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Antony Gormley: Being Human (2015)
Character: Self - Presenter
Alan Yentob meets sculptor Antony Gormley, creator of the iconic Angel of the North, and uncovers the influences that have shaped his life and work. Across a career spanning more than 40 years, Gormley has used sculpture as a means to examine the human condition. He explains how his strict Catholic childhood and his subsequent search for enlightenment in India influenced his decision to become a sculptor. 'If you are brought up a Catholic you may lose your Catholicism but the fact is it has marked you for life. And the need to replace its belief system with something else becomes your life's work.' Imagine shows rare archive footage of the creation of Gormley's key works, including the sculptor being fully encased in plaster to create casts of his own body, as well as footage of the installation of the Angel of the North. We also follow exhibitions this year in Paris, Florence and on Lundy Island.
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Rachel Whiteread: Ghost in the Room (2017)
Character: Self
An intimate portrait of British sculptor Rachel Whiteread as she unpacks her life's work for a major retrospective at Tate Britain in London. Her work explores themes of memory and absence, casting sculptural forms from familiar domestic objects small and large, from sinks and hot water bottles to living rooms - and a terraced house.
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Sweet Home New Orleans (2006)
Character: Self - Presenter
Could New Orleans's days as a great musical powerhouse be coming to an end? As Alan Yentob traces the city's vast musical heritage, he meets musicians who have lived and worked there all their lives and are determined to return despite the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. With contributions from Paul McCartney, Dr John, Jools Holland and Elvis Costello.
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Tom Stoppard: A Charmed Life (2021)
Character: Presenter
Tom Stoppard is perhaps the world’s leading, funniest and cleverest playwright. Ever since he hit the ground running in the 1960s with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, there has always been a streak of melancholy beneath the sparkling surface of his work. Now with his latest play, Leopoldstadt, he comes full circle and faces up to the pain and loss in his past. In this programme, he tells Alan Yentob his extraordinary story.
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Margaret Atwood: You Have Been Warned (2017)
Character: Self
For decades, Margaret Atwood has been universally acclaimed as Canada's greatest living writer. Fearlessly outspoken in life and in her work, Atwood has always been an unrelenting provocateur. Now at the age of 77, her star shines brighter and bolder than ever with an explosive television adaptation of her best-known work The Handmaid's Tale, which was first published in 1985. It is a dystopian work of speculative fiction set in the future, which has drawn comparison with aspects of Donald Trump's leadership, in particular the charges of misogyny which have inflamed anti-Trump campaigners across America. Alan Yentob meets Margaret Atwood in Toronto and discovers how a childhood spent between the Canadian wilderness and the city helped shape her vision of herself and the world, set alight her imagination and set her forth on a path to literary success.
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Labi Siffre: This Is My Song (2022)
Character: N/A
Alan Yentob presents a film exploring the life and work of the Ivor Novello Award-winning black British singer-songwriter Labi Siffre. An enigmatic and reclusive talent, Siffre wrote the song It Must Be Love, later covered by Madness, alongside songs of defiance like the classic anti-apartheid anthem (Something Inside) So Strong. In a highly unusual and uncompromising creative life, Siffre has produced nine albums to date – a somewhat overlooked back catalogue whose range and quality is nothing short of extraordinary. His hugely impressive body of work has in recent years also proved rich territory for an array of hip-hop heavyweights with Dr Dre and Eminem, Jay Z and Kanye West all discovering and sampling his music, bringing it to an entirely new generation of listeners around the world.
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Faith Ringgold: Tell It Like It Is (2019)
Character: Self - Presenter
Alan Yentob meets Harlem-born artist, author and activist Faith Ringgold as she prepares for her London show at the Serpentine Gallery.
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Mel Brooks Strikes Back! (2012)
Character: Self
Mel Brooks appears on stage with Alan Yentob, the creative director for the BBC, at the Geffen Theatre in California to review his extensive career as a writer, director, actor, producer, composer comedian, as well as his failed ballet dancing career. This special examines the early life of Mel Brooks, his show-business influences, early career and his showcases his ascension as one of Hollywood's most successful writers and directors.
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One Night In 2012 (2016)
Character: N/A
Co-produced by Rogan Productions and BBC Studios. London. The Summer of 2012. As rehearsals take place in a rainy Dagenham car park, Director Danny Boyle reveals a glimpse of his Opening Ceremony to the press. Some denounce it as the “Tellytubby Olympics” - others fear that it can never compete with the spectacle of Beijing. Everything pointed to an embarrassing failure. So how did one night in 2012 become 'The Greatest Show on Earth'? This is the story of a unique night when the Brits began to believe in themselves again. A night which showed the country what it could achieve when extraordinary people pulled together. A night which went beyond everyone’s expectations. For the first time since that night, Danny Boyle and the creative team behind the ceremony reunite in the company of Alan Yentob to explain the thinking that went into creating one of the country’s finer moments.
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Ken Russell: A Bit of a Devil (2012)
Character: Self - Presenter
Following the recent death of Ken Russell, Alan Yentob looks back over the career of the flamboyant film director responsible for Women In Love, Tommy and The Devils. Friends and admirers - including Glenda Jackson, Terry Gilliam, Twiggy, Melvyn Bragg, Robert Powell and Roger Daltrey - recall a pioneering documentary-maker, talented photographer and fearless film director.
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The One and Only Mike Leigh (2014)
Character: Self - Presenter
In a revealing documentary, Mike Leigh, director of Secrets & Lies, Vera Drake and Abigail's Party among many others, talks to Alan Yentob about a unique body of work and a lifelong struggle to make films on his own terms. On day one of a Mike Leigh film, there is no script, no story and the actors do not know if they will even be in the final film. It is a process that has yielded some of cinema's most celebrated performances, and Leigh's new film Mr Turner is already winning critical acclaim. Actors including Jim Broadbent, Eddie Marsan, Sally Hawkins, Lesley Manville and James Corden give fascinating insights into the director and his distinctive method of working.
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Zaha Hadid... Who Dares Wins (2013)
Character: Self - Presenter
Alan Yentob profiles the most successful female architect there has ever been, the late Zaha Hadid, who designed buildings around the globe from Austria to Azerbaijan.
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Oliver Sacks: Tales of Music and the Brain (2008)
Character: Presenter
Alan Yentob talks to Dr. Oliver Sacks about his latest book 'Musicophila: Tales of Music and the Brain' which deals with the power of music and how it helps those with extreme neurological conditions, and meets some extraordinary people overcame their conditions with music.
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Hitler, the Tiger and Me (2013)
Character: Self - Presenter
Beautiful story about effervescent ninety-year-old children's book author and illustrator Judith Kerr - (a true delight) - recounting her childhood escape from Hitler and eventual return to Berlin.
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Frank Gehry: The Architect Says "Why Can't I?" (2015)
Character: Self - Presenter
A fascinating look at the colorful career of architect Frank Gehry who despite being well into his eighties remains one of the world's most celebrated and famously provocative creative forces. From the iconic Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao to LA's Walt Disney Concert Hall, Gehry's buildings both intrigue and ignite. For Frank, rules are there to be broken. Alan Yentob explores Gehry's remarkable journey from poor outsider in Toronto to global 'starchitect' and follows the construction of a characteristically audacious new Gehry building in Sydney - his first in Australia.
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Georgia O'Keeffe: By Myself (2016)
Character: Self - Presenter
On the brink of the Depression in 1929, Georgia O'Keeffe - America's first great modernist painter - headed west. In the bright light of the New Mexico desert, she forged an independent life and found the solitude she needed for her truly original art. The photographs taken of her by her older lover scandalized the public. Her flower forms were seen as a shocking and vibrant display of femininity, her bones and skulls as surreal and disturbing. Now, 30 years after her death, to coincide with a major Tate Modern show, imagine - tells the story of Georgia O'Keeffe, one of the most inspiring artists ever.
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The Year of Anish Kapoor (2009)
Character: Self - Presenter
Alan Yentob meets one of Britain's most accomplished and popular sculptors, Anish Kapoor, known for his audacious works of staggering complexity and scale.
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Jo Brand: No Holds Barred (2019)
Character: Self - Presenter
Alan Yentob looks into the life of comedian Jo Brand, marking a diverse career which began in 1980s stand-up comedy and has moved through writing, performing and presenting.
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David Chipperfield: A Place to Be (2015)
Character: Self - Presenter
Alan Yentob talks to British architect David Chipperfield about his breakthrough in Berlin, his love of the city and the 11 years spent on the transformation of the Neues Museum.
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Edna O'Brien: Fearful... and Fearless (2019)
Character: Self - Presenter
Edna O’Brien is one of the greatest literary talents and rule breakers of her generation. In 1960, her revolutionary debut novel, The Country Girls, broke down social and sexual barriers for women and was subsequently banned in her native country of Ireland. The awrd-winning O’Brien continues to produce some of the most urgent work of her unparalleled career, with her eighteenth novel, Girl, a searing story inspired by the schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram, to be published later this year. In this honest and engaging documentary, Edna O’Brien reflects on her remarkable and ongoing writing life, interwoven with actors who perform extracts from her novels and rare family archive footage.
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The Seven Year Hitch (2010)
Character: Self
This documentary looks at executive producer Philip Segal’s seven-year quest to return Doctor Who to the screen, from his initial contact with the BBC shortly before its cancellation in 1989, through to the production and transmission of the movie in 1996. Featuring Philip Segal, BBC executive producer Jo Wright, BBC Head of Series Peter Cregeen, BBC1 controller Alan Yentob, writer Matthew Jacobs and Graeme Harper, the director of BBC Enterprises' abandoned Doctor Who movie. Narrated by Amanda Drew.
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Olafur Eliasson: Miracles of Rare Device (2019)
Character: Self - Presenter
Olafur Eliasson has been pushing the limits of the sublime and the spectacular in his art for almost 30 years. From his monumental installation, The Weather Project, in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall in 2003 to his recent interventions in climate change and global migration, his is an art which strives to change the world every step of the way. In 2019, the Danish-Icelandic artist returns to Tate Modern with his landmark exhibition, In Real Life, surveying the breadth of his career from his beginnings as an art student in Copenhagen through to the latest pieces created in his vast studio laboratory in Berlin. Much of his work is shaped by his response to his parents' home country of Iceland and the interplay of water and light showcased in its natural phenomena.
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Philip Pullman: Angels and Daemons (2018)
Character: Self - Presenter
Alan Yentob spends time with Philip Pullman in Oxford, discovering how the ex-teacher became an acclaimed author of fantasy fiction and an outspoken critic of organised religion.
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The Weird World of Eadweard Muybridge (2010)
Character: Presenter
Pioneer photographer, forefather of cinema, showman, murderer - Eadweard Muybridge was a Victorian enigma. He was born and died in Kingston upon Thames, but did his most famous work in California - freezing time and starting it up again, so that for the first time people could see how a racing horse's legs moved. He went on to animate the movements of naked ladies, wrestlers, athletes, elephants, cockatoos and his own naked body, projecting his images publicly with a machine he invented and astounding audiences worldwide with the first flickerings of cinema. Alan Yentob follows in Muybridge's footsteps as he makes - and often changes - his name, and sets off to kill his young wife's lover. With Andy Serkis as Muybridge
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Marina Abramovic: The Ugly Duckling (2020)
Character: Self - Presenter
Performance artist Marina Abramovic invites Alan Yentob into her home, opens her archive, travels to her birthplace in Belgrade and talks about turning her life into art.
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Kazuo Ishiguro: Remembering and Forgetting (2021)
Character: Self - Presenter
A revealing profile of the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, author of The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go, as he publishes his much-anticipated new book, Klara and the Sun.
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imagine... Miriam Margolyes: Up for Grabs (2022)
Character: Presenter
Miriam Margolyes is one of Britain’s best loved and most provocative actresses. Across her eclectic career, she has played scene-stealing turns in Blackadder, voiced some of our most well-known adverts and found fame internationally as Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films.
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Turning the Art World Inside Out (2013)
Character: N/A
After the success of recent shows in Venice, London and Paris, interest in `Outsider Art' has never been higher, but what exactly is it? How do we define it? And who are its gurus and luminaries? Alan Yentob explores this alternative art universe.
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The World According to Parr (2003)
Character: Self - Prsenter
Alan Yentob explores the work of Martin Parr, considered to be the most influential photographer of his generation
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How to Get on in the Art World (2007)
Character: Self - Presenter
Alan Yentob immerses himself in the Art World visiting the 5th London Frieze Art Fair in October 2007, the centre of the British contemporary art calendar.
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The Art World's Prankster: Maurizio Cattelan (2016)
Character: Self
One of the most provocative and elusive figures in contemporary art finds himself the subject of Maura Axelrod's film. Catapulted to worldwide notoriety in 1999 by The Ninth Hour, a sculpture of Pope John Paul II toppled by a meteorite, Maurizio Cattelan's work has bordered on criminal activity (breaking into a gallery and stealing another artist's work) and regularly defies good taste - Him features Hitler in prayer and sold earlier this year for a whopping £12,000,000. Building his career on evasion, trickery and subversion, Cattelan is perhaps not the most reliable of interviewees, but ex-girlfriends, family members, collectors and dealers build a compelling and intimate portrait of an enigmatic figure. Bold, witty and playful as a Cattelan work itself, is this film really all it seems?
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Scrabble: A Night on the Tiles (2009)
Character: Self
Scrabble is experiencing a renaissance. The younger generation have rediscovered the game online - through the copyright busting Scrabulous - and they're having night after night on the tiles. Alan Yentob sets out to discover why the word game leaves us spellbound, tracing its surprising history, meeting the American tournament Word Freaks, and paying a visit to the SAS-style training camp that the Nigerian government trains their players at.
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Grayson Perry and the Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman (2011)
Character: Self
Artist Grayson Perry has been working behind the scenes at the British Museum to stage his most ambitious show yet: The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman. Given free rein to choose whatever he wants from the Museum's vast collections, Perry has also produced some 25 new works of art, from his trademark ceramics to a working motorbike. Imagine follows Perry for more than two years as he creates his own imaginary civilisation at the heart of the British Museum.
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Books: The Last Chapter? (2011)
Character: Self
Will the rise of electronic books mark the final chapter in the love story between traditional books and their readers? Alan Yentob discusses the subject with a host of writers.
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Richard Serra: Man of Steel (2008)
Character: Presenter
Sculptor and giant of modern art Richard Serra discusses his extraordinary life and work. A creator of enormous, immediately identifiable steel sculptures that both terrify and mesmerise, Serra believes that each viewer creates the sculpture for themselves by being within it. To this end, a Japanese family are reminded of the Temples of Kyoto, a Londoner finds sanctuary in the Serra near Liverpool Street station, and most movingly, a Holocaust survivor sees one piece as a wall separating the living from the dead. Contributors include Chuck Close, Philip Glass and Glenn D Lowry, Director of MoMA.
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Shylock's Ghost (2015)
Character: Self - Presenter
As Man Booker Prize-winning writer Howard Jacobson retells The Merchant of Venice, 400 years after Shakespeare’s death, he travels with Alan Yentob to the ghetto in Venice to explore Shakespeare's most performed play - and in particular the character of the most divisive fictional Jew in history, Shylock. On their journey, Howard and Alan examine the evidence behind the charge of antisemitism against Shakespeare. How did his old Jew from Venice become such a useful propaganda tool during the Third Reich, and what was behind the absurd and infamous proposal to cut off a 'pound of flesh'?
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Fantastic Mr. Dahl (2005)
Character: Self - Presenter
Documentary about author Roald Dahl, produced for the British television series Imagine.
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Who's Afraid of Machiavelli? (2013)
Character: Self - Presenter
Famous for lines like 'It is better to be feared than loved', Machiavelli's notorious book, The Prince, has been a manual for tyrants from Napoleon to Stalin. But how relevant is The Prince today, and who are the 21st century Machiavellians?
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Ray Davies: Imaginary Man (2010)
Character: Self - Presenter
Alan Yentob meets Ray Davies, the creative powerhouse behind The Kinks and author of some of the best-loved songs of the 60s, who candidly discusses the vicissitudes of his career.
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Jacob Collier: In the Room Where It Happens (2022)
Character: N/A
Twenty-something virtuoso multi-instrumentalist, singer and arranger Jacob Collier has managed to outdo The Beatles by winning Grammy Awards for each of his first four albums. Alan Yentob meets Jacob and musicians he has collaborated with, including Stormzy, Chris Martin and film composer Hans Zimmer. He also talks to music legends Quincy Jones and Herbie Hancock, who believe Jacob Collier is one of the most talented musicians on the planet today.
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The Seven Killings of Marlon James (2016)
Character: Self
2015 was a momentous year for novelist Marlon James. He became the first Jamaican writer to win the Man Booker prize for his magisterial novel A Brief History of Seven Killings, about the events surrounding the attempted assassination of Bob Marley and their aftermath. He also chose to come out as gay in an article for the New York Times - a brave move for a man born in what has been called the world's most homophobic country. Alan Yentob accompanies the charismatic and provocative James back to Jamaica and finds in his three highly praised novels a complex portrait of the turbulent history of his native country.
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Salman Rushdie: Through a Glass Darkly (2024)
Character: Self - Interviewer
Salman Rushdie speaks to Alan Yentob about the devastating knife attack he was subjected to in 2022, losing his right eye and almost his ability to write.
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Mini: A Life Revisited (2013)
Character: Self - Presenter
1975 documentary about 11-year-old serial arsonist Michael 'Mini' Cooper, followed by Cooper and the film's director Franc Roddam in conversation with Alan Yentob in 2013.
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Van Gogh: Painted with Words (2010)
Character: Self - Narrator
A drama-documentary presented by Alan Yentob, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role. Every word spoken by the actors in this film is sourced from the letters that Van Gogh sent to his younger brother Theo, and of those around him. What emerges is a complex portrait of a sophisticated, civilised and yet tormented man.
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imagine... The Factory: Made in Manchester (2023)
Character: Self - presenter
imagine... tells the story of Aviva Studios, Manchester’s colossal new cultural venue, and goes behind the scenes at the world premiere of its opening production, Free Your Mind.
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Goodbye Television Centre (2013)
Character: Self - Reporter
After 53 years Television Centre, the BBC's TV headquarters, is closing its doors and Michael Grade gathers together many of its best-loved faces to stroll down memory lane.
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Vivian Maier: Who Took Nanny's Pictures? (2013)
Character: Self
The incredible story of a mysterious nanny who died in 2009 leaving behind a secret hoard - thousands of stunning photographs. Never seen in her lifetime, they were found by chance in a Chicago storage locker and auctioned off cheaply. Now Vivian Maier has gone viral and her magical pictures sell for thousands of dollars. Vivian was a tough street photographer, a secret poet of suburbia. In life she was a recluse, a hoarder, spinning tall tales about her French roots. Presented by Alan Yentob, the film includes stories from those who knew her and those who revealed her astonishing work.
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BBC Imagine: The Divine Miss M (2014)
Character: Self
For five decades the woman they call the Divine Miss M has forged a path which has taken her from a pineapple-canning factory in Honolulu to becoming a Hollywood legend. Alan Yentob joins Bette Midler on a journey through the chorus lines of Broadway and the bathhouses and nightclubs of the 1970s to the very top of the film industry. Her combination of a soulful voice and the raucous wit of Mae West has made her name as an outrageous, but always captivating, all-round entertainer.
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The Triumphs and Laments of William Kentridge (2016)
Character: Self - Presenter
Alan Yentob joins South African artist William Kentridge as he prepares an epic frieze along the banks of the river Tiber in Rome. Alan visits him in his hometown of Johannesburg, the inspiration for the magical hand-drawn animated films he calls 'drawings for projection'. Brought up under apartheid, Kentridge has witnessed the fragile transition to a multi-racial democracy, and his art continues to reflect South Africa's turbulent times.
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Imagine… Pet Shop Boys: Then and Now (2024)
Character: Interviewer
Featuring exclusive access to their recent tour and their new album, this documentary reveals the fascinating world of Pet Shop Boys, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe.
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Mel Brooks: Unwrapped (2018)
Character: Self - Presenter
At the age of 91, Mel Brooks is unstoppable, with his musical "Young Frankenstein" opening to great critical acclaim in London in late 2017. Alan Yentob visits Mel at home in Hollywood, at work and at play.
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