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Synopsis
Arena is a British television documentary series, made and broadcast by the BBC. Voted by leading TV executives in Broadcast as one of the top 50 most influential programmes of all time, it has run since 1 October 1975 with over five hundred episodes made, directed by the likes of Martin Scorsese, Alan Yentob, Roly Keating, Frederick Baker, Volker Schlondorff and Vikram Jayanti. Arena's subjects are a roll-call of the world's best known cultural figures from the 20th and 21st centuries, from singers Bob Dylan and Amy Winehouse to academics Edward Said and Eric Hobsbawm, from writers Jean Genet and V S Naipaul to artists Francis Bacon and Louise Bourgeois. The current series editor is Anthony Wall.
Episode 26 : Brixton To Barbados
December. 15,1981
Documentary in which Jamaican-born poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, now resident in Brixton, visits Carifesta, a festival of West Indian culture held in Barbados, and surveys a small part of the very diverse cultural activity of the Islands. Performers include: South Stars - Trinidad; Network - Trinidad; Shake Keane - St Vincent; Bahamas National Dance Company; The Soulful Groovers - the Bahamas; Rebirth; the Renegades - Trinidad; Drama Group - Montserrat; the Mighty Arrow - Montserrat; Chronicle Atlantic Symphony Steel Orchestra; Michael Smith - Jamaica; the Dicey Doh Singers - Bahamas; the Mighty Sparrow - Trinidad; Irakere - Cuba.
Episode 25 : A Tall Story - How Salman Rushdie Pickled All India
December. 08,1981
Documentary which features the view of Booker prize-winning author Salman Rushdie of India through the eyes of his hero from the novel `Midnight's Children', Saleem Sinai.
Episode 23 : A Pretty British Affair
November. 17,1981
Documentary on British film-makers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger who talk about their career in partnership which produced some now-acknowledged "classics" of British Cinema, with comment from Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese.
Episode 22 : Let Them Know We're Here
November. 10,1981
Documentary which looks at the development of an idea for a play by Hanif Kureishi through the group improvisation and ideas of the Joint Stock Theatre Company to the first performance of the finished play, Borderline.
Episode 21 : Have You Seen The Mona Lisa?
November. 03,1981
Documentary about the image on the Mona Lisa and the various contexts in which the image can be seen throughout the world.
Episode 20 : "I Thought I Was Taller"-A Short History Of Mel Brooks
October. 02,1981
Portrait of comedy film writer, director and sometime actor, Mel Brooks filmed on location in Hollywood with Gene Wilder, Dom de Louise and Sid Caeser.
Episode 19 : The Cinema Of Andrzej Wajda
September. 06,1981
Documentary in which Polish film director Wajda is interviewed in Warsaw and Cra cow shortly after receiving the Palm D'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival. He talks about his films and his avoidance of censorship as a film-maker in Poland.
Episode 18 : Curtains?
August. 16,1981
Documentary looking at the future of the National Youth Theatre, looking at its history and the financial threats to its future exsistance. With interviews with Sir Ralph Richardson, Kate Adie, Martin Jarvis, Peter Terson, Helen Mirren.
Episode 17 : If The Music Had To Stop...
May. 16,1981
Documentary which examines the effects of the cuts in education spending on Britain's Youth Orchestras, looking in particular at the example of Leicestershire schools.
Episode 16 : Somewhere Over The Rainbow...
May. 09,1981
Profile of american painter Robert Natkin, who talks about the early influences on his life.
Episode 13 : The Return Of Lupino Lane
April. 15,1981
Programme which looks at some of the films of silent film comedian Lupino Lane, whose work was mostly destroyed when his studio went bankrupt in the twenties. However exracts from 14 of his restored films are featured here.
Episode 12 : Did You Miss Me?
April. 04,1981
Profile of pop singer Gary Glitter, who "retired" in 1976 and who was soon hopelessly in debt, but whose career has shown recent signs of revival.
Episode 11 : God's Fifth Columinist
March. 28,1981
Film Portrait of William Gerhardie who died in 1977, whose book Bod's Fifth Colu mn was published in 1981. Michael Holroyd discusses Gerhardie's life and work a nd introduces an interview recorded in 1971.
Episode 10 : A Walk With Amos Oz
March. 21,1981
Documentary profile of leading Israeli writer, Amos Oz in which he talks about t he thirty year history of the Israeli state whilst touring his home city of Jerusalem.
Episode 9 : Huston's Hobby
March. 14,1981
Documentary profile of film director John Huston.
Episode 8 : The Smallest Theatre...
March. 07,1981
Documentary looking at Britain's smallest theatre, run in Scotland by Barrie and Marrianne Hesketh for the last seventeen years, in which they take all the part s, design and direct all the shows.
Episode 7 : Stages
February. 28,1981
Documentary on the staging of The Ik in a quarry near Adelaide in australia by Peter Brook's travelling theatre company. Tribal Aboriginal performers travelled 1000's of miles to see the performance, along with popular plays presented by them.
Episode 6 : Edward Hopper
February. 21,1981
Documentary on Edward Hopper, american painter, whose work is the subject of an exhibition in London at the moment.
Episode 5 : Today Carshalton Beeches,,,Tomorrow, Croydon
January. 31,1981
Documentary whcih looks at the role of Radio One D.J. John Peel and his producer John Walters have had in the encouragement of rock bands who have yet to break through into commercial recording.
Episode 4 : Private Worlds
January. 24,1981
Documentary on two very individual English Artists. Sam Smith, who carves wooden toys and models evocative of the Edwardian era, and Chris Orr, illustrator of the minutes of suburbia.
Episode 3 : The Art of Radio Times - Private Eye
November. 24,1981
Since 1923 the Radio Times has been a leader in design & illustration & Eric Fraser one of its regular contributors talks about his work. > Through out the film covers & illustrations from the Radio Times from 1923 to the present day are featured with a soundtrack composed of excerpts from radio progs incl music, sport, comedy, lectures & early radio announcements. Eric FRASER talks about his change of style from humour to a more serious style since the war, his favourite type of work & how he manages to work to a script & produce designs very quickly. The intv with Fraser & vars hm working on an illustration are intercut through out the film. Name FRASER, Eric
Episode 2 : Chelsea Hotel
January. 03,1981
Documentary about the Chelsea Hotel in New York, a legendary haven for the some of the greatest artistic talent of the 20th century, from Mark Twain to Dylan Thomas.
Andy Warhol and William Burroughs have dinner in the room where Arthur C Clarke wrote 2001, and Quentin Crisp, who lived in the hotel for more than 35 years, recalls moving in.
Episode 1 : An Evening With René Clair
March. 19,1981
Programme which looks at the life and work of French film director Rene Clair and his work in France and Hollywood. With Leslie Caron, Gina Lollobrigida, Jean- Pierre Cassel, Claude Autant-Lara and Michel Boisrond.
Seasons
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