Laurie Taylor's In Confidence returns for its third season and delves further beneath the surface of some of the most creative spirits of the decade.
Episode 1 - Sir David Attenborough
The man whose name has become synonymous with natural history on television for more than 50 years. A former BBC 2 Controller who was once tipped to be the corporation’s next Director General, he turned his back on management to concentrate on making wildlife programmes, and is so highly respected by his scientific peers that he’s even had a species named after him. Over the decades, he’s observed mankind’s destruction of the environment at close quarters. So is he filled with pessimism about the future of the planet? Or does he still find the natural world as inspiring and uplifting as ever?
Episode 2 - Keith Allen
A man who described himself in a recent interview as a Jack of All Trades, a master of four. By my reckoning he’s undercounted a little, because during the past 30 years he’s achieved huge success as an actor, song writer, stand-up comedian, television presenter, singer and author. Not to mention carving out a reputation for himself as a hell raiser. How seriously does he take his multiple careers? Which of his many talents best allows him to express his personality? Does he need to pursue them all?
Episode 3 - Nigel Kennedy
One of the world’s most talented and controversial violinists. Nobody can deny his prodigious talent or his intense musicality, yet sections of the classical world have long been discomfited by his pop star appearances, outspoken politics, his enthusiasm for jazz and rock music and his indifference to many of the concert hall’s more conservative traditions. Is this rebelliousness simply an integral part of his artistic expression, something that he’s unable to control? Or does he secretly enjoy ruffling the feathers of the musical establishment by performing in jeans instead of tails and by loudly proclaiming his love of Aston Villa football club in the most sacred of classical music venues.
Episode 4 - Dame Anne Leslie
One of Britain’s most experienced and distinguished journalists. As Foreign Correspondent for the Daily Mail, she’s been an eye witness to many of most significant events of the past 50 years, from the fall of the Berlin Wall and the release of Nelson Mandela, to atrocities in Zimbabwe and the former Yugoslavia. She insists that she is not a war junkie, but after witnessing so many terrible events, how has she retained her sense of humour? And does the future fill her with hope for humanity, or despair?
Episode 5 - Uri Gellar
A best selling author who, depending on your point of view, is either the world’s most famous psychic or a charlatan. When he began bending spoons on television in the 1970s, reputable scientists confessed themselves baffled by his abilities. But debunkers of the paranormal have since duplicated his feats and claim that my guest is simply using stage magic as proof of supernatural power. In recent years, he’s preferred to describe himself as an entertainer rather than a psychic. So is that a tacit admission that he doesn’t really possess the power he once claimed to have?
Episode 6 - Howard Jacobson
A writer who has described himself as the Jewish Jane Austen. Over the past 30 years this Man Booker Prize winner has explored British society and the Jewish character in a series of novels that are profound but also hilarious. Indeed, he says that, ‘comedy is a very important part of what I do.’ He also muses on life in a weekly newspaper column the Independent attracting both scorn and admiration for his staunch defence of Israel, and his suspicions about the motives of those who criticise that country’s right to defend itself.
Episode 7 - Dame Joan Bakewell
A broadcaster who first shot to fame in the 1960s as presenter of BBC2’s arts review, Late Night Line Up. As a young journalist, she campaigned against society’s taboos on obscenity and blasphemy. But the once-radical positions she championed in her youth are now so widely accepted that she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2008 and now sits in the House of Lords. Recently she lamented some of the side effects of the sexual revolution and was even quoted as saying, ‘I’m with Mary Whitehouse on this one.’ So does she now think that the fight for a more permissive society has gone too far?
Episode 8 - John McVicar
A respected writer who earlier in his career was described as ‘public enemy number one’. As an armed robber, he was sentenced to 26 years in prison. But he reformed and educated himself while inside and went on to pursue a successful career as an author and journalist. His early life became the subject of a movie for which he wrote the screenplay, yet he’s seldom discussed his life and background in public, or spoken about the force that still drives him on at an age when most men have long since retired.
Episode 9 - John Lydon
A man who’s been described as the living embodiment of the punk movement. As lead singer of the Sex Pistols and then of Public Image Limited, his career can be seen as a permanent denunciation of traditional British values. Yet paradoxically, he’s now obtained the status of a sort of punk national treasure. Are his incendiary statements about anarchy, royalty and other musicians intended to be taken at face value, or are these outrageous attacks a humorous self-parody of what a punk should be?
Episode 10 - Michael Winner
One of Britain’s most commercially successful film directors. His dozens of thrillers and action movies include the hugely popular Death Wish series. He’s directed such screen legends as Marlon Brando and Burt Lancaster. And in recent years he’s carved out a parallel career as one of this country’s most acerbic restaurant reviewers most acerbic restaurant reviewers. His inexhaustible self-confidence and lavish lifestyle infuriates sections of the British media. But is he stunned by their criticisms or does he dismiss their attacks as the envious griping of people who haven’t enjoyed life as much as he has?