Discovering Hamlet

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.

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 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.

Stars of the Silver Screen

Chronicles of the lives of Hollywood's biggest stars.

Julia Roberts : Le Coup de foudre d'Hollywood

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.

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 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.

The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War, a series about the Vietnam war.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 - Greta Garbo

Documentary providing a career overview of the great Greta Garbo.

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.

Grand Theft Hamlet

Two unemployed friends have a fresh idea: they want to stage Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' in Grand Theft Auto. But even in a virtual world, reality intrudes in a wild and trippy film shot entirely inside the ultra-violent video game.