Taylor Laurie attempts to delve beneath the public facade of his famous guests in the 4th series of In Confidence
Professor Laurie Taylor has another instalment of in depth face-to-face interviews with famous public figures, finding out how they think, and what has made them who they are.
The guests will be braving the rigorous questioning of Professor Laurie Taylor, and include Brian Blessed, Fay Weldon, Terry Gilliam, Griff Rhys Jones, Lady Lucinda Lambton, Grayson Perry, Michael Frayn, Tony Benn, Anna Scher and Sir Alan Ayckbourn.
Episode 1 - Brian Blessed
A larger than life actor who has graced our screens and theatres for more than half a century. From Z Cars and I Claudius on television to Shakespeare and pantomime on the stage he’s thrown himself unreservedly into every part he’s ever played. Yet has still found time to pursue his other lifelong passion of mountaineering. He’s also been willing to parody himself on game shows and comedy programmes by over-reacting at 200 decibels. But does he ever feel that, as a consequence, his very subtle acting is not always treated as seriously as it should be by critics? And has any role he’s played ever produced a thrill to match the elation he felt when, aged 17, he’d first reached the summit of Mont Blanc.
Episode 2 - Fay Weldon
One of the most successful and controversial authors of her generation. For almost half a century, her novels have focused on the frustrations of women trapped in a male-dominated world; but where her protagonists once sought revenge against men – as in the award-winning Life and Loves of a She-Devil – she nowadays focuses on what unites the sexes, rather than what divides them. Indeed, she’s angered many feminists in recent years, by saying that women should fake orgasms to please men, and by even appearing to blame some women for their own domestic subordination. So does this feminist icon of the 1970s think that women no longer need to struggle for equality? And what does she mean when she says that “all that anti-man stuff is no longer appropriate”?
Episode 3 - Terry Gilliam
One of the world’s most creative and imaginative film directors. Raised in America, he first found fame in Britain as the anarchic animator for Monty Python’s Flying Circus, before establishing a formidable reputation in the world of cinema, directing such memorably disturbing films as Brazil, 12 Monkeys, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He’s recently begun directing opera, with a critically-acclaimed production of The Damnation of Faust for ENO, and was quoted as saying “I’ve reached the point of not believing that I’ll ever make a film again.” But has he really given up on cinema? Or does he still secretly hanker to direct another movie?
Episode 4 - Griff Rhys Jones
One man in serious danger of becoming a national treasure. After starting his career as a member of the outrageous and irreverent Not the Nine O’Clock News comedy team, he went on to establish himself as an actor, writer, and television producer, founding his own hugely successful production company, and becoming one of the richest people in British broadcasting. Once a heavy drinker, he’s now been teetotal for many years, avoiding showbiz parties and instead spending his time making programmes about sailing, mountaineering, and the preservation of ancient buildings. Does the glamour of the celebrity lifestyle simply hold no interest for him? Or has the atavistic influence of his Welsh Presbyterian ancestors made him actively disapprove of excess and intemperance?
Episode 5 - Lady Lucinda Lambton
A woman who is frequently described by the media as an eccentric aristocrat but that description is hugely unfair to my guest whose life has been a passionate crusade on behalf of England’s forgotten architectural heritage including more than eighty television documentaries about neglected or under-appreciated buildings. Her well informed books and enthusiastically presented programmes cover subjects as diverse as royal dolls houses and Victorian public lavatories while her knowledge of suburbia rivals that of the great John Betjeman. So why does she play down these considerable achievements by publicly lamenting her own lack of education and by describing herself in interviews as tiresomely over exuberant?
Episode 6 - Grayson Perry
One of Britain’s leading artists, and the first potter ever to win the Turner Prize. His ceramic work often harks back to ancient Greek pottery, and to the innocence of folk art; yet many of his pieces also have the capacity to shock, with a darkly disturbing sexual content, as well as an unmistakable streak of humour. In the popular consciousness, he’s equally well-known as a cross-dresser, frequently appearing in public in women’s clothing as his alter ego “Claire.” So do his masculine and feminine identities work together to produce his art? Or is Claire – as he now maintains – simply a recreational fetish, unconnected to the creative process?
Episode 7 - Michael Frayn
A writer who has made a career out of biting the hand that feeds him. After starting out as a journalist, he published Towards the End of the Morning, a best-selling novel that mercilessly satirised the absurdities of a newspaper office; and he then did something similar for the stage with his award-winning play Noises Off, which hilariously pokes fun at the frailties and limitations of the theatre. But as well as those superb farces, he’s written profoundly philosophical plays, such as Copenhagen and Democracy, so does he feel that some ideas are too serious to be dealt with as comedy? And after so much success on the stage and in print, does he regard himself primarily as a playwright, or a novelist?
Episode 8 - Tony Benn
A politician who retired from Parliament in 2001 so he could “spend more time involved in politics”. During his half-century as a Labour MP, he moved from the centre ground of politics towards the radical left, and was viewed with suspicion by the media, and by his own party leadership; yet his refusal to compromise on his principles has endeared him to the public, who in recent years have voted him “the UK’s political hero” and “the politician most trusted by the under-35s.” Is he worried that many young people nowadays feel alienated from mainstream party politics? And does he resent the way that newspapers which reviled him throughout his time in Parliament, now claim to admire him in retirement?
Episode 9 - Anna Scher
The founder of the London Theatre School whose list of alumni reads like a Who’s Who of British actors. Since starting a lunchtime improvisation club in 1968 she’s inspired generations of child actors, from Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson to Kathy Burke and much of the cast of East Enders. Yet after falling ill a decade ago she found herself at the centre of a real life drama when her teaching colleagues refused to allow her back into the school that bore her name and she was forced to establish a new theatre school. Does she feel anger and bitterness at that betrayal or does she still believe in her youthful credo that the smile is stronger than the scowl?
Episode 10 - Sir Alan Ayckbourn
The world’s most widely-performed living playwright. After falling in love with the theatre as a schoolboy, he tried unsuccessfully to earn a living as an actor, and only found his true vocation in 1959, when he turned in frustration to writing for the stage. Since then, he’s written more than 75 plays, including the hugely successful Relatively Speaking and Absurd Person Singular, and he still holds the record for the greatest number of plays ever performed simultaneously in the West End. His worldwide popular success is undeniable, but does he sometimes feel critically underestimated, because he writes comedies? And does he ever wish he was delivering the lines on stage, instead of writing them?
