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Private Notes
Profile of jazz legend, actor and ambassador Louis Armstrong. Tributes and anecdotes are given by the likes of Max Roach, George Melly, Dave Brubeck and Humphrey Lyttelton.
Frederic Chopin, who died 150 years ago, was one of the outstanding virtuoso pianists of the 19th century and revolutionised the writing and playing of piano music. Pianist Andras Schiff celebrates the anniversary. Presenter: Andras Schiff
Dean Martin was one of America's most popular entertainers of the fifties and sixties, famed for hit records and his comedy partnership with Jerry Lewis. Close friends and colleagues help explore the extraordinary appeal and long career of the star who embodied the American Dream.
Narrator: Ian McShane
Director: Elaine Donnelly
Julie Walters is one of Britain's most loved and talented actresses. Her comic TV creations include Mrs Overall in Acorn Antiques and Petula from
Dinnerladies, and she has given acclaimed performances in hit films such as Educating Rita.
In tonight's profile, the actress talks openly about her life and career to date, with contributions from Victoria Wood, Michael Caine and Matthew Kelly. Director: Ian Leese
Berlin's Reichstag has always possessed a resonance beyond mere bricks and mortar. It was built in 1894 as a symbol of a Germany united under Bismarck, and since 1990 it has been harnessed as a symbol of reunification. Omnibus goes behind the scenes to tell the story of Sir Norman Foster's rebuilding of the Reichstag, charting the often fraught path from blueprint to completion as one of the world's greatest modernist architects took on one of the world's most historically charged buildings. Director: Frederick Baker
As the UK release of Star Wars: Episode / - the Phantom Menace approaches, this documentary looks behind the scenes of the new film, and at the Star Wars phenomenon in general. It includes visits to the film set in Tunisia plus interviews with Lucas, former and current cast members, and others.
Featuring interviews with Ewan McGregor, Carrie Fisher, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Rick McCallum, Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman, David West Reynolds, Francis Coppola, Saul Zaentz, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Doug Chiang, Gareth Wigan, Irvin Kershner and Lawrence Kasdan.
Sir Anthony Van Dyck, royal painter to King Charles I, was the first artist to make the English glamorous and sophisticated. Four hundred years after his birth, and with the largest exhibition of his work in 100 years opening on 11 September at London's Royal Academy, Omnibus examines how he transformed portraiture from stiff formality to suggestive and sensuous beauty. Director: Louise Hooper
The first television profile of best-selling Irish novelist Roddy Doyle, who is now compiling a trilogy encompassing 20th-century Irish history. Contains strong language. Director: Sasha Bates
Hollywood actor and comedian Steve Martin is one of America's entertainment giants. Omnibus looks back at his career spanning the past 25 years. Director: Adrian Sibley
Blondie, led by Deborah Harry, has burst back on to the music scene after a 16 year gap. Omnibus profiles the band. Director: Julian Birkett
A profile of actor Nigel Hawthorne as he prepares to play King Lear in the Royal Shakespeare Company's millennium production, following him to rehearsals in Japan and on a visit to his childhood home of Cape Town, South Africa. Director: Ian Leese
Was Elizabeth Gaskell Britain's most passionate Victorian novelist? Eclipsed by Charles Dickens, George Eliot and the Brontes, her work is currently undergoing a reappraisal mainly due to the Gaskell Society's efforts. Director: Tim Dunn
America's king of horror, novelist Stephen King, talks about his life and work, and reveals his personal demons. Producer: David Stewart
On the road to creating a new character, Jennifer Saunders pirouettes her way through the world of ballet as she goes in search of the brittle character of the prima ballerina whose life she traces from childhood to old age with help from among others Darcey Bussell and Lynn Seymour.
Experts: Darcey Bussell, Lynn Seymour
Director: Jenny de Yong
Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies, which have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books. Since the early 1970s, Stephen King has been America's most famous horror writer. His books are a mainstay of paperback bookracks everywhere, and have spawned a multi-media franchise that includes movies, TV shows, video games and comic books. King is famously productive, turning out a novel a year and sometimes more. His string of bestsellers began with Carrie (1974), and his early horror novels include Salem's Lot (1975), The Shining (1977) and The Dead Zone (1979), all of which have been adapted for film or television. Since conquering the horror market, King has written novels in other genres and experimented with various publishing methods, including issuing installments of The Green Mile (1996) and beginning the Internet-first publication of The Plant in 2000. Continuing the legacy of American writers Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Henry James, and H. P. Lovecraft, Stephen King is perhaps the most famous horror writer of his generation. He is known for his ability to transform the ordinary and everyday into the horrific, a talent that is exhibited in books such as Christine, about a car; Cujo, about a dog; Carrie, about a misunderstood teen; and Salem's Lot, about the ghostly, vacant house on the hill that exists in every town and is the stuff of neighborhood legend and childish nightmare. As Atlantic Monthly contributor Lloyd Rose wrote, "King takes ordinary emotional situations—marital stress, infidelity, peer-group-acceptance worries—and translates them into violent tales of vampires and ghosts. He writes supernatural soap operas." While some critics have dismissed King's work as genre fiction, others recognize the skill and sensitivity with which King tap
A profile of Nigel Hawthorne as he prepares to play King Lear in the Royal Shakespeare Company's millennium production.
