With Antonia Quirke

Antonia presents a guide to the universe of The Coen Brothers with help from the siblings themselves. From Film Programme interviews over the last twenty years, Joel and Ethan discuss old Hollywood movies, haircuts and communism.

With Francine Stock

Director Kevin Macdonald reveals the influence of The Battle Of Algiers on his latest drama, The Mauritanian, the true story of Mohamedou Ould Salahi, who was held at Guantanamo Bay detention camp for 14 years without charge.

Photo credit: Tatiana Lund

With Antonia Quirke

Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey has had an eventful 12 months, from being told to pack his bags overnight and get a flight to America to work on a major Hollywood movie, to catching Covid in Los Angeles, and then working on an entirely different movie in Sicily. He recounts it all in an exclusive audio diary for The Film Programme.

1917 was the biggest hit in British cinemas last year, and it belongs to a long tradition of films that appear to be shot in one take. Antonia looks at the history of one shot movies, and hears from 1917 cinematographer Roger Deakins, Victoria director Sebastian Schipper, Utoya: July 22 film-maker Eric Poppe, and Birdman star Michael Keaton.

Production designer Maria Djurkovic reveals some trade secrets and explains how she built a Greek village in a British studio for the ABBA musical Mamma Mia.

With Antonia Quirke

This year sees the 20th anniversary of The Lord Of The Rings trilogy. To mark the occasion, Antonia revisits her encounter with Christopher Lee in 2001 and hears from London Voices, the choir who sang Elvish on the soundtrack.

Bait director Mark Jenkin continues his exclusive series of audio diaries as he prepares to make a film in lockdown. This week, he begins to scout locations for his supernatural drama Enys Men.

There's another Scene Stealer from writer Nat Segnit: the actor who rarely made it to the final reel, Elisha Cook Jr.

Script supervisor Angela Allen on what it was really like to work with Marilyn Monroe, Orson Welles and John Huston, and why Monroe believed she was having an affair with husband Arthur Miller.

With Antonia Quirke.

With Francine Stock

Francine reflects on the career of Leslie Caron, who is 90 this year, and hears about her adventures in La La Land with Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and Cary Grant.

With Antonia Quirke

The Dig production Designer Maria Djurkovic reveals how she re-created the famous burial mounds in Sutton Hoo in a field just outside Guildford.

Director Mark Jenkin reveals what it's like to make a film in lockdown. He's currently in pre-production on Enys Men, but has to use online maps to do a recce, had to cut out a scene involving 200 extras because of social distancing rules, and must wait for an actor to get their vaccine before he can shoot a crucial scene.

What's it like to let a film crew in your home and return it to its 19th century glory ? Antonia visited a house in the south of Watford that doubled as William Turner's Chelsea residence for the film Mr Turner, with the production designer Suzie Davies.

With Antonia Quirke

Brothers Bill and Turner Ross discuss their film Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets, set in the last night of a bar on the outskirts of Los Angeles, that resides somewhere between fiction and documentary

Neil Brand reveals how a little known movie called Chappaqua changed the course of contemporary classical music

Kenneth More was one of the most popular actors in Britain in the 1950's, but he's never been the subject of a biography. So, Nick Pourgourides decided to do something about it. The result, More, Please has just been published.

With Antonia Quirke.

Legendary actress Ellen Burstyn talks about Pieces Of A Woman, the film that might make her the oldest person to be nominated for an Academy Award in the history of the Oscars.

Deepa Mehta, the director of the Earth, Fire and Water trilogy discusses her new drama Funny Boy, set around the time of Black July, the outburst of sectarian violence that led to civil war in Sri Lanka.

With Francine Stock

Francine rifles through The Film Programme archives to hear from director Richard Lester about working with The Beatles on A Hard Day's Night and Help ! And why he didn't work for several years after the 60s had ended.