Sky Arts

In December 1980, John Lennon and Yoko Ono had not spoken to the media for more than five years. With a new album to promote Lennon was prepared to speak in New York to Radio One D.J. Andy Peebles of the BBC. John surprised everyone by candidly discussing a variety of subjects he'd never spoken of before including The Beatles break-up, his relationship with Paul McCartney, his battles with addiction, political issues in the US and UK, his family and his homesickness for Liverpool. Lennon's heartfelt honesty and forthright revelations make this film all the more potent as he was brutally shot and murdered 48 hours later. John Lennon was just 40 years of age when he died. December 2020 is the 40th anniversary of his death. He would have been 80 years of age.

London, England, 2008. Some of the most distinguished experts on the work of Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) gather at the National Gallery to examine a painting known as Salvator Mundi; an event that turns out to be the first act of one of the most fascinating stories in the history of art.

Parisian bon vivant, World War II Resistance fighter, Nobel Prize-winning playwright, philandering husband and recluse…Samuel Beckett lived a life of many parts. Titled after Beckett’s famous ethos “Dance first, think later”, the film is a sweeping account of the life of this 20th-century icon.

After ransacking an ancient island monastery, two siblings, now trapped in their sinking campervan, are torn apart by history, hallucination, and a sacred stone.

The Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, the May events in France, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, the Prague Spring, the Chicago riots, the Mexico Summer Olympics, the presidential election of Richard Nixon, the Apollo 8 space mission, the hippies and the Yippies, Bullitt and the living dead. Once upon a time the year 1968.

Director Tony Palmer tells the incredible life story of Athol Fugard, the prolific playwright, novelist, and director who exposed the horrors of South Africa's apartheid system for the entire world to see. Interviews with Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Yvonne Bryceland and others help to illuminate Fugard's remarkable legacy.

The struggle of a lone sniper in a dystopian future Britain plagued with rabies and ruled over by a sinistrous Ministry of Information.

In The Turning Point, written by Michael Dobbs, Benedict Cumberbatch takes the role of Guy Burgess while Matthew Marsh plays the part of Winston Churchill. The play was part of the Sky Arts Theatre Live! Series, which won the Broadcasting Press Guild Best Multichannel Programme Award.

Documentary about the life and career of Elvis Presley produced for Sky Arts. Includes rarely seen clips and photos from throughout Elvis' career as well as comments from music historians and musicians, songwriters, producers, actors, etc. who worked with him. Narrated by producer/director David Upshal.

The story of the relationship between writer, literary critic and publisher T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) and his second wife Esmé Valerie Fletcher (1926-2012).

A show commemorating the 30th anniversary of the former Beatle's death. His contemporaries and current commentators reflect on the role of John Lennon, the artist and radical thinker.

Filmmaker Lee Donaldson takes a poignant journey down memory lane with his acclaimed artist father Antony Donaldson about his art, the artwork, and the monumental task of producing a colossal mask of Alfred Hitchcock made from 18 tonnes of solid steel for Gainsborough Studios apartments in London where Hitchcock made his earlier works.

A story about one of the most famous and mysterious archaeological sites in the world.

A silent black-and-white comedy inspired by the fizzing rollercoaster of Largo al factotum - the familiar aria from Rossini's The Barber of Seville - featuring the young apprentice hero and a recalcitrant, increasingly monstrous hairball.

SKY ARTS presents Suede's Coming Up (released on Nude Records in 1996) in the Classic Albums series.

In 1991 50-year old John Lennon, living on the dole in Birmingham and following the moderate success of the Beatles, recalls how he left the band in 1962 after they were persuaded to release 'How Do You Do It?' as a single, rather than 'Love Me Do'.

Ian Hedge is a very ordinary man who sees himself as a secret super hero with a mission to protect the distressed and vulnerable. Single and living in a rented room with his sour-tempered landlady Mrs Wardle, Ian works 'undercover' as a council worker and spends the days walking the streets of the city in a high viz jacket holding a trundle wheel, with his costume ready to go in his backpack.

40 years after he last played the Wembley Arena, Gary Numan staged the comeback of a lifetime. Follow Numan on his road back to Wembley and follow his turbulent careers, from the crushing lows to the exhilarating highs.

Documentary on the art and culture of Florence in 15th century Tuscany and, in particular, the work of Eary Ranaissance painter Sandro Botticelli (1445-1501).

The story of married animators, John Halas and Joy Batchelor. A Jewish emigre from Hungary and a working class woman from Watford, England, John and Joy fell in love, created cartoons that helped the allies to win the war, and produced the first feature-length animation in British cinema history, Animal Farm (1954).