduring appeal of the Prince of Denmark more than 400 years after his stage debut.

Discovering: Hergé

A look at the life of Tintin creator Georges Remi, known by the pen name Hergé, whose tales of reporter Tintin and his canine sidekick Snowy have stood the test of time, despite controversy over his early work.

Discovering Romance on Film

The Discovering team of Ian Nathan, Bonnie Greer, Neil Norman & Stephen Armstrong meet to select their favourite romance movies of all time. These legendary film critics and writers discuss the merits of 25 films including Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart in CASABLANCA, Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn in ROMAN HOLIDAY, Eddie Murphy in COMING TO AMERICA and Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt in AS GOOD AS IT GETS.

Brigitte Bardot: The Icon of France

The life and career of screen siren, Brigitte Bardot.

Discovering Jean Harlow

From the Classic Movie Docs library- Discovering, celebrates the lives of those who soared the highest. From Marlon Brando to Elizabeth Taylor, we uncover what drove them and why the world loved them. This episode focuses on Jean Harlow.

Discovering Horror on Film

The programme features the “Discovering” team gathered for a Halloween evening to discuss and review their Top 20 Horror films of the last 100 years.

Stars of the Silver Screen - Greta Garbo

Documentary providing a career overview of the great Greta Garbo.

Discovering Audrey Hepburn

Always the epitome of style, Audrey Hepburn fittingly started out as a model before being spotted by a movie producer. Her first major film, Roman Holiday, won her an Academy Award for Best Actress and catapulted her to stardom. Further performances in Funny Face and Sabrina Fair confirmed her status as one of the most adored actresses around. But it was when she donned a Givenchy dress in Breakfast at Tiffany's that Audrey Hepburn became an enduring style icon, her name synonymous with playful decadence and grace.

Shakespeare: The Legacy

This film explores the era, life and work of William Shakespeare, including his famous lost years and the ways in which his legacy endures today.

Discovering Christmas Films

Gathering for a Christmas lunch, the film critics and writers of Discovering Film discuss the merits of 20 films from Bill Murray's star turn in Scrooged, the James Stewart classic It's a Wonderful Life, Ingmar Bergman's Fanny & Alexander, to Bruce Willis' memorable Die Hard.

Discovering Westerns on Film

The Discovering Film team of Ian Nathan, Neil Norman & Stephen Armstrong meet to select their favourite Westerns of all time. These legendary film critics and writers discuss the merits of 25 films.

1968: A Year of War, Turmoil and Beyond

The Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, the May events in France, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, the Prague Spring, the Chicago riots, the Mexico Summer Olympics, the presidential election of Richard Nixon, the Apollo 8 space mission, the hippies and the Yippies, Bullitt and the living dead. Once upon a time the year 1968.

The Gathered

After her beloved aunt dies, young girl Lily (Polly Dartford) finds herself clashing with the insensitive guests gathered at the wake.

Leopold and Loeb: The Crime of the Century

This drama-doc takes you back in time to the most shocking and surprising murder cases in history. Our presenter, Nicholas Day, guides us into into the world of the killer as we see how police ingenuity and early forensics helped bring them to justice. Nathan Freudenthal Leopold Jr. and Richard Albert Loeb usually referred to collectively as Leopold and Loeb, were two wealthy students at the University of Chicago who in May 1924 kidnapped and murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks in Chicago. They committed the murder – characterized at the time as "the crime of the century”– as a demonstration of their ostensible intellectual superiority, which, they thought, enabled them to carry out a "perfect crime" and absolve them of responsibility for their actions.

Hitler's Putsch: The Birth of the Nazi Party

The night of November 8, 1923, is arguably the most significant and transformative in the history of the twentieth century. A localised uprising in the Bavarian capital of Munich, led by a small man with a toothbrush moustache and a poisonous yet compelling grandiloquence, would have repercussions that would lead to the political shackling of an entire nation, the most abhorrent crimes of the century and a world war. You might say, Adolf Hitler came of age amid the smell of sweat and sawdust of a Munich beer hall. In the political chaos of 1923, he was a local irritant, gaining popularity among workers and soldiers, the ethos of his Nazi Party spreading like a virus. His first attempt at attaining true power came with an attempted putsch on the already separatist government of Bavaria, which left him imprisoned.

Discovering Cary Grant

Discovering Cary Grant will not only momentarily bring back the actor's glory days in Hollywood, but it will also thoughtfully examine his life away from the rolling cameras. Get to know Cary on a more personal level through a well-assembled montage of classic film clips punctuated by perceptive commentaries and amusing anecdotes from a panel of highly regarded showbiz resource persons.

Discovering Dance On Film

A celebration of extraordinary choreographed moments in a countdown of TOP 25 of the most memorable dances in cinema history.

The Story of British Cinema: The Pioneer Years

For this inform­at­ive new one-off, film writer Ian Nathan focuses on the first 60 years of British film, from the inven­tion of cinema and the trans­ition from stage to screen, to the emer­gence of the stu­dios and the first pop­u­lar idols. Nathan takes us through the work of lead­ing Brit­ish film-makers — a tal­ent pool that, like Hol­ly­wood’s, benefited from the influx of refugees flee­ing Europe — includ­ing Alfred Hitch­cock, Pow­ell and Press­bur­ger, and many more besides.

Discovering Fashion

The stories and looks behind iconic and influential fashion designers such as Vivienne Westwood, Christian Dior, Ralph Lauren, and many more.

Comedy Legends

Barry Cryer pays tribute to the heroes of comedy he has worked with over his many years in the business. Each episode celebrates one artist and include highlights from their comedy careers. Stars include Tommy Cooper, Ronnie Barker, Joan Rivers, Bob Hope, Frankie Howerd and Morecambe & Wise and Barry recalls some of his funniest moments working with each of them.

The Stuarts: A Bloody Reign

Four kings from the House of Stuart sat on the English throne from 1603 to 1688. It was a time of great religious struggle and political instability. The Gunpowder Plot nearly wiped out King James I. The Thirty Years War broke out on the continent. A civil war erupted which led to the public beheading of King Charles I and the birth of a commonwealth headed by Oliver Cromwell. London was ravaged by the plague and the Great Fire of London. Throughout this series we look at the reign of the Stuarts through the powerful Wynn family at Gwydir Castle in North Wales, one of the best time capsules from that era. The story of the Wynn family reflects the turbulent history of this Stuart era. They had close connections with this new royal house and their status would rise and fall with the successes and failures of Stuart rule.

The Art of Film with Ian Nathan

Ian Nathan explores the many layers of the world of filmmaking, discussing each episode with filmmakers, cultural commentators, historians, authors and critics; what defines these stories, how they came to be, and who were the creative forces behind them.

Hitler: Uncovering His Fatal Obsession

After a terrible winter, 1942 starts badly for Stalin due to a ruthless Nazi campaign that leaves millions of Soviets captive and without food.

Cold War & Cinema

Hosted by Ian Nathan, this series features the cinematic stories of the Cold War era: propaganda, nuclear fear, a change in the US society; the spy games; and the rise and fall of the USSR and East Germany (and everything in between). Film critics and historians examine the industry both as it was happening in real time, and how films from this period have become seminal classics.

The Soviet Union: 100th Anniversary 1922

The Soviet Union was officially formed in 1922, a country, a political experiment, an ideal, a great scar across history. Officially known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the USSR was a one-party state, governed, controlled, and tormented by a single party rule. That of the Communist Party. Complicated, contradictory figureheads would come and go, men who held this impossible country it seemed by sheer will. Stalin the despot-hero whose cruelty knew few bounds who united a nation to defeat Hitler. Khrushchev the crafty libertarian, who preached reform yet allowed an arms race to escalate. Brezhnev, that unreadable member to the old guard, sending history backwards. And of course Gorbachev, who brought vast change, modernisation, and détente, yet saw the Soviet Union collapse under his rule – the untenable nation. The 20th century was shaped by its convulsions, its purges, its wars, and its leaders.

D-Day: The Soldiers' Story

Docuseries that presents the story of June 6th, 1944 in an original and revelatory way.

Stars of the Silver Screen

Chronicles of the lives of Hollywood's biggest stars.

WWII – The End

Looks at the epic final months of World War II and charts the Wehrmacht's last-ditch battles on the Western and Eastern fronts.

The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War, a series about the Vietnam war.

Cinema and World War II