Remembers…
What are the secrets of our favourite TV shows? Famous names from both sides of the camera reflect on making some of the most popular and influential programmes of all time.
Seasons
1. Jeanette Winterson Remembers... Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
Air Date: 2022-06-29
Jeanette Winterson looks back on the iconic drama series Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1989).
2. Bernard Hill Remembers... Boys from the Blackstuff
Air Date: 2022-07-06
Bernard Hill looks back on the iconic drama series Boys from the Blackstuff (1982).
3. Colin Baker Remembers… The Roads to Freedom
Air Date: 2022-07-29
Colin Baker looks back on one of his earliest TV roles and discusses the significance of acclaimed 13-part drama series 'The Roads to Freedom', which is being shown on television for the first time since 1977 as part of the BBC’s centenary celebrations. Based on the novels by Jean-Paul Sartre and set in Nazi-occupied France, it has been described as an amazing, potent and subversive viewing experience, that saw taboos broken with every weekly broadcast. That assessment can now be tested by first-time viewers, as well those who saw it at the time and who have long campaigned for the BBC to screen it again.
4. Hanif Kureishi Remembers… The Buddha of Suburbia
Air Date: 2022-08-17
Writer Hanif Kureishi looks back on how his semi-autobiographical novel The Buddha of Suburbia became one of the defining BBC dramas of the 1990s. He discusses the ways in which it set new standards in representing multicultural Britain, the importance that humour plays in pushing forward serious ideas, and what it was like working with his musical hero, after David Bowie unexpectedly suggested that he write the soundtrack.
5. Moira Armstrong and Vivien Heilbron Remember… Sunset Song
Air Date: 2022-08-31
Actor Vivien Heilbron and director Moira Armstrong look back on the 1971 BBC Scotland drama Sunset Song, based on Lewis Grassic Gibbon's classic novel. Together, the friends discuss how their collaboration worked and the pressures of filming nude scenes, arguing over accents and working with animals. The pair also consider why Sunset Song was such a significant production and the legacy it has left behind.
6. Christopher Eccleston Remembers… Our Friends in the North
Air Date: 2022-09-14
To mark the rescreening of Our Friends in the North, as part of the BBC’s centenary celebrations, Christopher Eccleston looks back on Peter Flannery’s acclaimed 1996 drama. Following the lives of four friends from Newcastle over a period of three decades, the series struck a chord with the nation’s viewers and turned its young cast into household names. In this introduction to the series, Eccleston shares behind-the-scenes stories of how the drama was made and assesses the impact it had on audiences, himself and his fellow cast members.
7. Kenneth Branagh Remembers… Billy Plays
Air Date: 2022-10-05
Kenneth Branagh looks back on his experiences working on the first major production of his career: Graham Reid’s Billy Plays trilogy. The three Play for Today dramas won great praise for the way they captured ordinary working class lives in Belfast, set against the backdrop of The Troubles. The acclaim Branagh received for his portrayal of big-hearted, hot-headed Billy got his career off to a perfect start. He gives his perspective on why the drama was so well-received, recalls working with his fellow cast, and casts an experienced, critical eye over his own youthful performance.
8. David Harewood Remembers… A Man from the Sun
Air Date: 2022-10-19
Actor David Harewood shares his impressions of John Elliot’s game-changing 1956 BBC drama, which explored the challenges and racism encountered by Windrush immigrants from the West Indies, who had come to Britain after being promised work and a secure future. David discusses the impact A Man From the Sun still holds today, the performances of cast members Errol John, Cy Grant and Earl Cameron, and the context and attitudes of a decade that saw the BBC bring viewers issue-led dramas like this while at the same time creating series such as The Black and White Minstrels.
1. Michael Jayston Remembers... Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Air Date: 2023-01-02
Michael Jayston looks back on the acclaimed drama series Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979).
2. Glenda Jackson Remembers... Elizabeth R
Air Date: 2023-03-29
Double Oscar winner Glenda Jackson remembers the role that brought her back to television after the huge success she had found on the big screen.
3. Duncan Preston Remembers... Pat and Margaret
Air Date: 2023-05-17
Actor Duncan Preston introduces Victoria Wood's comedy drama about two ill-matched sisters.
1. Dame Darcey Bussell on... The Magic of Dance
Air Date: 2024-01-01
Renowned ballet dancer Dame Darcey Bussell introduces us to a gem from the BBC’s dance archives, The Magic of Dance, which was first transmitted in 1979 to great acclaim and is presented by celebrated ballet dancer, the unforgettable Margot Fonteyn. Darcey describes her favourite moments of the series, including a tap masterclass with the ever-cool Sammy Davis Jr, a beautiful routine by celebrated Latvian dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov and a glimpse of pioneer of modern dance Isadora Duncan.
2. Penelope Keith Remembers... To the Manor Born
Air Date: 2024-01-02
Penelope Keith casts an affectionate eye back on the much-loved sitcom To the Manor Born and her role as upper-class Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, who finds herself down on her luck and forced to change her circumstances and home after the death of her husband. Penelope tells the story behind how the comedy came into being, what it was like working with fellow cast members Angela Thorne and Peter Bowles, and the challenges she faced taking on a new role after the huge success she’d enjoyed playing Margo in The Good Life.
3. Andrew Davies Remembers... Pride and Prejudice
Air Date: 2024-01-03
Andrew Davies looks back on Pride and Prejudice (1995) and talks about how he adapted the story from Jane Austen's classic novel.
4. Alan Yentob Remembers... Orson Welles
Air Date: 2024-01-18
Orson Welles was the genius who changed the face of cinema with his 1941 directorial debut, Citizen Kane, and who became one of the key artistic figures of the 20th century – a great raconteur as well as a great artist, and larger than life in every sense. In 1982, Welles was the focus of a two-part BBC documentary that told the story of his life, The Orson Welles Story, and here, its producer, Alan Yentob, looks back on his encounters with this giant of a man, telling the tale of their behind-the-scenes dealings and explaining why he believes Welles’s legacy is still significant today and why he will always deserve his reputation as a genius of cinema.
5. Waris Hussein Remembers... A Passage to India
Air Date: 2024-01-31
In 1965, a young Waris Hussein was perhaps the only experienced Indian director working in British television and was horrified when he discovered that the BBC was planning a TV adaptation of EM Forster’s A Passage to India without him at the helm. As luck would have it, a twist of fate meant he did end up in the director’s chair. Waris shares fond memories of his experiences, describing the filming challenges involved in portraying a true sense of India, recalling what it was like working with a stellar cast that included the likes of Dame Sybil Thorndike, Cyril Cusak and Virginia McKenna, and outlining the pressure to do full justice to one of the great novels of the 20th century.
6. Mackenzie Crook Remembers... Detectorists
Air Date: 2024-12-23
Mackenzie Crook shares what inspired him to write his hit series Detectorists - a funny and touching series about a group of metal detectorists (not detectors) in the fictional town of Danebury in Essex. Mackenzie describes how he intended his show to be a snapshot of everyday English life, the normalcy of male friendships and a celebration of Britain’s hobbyists. Mackenzie talks about how important the casting of the characters was in bringing his creation to life and how some unexpected advice from Ricky Gervais opened up a new directing career for him. Ten years on from the show’s first transmission, Mackenzie is ultimately delighted that his ‘gentle’ series is still finding new audiences and, most importantly, making people laugh.
1. Ruth Jones Remembers… Hattie
Air Date: 2025-01-01
A self-confessed comedy hero to Ruth Jones, Hattie Jacques was a core part of postwar British comedy history. Roles in the Carry On films and TV sitcoms such as Sykes and Hancock cemented her place in the nation’s heart. Yet her off-screen life was just as extraordinary – married to Dad’s Army star John Le Mesurier, she began an unconventional affair with her driver, a scandal that could have ended her career. Ruth looks back at Hattie, a one-off drama that captures the astonishing story. She discusses the origins of the project and the prep work she did for playing such an icon. She talks of the attention paid to period detail, the loving recreation of classic screen comedies, her joy in the costumes and the astonishing cast. And she tells us how Hattie Jacques was so much more than the larger-than-life persona we saw in the movies, a comic genius and role model who broke the mould.
2. Vivien Heilbron Remembers… Cloud Howe
Air Date: 2025-02-19
Actress Vivien Heilbron looks back on the 1982 drama series Cloud Howe, the second part of the BBC’s acclaimed adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s classic trilogy A Scots Quair. Vivien’s character Chris is now moving on from the death of her first husband, newly married to a church minister and trying to manage a new life in a small town where gossip and rumour runs rife.
3. Vivien Heilbron Remembers… Grey Granite
Air Date: 2025-02-26
First broadcast in 1983, Grey Granite was the third and final part of Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s A Scots Quair trilogy that the BBC adapted for television. Leading actress Vivien Heilbron looks back on her time making the series and the challenges she faced when taking on the key role of Chris Guthrie one last time, over ten years since she was first cast in the part in Sunset Song. Grey Granite finds Chris struggling with the radical politics of her son Ewan and the amorous attentions of a friend from the past. Vivien outlines the challenges of bringing Gibbon’s story to the screen once again and shares an overview of her memories from across the entire trilogy, working with some of Scotland’s finest acting talent.
4. David Herman Remembers… Face to Face
Air Date: 2025-03-16
From Tony Hancock to Martin Luther King, Yoko Ono to Salman Rushdie, Face to Face interrogated some of the key figures in 20th-century culture. From its start in 1959, to its return 30 years later, it pushed contributors into revealing places and gave insights into their characters. It reduced What’s My Line star Gilbert Harding to tears, and Evelyn Waugh into a sweating heap. It also saw Paul Eddington discussing the cancer that eventually killed him, and Edith Sitwell describing her connection to Dylan Thomas. David Herman, who produced Face to Face on its TV return in 1989, takes us through his memories, including an emotional screening of Spielberg’s Schindler’s List with Jeremy Isaacs and meeting Yoko Ono at the Dakota hotel. David also recalls John Freeman’s groundbreaking original and explains why it was right to resurrect the show. He brings to life a programme that has firmly established itself in British TV history.
5. Adrian Lester Remembers… Company
Air Date: 2025-03-30
Actor Adrian Lester looks back on the celebrated 1996 Donmar Warehouse revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical Company.
6. Tony Marchant Remembers… Take Me Home
Air Date: 2025-04-02
Writer Tony Marchant looks back on his 1989 drama Take Me Home, a troubled love story set amidst a political backdrop of changing attitudes, technological advances and residential development. The drama was Tony’s first serial for television, and he remembers its journey from page to screen, including the casting of well-known faces Keith Barron, Reece Dinsdale, Maggie O’Neill and Annette Crosbie. Tony reflects on how the drama has not lost its relevance. The story of two lost souls, both at odds with the fast-paced development of the modern world, coming together is just as meaningful today as it ever was.
7. David Olusoga Remembers… Artists and Models
Air Date: 2025-04-07
Historian David Olusoga looks back on the 1986 BBC drama documentary Artists and Models, which had a profound influence on him as a young man. David remembers how the series ignited in him a love of art and history that would go on to determine his own career and lifelong passions. The series was influential in its day for its use of long, thoughtful shots of classical artwork, which David says has had a lasting impact on the television series he makes today.
8. Willard White Remembers… Porgy and Bess
Air Date: 2025-04-13
The great opera singer Sir Willard White recalls his experiences on the first televised production of Porgy and Bess, based itself on Trevor Nunn’s acclaimed 1986 Glyndebourne staging of George Gershwin’s classic opera, and conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. Willard recalls the unusual challenges that arose during the project, including lip-syncing and performing in a TV studio instead of a stage, as well as what Porgy and Bess has meant to him throughout his esteemed career.
9. Jimmy McGovern Remembers… The Lakes
Air Date: 2025-04-16
Writer Jimmy McGovern looks back on The Lakes, his 1997 drama that showed viewers one of Britain’s most-loved beauty spots in a whole new light, riddled with crime, drugs, sex and adultery. Jimmy talks about the inspiration behind the series, working with cast members like John Simm, and how he feels looking back on the show today.
10. Jimmy McGovern Remembers… Priest
Air Date: 2025-04-30
Screenwriter Jimmy McGovern looks back on his acclaimed, but controversial, 1995 drama Priest, explaining how an initial desire to explore the notion of celibacy for Catholic priests became a tale tackling homosexuality. He discusses the writing of what were then eye-opening sex scenes and talks about the film’s far darker storyline, exploring child sexual abuse and the sanctity of confession. On its release, Priest would be boycotted by some but embraced by many others, from surprising quarters, and it remains to this day one of the screenplays that Jimmy is most proud of.
11. Gary Wilmot Remembers… Showstoppers
Air Date: 2025-05-04
Gary Wilmot looks back fondly on his time presenting Showstoppers, a 1995 series jam-packed with well-known hits from musical theatre. The series started life as a one-off special and was then extended to include a further six episodes after huge audience demand. Gary reminisces on what made the show so popular, working with the incredible BBC Concert Orchestra and learning more show tunes than he thought possible! Gary also shares his memories of the special guests on the show, from Luther Vandross and Sir Cliff Richard to stage greats Anthony Newley, Tom Conti and Elaine Paige and television favourites Bob Monkhouse and Dennis Waterman.
12. Jimmy McGovern Remembers… Common
Air Date: 2025-05-07
Screenwriter Jimmy McGovern remembers his 2014 drama Common, which explores the concept and consequences of the law of joint association through the story of a fictional murder involving a group of Liverpool teenagers. Jimmy explains how he came to be persuaded to write Common, his approach and what he was trying to achieve, and whether he considers the endeavour to be a success.
13. Elaine Paige Remembers… A Night on the Town
Air Date: 2025-05-11
Elaine Paige looks back on A Night on the Town – a musical extravaganza from the early 1980s, filmed with a mostly American cast of singers and dancers, such as Ann Reinking, Hinton Battle, Frank Gorshin and the wonderful Eartha Kitt. Elaine recalls being drawn to the production, as it featured so many songs from writers she most admires – Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and Noel Coward. She had to play several parts, as each musical number had its own vignette, which allowed her to play a very loud and broad hat check girl from the 1930s, a dame from the Deep South and a Russian countess – much to the delight of fellow actor Lewis Collins, with whom she had great fun on set.
14. Andrew Roberts Remembers… AJP Taylor's The War Lords
Air Date: 2025-05-12
AJP Taylor was rightly renowned as one of Britain’s finest historians, combining his academic work at Oxford with a successful career as author and broadcaster. Taylor established a reputation as one of the first television historians, noted for his ‘lecture’ style, programmes he made with no notes, covering subjects such as the Russian Revolution, the First World War and warlords. Historian Andrew Roberts looks back on Taylor's 1976 series The War Lords, in which he examines the lives and motives of the key leaders in the Second World War. Find out why Mussolini’s rise to power came despite an obvious laziness; why Churchill believed the Battle of Britain was as much a key moment in history as the Battle of Trafalgar; and that coincidentally, Mussolini, Churchill and Stalin were all published authors - Stalin’s book being particularly boring!
15. Simon Schama Remembers… The Power of Art
Air Date: 2025-05-13
Sir Simon Schama looks back on his 2006 series The Power of Art, which examined the works of eight artists and explored the question 'How powerful is art, can it change your life?'. It was a forensic study not of an artist’s life but of a moment in that life. A piece of work that was an unexpected triumph or a catastrophe. A look at the world in which that work was created and going back in time to explore what lead the artist to that moment. We find out why the series settled on a ‘no men with beards’ policy, every part played by established actors, including Andy Serkis and Allan Corduner. We see Simon’s joy in remembering his young self, discovering the power of Mark Rothko. We hear about the freedom they had to film some of the world’s finest artworks, given free rein in the Palazzo Borghese for Bernini for example. As Simon Schama explains, 'art has dreadful manners, it’s there to make us see the world in a different way.'
16. Laurence Rees Remembers… The Nazis: A Warning from History
Air Date: 2025-05-19
Laurence Rees' landmark 1997 series explored the reasons why Germany fell in thrall to the Nazis. Combining astonishing archive, storytelling and interviews with figures at the heart of Hitler’s rise to power, it tells us of the Nazi mentality and the reasons behind their beliefs. Chillingly, it looks at those who still think the Nazis were right. Rees is an author and broadcaster, perfectly placed to look back at the series he wrote and produced. He tells us of the origins of the series - how the fall of the Berlin Wall opened possibilities for interviews with people who previously had been unreachable. He recalls the powerful moments when some of those closely associated with the horrors were challenged. And he explains how the regime rose out of chaos, both in Germany and within the Nazis themselves. Join Laurence as he takes us behind the scenes of this award-winning series, that has resonance to this day.
17. Brian Cox Remembers… Bob Servant
Air Date: 2025-05-24
Acting giant Brian Cox has enjoyed a stellar career and is known for the intensity of characters like Hannibal Lecter and Succession’s Logan Roy - but here we join him taking a fond look back at a character who, perhaps surprisingly, occupies a very special place in his heart – the would-be MP for Broughty Ferry, Bob Servant. Brian relates how Dundee and the east coast of Scotland, with its distinct brand of humour, was always part of Bob’s appeal and how he partly based his performance on his own brother. He also reveals how, despite the wide acclaim he’s received over the years for his unforgettable dramatic roles, he’s always considered himself to be more of a comic performer, for whom Bob Servant and his eccentric ways ended up being a perfect fit.
18. Alison Steadman Remembers… Girl
Air Date: 2025-06-08
Alison Steadman Remembers... Girl National treasure Alison Steadman tells the story of one of the most groundbreaking and yet also most overlooked moments in British television. Despite the popular perception that Channel 4’s Brookside broadcast TV’s first lesbian kiss in 1994, in reality it was Alison and Myra Frances who first broke the taboo 20 years earlier, in the 1974 drama Girl. Once thought lost forever, due to the fact that not every programme was archived back in those times, the drama later resurfaced, thanks to a random video recording – giving Alison the opportunity to share her memories of how she approached the moment and the reaction it received.
19. Brian Cox Remembers… The Lost Language of Cranes
Air Date: 2025-06-15
Actor Brian Cox looks back on the filming of the 1991 movie The Lost Language of Cranes, about a man struggling to come to terms with his sexuality and family secrets.
20. Romola Garai Remembers… Emma
Air Date: 2025-06-18
Romola Garai shares her experiences of filming the much-loved 2009 series Emma, recalling how she drew on the text to bring Austen’s complicated heroine to life.
21. Katharine Schlesinger Remembers… Northanger Abbey
Air Date: 2025-06-25
Katharine Schlesinger looks back on the filming of the 1987 adaptation of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey.
22. Amanda Root and Sophie Thompson Remember… Persuasion
Air Date: 2025-06-26
Actors Amanda Root and Sophie Thompson look back on their roles in the BBC’s 1995 adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion, a story of missed opportunities and lost love.
23. Frank McGuinness & Julie Nicholson Remember… A Song for Jenny
Air Date: 2025-07-02
Frank McGuinness and Julie Nicholson look back on the 2015 drama that explored the impact of the 7/7 bombing at Edgware Road tube station.
24. George Gallaccio Remembers… Miss Marple
Air Date: 2025-07-05
Producer George Gallaccio explains how Agatha Christie’s tales of death and deception were brought to life for the small screen and describes the pleasures of working with actress Joan Hickson.
25. Debbie Horsfield Remembers… Poldark
Air Date: 2025-07-09
Screenwriter Debbie Horsfield shares the story of how her TV adaptation of Winston Graham's novels came about and describes the challenges of bringing it up to date for a modern audience.
26. Nicholas Shakespeare Remembers… Mario Vargas Llosa
Air Date: 2025-07-14
Nicholas Shakespeare looks back on the film he made for Omnibus that followed his friend and fellow writer Mario Vargas Llosa in his bid to become president of Peru.
27. Debbie Horsfield Remembers… Cutting It
Air Date: 2025-07-16
Writer Debbie Horsfield looks back on Cutting It, her drama series following the personal and professional rivalries of two competing Manchester hair salons.
28. Patrick Marber Remembers… After Miss Julie
Air Date: 2025-07-23
Patrick Marber looks back on his 1995 adaptation of August Strindberg's classic play Miss Julie.
29. Helen Mirren Remembers… Gosford Park
Air Date: 2025-07-24
Helen Mirren looks back on her role in Robert Altman’s acclaimed and multi-award-winning 2001 film Gosford Park, written by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes.
30. Helen Mirren Remembers… The Little Minister
Air Date: 2025-07-27
Dame Helen Mirren looks back on one of her earliest television roles in the BBC’s 1975 adaptation of JM Barrie’s The Little Minister.
31. Michael Aspel Remembers… The War Game
Air Date: 2025-07-30
Michael Aspel looks back on the BBC nuclear war drama documentary The War Game.
32. Paul Lewis Remembers… Alfred Brendel
Air Date: 2025-08-10
Paul Lewis provides a glimpse into the life and career of a performer assured of his place as one of the greatest musicians of the postwar era, classical pianist Alfred Brendel.
33. Stephen Poliakoff Remembers… Shooting the Past
Air Date: 2025-08-13
Stephen Poliakoff looks back on his 1999 TV series Shooting the Past, revealing how he was given the brief to write something 'totally different from anything seen before'.
34. Jasper Carrott Remembers…
Air Date: 2025-08-19
Comedy hero Jasper Carrott marks hitting his 80th year with a look back over the unique career that has seen him gracing our screens for the past five decades.
35. Stephen Poliakoff Remembers… Perfect Strangers
Air Date: 2025-08-20
Stephen Poliakoff gives an insight into the making of his landmark BBC drama Perfect Strangers.
36. Phil Davis Remembers… The Firm
Air Date: 2025-09-17
Phil Davis pays tribute to maverick director Alan Clarke as he looks back on his time acting in the 1989 made-for-television film The Firm.
37. Sarah Churchwell Remembers… The Great Gatsby
Air Date: 2025-09-18
Sarah Churchwell looks at the origins of The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald's evocative novel of the Roaring Twenties, and the inspiration behind its plot and characters.
38. Anthony Wall Remembers… Arena
Air Date: 2025-09-22
Anthony Wall looks back on his time on Arena, from producer to series editor, and celebrates the films and people that made it groundbreaking, unmissable, unforgettable TV.
39. Waris Hussein Remembers… The Clothes in the Wardrobe
Air Date: 2025-09-24
Director Waris Hussein talks about his memories of making the 1993 TV drama The Clothes in the Wardrobe, adapted from the Alice Thomas Ellis novel by Martin Sherman.
40. Bhasker Patel Remembers… Brothers in Trouble
Air Date: 2025-10-01
Actor Bhasker Patel looks back at the 1993 BBC film Brothers in Trouble.
41. William Nicholson Remembers… Sweet as You Are
Air Date: 2025-10-08
Acclaimed screenwriter William Nicholson looks back on the BBC drama he still considers one of his finest achievements, 1988's As Sweet as You Are.
42. Professor Angie Hobbs Remembers… The Great Philosophers
Air Date: 2025-10-13
Professor Angie Hobbs gives a modern view on Bryan Magee’s highly influential series The Great Philosophers. She examines its approach, ideas and thinking and explains how it inspired her and many others to explore philosophy when it was first broadcast back in 1987.
43. Lord Mervyn King Remembers… The Age of Uncertainty
Air Date: 2025-10-19
Former governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King looks back on the BBC’s 1977 series on the history of economic thinking, The Age of Uncertainty.
44. David Hare Remembers… The Absence of War
Air Date: 2025-10-29
Screenwriter David Hare looks back on his 1995 political drama The Absence of War, a fictional account of a Labour general election campaign.
45. Ian McNeice Remembers… Edge of Darkness
Air Date: 2025-11-01
Actor Ian McNeice looks back on the 1985 political thriller Edge of Darkness, which quickly established itself as a landmark series in British TV history.
46. Emma Thompson and Paul Murton Remember… The Blue Boy
Air Date: 2025-11-05
Emma Thompson and Paul Murton discuss The Blue Boy, a film Paul was inspired to write after a spooky experience the pair shared during a late night lock-in at a haunted inn as teenagers.
47. Matthew Bourne Remembers… Swan Lake
Air Date: 2025-11-09
Acclaimed choreographer and director Sir Matthew Bourne discusses his groundbreaking reinterpretation of Tchaikovsky's classic ballet Swan Lake.
48. Graham Reid Remembers… The Precious Blood
Air Date: 2025-11-12
Writer Graham Reid looks back on his 1996 BBC drama The Precious Blood, set in a Belfast trying to secure a lasting peace and starring Amanda Burton and Kevin McNally.
49. Graham Reid Remembers… Life After Life
Air Date: 2025-11-12
Playwright Graham Reid looks back on his 1995 TV drama Life After Life, a powerful addition to his work on the Troubles, about a murderer released into ceasefire Belfast.
50. Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens Remember… Jane Eyre
Air Date: 2025-11-19
Actors Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens look back on the 2006 TV adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.
51. Kay Adshead Remembers… Wuthering Heights
Air Date: 2025-11-26
Actor, producer and writer Kay Adshead reflects on her memorable portrayal of Cathy Earnshaw in the BBC’s 1978 adaptation of Wuthering Heights.
52. Michael Aspel Remembers… The Evacuees
Air Date: 2025-12-14
Michael Aspel, now 92, reflects on his childhood as an evacuee during the Second World War, sharing vivid memories that he first touched on in the 1969 documentary The Evacuees.
53. William Nicholson Remembers… Shadowlands
Air Date: 2025-12-17
Screenwriter William Nicholson recalls the making of the 1985 BBC drama Shadowlands, an exploration of faith, love and loss starring Joss Ackland and Claire Bloom.
54. Derek Griffiths Remembers… Bod
Air Date: 2025-12-20
Icon of children's broadcasting Derek Griffiths looks back on the much-loved 1970s animated series Bod, a cult classic narrated by Dad’s Army’s John Le Mesurier.
55. Michael Palin Remembers… East of Ipswich
Air Date: 2025-12-23
Michael Palin recounts the story behind his much-loved 1987 coming-of-age drama East of Ipswich.
56. Peter Egan and Penelope Wilton Remember… Ever Decreasing Circles
Air Date: 2025-12-24
Actors Peter Egan and Penelope Wilton look back on their roles as Ann and Paul in the BBC’s 1980s sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles.
57. Samuel West Remembers… Prunella Scales
Air Date: 2025-12-27
Actor Samuel West introduces a special night of BBC programmes that celebrate the life and work of his mother, Prunella Scales.
1. Christopher Biggins Remembers… Rentaghost
Air Date: 2026-01-03
Beloved entertainer Christopher Biggins takes a nostalgic look back at his time on the classic BBC comedy Rentaghost. Sharing fond memories of the show’s quirky humour and unforgettable characters, Biggins reflects on how the series became a cult favourite and why it still holds a special place in British television history. His anecdotes promise a delightful trip down memory lane for fans of the iconic supernatural sitcom.
2. Mike Leigh Remembers… Nuts in May
Air Date: 2026-01-10
Mike Leigh, icon of British TV and film, looks back on one of his most popular and influential television plays, 1976's classic camping comedy Nuts in May.
3. Richard Eyre Remembers… Ibsen
Air Date: 2026-01-18
With a career spanning seven decades, acclaimed theatre, film and TV director Richard Eyre has been involved in a number of hugely successful Ibsen productions. His adaptation of Ghosts in 2013 won him the Evening Standard Best Director award. He directed John Gabriel Borkman for the National, starring Paul Schofield and Vanessa Redgrave, and a notable Hedda Gabler with Eve Best, again adapted by Richard. Thus, he is perfectly placed to give us an introduction to this complex yet still very relevant playwright. Richard talks about how much contemporary drama owes to Ibsen and about the key characters - Nora in A Doll’s House and Mrs Alving in Ghosts - and how their depictions were drawn from the playwright’s own experience and world view. He also discusses the darkness in Ibsen’s subject matter, how he was often vilified when his plays were first performed. Yet it is this bravery that has kept the plays relevant and a mainstay of the arts world to this day.
4. Trevor Eve, Juliet Stevenson and David Thacker Remember… A Doll's House
Air Date: 2026-02-08
A look back at the BBC's acclaimed 1992 adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House that reunites leading cast members Trevor Eve and Juliet Stephenson and director David Thacker.
5. Roy Clarke Remembers… Open All Hours
Air Date: 2026-02-10
The recently knighted sitcom writer Roy Clarke looks back on one of his best-loved creations, Open All Hours, and shares his memories of working with two comedy legends.
6. Michael Palin Remembers… Number 27
Air Date: 2026-02-11
Michael Palin shares memories of his 1988 screenplay for the drama Number 27 - one of his early post-Python solo ventures and written around the same time as East of Ipswich.
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Rating
0.0/10
Release Date
2022-06-29
Episodes
48 (5 seasons)
Status
Returning Series
Cast
Production Companies
BBC