Face to Face

1. E1. Anthony Burgess

   Mar 21, 1989 · 30m

   In the first of an occasional series of revivals of the classic television interview, Anthony Burgess talks to Jeremy Isaacs. Stirred into writing by the prospect of fatal illness, Anthony Burgess is now regarded as one of the world's most celebrated writers. His novels include A Clockwork Orange, Earthly Powers and his latest, Any Old Iron. The first volume of his autobiography Little Wilson and Big God has been widely recognised as a contemporary masterpiece. Long resident outside Britain, Burgess talks about his life and art - and his attitude to the country of his birth.

2. E2. Merce Cunningham

   Apr 5, 1989

   At the age of 70, Cunningham is perhaps the world's best-known choreographer of modern dance. Since 1953, when he founded his own company, he has been at the forefront of modern experimentation. Cunningham talks about the motivation behind his unflagging creative energy, and his collaborations with artists such as John Cage , Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol.

3. E3. David Hare

   May 16, 1989

   In the revival of a classic television interview format, Jeremy Isaacs talks to playwright and film director David Hare. From Knuckle to Licking Hitler and Plenty, Hare's work has explored the morality of public and private life in post-war Britain. His current National Theatre play A Secret Rapture and two new films soon to be released, Paris By Night and Strapless, extend these themes of public and personal morality into the Thatcher era.

4. E4. George Steine

   May 31, 1989

   In a revival of the classic television format, Jeremy Isaacs interviews George Steiner, one of Europe's most eloquent intellectuals.

5. E5. JG Ballard

   Nov 7, 1989 · 30m

   The author of Empire of the Sun and Crash discusses the realities he has created through his work and their interaction with the events of his own life. Ballard talks honestly about the attraction of dark and violent things and the light that these extreme moments can shed on the truth of the human condition. He also explores his early desire to be a psychiatrist and the way in which his interest in the workings of the mind has carried through into the fiction he produces.

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   E6. Oliver Sacks

   Jan 24, 1990 · 29m

   Jeremy Isaacs talks to American neurologist Oliver Sacks, author of Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. In this interview he describes how he has turned the case history into literature.

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