# Imagine (TV series)

Imagine (typeset as imagine...) is a wide-ranging arts documentary series first broadcast on BBC One television in 2003, hosted and executive produced by Alan Yentob. Most series consist of 4 to 7 episodes, each on a different topic. Episodes have been directed by, among others, Geoff Wonfor, Lucy Blakstead, Jill Nicholls, Roger Parsons and Zoë Silver.

## List of episodes

Series 1 (from 11 June 2003):
* "The Saatchi Phenomenon" – about businessman Charles Saatchi
* "Barbara Hepworth: Shapes Out of Feelings"
* "The Hip Hop Generation"
* "Stella McCartney: Stella's Story"
* "Carlos Acosta: The Reluctant Ballet Dancer"
* "The Portrait of Omai"
* "John Mortimer: Owning Up at 80"
Series 2 (from 12 November 2003):
* "The Voice of Bryn Terfel"
* "A Funny Business" – A look at British and American sitcoms
* "John Soane – Entertaining Mr Soane"
* "Martin Parr – The World According to Parr"
* "From Pencils to Pixels" – Celebrating the phenomenon of the animated feature film
* "An A-Z of the OED"
Series 3 (from 2 June 2004):
* "Edward Hopper – The Mysterious Mr Hopper"
* "Sitting for Lucian Freud"
* "Saint John Coltrane"
* "Peter Finlay – Dirty But Clean Pierre"
* "Unsuitable for Children?" – Exploring modern children's fiction
* "The Smoking Diaries" – about playwright Simon Gray
Series 4 (from 24 November 2004):
* "Arthur Miller – Finishing the Picture"
* "Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson's Smile"
* "Bruce Nauman – The Godfather of Modern Art"
* "Marlon Brando"
* "Antonio Pappano – A Year at the Opera"
Series 5 (from 11 May 2005):
* "A Short History of Tall Buildings" (3 parts)
Series 6 (from 22 June 2005):
* Fantastic Mr Dahl – about children's author Roald Dahl
* Frida Kahlo
* "Being a Concert Pianist"
Series 7 (from 23 November 2005):
* "Elgar and the Missing Concerto"
* "Amos Oz – The Conscience of Israel"
* "Chuck Close – Close Up"
* "Rhythm Is It!"
Series 8 (from 17 January 2006)
* "Sweet Home New Orleans" – examining the city's musical heritage
* "Andy Warhol – Warhol Denied"
* "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Studio"
* "Sitting Comfortably" – Tracing the changing styles of the modern chair
Series 9 (from 23 May 2006)
* "Being Hamlet" – about actor Wayne Cater as he prepares to play Hamlet
* "The Artist Formerly Known As Cat Stevens" – telling the story of pop star Cat Stevens and how he became Yusuf Islam.
* "The Ingenious Thomas Heatherwick"
* "A Picture of the Painter Howard Hodgkin"
Series 10 (from 17 October 2006)
* "Peter Pan: a Hard Act to Follow"
* "Velazquez, the Painter's Painter"
* "A Play for Today" – about Jeremy Weller's play The Foolish Young Man
* "The Movie Brats, Take Two" – about a group of maverick American directors
* "Who Cares About Art?" – follows the work of five art curators
* "Hans Holbein, International Man of Mystery"
* "Being a Diva" – about operatic divas
* www.herecomeseverybody.co.uk – a history of the World Wide Web
* "And Then There Was Television" – about the early days of television
Special (27 December 2006)
* "The Beatles in Love" – documenting the creation of The Beatles project Love
Series 11 (from 8 May 2007)
* "Gilbert and George" – No Surrender
* "Stealing Klimt" – the story of a 90-year-old's struggle to recover her family's paintings.
* "Scott Walker"
* "It's the Surreal Thing" – a history of Surrealism
Special (4 July 2007)
* "Damon and Jamie's Excellent Adventure" – documentary about cartoon pop group Gorillaz' foray into opera
Series 12 (from 23 October 2007)
* "Henry Perkins: Bolshoi Boy" – following a British boy at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy
* "Bollywood's Big B" – a profile of Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan
* "Helvetica"
* "Louise Bourgeois: Spiderwoman" – (with interviews from leading British artists Tracey Emin, Antony Gormley and Stella Vine)
* "How to Get on in the Art World" – featuring material on the Frieze Art Fair
* "The Secret of Life" – looking at the popularity of self-help books
* "Richard Rogers, Inside Out"
* "Marc Newson: Urban Spaceman"
Series 13 (from 23 May 2008)
* "Doris Lessing – The Hostess and The Alien"
* "Oliver Sacks – Tales of Music and The Brain"
* "Annie Leibovitz – Life Through a Lens"
* "A Trip to Asia: On the Road with the Berlin Philharmonic"
* "A Wild Sheep Chase: In Search of Haruki Murakami"
* "Werner Herzog – Beyond Reason"
* "Love, Loss and Anthony Minghella"
Series 14 (from 5 October 2008)
* "The Story of the Guitar – In the Beginning"
* "The Story of the Guitar – Out of the Frying Pan"
* "Dangerous Liaisons: When Akram Met Juliette"
* "The Story of the Guitar – This Time It's Personal"
* "A Love Story"
* "Jay-Z: He Came, He Saw, He Conquered"
* "Let There Be Light"
* "How an Orchestra Saved Venezuela's Children"
* "Richard Serra: Man of Steel"
* "Heavy Metal in Baghdad"
Series 15 (from 23 June 2009)
* "Save the Last Dance for Me: The Company of Elders"
* "David Hockney – A Bigger Picture"
* "Rufus Wainwright – Prima Donna"
* "William Eggleston – The Colourful Mr Eggleston"
* "Art in Troubled Times: A New Deal for Art"
* "Art in Troubled Times: The Home Front"
Series 16 (from 17 November 2009)
* "The Year of Anish Kapoor"
* "Dame Shirley Bassey – The Girl from Tiger Bay"
* "Own Art" – looking at an Arts Council scheme that enables people from all walks of life to buy a piece of art
* "Joan Baez – How Sweet the Sound"
* "Placido Domingo - The Time of My Life"
* "Scrabble – A Night on the Tiles"
Series 17 (from 5 April 2010)
* "Vincent Van Gogh: Painted with Words"
* "The Rolling Stones – The Stones in Exile"
Series 18 (from 15 June 2010)
* "Nigel Kennedy's Polish Adventure"
* "Art Is Child's Play"
* "Diana Athill – Growing Old Disgracefully"
* "Tom Jones – What Good Am I?"
Series 19 (from 16 November 2010)
* "Ai Weiwei – Without Fear or Favour"
* "Ron Galella – Smash His Camera"
* "The Weird Adventures of Eadweard Muybridge"
* "Ben Hur in Bath"
* "Ray Davies – Imaginary Man"
Special (23 February 2011)
* The Plinth, the Model, the Artist and his Sculpture – Film about Marc Quinn's sculpture "Alison Lapper Pregnant" in place on Trafalgar Square's Fourth plinth during 2005 to 2007.
The Trouble with Tolstoy (from 27 March 2011)
* "At War with Himself"
* "In Search of Happiness"
Series 20 (from 28 June 2011)
* "The Man Who Forgot How to Read and Other Stories"
* "The Pharaohs' Museum on Liberation Square"
* "Lennon: The New York Years"
* "Harry Nilsson: The Missing Beatle"
* "Iraq in Venice"
* "U2: From the Sky Down"
Series 21 (from 1 November 2011)
* "Grayson Perry and the Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman
* "Simon & Garfunkel – The Harmony Game"
* "Alan Ayckbourn – Greetings from Scarborough"
* "Vidal Sassoon – A Cut Above"
* "The Lost Music of Rajasthan"
* "Books – The Last Chapter?"
* "The Art of Stand-Up – Part One"
* "The Art of Stand-Up – Part Two"
Series 22 (from 26 June 2012)
* "Theatre of War"
* "Paul Simon's Graceland – Under African Skies"
* "Just One Falsetto"
* "Glasgow: The Grit and The Glamour"
* "Dancing with Titian"
Series 23 (from 19 September 2012)
* "The Fatwa – Salman's Story"
* "Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender"
* "Ian Rankin and the Case of the Disappearing Detective"
* "Do or Die: Lang Lang's Story"
* "The Many Lives of William Klein"
* "How Music Makes Us Feel"
* "Jeanette Winterson: My Monster and Me"
* "A Beauty is Born: Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty"
Series 24 (from 28 March 2013)
* "Beyoncé: Life Is But a Dream"
* "David Bowie – Cracked Actor"
* "Vivian Maier – Who Took Nanny's Pictures?"
Series 25 (from 5 Nov 2013)
* "Edmund de Waal: Make Pots or Die"
* "Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy"
* "Turning the Art World Inside Out"
* "Judith Kerr: Hitler, the Tiger and Me"
* "Who's Afraid of Machiavelli?"
Series 26 (from 18 May 2014)
* "Rio 50 Degrees: Carry On CaRIOca"
* "Philip Roth Unleashed" (2 parts)
* "Monty Python: And Now for Something Rather Similar"
Series 27 (from Winter 2014)
* "The Art That Hitler Hated: The Sins of the Fathers"
* "Bette Midler: The Divine Miss M"
* "Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On"
* "Anselm Kiefer: Remembering The Future"
* "The One and Only Mike Leigh"
* "Colm Toibin: His Mother's Son"
Series 28 (from Summer 2015)
* "Frank Gehry: The Architect Says, Why Can't I?"
* "Jeff Koons: Diary of A Seducer"
* "Beware of Mr Baker"
* "Toni Morrison Remembers"
* "Richard Flanagan: Life After Death"
Series 29 (from Autumn 2015)
* "Shylock's Ghost"
* "Antony Gormley: Being Human"
* "My Curious Documentary"
* "The Last Impresario"
* "The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson"
* "David Chipperfield: A Place to Be"
* "Carlos Acosta: Cuba Calls"
Summer 2016
* "One Night in 2012"
* "DANGER! Cornelia Parker"
* "Georgia O'Keeffe: By Myself"
* "Sir Roderick Stewart: Can't Stop Me Now"
Shorts (2016-7)
* "The Handmade Films of William Kentridge - Part 1"
* "The Handmade Films of William Kentridge - Part 2"
Autumn 2016
* "The Seven Killings of Marlon James"
* "The Triumph and Laments of William Kentridge"
* "Serial Killers - The Women Who Write Crime Fiction"
* "The Art World's Prankster: Maurizio Cattelan"
* "Listen to Me Marlon"
Winter 2016
* "She Spoke the Unspeakable"
* "Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise"
* "Alice Neel: Dr Jekyll and Mrs Hyde"
* "Chris Ofili - The Caged Bird's Song"
Summer 2017
* "Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures"
* "Margaret Atwood: You Have Been Warned!"
* "Alma Deutscher: Finding Cinderella"
* "Cameron Mackintosh: The Musical Man"
Winter 2017-8
* "Rachel Whiteread: Ghost in the Room"
* "Mel Brooks: Unwrapped"
* "Philip Pullman: Angels and Daemons"
* "Ingrid Bergman in Her Own Words"
* "Andrew Lloyd Webber: Memories"
* "Habaneros: You Say You Want a Revolution? Part One"
* "Habaneros: You Say You Want a Revolution? Part Two"
2018
* "Rupert Everett: Born to be Wilde"
* "Orhan Pamuk: A Strange Mind"
* "Rose Wylie: This Rose Is Blooming"
* "Tacita Dean: Looking to See"
* "Hockney, The Queen and the Royal Peculiar"
* "George Benjamin: What Do You Want to Do When You Grow Up?"
* "Tracey Emin: Where Do You Draw the Line?"
* "Becoming Cary Grant"
* "Andrea Levy: Her Island Story"
2019
* "James Graham: In the Room Where It Happens"
* "Jo Brand: No Holds Barred"
* "Bill Viola: The Road to St Paul's"
* "Edna O'Brien: Fearful... and Fearless"
* "Faith Ringgold: Tell It Like It Is"
* "Olafur Eliasson: Miracles of Rare Device"
* "EastSide Story"
2020
* "This House is Full of Music"
* "Lemn Sissay: The Memory of Me"
* "Kate Prince: Every Move She Makes"
* "Kwame Kwei-Armah: ... My Name is Kwame"
* "Marina Abramovic: The Ugly Duckling"
2021
* "We'll Be Back"
* "Bernardine Evaristo: Never Give Up"
* "Tom Stoppard: A Charmed Life"
* "Kazuo Ishiguro: Remembering and Forgetting"
2022
* "Marian Keyes: My (not so) Perfect Life"
* "Labi Siffre: This Is My Song"
* "Wayne McGregor: Dancing on the Edge"
* "Miriam Margolyes: Up for Grabs"
* "Jacob Collier: In the Room Where It Happens"
2023
* "Stephen Frears: Director for Hire"
* "The Factory: Made in Manchester"
* "Russel T. Davies: The Doctor and Me"
* "French & Saunders: Pointed, Bitchy, Bitter"
Other (2006)
* Imagine... A Mildly Amusing Panel Show – a special highlights edition of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, a parody of the Imagine series, presented by Yentob himself.