Category Archives: Documentaries

Downside Abbey Features in New BBC Series

BBC 4 yesterday transmitted the first in a series called Retreat: Meditations from a Monastery. The subject of this first episode was Downside Abbey: The first film is set in Downside, a spectacular neo-gothic monastery set in the beautiful valleys … Continue reading

Posted in Auberon Waugh, Documentaries, Evelyn Waugh, Evelyn Waugh Society, Television, Television Programs | Tagged , | Comments Off on Downside Abbey Features in New BBC Series

Final Episode of BBC Arena’s Waugh Trilogy Now Available

Episode 3 of the 1987 BBC Arena “Waugh Trilogy” is now posted on YouTube. This is entitled “An Englishman’s Home.” With this posting, all three episodes are now available. See earlier posts. Like the previous ones, this episode is also  of a high quality … Continue reading

Posted in Auberon Waugh, Documentaries, Evelyn Waugh, Interviews, Television Programs, The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold, Waugh Family | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Final Episode of BBC Arena’s Waugh Trilogy Now Available

Part 2 of BBC Arena Trilogy Posted

Part 2 of the BBC Arena’s Waugh Trilogy has been posted on YouTube. This is entitled “From Mayfair to the Jungle” and covers the 1930s continuing through the war to Brideshead Revisited. Those interviewed include William Deedes, Dorothy Lygon, John … Continue reading

Posted in Brideshead Revisited, Documentaries, Interviews, Television Programs, World War II | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Part 2 of BBC Arena Trilogy Posted

BBC Arena Waugh Trilogy Available Online

Part 1 of the 1987 BBC Arena three-part documentary, usually called the “Waugh Trilogy,” has been posted on YouTube. This is entitled “Bright Young Things.” It was last broadcast in 2008. The series was directed and narrated by Nicholas Shakespeare, and some of … Continue reading

Posted in Documentaries, Television Programs | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

BBC Video Credits Waugh with Country House Revival

The BBC has posted a 3.25 minute video about the revival of interest in the English country house. Here’s a link (don’t be alarmed if it opens with an ad). Narrated by art historian Alistair Sooke, it begins with recognition of … Continue reading

Posted in Brideshead Revisited, Documentaries, Film, Television Programs | Tagged , , | Comments Off on BBC Video Credits Waugh with Country House Revival

Telegraph Publishes Remembrance of Waugh

In today’s Sunday Telegraph, Nicholas Shakespeare writes a remembrance of Waugh. Shakespeare never apparently met Waugh personally but wrote and directed the three-part 198os BBC Arena documentary of Waugh. He is also editor of the Everyman edition of Waugh’s collected travel … Continue reading

Posted in Articles, Black Mischief, Brideshead Revisited, Decline and Fall, Documentaries, Interviews, Lancing, Men at Arms, Newspapers, Television Programs, Vile Bodies | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Telegraph Publishes Remembrance of Waugh

Country Life in the Plashy Fen

An article in this week’s Spectator recounts the successful career of Country Life magazine. This is on the occasion of the BBC2’s production of a 3-part documentary on how the magazine is put together. The article is written by Nigel … Continue reading

Posted in Documentaries, Scoop, Television Programs | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Country Life in the Plashy Fen

Telegraph Marks Arena’s 40th Anniversary

The Daily Telegraph has marked the 40th anniversary of BBC’s award-winning arts documentary series Arena by selecting what it regards as its 10 best programs. Among the Telegraph’s top 10, no. 4 is the 1987 production entitled “The Waugh Trilogy”: With Granada’s … Continue reading

Posted in Anniversaries, Documentaries, Television Programs | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Telegraph Marks Arena’s 40th Anniversary

Dominic Sandbrook Revisits Brideshead

The BBC is currently running a series on the history of British post-war popular culture. It is presented by historian and writer, Dominic Sandbrook, and entitled Let Us Entertain You. The second episode (“In With the Old”) was devoted to the … Continue reading

Posted in Brideshead Revisited, Documentaries, Television, Television Programs | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Dominic Sandbrook Revisits Brideshead

BBC Does Longleat

The BBC has produced a documentary series on Longleat House and its owners. This is All Change at Longleat and it focuses on the current Marquess of Bath and his son, Ceawlin (aka Viscount Weymouth). Lord Bath is not a newcomer to publicity having … Continue reading

Posted in Diaries, Documentaries, Letters, Television Programs | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on BBC Does Longleat