imagine… - Season 8

First aired: 5/23/2006 4 episodes

Episodes

1. Being Hamlet

Aired: 5/23/2006

Alan Yentob follows Welsh actor Wayne Cater and three other Hamlet hopefuls as they prepare for a Shakespeare role that has become a rite of passage for all who have taken it on. With advice and support from ex-Hamlets Ralph Fiennes, Derek Jacobi, David Warner, Jonathan Pryce and Simon Russell Beale.

2. The Artist Formerly Known as Cat Stevens

Aired: 5/30/2006

Alan Yentob presents a documentary telling the story of Yusuf Islam - the singer/songwriter who captured the hearts of a generation in the 60s and 70s with songs like Moon Shadow and Morning Has Broken under the name Cat Stevens. Yusuf explains that his hit songs were written to help him out of a spiritual depression, and that he shared with his listeners a quest for a deeper meaning to life. After a decade of flirting with religion he finally converted - after a near drowning incident off Malibu beach he promised to serve God if he was saved; he was and it was to the Koran he turned. Now one of Britain's foremost representatives of Islam, founder of a Muslim School paid for by his royalties, he has finally returned to the music he abandoned 23 years ago.

3. The Ingenious Thomas Heatherwick

Aired: 6/6/2006

Alan Yentob presents a documentary profiling Thomas Heatherwick, most famous as the creator of the enormous sculpture The B of the Bang in Manchester. Heatherwick has established himself as one of the most exciting and innovative figures in British design. Described as a new Leonardo, he has turned his talents to everything from artworks and architecture to extraordinary feats of engineering and an ingenious handbag.

4. A Picture of the Painter Howard Hodgkin

Aired: 6/13/2006

Alan Yentob presents a profile of painter Howard Hodgkin. Despite being one of Britain's most successful living artists, he doesn't like talking about his work and no one has seen him paint for over 20 years. With a major retrospective coming up at Tate Britain, he travels with Yentob to India, which has been described as his emotional lifeline. They seek out some of the great monuments of the Mogul empire, visit Hodgkin's huge mural in New Delhi, and go in search of the perfect Bombay sunset.