Imagine (TV series) explained

Genre:	Documentary
Presenter:	Alan Yentob
Country:	United Kingdom
Language:	English
Num Series:	22
Executive Producer:	Alan Yentob
Company:	BBC Television BBC Studios Documentary Unit
Channel:	BBC One
Last Aired:	present

Imagine (typeset as imagine...)^[1] is a wide-ranging arts documentary series first broadcast on BBC One television in 2003, hosted and executive produced by Alan Yentob. Most series consist of 4 to 7 episodes, each on a different topic. Episodes have been directed by, among others, Geoff Wonfor, Lucy Blakstead, Jill Nicholls, Roger Parsons and Zoë Silver.

List of episodes

Series 1 (from 11 June 2003):

• "The Saatchi Phenomenon" – about businessman Charles Saatchi
• "Barbara Hepworth: Shapes Out of Feelings"
• "The Hip Hop Generation"
• "Stella McCartney: Stella's Story"
• "Carlos Acosta: The Reluctant Ballet Dancer"
• "The Portrait of Omai"
• "John Mortimer: Owning Up at 80"

Series 2 (from 12 November 2003):

• "The Voice of Bryn Terfel"
• "A Funny Business" – A look at British and American sitcoms
• "John Soane – Entertaining Mr Soane"
• "Martin Parr – The World According to Parr"
• "From Pencils to Pixels" – Celebrating the phenomenon of the animated feature film
• "An A-Z of the OED"

Series 3 (from 2 June 2004):

• "Edward Hopper – The Mysterious Mr Hopper"
• "Sitting for Lucian Freud"
• "Saint John Coltrane"
• "Peter Finlay – Dirty But Clean Pierre"
• "Unsuitable for Children?" – Exploring modern children's fiction
• "The Smoking Diaries" – about playwright Simon Gray

Series 4 (from 24 November 2004):

• "Arthur Miller – Finishing the Picture"
• "Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson's Smile"
• "Bruce Nauman – The Godfather of Modern Art"
• "Marlon Brando"
• "Antonio Pappano – A Year at the Opera"

Series 5 (from 11 May 2005):

• "A Short History of Tall Buildings" (3 parts)

Series 6 (from 22 June 2005):

• Fantastic Mr Dahl – about children's author Roald Dahl
• Frida Kahlo
• "Being a Concert Pianist"

Series 7 (from 23 November 2005):

• "Elgar and the Missing Concerto"
• "Amos Oz – The Conscience of Israel"
• "Chuck Close – Close Up"
• "Rhythm Is It!"

Series 8 (from 17 January 2006)

• "Sweet Home New Orleans" – examining the city's musical heritage
• "Andy Warhol – Warhol Denied"
• "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Studio"
• "Sitting Comfortably" – Tracing the changing styles of the modern chair

Series 9 (from 23 May 2006)

• "Being Hamlet" – about actor Wayne Cater as he prepares to play Hamlet
• "The Artist Formerly Known As Cat Stevens" – telling the story of pop star Cat Stevens and how he became Yusuf Islam.
• "The Ingenious Thomas Heatherwick"
• "A Picture of the Painter Howard Hodgkin"

Series 10 (from 17 October 2006)

• "Peter Pan: a Hard Act to Follow"
• "Velazquez, the Painter's Painter"
• "A Play for Today" – about Jeremy Weller's play The Foolish Young Man
• "The Movie Brats, Take Two" – about a group of maverick American directors
• "Who Cares About Art?" – follows the work of five art curators
• "Hans Holbein, International Man of Mystery"
• "Being a Diva" – about operatic divas
• www.herecomeseverybody.co.uk – a history of the World Wide Web
• "And Then There Was Television" – about the early days of television

Special (27 December 2006)

• "The Beatles in Love" – documenting the creation of The Beatles project Love

Series 11 (from 8 May 2007)

• "Gilbert and George" – No Surrender
• "Stealing Klimt" – the story of a 90-year-old's struggle to recover her family's paintings.
• "Scott Walker"
• "It's the Surreal Thing" – a history of Surrealism

Special (4 July 2007)

• "Damon and Jamie's Excellent Adventure" – documentary about cartoon pop group Gorillaz' foray into opera

Series 12 (from 23 October 2007)

• "Henry Perkins: Bolshoi Boy" – following a British boy at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy
• "Bollywood's Big B" – a profile of Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan
• "Helvetica"
• "Louise Bourgeois: Spiderwoman" – (with interviews from leading British artists Tracey Emin, Antony Gormley and Stella Vine)
• "How to Get on in the Art World" – featuring material on the Frieze Art Fair
• "The Secret of Life" – looking at the popularity of self-help books
• "Richard Rogers, Inside Out"
• "Marc Newson: Urban Spaceman"

Series 13 (from 23 May 2008)

• "Doris Lessing – The Hostess and The Alien"
• "Oliver Sacks – Tales of Music and The Brain"
• "Annie Leibovitz – Life Through a Lens"
• "A Trip to Asia: On the Road with the Berlin Philharmonic"
• "A Wild Sheep Chase: In Search of Haruki Murakami"
• "Werner Herzog – Beyond Reason"
• "Love, Loss and Anthony Minghella"

Series 14 (from 5 October 2008)

• "The Story of the Guitar – In the Beginning"
• "The Story of the Guitar – Out of the Frying Pan"
• "Dangerous Liaisons: When Akram Met Juliette"
• "The Story of the Guitar – This Time It's Personal"
• "A Love Story"
• "Jay-Z: He Came, He Saw, He Conquered"
• "Let There Be Light"
• "How an Orchestra Saved Venezuela's Children"
• "Richard Serra: Man of Steel"
• "Heavy Metal in Baghdad"

Series 15 (from 23 June 2009)

• "Save the Last Dance for Me: The Company of Elders"
• "David Hockney – A Bigger Picture"
• "Rufus Wainwright – Prima Donna"
• "William Eggleston – The Colourful Mr Eggleston"
• "Art in Troubled Times: A New Deal for Art"
• "Art in Troubled Times: The Home Front"

Series 16 (from 17 November 2009)

• "The Year of Anish Kapoor"
• "Dame Shirley Bassey – The Girl from Tiger Bay"
• "Own Art" – looking at an Arts Council scheme that enables people from all walks of life to buy a piece of art
• "Joan Baez – How Sweet the Sound"
• "Placido Domingo - The Time of My Life"
• "Scrabble – A Night on the Tiles"

Series 17 (from 5 April 2010)

• "Vincent Van Gogh: Painted with Words"
• "The Rolling Stones – The Stones in Exile"

Series 18 (from 15 June 2010)

• "Nigel Kennedy's Polish Adventure"
• "Art Is Child's Play"
• "Diana Athill – Growing Old Disgracefully"
• "Tom Jones – What Good Am I?"

Series 19 (from 16 November 2010)

• "Ai Weiwei – Without Fear or Favour"
• "Ron Galella – Smash His Camera"
• "The Weird Adventures of Eadweard Muybridge"
• "Ben Hur in Bath"
• "Ray Davies – Imaginary Man"

Special (23 February 2011)

• The Plinth, the Model, the Artist and his Sculpture – Film about Marc Quinn's sculpture "Alison Lapper Pregnant" in place on Trafalgar Square's Fourth plinth during 2005 to 2007.

The Trouble with Tolstoy (from 27 March 2011)

• "At War with Himself"
• "In Search of Happiness"

Series 20 (from 28 June 2011)

• "The Man Who Forgot How to Read and Other Stories"
• "The Pharaohs' Museum on Liberation Square"
• "Lennon: The New York Years"
• "Harry Nilsson: The Missing Beatle"
• "Iraq in Venice"
• "U2: From the Sky Down"

Series 21 (from 1 November 2011)

• "Grayson Perry and the Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman
• "Simon & Garfunkel – The Harmony Game"
• "Alan Ayckbourn – Greetings from Scarborough"
• "Vidal Sassoon – A Cut Above"
• "The Lost Music of Rajasthan"
• "Books – The Last Chapter?"
• "The Art of Stand-Up – Part One"
• "The Art of Stand-Up – Part Two"

Series 22 (from 26 June 2012)

• "Theatre of War"
• "Paul Simon's Graceland – Under African Skies"
• "Just One Falsetto"
• "Glasgow: The Grit and The Glamour"
• "Dancing with Titian"

Series 23 (from 19 September 2012)

• "The Fatwa – Salman's Story"
• "Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender"
• "Ian Rankin and the Case of the Disappearing Detective"
• "Do or Die: Lang Lang's Story"
• "The Many Lives of William Klein"^{[2] [3]}
• "How Music Makes Us Feel"
• "Jeanette Winterson: My Monster and Me"
• "A Beauty is Born: Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty"

Series 24 (from 28 March 2013)

• "Beyoncé: Life Is But a Dream"
• "David Bowie – Cracked Actor"
• "Vivian Maier – Who Took Nanny's Pictures?"

Series 25 (from 5 Nov 2013)

• "Edmund de Waal: Make Pots or Die"
• "Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy"
• "Turning the Art World Inside Out"
• "Judith Kerr: Hitler, the Tiger and Me"
• "Who's Afraid of Machiavelli?"

Series 26 (from 18 May 2014)

• "Rio 50 Degrees: Carry On CaRIOca"
• "Philip Roth Unleashed" (2 parts)
• ""

Series 27 (from Winter 2014)

• "The Art That Hitler Hated: The Sins of the Fathers"
• "Bette Midler: The Divine Miss M"
• "Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On"
• "Anselm Kiefer: Remembering The Future"
• "The One and Only Mike Leigh"
• "Colm Toibin: His Mother's Son"

Series 28 (from Summer 2015)

• "Frank Gehry: The Architect Says, Why Can't I?"
• "Jeff Koons: Diary of A Seducer"
• "Beware of Mr Baker"
• "Toni Morrison Remembers"
• "Richard Flanagan: Life After Death"

Series 29 (from Autumn 2015)

• "Shylock's Ghost"
• "Antony Gormley: Being Human"
• "My Curious Documentary"
• "The Last Impresario"
• "The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson"
• "David Chipperfield: A Place to Be"
• "Carlos Acosta: Cuba Calls"

Summer 2016

• "One Night in 2012"
• "DANGER! Cornelia Parker"
• "Georgia O'Keeffe: By Myself"
• "Sir Roderick Stewart: Can't Stop Me Now"

Shorts (2016-7)

• "The Handmade Films of William Kentridge - Part 1"
• "The Handmade Films of William Kentridge - Part 2"

Autumn 2016

• "The Seven Killings of Marlon James"
• "The Triumph and Laments of William Kentridge"
• "Serial Killers - The Women Who Write Crime Fiction"
• "The Art World's Prankster: Maurizio Cattelan"
• "Listen to Me Marlon"

Winter 2016

• "She Spoke the Unspeakable"
• "Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise"
• "Alice Neel: Dr Jekyll and Mrs Hyde"
• "Chris Ofili - The Caged Bird's Song"

Summer 2017

• "Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures"
• "Margaret Atwood: You Have Been Warned!"
• "Alma Deutscher: Finding Cinderella"
• "Cameron Mackintosh: The Musical Man"

Winter 2017-8

• "Rachel Whiteread: Ghost in the Room"
• "Mel Brooks: Unwrapped"
• "Philip Pullman: Angels and Daemons"
• "Ingrid Bergman in Her Own Words"
• "Andrew Lloyd Webber: Memories"
• "Habaneros: You Say You Want a Revolution? Part One"
• "Habaneros: You Say You Want a Revolution? Part Two"

2018

• "Rupert Everett: Born to be Wilde"
• "Orhan Pamuk: A Strange Mind"
• "Rose Wylie: This Rose Is Blooming"
• "Tacita Dean: Looking to See"
• "Hockney, The Queen and the Royal Peculiar"
• "George Benjamin: What Do You Want to Do When You Grow Up?"
• "Tracey Emin: Where Do You Draw the Line?"
• "Becoming Cary Grant"
• "Andrea Levy: Her Island Story"

2019

• "James Graham: In the Room Where It Happens"
• "Jo Brand: No Holds Barred"
• "Bill Viola: The Road to St Paul's"
• "Edna O'Brien: Fearful... and Fearless"
• "Faith Ringgold: Tell It Like It Is"
• "Olafur Eliasson: Miracles of Rare Device"
• "EastSide Story"

2020

• "This House is Full of Music"
• "Lemn Sissay: The Memory of Me"
• "Kate Prince: Every Move She Makes"
• "Kwame Kwei-Armah: ... My Name is Kwame"^[4]
• "Marina Abramovic: The Ugly Duckling"

2021^{[5] [6]}

• "We'll Be Back"
• "Bernardine Evaristo: Never Give Up"^[7]
• "Tom Stoppard: A Charmed Life"
• "Kazuo Ishiguro: Remembering and Forgetting"^[8]

2022^[9]

• "Marian Keyes: My (not so) Perfect Life"^[10]
• "Labi Siffre: This Is My Song"^[11]
• "Wayne McGregor: Dancing on the Edge"^[12]
• "Miriam Margolyes: Up for Grabs"^{[13] [14]}
• "Jacob Collier: In the Room Where It Happens"^[15]

2023

• "Stephen Frears: Director for Hire"
• "The Factory: Made in Manchester"
• "Russel T. Davies: The Doctor and Me"
• "French & Saunders: Pointed, Bitchy, Bitter"

Other (2006)

• Imagine... A Mildly Amusing Panel Show – a special highlights edition of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, a parody of the Imagine series, presented by Yentob himself.

Notes and References

1. Web site: BBC One - imagine... - Clips .
2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p0rrc "The Many Lives of William Klein"
3. Jane Shilling, "Imagine... The Many Lives of William Klein, BBC One, review", The Telegraph, 20 November 2012.
4. Web site: 6 August 2020 . My Name Is Kwame . BBC One.
5. Web site: BBC One - imagine... - Available now .
6. Web site: BBC One - imagine... - Episode guide .
7. Web site: BBC One - imagine..., 2021, Bernardine Evaristo: Never Give up .
8. Web site: BBC One - imagine..., 2021, Kazuo Ishiguro: Remembering and Forgetting .
9. Web site: BBC One - imagine..., 2022 .
10. Web site: BBC One - imagine..., 2022, Marian Keyes: My (Not so) Perfect Life .
11. Web site: BBC One - imagine..., 2022, Labi Siffre: This is My Song .
12. Web site: BBC One - imagine..., 2022, Wayne McGregor: Dancing on the Edge .
13. Web site: BBC One - imagine..., 2022, Miriam Margolyes: Up for Grabs .
14. News: Modern-day celebrities could learn a thing or two from outrageous octogenarian Miriam Margolyes . The Telegraph . 25 April 2022 . Singh . Anita .
15. Web site: Imagine... - 2022: Jacob Collier: In the Room Where It Happens .