0:00:02 > 0:00:03Whatever the state of the economy
0:00:03 > 0:00:07there's one thing Britain can export to the world.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11Not our cars, clothes, bands or bankers...
0:00:11 > 0:00:13but our actors.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20When it comes to women of a certain age,
0:00:20 > 0:00:25in theatre and film a handful of British stars dominate...
0:00:28 > 0:00:30..acting royalty,
0:00:30 > 0:00:34honoured as Dames of the British Empire.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36Their careers began on the stage...
0:00:38 > 0:00:43..but in the 1960 and '70s they brought their talents to the small screen,
0:00:43 > 0:00:48just as British television drama itself came of age.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52The BBC became the National Theatre of the airwaves,
0:00:52 > 0:00:56uniting new forms of drama with new styles of acting...
0:00:56 > 0:00:58Now, can we have the door open again, please?
0:00:58 > 0:01:00Don't go.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03..and beaming the performances of a new generation into
0:01:03 > 0:01:06the homes of millions of viewers.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10Hidden in the BBC archive are little known moments of their early careers...
0:01:10 > 0:01:14Scratching could not make it worse, an 'twere such a face as yours.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18..and rare interviews with the stars themselves.
0:01:18 > 0:01:19Nobody wanted me.
0:01:19 > 0:01:24The dress rehearsal was such a shock.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27They reveal a unique era when our great theatre actors
0:01:27 > 0:01:30brought their talents to a new art form
0:01:30 > 0:01:33and gave us some of their most exceptional performances.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35Flatterer.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38- Leave him alone!- If you had any children, if you knew.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40You want to stop swearing, Donald Duck?
0:01:49 > 0:01:53# You, you do
0:01:53 > 0:01:56# Something to me
0:01:56 > 0:02:04# Something that simply mystifies me. #
0:02:04 > 0:02:07It's rare for actors to step straight into the limelight,
0:02:07 > 0:02:11but Judi Dench was a star from the start.
0:02:11 > 0:02:16Her first professional role was in 1957 with the Old Vic theatre company
0:02:16 > 0:02:19as Ophelia in Hamlet.
0:02:19 > 0:02:24Dickie said to me, "Michael Benthall wants to see you at the Old Vic."
0:02:24 > 0:02:27Well, I had a friend who had left Central then and was walking on at the Vic.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29I thought, "How marvellous." This is what I'd love to do.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32My ambition was to walk on at the Vic.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34And so I went along and saw him.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38He said, "I want you to learn this speech from Hamlet."
0:02:38 > 0:02:41I did an audition and Michael said,
0:02:41 > 0:02:44"I'm going to take the most enormous gamble.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48"I would like you to play Ophelia." And I just burst into tears.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50I'm afraid I made a spectacle of myself.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53And he said, "I don't want you to tell anyone, though."
0:02:53 > 0:02:56In fact, I didn't tell anyone for about six weeks.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59It was agony.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03Three years later, Dench arrives in the BBC archive
0:03:03 > 0:03:08in Shakespeare's Henry V. She's 24 and plays Princess Katherine of France.
0:03:09 > 0:03:14Even in a funny hat and speaking in broken English, she's mesmerising.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17What sayest thou, my fair flower-de-luce?
0:03:17 > 0:03:21La plus belle Katharine du monde,
0:03:21 > 0:03:26mon tres cher et devin deesse?
0:03:26 > 0:03:30Your majestee, ave fausse French enough to deceive de most
0:03:30 > 0:03:32sage demoiselle dat is en France.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41The performance is part of the BBC series An Age Of Kings,
0:03:41 > 0:03:45a pioneering production staging all of Shakespeare's history plays
0:03:45 > 0:03:49from Richard II through Henry IV, V and VI to Richard III.
0:03:49 > 0:03:5315 episodes, the most ambitious project of its kind.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57The whole thing went out live which meant being on the BBC
0:03:57 > 0:04:00wasn't all that different from acting on the stage.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03Rehearsals took 30 weeks and many of the technical staff
0:04:03 > 0:04:08came straight from the theatre, as did the producer Peter Dews.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12With a total of 600 speaking parts, it's not surprising that
0:04:12 > 0:04:15another of our acting Dames also makes her first appearance here.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25Eileen Atkins was born in the same year as Judi Dench,
0:04:25 > 0:04:29and, like Dench, she had joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1957.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32Her role as Joan Of Arc
0:04:32 > 0:04:35is one of the most iconic performances of the series.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50Stay, stay thy hands! Thou art an Amazon.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54And fightest with the sword of Deborah.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57Christ's mother helps me, else I were too weak.
0:04:59 > 0:05:04Whoe'er helps thee, 'tis thou that must help me.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11Impatiently I burn with thy desire.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15My heart and hands thou hast at once subdu'd.
0:05:15 > 0:05:23Excellent, Pucelle, if thy name be so, let me thy servant...
0:05:25 > 0:05:27..and not sovereign be.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31'Tis the French Dauphin sueth to thee thus.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34I must not yield to any rites of love,
0:05:34 > 0:05:37for my profession's sacred from above.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41An Age Of Kings was often conventional in its staging,
0:05:41 > 0:05:44but Joan Of Arc's downfall has some particularly striking imagery.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47The regent conquers, and the Frenchmen fly.
0:05:48 > 0:05:53Now, help, ye charming spells and periapts
0:05:53 > 0:05:56and ye choice spirits that admonish me
0:05:56 > 0:05:58and give me signs of future accidents.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02You speedy helpers that are substitutes under
0:06:02 > 0:06:07the lordly monarch of the north. Appear.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Faced with defeat, Joan summons demonic helpers who appear as dancers
0:06:11 > 0:06:14superimposed on her eyeballs.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19Quite a technical feat in a live broadcast.
0:06:33 > 0:06:38Bringing the masterpieces of theatre to the small screen was, in 1960,
0:06:38 > 0:06:41BBC drama's greatest aspiration.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44Audiences loved to be transported from the comfort of their own homes
0:06:44 > 0:06:46to a night at the theatre.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48What is the matter?
0:06:48 > 0:06:51I've never seen such disorder in any studio.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54Shakespeare was a staple, Shaw, Priestley, Coward,
0:06:54 > 0:06:57but some more radical playwrights proved popular
0:06:57 > 0:06:59such as Bertolt Brecht
0:06:59 > 0:07:03with the sort of polemical stuff that would impress the critics.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05This is Mother Courage And Her Children...
0:07:07 > 0:07:10..starring one of the leading actresses of the older generation
0:07:10 > 0:07:12Dame Flora Robson...
0:07:15 > 0:07:17..perhaps not quite as proletarian as the role required.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20What an earth are you doing in a whore's hat?!
0:07:20 > 0:07:22Take it off this minute. Are you crazy?
0:07:22 > 0:07:23With the enemy coming.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25Do you want them to find you and ruin you?
0:07:25 > 0:07:27And she has the boots on too!
0:07:27 > 0:07:29Whore of Babylon. Take them off!
0:07:29 > 0:07:33Oh, God, Chaplain, help get me these boots off.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36- Curtain one.- 151.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40In the early '60s, the BBC had a new rapport with the stage
0:07:40 > 0:07:44after years of hostility from theatre producers.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48The Corporation worked particularly closely with the recently created
0:07:48 > 0:07:50Royal Shakespeare Company,
0:07:50 > 0:07:54often exactly reproducing their stage productions in the BBC studios.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01This 1962 performance of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard
0:08:01 > 0:08:04came straight from the RSC.
0:08:04 > 0:08:06Judi Dench, at the age of 26,
0:08:06 > 0:08:09makes a surprisingly convincing teenage Anya.
0:08:09 > 0:08:15And she plays against another Dame of the older generation, Peggy Ashcroft.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18Come, my darling. Come away from here.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20We will plant a new orchid.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22More beautiful than this one.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26You will see. You will understand.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29And your heart will be filled with happiness
0:08:29 > 0:08:34like the sun in the evening and then you will smile again.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36Come with me, my darling.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38Come with me.
0:08:40 > 0:08:46# Here I go again. #
0:08:48 > 0:08:52The BBC did well to get Peggy Ashcroft, she hated TV.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56She said, "I loathe television. I won't have it in my house.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59"It adulterates the theatre."
0:08:59 > 0:09:04If one can act in the theatre and spend most of one's time acting in the theatre,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07then I prefer it and it's also the thing I'm used to doing.
0:09:07 > 0:09:13It is the magic of an audience that makes a play live
0:09:13 > 0:09:16quite freshly every night.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18It's something that happens between the people who sit out there
0:09:18 > 0:09:22and us on the stage and you can't, I think, replace that,
0:09:22 > 0:09:25though you, of course, give a splendid mechanical reproduction
0:09:25 > 0:09:27of what is being rehearsed.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29But that other element can't take place,
0:09:29 > 0:09:34and that is what, I think, is what the theatre is and why it's important
0:09:34 > 0:09:38and why one loves the theatre and wants to do plays in the theatre.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54Like many of her contemporaries,
0:09:54 > 0:09:58Ashcroft was more comfortable with the heightened drama of radio.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00Here she is as Cleopatra.
0:10:03 > 0:10:08The most infectious pestilence upon thee.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11Good madam, patience.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13Horrible villain, hence
0:10:13 > 0:10:15or I'll spurn thine eyes like balls before me!
0:10:15 > 0:10:16I'll unhair thy head!
0:10:16 > 0:10:19Thou shalt be whipped with wire and stewed in brine.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22Even if she's not too happy to take direction...
0:10:22 > 0:10:26Peggy, dear, you have to frighten him more on that.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28Later on. But still...
0:10:28 > 0:10:30Why, there's more gold.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35But, sirrah, mark, we use. To say the dead are well.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38Bring it to that.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40The gold I give thee will I melt
0:10:40 > 0:10:43and pour down thy ill-uttering throat.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47The younger generation of Shakespearian actors
0:10:47 > 0:10:49had fewer reservations about television.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53When the BBC ventured out to film the Royal Shakespeare Company's
0:10:53 > 0:10:56production of The Comedy Of Errors being performed at the Aldwych Theatre,
0:10:56 > 0:11:00they provided the BBC's first record of a new star
0:11:00 > 0:11:02in the making, Diana Rigg.
0:11:04 > 0:11:05She appears,
0:11:05 > 0:11:08talking just a little too fast, as Adriana,
0:11:08 > 0:11:11who spends the play fretting about whether her husband is unfaithful.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15Neither my husband nor the slave returned, that in such haste I sent to seek his master!
0:11:15 > 0:11:18Surely, Luciana, it is two o'clock.
0:11:28 > 0:11:33Rigg trained at RADA and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1959.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38As soon as her five year contract was up, she donned her leather catsuit
0:11:38 > 0:11:41and became Emma Peel in The Avengers.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44She claims it was her fighting skills which won her the role.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12Out of the RSC too came Vanessa Redgrave.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14Not officially a Dame,
0:12:14 > 0:12:18but widely reported to have turned down the title in 1999.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22Her first fleeting appearance on television was in fact
0:12:22 > 0:12:23modelling in 1957,
0:12:23 > 0:12:27an experience she later reprised in this rather fetching onesie,
0:12:27 > 0:12:29being photographed by Norman Parkinson.
0:12:37 > 0:12:42You know, it's very upsetting for me that you are such a good actress.
0:12:42 > 0:12:47- Because you've been such a marvellous model.- Hm, it was coming.
0:13:01 > 0:13:08But her debut on TV as an actor is in the RSC's As You Like It as Rosalind.
0:13:08 > 0:13:13Here, dressed as a boy, and playing opposite Patrick Allen as Orlando.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18I would cure you.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22If you would but call...
0:13:24 > 0:13:28..me Rosalind...
0:13:30 > 0:13:37..and come every day to my cote and woo me.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43Redgrave's Rosalind was hailed as a ground-breaking performance -
0:13:43 > 0:13:45instinctual, emotional,
0:13:45 > 0:13:50defying the entrenched traditions of Shakespearean acting.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54Critic Bernard Levin described her in the Daily Express as,
0:13:54 > 0:13:56"A creature of fire and light,
0:13:56 > 0:14:02"her voice a golden gate opening on lapis lazuli hinges.
0:14:02 > 0:14:07"Her body a supple reed rippling on the breeze of her love.
0:14:07 > 0:14:13"This was not acting at all, but living, breathing, loving."
0:14:13 > 0:14:16Little wonder he later asked her out.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21It certainly seems that Shakespeare came very naturally to Redgrave,
0:14:21 > 0:14:23at least according to her.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27I've read a lot of Elizabethan literature and poems
0:14:27 > 0:14:32and it's always been a time which is very vivid, sensually,
0:14:32 > 0:14:35physically, visually for me.
0:14:35 > 0:14:40I feel as if I've lived in it to a certain extent and in Elizabethan prose,
0:14:40 > 0:14:45some of those Elizabethan stories, short stories, for instance,
0:14:45 > 0:14:50I guess I read so much that since most is written in prose
0:14:50 > 0:14:54it didn't seem removed from me in any way.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57Any strange antique terms of expression just seemed
0:14:57 > 0:15:03like a fun way of talking like the kind of sort of way we talk now.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09Since she saw herself as an Elizabethan, it's a little surprising
0:15:09 > 0:15:14to find Redgrave in a pinny in her next BBC appearance
0:15:14 > 0:15:16as Maggie in 1964.
0:15:29 > 0:15:30By the time I done Maggie,
0:15:30 > 0:15:34having seen myself do As You Like It, it's all quietened down a lot.
0:15:34 > 0:15:36It's nothing to do with the fact that it's modern or Shakespeare,
0:15:36 > 0:15:39shouldn't be any difference at all.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43I cut down a lot of layers of just sheer movement,
0:15:43 > 0:15:48facial movement, stressing all the words and so on.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51I was still popping my eyes though, like that...
0:15:51 > 0:15:53They start whizzing round like they was whiskers.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59Andromeda and Scorpio.
0:15:59 > 0:16:04'So lesson from Maggie, it sounds terribly silly,'
0:16:04 > 0:16:07but is never pop your eyes like that.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11Don't give me that. We only met a few seconds.
0:16:11 > 0:16:16It was a rare foray for Redgrave into kitchen sink drama.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21- You're different, do you know what? - Yeah, course I am.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23You're actually interesting to talk to.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25Oh, you only say that because it's true.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27I think you're a dish.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30But the trend in television for gritty,
0:16:30 > 0:16:33socially-conscious drama was going strong
0:16:33 > 0:16:36and other Shakespearian leading ladies joined the party.
0:16:42 > 0:16:47The innovative police drama Z-Cars which ran from 1962
0:16:47 > 0:16:49was hungry for new young talent.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53Its storyline centred on issues like poverty, mental illness
0:16:53 > 0:16:54and addiction,
0:16:54 > 0:16:57demanding a new style of acting for the camera.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08Hello. Police.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14When Eileen Atkins appeared in the series in 1964,
0:17:14 > 0:17:18she made an effortless transition from Joan Of Arc to adulteress wife.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22Thought you were police, did she?
0:17:22 > 0:17:24It's like being in a cage.
0:17:24 > 0:17:26Don't know what you mean.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28You must do.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31Why did you come here with me and leave Georgie Porgie sat at home?
0:17:31 > 0:17:36Oh, stop talking like that. We agreed not to talk about it.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38Nice voice, that copper, Irish.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42I'm mad.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44It's you.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47Eh, I don't suppose George will be taking his mum away again, will he?
0:17:47 > 0:17:50Oh, you can't come to our place again, people will talk.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52Oh, yeah, talk.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55Eileen had real working class credentials.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01She hailed from a council estate in North London.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03Studying at the Guildhall,
0:18:03 > 0:18:07she worked hard at getting rid of all traces of her accent.
0:18:07 > 0:18:12I had just learned a perfect Celia Johnson accent
0:18:12 > 0:18:16when, as I left drama school, the big thing that happened was that
0:18:16 > 0:18:21all the northern stuff was in, so I very quickly persuaded everybody
0:18:21 > 0:18:25that I came from the Midlands. I used to be very vague.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28Sort of north of Birmingham.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32This command of accents helped to win Atkins a role
0:18:32 > 0:18:37in the controversial 1965 drama Fable.
0:18:37 > 0:18:38Written by John Hopkins at the
0:18:38 > 0:18:41height of South African apartheid.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50It imagined a Britain under a brutal
0:18:50 > 0:18:53black-dominated authoritarian regime.
0:18:53 > 0:18:58Atkins plays Joan whose life falls apart after her husband Len
0:18:58 > 0:19:00is carted off to a labour camp in Scotland.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06Here, she is begging for help from the wife of a leading
0:19:06 > 0:19:07middle class intellectual.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10- I don't know what I can do. - He can't help you.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12Oh, my children.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15I want my children back.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18He can't... Listen. He can't' help you. No.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20I haven't seen them for three months.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23- You must go away. - It costs so much to get to them.
0:19:23 > 0:19:24- I can't afford it.- Leave him alone.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26If you had any children, if you knew.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35Judi Dench also excelled at this new gritty drama.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39Returning to the BBC as a delinquent teenager in Z-Cars.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44- Ever since this world be...- Shut it.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46Well, you're not long on manners, are you?
0:19:46 > 0:19:48What's your name?
0:19:48 > 0:19:50Marlon Brando.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53The episode was again written by John Hopkins
0:19:53 > 0:19:56and he bore Dench in mind when he began writing more ambitious scripts
0:19:56 > 0:19:59for the newly created BBC Two.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03The channel allowed writers like Hopkins,
0:20:03 > 0:20:05a new breed specialising in television,
0:20:05 > 0:20:07space to experiment,
0:20:07 > 0:20:11particularly in the regular slot called Theatre 625, referring to
0:20:11 > 0:20:17BBC Two's use of 625 lines, the high definition of the day.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33Hopkins created Talking To A Stranger
0:20:33 > 0:20:34and it proved an extraordinary
0:20:34 > 0:20:36vehicle for Dench's talents.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46Over four plays, the events of one tragic weekend are told from
0:20:46 > 0:20:48the point of view of each member
0:20:48 > 0:20:50of an ordinary suburban family.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58Judi plays Terry, a rebellious single girl.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00Her mother is played by Margery Mason.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15Are you pregnant?
0:21:15 > 0:21:16No.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19- You've put on a lot of weight.- Yes.
0:21:19 > 0:21:21- You seen a doctor?- Not recently.
0:21:21 > 0:21:22- Have you got a doctor? - Not at the moment.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25Last time I went out with him he suggested a few things
0:21:25 > 0:21:27I didn't much fancy, so I haven't been out with him again.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30Terry...
0:21:30 > 0:21:33why don't you stay the night and go and see Dr Parker in the morning?
0:21:33 > 0:21:35No, thanks. If I want a doctor I'll find one of my own.
0:21:35 > 0:21:36Thanks all the same.
0:21:36 > 0:21:38Dr Parker knows you better than anybody.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40- Oh, I wouldn't say that! - Go and see him.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42- I don't want to see him. - Well, go and see someone!
0:21:42 > 0:21:45- I think I'll go and watch the telly. - If you haven't seen a doctor,
0:21:45 > 0:21:48- how can you...- Because I have to know about things like this. It may
0:21:48 > 0:21:51come as a big surprise to you. "Good gracious, doctor, is that mine?"
0:21:51 > 0:21:54But I have to know because, not having the luxury of a husband,
0:21:54 > 0:21:55I might have to do something about it.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58Now, can we have the door open again, please?
0:22:04 > 0:22:06PHONE RINGS
0:22:06 > 0:22:10Talking To A Stranger was described as the first authentic
0:22:10 > 0:22:13masterpiece written directly for television.
0:22:13 > 0:22:15It was a commercial and critical success -
0:22:15 > 0:22:18screened three times in 18 months.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26Dench also found roles on the big screen,
0:22:26 > 0:22:29although she never forgot an especially unpleasant
0:22:29 > 0:22:32early screen test in America.
0:22:32 > 0:22:38I went up about a film once before I had ever made a film.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41And I went into a room and there were five big men there.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45They offered me a seat and nobody said anything.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48I said, "This time I thought I won't ask any questions."
0:22:48 > 0:22:51So I didn't. This man looked at me for a long time.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54And then he took a cigar out of his mouth and said, "Ms Dench,
0:22:54 > 0:22:56"you have every single thing wrong with your face."
0:22:58 > 0:23:00And I got up and I walked out of the room.
0:23:02 > 0:23:07And that was my first year of acting.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10And it died hard, I can tell you.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17Now she stuck with British productions,
0:23:17 > 0:23:21notably the atmospheric drama Four In The Morning,
0:23:21 > 0:23:24where her scenes with on-screen husband Norman Rodway
0:23:24 > 0:23:26were improvised.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29Anthony Simmons and John Morris came and saw me
0:23:29 > 0:23:32and they were making this film.
0:23:32 > 0:23:34They made already a kind of
0:23:34 > 0:23:36documentary about the River Thames.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41And they'd introduced the police finding a girl
0:23:41 > 0:23:44drowned in the Thames. And they did all that.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48And it was so successful they wanted to introduce more.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52It was frightening to do, but we improvised it and rehearsed it
0:23:52 > 0:23:58for three weeks in different flats.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03We were both very inhibited at the beginning,
0:24:03 > 0:24:05when in actual fact we were enjoying it.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08I'd never have believed that I would enjoy it so much,
0:24:08 > 0:24:10but I loved doing the film.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14There are only certain things that can be done in this way.
0:24:14 > 0:24:15You can't do a great big epic,
0:24:15 > 0:24:18can't have 100 people improvising in the morning.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21It would be a terrible old mess.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24But with something like this which was an experiment really.
0:24:25 > 0:24:31Dench's powerful performance as a beleaguered new mother won her a Bafta.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34I suppose we would live the rest of our lives like this.
0:24:35 > 0:24:37You're going to go on resenting me.
0:24:37 > 0:24:39But I don't resent you.
0:24:39 > 0:24:44It's just that you can... You can get out of these four walls.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47You can see your friends. You can go for a drink. You can break away.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51I'm not prepared to cook your meals and look after your baby
0:24:51 > 0:24:53and just be here when you feel like it.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55Oh, come on, darling, that's your part of the bargain.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57I keep mine...
0:24:57 > 0:25:00I'm sorry, but that's the way society happens to be.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02I'm not talking about society, I'm talking about me.
0:25:02 > 0:25:08I give you the toast of Mayfair, Fraulein Sally Bowles.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13What next after all this grit?
0:25:14 > 0:25:17In 1968, at the age of 33,
0:25:17 > 0:25:21Dench decided to do something completely different.
0:25:21 > 0:25:22# Hush up
0:25:22 > 0:25:24# Don't tell Mama
0:25:24 > 0:25:25# Shush up
0:25:25 > 0:25:26# Don't tell Mama
0:25:26 > 0:25:29# Don't tell Mama Whatever you do. #
0:25:29 > 0:25:32She took the role of Sally Bowles in the first London stage
0:25:32 > 0:25:35production of Cabaret.
0:25:35 > 0:25:36# You bet I would keep it
0:25:36 > 0:25:39# I would never tell on you
0:25:41 > 0:25:45# I'm breaking every promise that I gave her
0:25:45 > 0:25:51# So won't you kindly do a girl a great big favour?
0:25:51 > 0:25:56# And please, my sweet patater, keep this from the Mater
0:25:56 > 0:26:00# Though my dance is not against the law
0:26:00 > 0:26:03# You can tell my papa, that's all right
0:26:03 > 0:26:05# Cos he comes in here every night
0:26:05 > 0:26:09# But don't tell Mama what you saw! #
0:26:12 > 0:26:14I've always wanted to do a musical.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18And I want to have a great orchestra and everything,
0:26:18 > 0:26:22a bit of dancing, a bit of singing, a bit of acting.
0:26:24 > 0:26:26I long for that.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31Cos that's a really different thing.
0:26:33 > 0:26:37In the late '60s, musicals were suddenly in vogue.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40As Oliver! took the cinema by storm,
0:26:40 > 0:26:43Vanessa Redgrave broke into song in the little known Red And Blue.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46And Diana Rigg almost, but not quite,
0:26:46 > 0:26:49took the lead in western musical Paint Your Wagon.
0:26:49 > 0:26:54Meanwhile, the BBC went behind the scenes of Oh! What A Lovely War
0:26:54 > 0:26:58to see another of our Dames enlisting the troops - Maggie Smith.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07Maggie Smith plays the musical singer who entices young men
0:27:07 > 0:27:10from the audience to come up on stage and join the army.
0:27:10 > 0:27:11I think it's very sinister.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14Very unattractive if you know what's behind it.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20The film was Richard Attenborough's directorial debut
0:27:20 > 0:27:23after a successful acting career of his own.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31# The army and the navy need attention
0:27:31 > 0:27:35# The outlook isn't healthy, you'll admit
0:27:35 > 0:27:38# But I have a perfect dream of a new recruiting scheme
0:27:38 > 0:27:43# Which I think is absolutely it
0:27:43 > 0:27:45# If only other girls would do as I do... #
0:27:45 > 0:27:48Maggie Smith excelled at comic creations like this one.
0:27:48 > 0:27:54Described as raucous and insidious, she is both seductive and terrifying.
0:27:54 > 0:27:59# I've an army and a navy of my own
0:27:59 > 0:28:03# On Sunday, I walk out with a soldier
0:28:03 > 0:28:06# Monday, I'm taken by a tar
0:28:06 > 0:28:09# Tuesday, I'm out with a baby boy scout
0:28:09 > 0:28:13# On Wednesday, a hussar. #
0:28:16 > 0:28:20She arrives in the BBC archive already full formed as an actress,
0:28:20 > 0:28:23with many film and television roles under her belt,
0:28:23 > 0:28:26and a fixture at the National Theatre
0:28:26 > 0:28:28where she played Desdemona to Olivier's Othello.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33Her very first appearance for the BBC was thought lost,
0:28:33 > 0:28:36but has recently been rediscovered.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39She plays Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing
0:28:39 > 0:28:41in a studio version of Franco Zeffirelli's
0:28:41 > 0:28:43National Theatre production.
0:28:45 > 0:28:47Smith is at her acerbic best,
0:28:47 > 0:28:52bantering with her real-life husband Robert Stephens as Benedict.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54I thank God and my cold blood
0:28:54 > 0:28:55I am of your humour for that.
0:28:55 > 0:28:58I'd rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01God, keep your ladyship still in that mind!
0:29:01 > 0:29:05So some gentlemen or other shall 'scape a predestinate scratched face.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09Scratching could not make it worse an 'twere such a face as yours were.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12Well, you are a rare parrot-teacher.
0:29:12 > 0:29:14A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours.
0:29:14 > 0:29:18I would my horse had the speed of your tongue, and so good a continuer.
0:29:18 > 0:29:20But keep your way, i' God's name, I have done.
0:29:20 > 0:29:23You always end with a jade's trick, I know you of old.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29How do you go about playing a part like that?
0:29:29 > 0:29:34The first thing that happened to me with Beatrice, I was thrown by
0:29:34 > 0:29:38Zeffirelli who said at the first rehearsal that he saw Beatrice
0:29:38 > 0:29:41as an albino,
0:29:41 > 0:29:43which I found a little throwing at first.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46And I found out later on as the production grew
0:29:46 > 0:29:48that he wanted everybody to be very dark
0:29:48 > 0:29:50and Beatrice to be the odd one out as she was the one girl who
0:29:50 > 0:29:55hadn't got married and was very strange because of her wit
0:29:55 > 0:29:58and stood out in this little Sicilian family.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03And he gave me this sort of extraordinary blonde wig
0:30:03 > 0:30:04and all the clothes were odd.
0:30:04 > 0:30:08I mean, his whole conception of...
0:30:08 > 0:30:12of the play was completely throwing, I think, to anybody playing Beatrice
0:30:12 > 0:30:15or indeed Benedict, because it was awfully difficult to fit in.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18But you looked marvellous and I thought you were very good in it.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21Did you not think you were as good as you might have been?
0:30:21 > 0:30:23I think it took time.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25I mean, I think you can't better...
0:30:25 > 0:30:29'Clive Goodwin, interviewing, reminds us that no-one in the '60s
0:30:29 > 0:30:31'let a spot of filming get in the way of a good smoke.'
0:30:31 > 0:30:34I mean, this is what they're always saying about Beatrice throughout,
0:30:34 > 0:30:38she's always with a quick answer, quick...
0:30:38 > 0:30:41And it was so visual and, in the middle of all that,
0:30:41 > 0:30:44it was terribly difficult to be verbally funny.
0:30:44 > 0:30:46The dress rehearsal was...
0:30:46 > 0:30:50such a shock, you know, you went on and you suddenly found everything
0:30:50 > 0:30:52happening all over and you just thought,
0:30:52 > 0:30:54"I don't know how I can just stand and talk."
0:30:54 > 0:30:57I long very much to play the coffee boy, in actual fact.
0:31:02 > 0:31:06But Smith was about to take a more satisfying role,
0:31:06 > 0:31:08again alongside Robert Stephens...
0:31:10 > 0:31:13..which would make her internationally famous
0:31:13 > 0:31:16as the extraordinary Miss Jean Brodie.
0:31:16 > 0:31:20# ..with thy blessing... #
0:31:20 > 0:31:24Can anyone tell me who is the greatest Italian painter?
0:31:24 > 0:31:27Leonardo da Vinci, Miss Brodie.
0:31:27 > 0:31:29That is incorrect, Jenny.
0:31:29 > 0:31:33The answer is Giotto - he is my favourite.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39Observe, little girls, Stanley Baldwin
0:31:39 > 0:31:45who got in as Prime Minister and got out again ere long.
0:31:45 > 0:31:49Our headmistress, Miss MacKay, retains him on the walls
0:31:49 > 0:31:52because she believes in the slogan "Safety first."
0:31:52 > 0:31:54But safety does not come first.
0:31:56 > 0:32:00Goodness, truth and beauty come first.
0:32:00 > 0:32:05Brodie, idealistic, self-deceiving and darkly comic, was a rare thing -
0:32:05 > 0:32:09a starring role for a woman over 30.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13The first to play her on the stage was Vanessa Redgrave in 1966,
0:32:13 > 0:32:17here playing the same opening scene as Maggie Smith.
0:32:17 > 0:32:21- Who is the greatest Italian painter? - Leonardo da Vinci, Miss Brodie!
0:32:21 > 0:32:25No, the answer is Giotto, he is my favourite.
0:32:25 > 0:32:26Observe, little girls.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29This is Stanley Baldwin, who got in as Prime Minister
0:32:29 > 0:32:32and got out again ere long.
0:32:32 > 0:32:35Our headmistress Miss Mackay retains him on the wall
0:32:35 > 0:32:37because she believes in the slogan "Safety first."
0:32:37 > 0:32:39Safety does not come first.
0:32:39 > 0:32:43Goodness, truth and beauty come first.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47Redgrave later recounted her struggles with the role
0:32:47 > 0:32:50in which hair and clothing loom rather large.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54How I eventually found her was finding out what
0:32:54 > 0:32:56she wanted to be like.
0:32:56 > 0:33:01We thought, "Well, she longs to be like Garbo, Pavlova, Thorndike."
0:33:01 > 0:33:06And so one made her dress that, dress in...
0:33:07 > 0:33:11..colours and in materials and with designs that were indeed
0:33:11 > 0:33:15a successful, to a certain extent, realisation of her dreams.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18And we got all the way to the dress parade, you know,
0:33:18 > 0:33:20four days from going out on tour.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23And it wasn't until I was in those damn clothes on the stage
0:33:23 > 0:33:27that I suddenly knew that what was vital was that Brodie, in fact,
0:33:27 > 0:33:30is and looks like a dried-up spinster
0:33:30 > 0:33:34and that that is what makes her ironic and pathetic,
0:33:34 > 0:33:39that she is not, for any single minute of her breathing life,
0:33:39 > 0:33:42she is not what she wants to be.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44That is the contradiction.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47Little girls, I've frequently told you,
0:33:47 > 0:33:50and my summer in Italy has convinced me,
0:33:50 > 0:33:53that I am in my prime.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57One's prime is the moment one is born for... Take this down.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59One's prime is elusive.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03You little girls must be on the alert to recognise your prime
0:34:03 > 0:34:05at whatever moment it may occur.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07You must then live it to the full.
0:34:08 > 0:34:13"Come Autumn, sae pensive, in yellow and grey
0:34:13 > 0:34:17"and sooth me with tidings of nature's decay."
0:34:17 > 0:34:19Robert Burns.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23The 1969 film took a more direct approach to the role.
0:34:23 > 0:34:25Smith is more alluring,
0:34:25 > 0:34:28more flamboyant, than Redgrave's deluded spinster.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33One's prime brings one insight into these things.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37One's prime is the moment one is born for.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40You little girls must be on the alert to recognise your prime
0:34:40 > 0:34:42at whatever time it may occur.
0:34:42 > 0:34:44And live it to the full.
0:34:46 > 0:34:49"Season of mist and mellow fruitfulness..."
0:34:52 > 0:34:55Redgrave got rave reviews as Jean Brodie,
0:34:55 > 0:34:58but disliked the character and firmly turned down the film version,
0:34:58 > 0:35:01which ultimately won Maggie Smith an Oscar.
0:35:04 > 0:35:07Oh, I was just very, very surprised.
0:35:07 > 0:35:10I didn't think I had a hope at all.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14- I'm very pleased that I have. - What about the Oscar as an award?
0:35:14 > 0:35:18Do you think it really matters to an actress of your fame already?
0:35:18 > 0:35:22Well, I'm not particularly famous in the film world anyway and
0:35:22 > 0:35:26I think it obviously must matter because why would everybody be here?
0:35:26 > 0:35:29But, I mean, they go mad in Hollywood and California about it.
0:35:29 > 0:35:31Yes, yeah, I believe they do.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35I've not been to the awards before at any time,
0:35:35 > 0:35:37so I don't really know.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40I mean, you just regard it as another pot on the mantelpiece,
0:35:40 > 0:35:41- do you?- Well, I think it's...
0:35:41 > 0:35:44No, it's always lovely to get a sort of prize.
0:35:44 > 0:35:46What do you do with the statuette?
0:35:46 > 0:35:48Do you put it on the sideboard at home or something?
0:35:48 > 0:35:53- No, mine is actually holding a door open.- Really?- Yes.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57No, it's very friendly, actually. It's extremely useful for it.
0:35:58 > 0:36:03Vanessa Redgrave had also been making her mark on '60s film.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07Her portrayal of Isadora Duncan in Isadora was Oscar-nominated
0:36:07 > 0:36:10and she took Best Actress at Cannes.
0:36:12 > 0:36:17She was the first dancer who didn't just take music
0:36:17 > 0:36:21as an excuse for her to have something to dance to,
0:36:21 > 0:36:23but sought to dance for the music
0:36:23 > 0:36:28and this was the most revolutionary change of all.
0:36:34 > 0:36:37MUSIC: Symphony No 7 - Vivace by Ludwig van Beethoven
0:36:52 > 0:36:57Isadora also allowed Redgrave to indulge her first love, dancing.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00Well, I wanted to dance, I've dreamed to be a dancer
0:37:00 > 0:37:02for a long time. That's what I wanted to do,
0:37:02 > 0:37:05that's what I always really wanted to do.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07Goodness knows why.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14Something about the combination of music and movement...
0:37:16 > 0:37:19..fills me with...
0:37:19 > 0:37:20something.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23- But you...- And I think I would've been quite a good dancer.
0:37:23 > 0:37:27Probably very good. Anyway, I'm far too big, as you can...
0:37:27 > 0:37:29can see.
0:37:29 > 0:37:31'Time for another fag, I think.'
0:37:31 > 0:37:33Can I have a light? Thank you.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43Vanessa's move from theatre to film caused the newspapers to dub her
0:37:43 > 0:37:48"the sexiest socialist" and "Shakespearean turned sexpot".
0:37:51 > 0:37:54Serious actresses with a sexy side were all the rage.
0:37:54 > 0:37:58Diana Rigg became the new Bond girl Tracy,
0:37:58 > 0:38:01the only one to get a wedding dress...of sorts...
0:38:04 > 0:38:08..and cast because the director felt a real actress was needed alongside
0:38:08 > 0:38:12the new Bond, George Lazenby, who had no acting experience at all.
0:38:16 > 0:38:20These seasoned actresses had learned over time to balance
0:38:20 > 0:38:23the sexy and serious sides of their public image.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27But the new young sensation to emerge from the Shakespearean stage
0:38:27 > 0:38:30had a more difficult task on her hands.
0:38:33 > 0:38:39# The naughty lady of Shady Lane has hit the town like a bomb... #
0:38:41 > 0:38:44From the moment Helen Mirren appeared in the theatre,
0:38:44 > 0:38:48critics seem to have just one thing on their minds.
0:38:48 > 0:38:53She first drew attention as a sultry Cleopatra in 1965.
0:38:54 > 0:38:56Charmian...
0:38:56 > 0:38:58where think'st thou he is now?
0:39:00 > 0:39:02Stands he or sits he?
0:39:02 > 0:39:06'Those appreciative of her performances seemed almost obsessed
0:39:06 > 0:39:08'with her sex appeal.'
0:39:08 > 0:39:13Helen's performance as Cleopatra was remarkable by any standard.
0:39:13 > 0:39:17It wasn't simply a question of the young girl making a big stab
0:39:17 > 0:39:19at a difficult part,
0:39:19 > 0:39:22she gave the part something which English actors
0:39:22 > 0:39:26for generations have failed to do and that really is to
0:39:26 > 0:39:31get inside the sheer sexuality, the built-in sexuality, of the woman.
0:39:31 > 0:39:38# So delightful to hold, the naughty lady of Shady Lane
0:39:38 > 0:39:41# She's delectable, quite respectable... #
0:39:41 > 0:39:45Almost immediately, the offers began to arrive from film studios.
0:39:45 > 0:39:48In 1967, Mirren joined the Royal Shakespeare Company
0:39:48 > 0:39:52and also made an extraordinary first appearance on film,
0:39:52 > 0:39:56sexing up some rubber gloves as a satire on consumerism in
0:39:56 > 0:40:00Herostratus, co-produced by the BBC.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04Anybody who really wants me will have to buy me.
0:40:08 > 0:40:12Orators orange rubber gloves!
0:40:15 > 0:40:18Ah!
0:40:18 > 0:40:23Perhaps unsurprisingly, Mirren didn't get carried away with the movies.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27There was actually...there was one point I remember very early on
0:40:27 > 0:40:29when there was a choice, direct choice,
0:40:29 > 0:40:34between doing a film with a very good part in it and going back to
0:40:34 > 0:40:39the RSC to do... I think it was to do Troilus and Cressida.
0:40:39 > 0:40:40Very, very early on in my career.
0:40:40 > 0:40:45And I decided to go to the RSC to do Troilus and Cressida.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48I was so thrilled by the idea of doing Cressida.
0:40:48 > 0:40:52And Susan George did the part and subsequently went on to be
0:40:52 > 0:40:55the sort of film star that Susan George is and...
0:40:55 > 0:40:57You don't regret that decision?
0:40:57 > 0:41:00No, I don't... No, I don't.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03No, of course, you can't regret things like that.
0:41:03 > 0:41:05And I hope that...
0:41:05 > 0:41:08you know, what I've done in the theatre will stand me in stead
0:41:08 > 0:41:10for the rest of my life.
0:41:11 > 0:41:15Playing Cressida in 1968 at the age of 23,
0:41:15 > 0:41:17Mirren was the youngest actress at the RSC.
0:41:19 > 0:41:25..to defend my belly, upon my wit to defend my wiles,
0:41:25 > 0:41:29upon my secrecy to defend my honesty,
0:41:29 > 0:41:32my mask to defend my beauty.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39The film Mirren turned down was Straw Dogs,
0:41:39 > 0:41:42infamous for its graphic rape scene.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45A certain type of role did seem to be coming her way.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49She accepted the lead in Age Of Consent
0:41:49 > 0:41:53in which a young girl models for and eventually seduces a jaded artist,
0:41:53 > 0:41:54played by James Mason.
0:41:58 > 0:42:01I'm a painter. Know what a model is?
0:42:05 > 0:42:07- Like that?- No! - HE CHUCKLES
0:42:11 > 0:42:13- Like this?- No!
0:42:15 > 0:42:18- Like this?- No.
0:42:20 > 0:42:22HE LAUGHS
0:42:24 > 0:42:26Godfrey!
0:42:26 > 0:42:29- Oh! - SHE LAUGHS
0:42:29 > 0:42:33Mirren may have excelled at seduction, but as the 1970s dawned,
0:42:33 > 0:42:37sex and nudity seemed to be on everyone's minds.
0:42:37 > 0:42:39Even Michael Aspel's.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41What would you not turn your talents to?
0:42:44 > 0:42:46I don't know.
0:42:46 > 0:42:48I mean...
0:42:48 > 0:42:50Give me a start.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53Do you mean, would I romp around nude or would I be in
0:42:53 > 0:42:55- one of those kinds of films? - For example.
0:42:55 > 0:42:57Well, for example, no.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00I mean, I don't think I would.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03One interviewer made an art of the impertinent question -
0:43:03 > 0:43:04Michael Parkinson.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11Can I talk to you about something else which has
0:43:11 > 0:43:14briefly affected your life? About nudity on the stage?
0:43:14 > 0:43:15Oh, come on!
0:43:15 > 0:43:17I think it's a very fascinating area.
0:43:17 > 0:43:20AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:43:20 > 0:43:22I mean, you've taken your clothes off on stage.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25- I've taken my clothes off on stage. - Yes.
0:43:25 > 0:43:27- Do you have to talk yourself into it?- Yes.
0:43:27 > 0:43:31In fact, when I was doing Abelard and Heloise, I think it
0:43:31 > 0:43:33was in The Provinces in Newcastle...
0:43:33 > 0:43:35It was from a post office worker.
0:43:35 > 0:43:39I know, because it was written on a telegram form and he said,
0:43:39 > 0:43:41"I don't know why you bother.
0:43:41 > 0:43:45"My girlfriend's tits are much larger than yours."
0:43:45 > 0:43:47AUDIENCE SCREAMS WITH LAUGHTER
0:43:47 > 0:43:50AUDIENCE APPLAUDS
0:43:51 > 0:43:54But Parkinson saved his worst for Helen Mirren, for whom,
0:43:54 > 0:43:58in any case, all this was a bit of a sore point.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01Do you think... I mean, you are, in quotes, a serious actress.
0:44:01 > 0:44:03In quotes? What do you mean, in quotes?
0:44:03 > 0:44:04- Well, you know...- How dare you?
0:44:04 > 0:44:07It's the kind of cliche people say about serious actresses...
0:44:07 > 0:44:09- Oh, yes, I see.- ..as opposed to an unserious actress.
0:44:09 > 0:44:12But do you find, in fact, that what could best be described as
0:44:12 > 0:44:16your equipment in fact hinders you perhaps in that pursuit?
0:44:16 > 0:44:21And later in the interview, just as their relationship seems to thaw...
0:44:21 > 0:44:24out comes THAT question again.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27Let's talk about nudity, not clothes.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30Let's talk about the fact that you, in fact, have taken your clothes off
0:44:30 > 0:44:34on screen and partly disrobed on stage as well.
0:44:34 > 0:44:36Do you have any sort of feeling
0:44:36 > 0:44:38of embarrassment about it when you do it?
0:44:38 > 0:44:41There are lots of reasons for feeling uncomfortable
0:44:41 > 0:44:42about taking your clothes off in a movie.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46And one of them is that, basically, whatever the director says,
0:44:46 > 0:44:50basically you know that it's being done for commercial reasons.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53And it's...
0:44:53 > 0:44:55male chauvinist kind of...
0:44:55 > 0:44:57You know that phrase, I'm sure.
0:44:57 > 0:45:00- I've heard it before. - You've heard of before, right.
0:45:02 > 0:45:06Fortunately, 1970s television had its own solution...
0:45:06 > 0:45:09somewhere the actors could be fully and luxuriously clothed -
0:45:09 > 0:45:11costume drama.
0:45:14 > 0:45:17Helen Mirren's first appearance on the BBC was in Cousin Bette,
0:45:17 > 0:45:20a five-part series based on a novel by Balzac.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23So, I've decided to be my own physician.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26'She plays Valerie, who seduces and torments a series of men.'
0:45:26 > 0:45:30You can begin by telling me all the latest gossip!
0:45:30 > 0:45:32I would rather tell you how adorable you are
0:45:32 > 0:45:35and how much I've missed you.
0:45:35 > 0:45:36Oh!
0:45:36 > 0:45:38Never mind.
0:45:39 > 0:45:43Your Valerie has missed you, too.
0:45:43 > 0:45:47But soon, we will be all we were to one another.
0:45:47 > 0:45:50SHE GROWLS PLAYFULLY
0:45:50 > 0:45:56And in 1972, Vanessa Redgrave makes a rare appearance acting on TV
0:45:56 > 0:46:00as author Katherine Mansfield in a six-part series on her life,
0:46:00 > 0:46:04here playing, almost wordlessly, opposite Jeremy Brett.
0:46:04 > 0:46:06I must go.
0:46:07 > 0:46:08Yes.
0:46:10 > 0:46:11'How you hurt me!
0:46:11 > 0:46:13'You've failed.
0:46:13 > 0:46:15'Go.
0:46:15 > 0:46:17'Why didn't you insist that I stay?
0:46:19 > 0:46:21'Don't go.
0:46:21 > 0:46:23'I could easily have telephoned.
0:46:23 > 0:46:25'Easily!'
0:46:28 > 0:46:29SHE SNIFFS
0:46:35 > 0:46:37- Goodbye.- Au revoir.
0:46:39 > 0:46:43Single plays were also given the lavish costume treatment,
0:46:43 > 0:46:47bringing us Judi Dench in glorious colour in this dubious French farce,
0:46:47 > 0:46:51Keep An Eye On Amelie.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53UPBEAT MUSIC
0:46:58 > 0:47:00Well, who is it at the door?
0:47:00 > 0:47:03It is a lady who particularly wishes to speak to you in private
0:47:03 > 0:47:05and she looks respectable.
0:47:05 > 0:47:07Bring her in, little brother!
0:47:12 > 0:47:15And Maggie Smith sweeps in, typically formidable,
0:47:15 > 0:47:17in Shaw's The Millionairess.
0:47:20 > 0:47:24It's her last appearance on British television for over a decade.
0:47:24 > 0:47:28Smith disappeared off to Canada and concentrated on stage and film.
0:47:34 > 0:47:38But the '70s costume drama extravaganza continued,
0:47:38 > 0:47:40spilling over into comedy.
0:47:40 > 0:47:43An invitation to appear on the Morecambe And Wise Christmas Show
0:47:43 > 0:47:46was a sure sign you were a big star.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49Thank you very much. Now, ladies and gentlemen, with great pleasure,
0:47:49 > 0:47:52I'd like to introduce to you the very beautiful, the very talented,
0:47:52 > 0:47:55the very well known, the very famous Miss...er...
0:47:56 > 0:47:58..Vanessa Redgrave!
0:47:58 > 0:48:01AUDIENCE APPLAUDS
0:48:04 > 0:48:08'Redgrave demonstrates the merits of playing it straight
0:48:08 > 0:48:11- 'as the Emperor's Josephine.' - He's crying again.
0:48:11 > 0:48:12I wish he wouldn't.
0:48:12 > 0:48:16The tears roll down his legs and makes them shrink.
0:48:16 > 0:48:18AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:48:18 > 0:48:20And I do love him!
0:48:20 > 0:48:22When he kisses me,
0:48:22 > 0:48:25I can feel his heart beating against my kneecaps.
0:48:28 > 0:48:30I would like to introduce to you the very charming,
0:48:30 > 0:48:32the very talented Miss Diana Rigg!
0:48:32 > 0:48:35'And of course, no-one ever tired of the comedy to be had
0:48:35 > 0:48:37'from putting a tall lady next to Ernie Wise.'
0:48:39 > 0:48:42Diana...
0:48:42 > 0:48:45- this is a very proud moment. - Oh, what a lovely thing to say!
0:48:45 > 0:48:47I meant, for you.
0:48:47 > 0:48:52Riggs not one for understatement in her interpretation of Nell Gwynn.
0:48:52 > 0:48:55# How could you believe me when I said I loved you
0:48:55 > 0:48:58# When you know I've been a liar all my life? #
0:49:04 > 0:49:05'Ah, the '70s!'
0:49:10 > 0:49:15By the late 1970s, our generation of actors had become established stars,
0:49:15 > 0:49:19reaching acting maturity, but experimenting with new directions...
0:49:19 > 0:49:22and the BBC was there to document the progress,
0:49:22 > 0:49:25observing as these stars of film and television renewed
0:49:25 > 0:49:27their commitment to the theatre.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32In 1978, Vanessa Redgrave returned to the stage
0:49:32 > 0:49:36after several years' absence and an Oscar win
0:49:36 > 0:49:39and was observed by the BBC rehearsing Ibsen's
0:49:39 > 0:49:42The Lady From The Sea with Graham Crowden.
0:49:42 > 0:49:44Then tell me the whole truth.
0:49:46 > 0:49:50'That's director Michael Elliott, by the way, not a stalker.'
0:49:50 > 0:49:52Take as long as you like.
0:49:56 > 0:49:57She shows a low-key style
0:49:57 > 0:50:00learnt from a decade acting in TV and film.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02The sea...
0:50:06 > 0:50:10Storms and calms, dark nights at sea.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15Do you not think it's a little stark
0:50:15 > 0:50:17if we stay all the way through into that there?
0:50:19 > 0:50:22I expect it actually is, but I don't feel stark.
0:50:24 > 0:50:26The thing is, I'm feeling that from this point,
0:50:26 > 0:50:30it's him that's the one that's moving about and agitated
0:50:30 > 0:50:33and that I am terribly agitated,
0:50:33 > 0:50:37but it's...it's all, you know, I'm on course now.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51Eileen Atkins put theatre first.
0:50:51 > 0:50:56In 1977, we found her touring the UK with the Prospect Theatre Company.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02And appearing once more as Joan of Arc in St Joan,
0:51:02 > 0:51:05with that famous northern accent back in service.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08No, you soldiers don't know how to use your big guns.
0:51:08 > 0:51:13- You think you can win battles with great noise and smoke.- True.
0:51:13 > 0:51:15Half the time the artillery is more trouble than it's worth.
0:51:15 > 0:51:18Aye, lad, but you can't fight stone walls with horses.
0:51:18 > 0:51:20You need guns, and much bigger guns too.
0:51:20 > 0:51:24The thing about Prospect is there aren't that many
0:51:24 > 0:51:26places in England at the moment
0:51:26 > 0:51:33where you can really muscle yourself in on the big classics.
0:51:33 > 0:51:34And you do need, as an actor,
0:51:34 > 0:51:38you need to play the big classics to become a decent stage actor.
0:51:38 > 0:51:40You've got to play the big parts.
0:51:43 > 0:51:47The eternal quest for interesting female leads led in many directions.
0:51:49 > 0:51:52Helen Mirren cast off the Shakespearean sex kitten image
0:51:52 > 0:51:56to play the lead singer of a failing rock band
0:51:56 > 0:51:59in David Hare's radical musical play Teeth 'N' Smiles.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02# Check your mirror
0:52:02 > 0:52:04# And you overtake the truck... #
0:52:06 > 0:52:09It's got a lot of swear words in it.
0:52:09 > 0:52:11It's got a lot of very loud music in it.
0:52:11 > 0:52:13On the first public preview,
0:52:13 > 0:52:16quite a lot of people walked out quite early on in the play
0:52:16 > 0:52:21when the first music takes place because they found it too loud.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28# ..About you! #
0:52:33 > 0:52:34What makes it a good female part?
0:52:34 > 0:52:38It's tough. It's got balls.
0:52:38 > 0:52:43- That's female?- Yes, that's as female as it is male, absolutely.
0:52:47 > 0:52:50It was a moment when BBC drama was also experimenting.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54Dennis Potter's seminal Blue Remembered Hills
0:52:54 > 0:52:59where adults play seven-year-olds to explore the cruelty of childhood
0:52:59 > 0:53:02was another opportunity for Mirren to shine.
0:53:08 > 0:53:10Well, who do you want to be, then, Aud?
0:53:12 > 0:53:14The nurse, with the little scissors.
0:53:16 > 0:53:21That's a good un'! Then you can see to my finger! I mean, my thumb.
0:53:21 > 0:53:24- When I've had a bit of tea. - What's the matter with your thumb?
0:53:24 > 0:53:27- I cut the bugger off, didn't I? - Just a minute, then.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31You want to stop swearing, Donald Duck.
0:53:31 > 0:53:33Angela, don't say that, you promised!
0:53:33 > 0:53:35Let me see your thumb.
0:53:40 > 0:53:42The female stars of this generation
0:53:42 > 0:53:45turned their hands to almost every genre of acting.
0:53:45 > 0:53:49And television in particular offered a place to try new things.
0:53:50 > 0:53:54Diana Rigg got her own comedy sketch show on the BBC, Three Piece Suite.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00Here, a lonely hearts assignation goes amiss
0:54:00 > 0:54:03after the wrong man picks up Time In magazine.
0:54:03 > 0:54:05The man in question is Don Henderson.
0:54:19 > 0:54:23- What can I get you?- Coffee, please.
0:54:40 > 0:54:42SHE COUGHS POLITELY
0:54:54 > 0:54:56CUTLERY FALLS ON FLOOR
0:54:58 > 0:55:00APPLAUSE
0:55:00 > 0:55:04The 1970s was a difficult era to be an actress approaching 40.
0:55:04 > 0:55:07But these stars were constantly on the move.
0:55:10 > 0:55:13I'm not too chic to do this, that or the other. I'm really not.
0:55:13 > 0:55:16And it's not a question, necessarily, of economics either.
0:55:16 > 0:55:18It's just relish. I love working.
0:55:21 > 0:55:25Television drama did offer new roles for older women,
0:55:25 > 0:55:29as Judi Dench found in Pinter's Langrishe, Go Down -
0:55:29 > 0:55:31cast as a spinster courted, uncomfortably,
0:55:31 > 0:55:33by a German student played by Jeremy Irons.
0:56:00 > 0:56:01I long for you.
0:56:01 > 0:56:03SHE GASPS
0:56:03 > 0:56:04Please!
0:56:06 > 0:56:10At the same time, she thrived at the RSC, creating a fragile,
0:56:10 > 0:56:15vulnerable Lady Macbeth in Trevor Nunn's acclaimed production.
0:56:15 > 0:56:17Here's the smell of the blood.
0:56:21 > 0:56:22Still!
0:56:27 > 0:56:32All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten...
0:56:32 > 0:56:35this...
0:56:35 > 0:56:37little...
0:56:39 > 0:56:40..hand.
0:56:45 > 0:56:47ANGUISHED CRY
0:57:01 > 0:57:05I've never wanted to be thought of as one kind of actress.
0:57:05 > 0:57:07I don't want to have just
0:57:07 > 0:57:12a particular kind of form of being thought of. I don't like that.
0:57:14 > 0:57:17Dench's generation of actors began in the theatre
0:57:17 > 0:57:20and the stage has remained the bedrock of their careers.
0:57:22 > 0:57:25But it's their versatility that marks them out.
0:57:27 > 0:57:30Coming into their own in the 1960s and '70s,
0:57:30 > 0:57:32their innovative acting styles
0:57:32 > 0:57:36proved perfectly suited to a pioneering age of television drama.
0:57:37 > 0:57:38TV nurtured them,
0:57:38 > 0:57:42it preserved some of their greatest performances for posterity
0:57:42 > 0:57:45and it helped to make them household names.
0:57:52 > 0:57:55In 1988, Judi Dench was made a Dame of the British Empire
0:57:55 > 0:57:57for her services to the performing arts.
0:57:57 > 0:57:59MUSIC: There Is Nothing Like A Dame
0:58:02 > 0:58:03The others soon followed.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07Dame Maggie Smith in 1990.
0:58:07 > 0:58:10Diana Rigg was honoured in '94.
0:58:11 > 0:58:16In 1999, Vanessa Redgrave was widely reported to have turned down a DBE.
0:58:16 > 0:58:20But Eileen Atkins accepted in 2001.
0:58:20 > 0:58:23And Dame Helen Mirren arrived in 2003...
0:58:25 > 0:58:29..royal approval for acting careers that have brought honour to Britain
0:58:29 > 0:58:32for 50 years and continue to do so today.
0:58:32 > 0:58:34# There is nothing like a dame
0:58:34 > 0:58:37# Nothing in the world
0:58:38 > 0:58:42# There is nothing you can name
0:58:42 > 0:58:45# That is anything like a dame
0:58:48 > 0:58:51# There ain't a thing that's wrong with any man here
0:58:51 > 0:58:54# That can't be cured by putting him near
0:58:54 > 0:58:58# A girlie, womanly, female
0:58:58 > 0:59:04# Feminine dame! #