0:00:02 > 0:00:04In the world of acting,
0:00:04 > 0:00:08there is a band of performers which stands out from all the rest -
0:00:08 > 0:00:12an exclusive club of British stage and screen greats,
0:00:12 > 0:00:15who were knighted for their services to drama.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17THEY SQUEAL
0:00:17 > 0:00:18Oh, terribly sorry.
0:00:18 > 0:00:24For more than 50 years, they have entertained us,
0:00:24 > 0:00:29and helping propel them along the road to success was the BBC -
0:00:29 > 0:00:32the National Theatre of the airwaves,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35transferring, from the stage to the small screen,
0:00:35 > 0:00:38a new generation of acting talent.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43And as television brought them to new audiences of millions,
0:00:43 > 0:00:48they helped shape the dramatic world on the people's screens,
0:00:48 > 0:00:53as TV evolved into a new art form that everyone could enjoy.
0:00:55 > 0:01:00We'll follow their transformation from newcomers to knights,
0:01:00 > 0:01:02through their greatest moments...
0:01:02 > 0:01:06What I say is, when you're dealing with the devil,
0:01:06 > 0:01:09then praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12..to ones they may rather forget.
0:01:14 > 0:01:19From first steps to career-defining performances,
0:01:19 > 0:01:21we'll see where it all began,
0:01:21 > 0:01:24in the archives of the BBC. APPLAUSE
0:01:25 > 0:01:27My name is Ian McKellen.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30I'm a 30-year-old actor earning £50 a week.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41Our young actors entered a profession still dominated by theatre.
0:01:44 > 0:01:49During the 1950s, television drama was the poor relation of the stage,
0:01:49 > 0:01:51considered lowbrow and somewhat embarrassing.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57It was an art form with an identity crisis.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01Limited by large and heavy cameras, producers were forced to
0:02:01 > 0:02:05simply recreate theatre plays live in the studio,
0:02:05 > 0:02:07but there was no applause to fill the gaps,
0:02:07 > 0:02:11and on TV screens, stage acting sometimes seemed distinctly hammy.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14Hugo put his arm round her waist,
0:02:14 > 0:02:19and she smiled off, with that white dress billowing round her.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22Well, it was perfectly natural, after what happened.
0:02:22 > 0:02:23Look at you!
0:02:23 > 0:02:26Michael Caine's first appearance at the BBC
0:02:26 > 0:02:30was a 1956 play about Joan of Arc called The Lark.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32I wouldn't have believed...
0:02:32 > 0:02:34He plays a guard in the background.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36- Boudousse!- Blink and you'll miss it.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40- I'll take her out and give a ducking, sir.- No, you idiot.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43- But, hey, at least he got a line. - We are going for a gallop together.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45We were talking, and I find I'm surprised...
0:02:45 > 0:02:46It was an encounter that stayed with him.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48Yeah, very few people seem to remember the fact
0:02:48 > 0:02:51that all the plays then, which were 90 minutes, were absolutely live,
0:02:51 > 0:02:53and you sort of lived with your mistakes.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56I came in and I had one of those helmets on that makes you look
0:02:56 > 0:02:58like a 25 pounder shell. You know?
0:02:58 > 0:03:02As though you've just been fired in from a cannon somewhere, and missed.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07And I'm 6'2", and the arch was about 5'6"
0:03:07 > 0:03:10and as I came in, I hit my helmet,
0:03:10 > 0:03:11without realising it,
0:03:11 > 0:03:14and because I was so nervous, you don't feel anything.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16You're completely numb with nerves,
0:03:16 > 0:03:19- and so, my helmet was slightly cocked on one side. - LAUGHTER
0:03:19 > 0:03:20And I shall come back again...
0:03:20 > 0:03:23Television needed a dramatic language of its own, but the acting
0:03:23 > 0:03:28profession was dominated by an older generation, enthralled with theatre.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30Well, get back to your post.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33You don't need to stand here listening to this.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38Thespian grandees Like Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud -
0:03:38 > 0:03:40proper actors.
0:03:41 > 0:03:46- BOTH:- Here hung those lips, which I have kissed, I know not how oft.
0:03:46 > 0:03:47Where be your gibes now?
0:03:47 > 0:03:48Where be your gibes now?
0:03:48 > 0:03:49Your gambols? Your songs?
0:03:49 > 0:03:52- Your songs? Your gambols? - Your flashes of merriment...
0:03:54 > 0:03:57And in the '60s, theatre would undergo a boom.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Theatrical powerhouses were launched,
0:04:00 > 0:04:02like the Royal Shakespeare Company,
0:04:02 > 0:04:07and the National Theatre, managed by none other than Olivier himself.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11Regional repertory companies were also flourishing.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14Together, these trends produced a new generation of talent.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20By now, television had begun to find its feet, and emerging young
0:04:20 > 0:04:23actors and writers quickly found their way into the studios.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28The BBC were determined to bring the experience of drama to a wider
0:04:28 > 0:04:32public, and through more than just West End performances.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39In 1961, Michael Caine was given his first big break,
0:04:39 > 0:04:43in a now-lost drama called The Compartment.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46Written specifically for television, it was a critical hit,
0:04:46 > 0:04:50and helped bring him to the attention of the film industry.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55Soon enough, he had his first taste of breakthrough success
0:04:55 > 0:04:57in the film Zulu.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01Who are you?
0:05:01 > 0:05:02John Chard, Royal Engineers...
0:05:02 > 0:05:04Caine plays against type,
0:05:04 > 0:05:05as an aristocrat,
0:05:05 > 0:05:07with varying degrees of success.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10That's my post, up there.
0:05:10 > 0:05:11He held the screen,
0:05:11 > 0:05:14but this was an unusual start to his career,
0:05:14 > 0:05:18and some thought it a strangely uncomfortable fit for Caine.
0:05:18 > 0:05:19Who said you could use my men?
0:05:22 > 0:05:26They were sitting around on their backsides doing nothing.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28I'd rather you asked first, old boy.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33But it was looking like Zulu might be a misfire.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37After filming had finished,
0:05:37 > 0:05:39his film company released him from his contract for,
0:05:39 > 0:05:44as his producer charmingly put it, "looking like a queer on screen".
0:05:46 > 0:05:49Now 30, and anxious for the next job,
0:05:49 > 0:05:52Caine headed back to his theatrical roots,
0:05:52 > 0:05:56signing up for his first and last classical performance,
0:05:56 > 0:05:59as Horatio, in the BBC's Hamlet At Elsinore.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04Give order that these bodies,
0:06:04 > 0:06:06high on a stage,
0:06:06 > 0:06:09be placed to the view,
0:06:09 > 0:06:11and let me speak to the yet-unknowing world,
0:06:11 > 0:06:13how these things came about.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15He may be more geezer than Gielgud,
0:06:15 > 0:06:18but Caine had actually served a long apprenticeship,
0:06:18 > 0:06:19treading the boards in rep theatre.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21Accidental judgements, casual slaughters...
0:06:21 > 0:06:22And he could do this stuff.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25Of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause,
0:06:25 > 0:06:27and, in this upshot, purposes mistook,
0:06:27 > 0:06:29fallen on the inventors' heads.
0:06:32 > 0:06:34This Hamlet was a technical milestone -
0:06:34 > 0:06:38the first time a full-length play had been shot on location.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42Drama was usually recorded in a studio and performed live,
0:06:42 > 0:06:44with the outdoor scenes shot on film,
0:06:44 > 0:06:47but using film was prohibitively expensive,
0:06:47 > 0:06:51and video cameras were too large and cumbersome to move around easily,
0:06:51 > 0:06:54so Kronborg Castle in Denmark was turned into a studio,
0:06:54 > 0:06:57and the whole thing recorded on two-inch videotape.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03Caine acquitted himself well, but never did it again.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06Before long, though, Zulu hit the big screen,
0:07:06 > 0:07:08and he was claimed by Hollywood.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?
0:07:13 > 0:07:16Early roles were, all around, a tricky business.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20Nigel Hawthorne was a very strange casting decision as a screen heavy.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23What was it you want? What are you supposed to be looking for?
0:07:23 > 0:07:26- The key, Mr Martin.- The key?
0:07:26 > 0:07:29- You mean the key that Mrs...? - You know the key I mean.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31When you left the cafe, you took that key to an ironmonger's
0:07:31 > 0:07:33and you had a duplicate made.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35I know what I'm talking about, Martin,
0:07:35 > 0:07:38so don't let's waste any time.
0:07:38 > 0:07:39Hand it over.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53Luckily, he wouldn't be needing action skills in future roles.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58THEY GRUNT
0:08:01 > 0:08:05BIRDS SHRIEK
0:08:05 > 0:08:08Having taken some convincing from his agent that TV was worth
0:08:08 > 0:08:13bothering with, Ian McKellen made his debut in Kipling,
0:08:13 > 0:08:14stuck up a tree.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17TIGER ROARS
0:08:17 > 0:08:19GUNSHOTS
0:08:23 > 0:08:24And there, Stephen, you see,
0:08:24 > 0:08:26in front of me, there was the tiger,
0:08:26 > 0:08:29so I walked up to it, took a single shot, fired,
0:08:29 > 0:08:31- and that was that.- How big was it?
0:08:31 > 0:08:34It was a confident start for the young actor,
0:08:34 > 0:08:36who managed not to betray any hint of a northern accent.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38A darn sight bigger than any tigers
0:08:38 > 0:08:39you'll find in this part of the country.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41This isn't tiger country, is it?
0:08:41 > 0:08:44- Precisely, but down in the central provinces.- Ah, but you're not...
0:08:44 > 0:08:46But despite a few outside shots,
0:08:46 > 0:08:49the majority of the drama was studio-bound.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51It still looked and felt like theatre.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01Equally stagey was an early John Hurt role,
0:09:01 > 0:09:03in Jean Anouilh's absurdist drama
0:09:03 > 0:09:04Point Of Departure.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09It was a modern take on a Greek legend for the beatnik generation,
0:09:09 > 0:09:10all set in a railway cafe.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15In the chair. Extraordinary.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18Do you think it was an insect listening to the sound of our steps,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21ready to spring away on its little legs...?
0:09:21 > 0:09:24Its true meaning was lost somewhere in translation.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28So far, the new generation
0:09:28 > 0:09:30weren't exactly snapping at Olivier's heels...
0:09:34 > 0:09:38..but, in 1966, one of them got a taste of the kind of accolade
0:09:38 > 0:09:41usually reserved for the cream of screen actors.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45MUSIC: Don't Go Breaking My Heart by Burt Bacharach
0:09:45 > 0:09:49Michael Caine's Alfie was hailed as a new kind of antihero
0:09:49 > 0:09:51and it won him an Oscar nomination.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56He'd only got the part after it was turned down
0:09:56 > 0:09:59by his roommate, Terence Stamp, who played the character on stage.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04Breaking down the fourth wall with casual abandon,
0:10:04 > 0:10:08Alfie was Caine's international breakthrough.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13Well, what harm can it do?
0:10:13 > 0:10:16Old Harry will never know, and even if he did,
0:10:16 > 0:10:18he shouldn't begrudge me -
0:10:18 > 0:10:20or her, come to that -
0:10:20 > 0:10:22and it'll round off the tea nicely.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26He was now a star, albeit an unconventional one.
0:10:26 > 0:10:31Oh, I think there's quite a lot of Alfie when I was younger,
0:10:31 > 0:10:32but you see, of course,
0:10:32 > 0:10:34you can't play Alfie and be Alfie at the same time,
0:10:34 > 0:10:37because playing those parts takes up too much of your time.
0:10:37 > 0:10:38You have to go to bed early.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40I don't think I went out with one girl
0:10:40 > 0:10:43the whole time I was making Alfie.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45I did when I was finished.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49In the same year that Alfie was released,
0:10:49 > 0:10:52Alan Bates appeared in a BBC drama.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56He was already an established film actor,
0:10:56 > 0:11:00but it was theatre that first catapulted Bates into the public eye.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07At the Royal Court in 1956, Bates played Cliff
0:11:07 > 0:11:11in the legendary kitchen-sink drama Look Back In Anger.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18The BBC's Hero Of Our Time couldn't have been more different.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23Based on a 19th-century Russian play,
0:11:23 > 0:11:25it was hardly cutting-edge stuff,
0:11:25 > 0:11:28but the fantastically caddish Alan Bates
0:11:28 > 0:11:31plays his character with an aloof '60s cynicism,
0:11:31 > 0:11:34musing on the tiresome inferiority of everyone else around him.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36Really the nicest people in town...
0:11:36 > 0:11:38Nothing makes me yawn more than the nicest people.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40Now, don't you worry about me.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43Everything's going very nicely for you, isn't it?
0:11:43 > 0:11:45- Well, she hardly knows me yet. - Well, there you are.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48- Women always fall in love with men they don't know.- Not in every case.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50You should have heard the things she said about you.
0:11:50 > 0:11:51- Is she talking about me?- Yes.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54- Well, well, well... - I'm afraid she doesn't like you.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56It's a shame, because my little princess is really quite charming.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59And what does your little princess have to say about me?
0:11:59 > 0:12:01She said, "Who is that young captain
0:12:01 > 0:12:03"with the nasty, overpowering stare?
0:12:03 > 0:12:05"He can't be a friend of yours."
0:12:06 > 0:12:11But 1966 wasn't all grand appearances by big-names-to-be.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14The very early days of Ben Kingsley were caught on camera,
0:12:14 > 0:12:16entirely by accident.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19Your yardstick is...
0:12:19 > 0:12:23He was featured in a documentary about Original Theatre Company,
0:12:23 > 0:12:27as a twenty-something hopeful, learning his trade.
0:12:27 > 0:12:28Effectively...
0:12:28 > 0:12:30Kingsley can be seen in the background,
0:12:30 > 0:12:33a long time before anyone had to call him "sir".
0:12:33 > 0:12:35You know, that you didn't move...
0:12:35 > 0:12:36There's no missing that trademark stare.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38It'll be funny! I'll carry him on my shoulders.
0:12:38 > 0:12:43They were attempting to create a documentary play about the Civil War,
0:12:43 > 0:12:46based entirely on contemporary documents -
0:12:46 > 0:12:51a brave idea, and young Kingsley doesn't seem entirely convinced.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53It's like being faced with the canvas, isn't it?
0:12:53 > 0:12:54A great big canvas,
0:12:54 > 0:12:57and you don't know the overall effect that you want to make,
0:12:57 > 0:13:00with your colours and with your canvas, until it's finished.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03So you have to do... You have to finish it in your mind,
0:13:03 > 0:13:05and then go backwards, and do it,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08do you know what I mean? But you can't with a script.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10If you've got a script, you've got the...
0:13:10 > 0:13:14You have the line and the form to follow upwards,
0:13:14 > 0:13:15but I think with a documentary,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18they have to get the finished picture and then go backwards,
0:13:18 > 0:13:19and then go forwards to the end.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21That's what I think is a bit off-putting.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25I also cut my hair very short and flung my clothes into a...
0:13:25 > 0:13:26Oh, no, cut my hair very short...
0:13:26 > 0:13:29Regional theatre was the bread and butter of
0:13:29 > 0:13:31the post-war acting profession.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34Up and down the country, it honed their acting skills
0:13:34 > 0:13:36and prepared them for bigger roles
0:13:36 > 0:13:39in the large theatre companies, and, increasingly, TV.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42- THEY SQUEAL - Oh, I'm terribly sorry.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45Michael Gambon was part of Olivier's mighty National Theatre
0:13:45 > 0:13:47from its early years.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52My first important audition was for the National for Laurence Olivier,
0:13:52 > 0:13:58and, being very green, I did Richard III for him.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02I remember going into the audition, and I met him,
0:14:02 > 0:14:04and shook his hand. I was terribly nervous.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06He said, "What are you going to do?" I said, "Richard III."
0:14:06 > 0:14:09So he said, "Which part?"
0:14:09 > 0:14:11So, I said, "Richard III."
0:14:11 > 0:14:13You see, "I know, but which part"?
0:14:13 > 0:14:15Not realising he was sending me up.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18So he said, "Buckingham? Catesby?"
0:14:18 > 0:14:19And I said, "No, Richard III."
0:14:19 > 0:14:24So he was shocked, or pretended to be shocked - the cheek of this.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27So, I started straight away.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30I was only two foot from him, and sprayed him with spit.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32And he told me to go away and get up
0:14:32 > 0:14:33the other end of the room.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37So as I was walking up this long rehearsal room, I was...
0:14:37 > 0:14:39My mind was working. I thought,
0:14:39 > 0:14:40"How can I impress this man?"
0:14:40 > 0:14:42So, I was going to do the speech,
0:14:42 > 0:14:46"Was ever woman in this humour woo'd?"
0:14:46 > 0:14:47And as I got to the end of the room,
0:14:47 > 0:14:49I thought I'd spin round a pillar.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52They had cast iron pillars up the room.
0:14:52 > 0:14:53And then I...
0:14:53 > 0:14:55As I came round the pillar,
0:14:55 > 0:14:57I'd start the speech.
0:14:57 > 0:14:58So I did that,
0:14:58 > 0:15:02but my ring got caught on a screw,
0:15:02 > 0:15:04and ripped my little finger in half.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07So, they had to send the first aid box.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09The nurse came in. I got the job,
0:15:09 > 0:15:11and I didn't have to do the speech.
0:15:13 > 0:15:19In 1967, Olivier suggested he get more experience in regional theatre,
0:15:19 > 0:15:23so Gambon headed to Birmingham, where he could get the starring roles.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28Soon enough, TV took notice,
0:15:28 > 0:15:30and he was cast as the romantic lead
0:15:30 > 0:15:32in swashbuckling series The Borderers.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38Gavin, they've fired the stables!
0:15:43 > 0:15:47Gambon's action sequences were as wobbly as the sets...
0:15:54 > 0:15:57..but he caught the attention of producer Cubby Broccoli,
0:15:57 > 0:16:00who asked him to audition for the part of James Bond.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02SWORDS CLANG
0:16:02 > 0:16:07Sadly for Gambon, the role went to the much better-known Roger Moore.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09GUNSHOT Gambon, it seemed,
0:16:09 > 0:16:10wasn't destined to be a star -
0:16:10 > 0:16:13at least, not in the conventional way.
0:16:15 > 0:16:17The door, before they charge it.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23Hot on Gambon's heels was Anthony Hopkins,
0:16:23 > 0:16:25another National Theatre graduate.
0:16:25 > 0:16:31He was first spotted by Olivier in 1965, and became his understudy -
0:16:31 > 0:16:33a moment Hopkins remembers well.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38I became a young actor. I was a student for a few years.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41I was too young, really, to absorb what was being taught.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51And I auditioned for the National Theatre,
0:16:51 > 0:16:55and Olivier was the man who was running the auditions that morning,
0:16:55 > 0:16:57and I went in, and I didn't have anything else to do.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59I just did Othello.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01It was the only Shakespeare piece I knew,
0:17:01 > 0:17:05and he was in his prime, then, playing Othello himself.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09Even so, my bloody thoughts, with violent pace,
0:17:09 > 0:17:11shall ne'er look back,
0:17:11 > 0:17:14ne'er ebb to humble...
0:17:16 > 0:17:18..love.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21And he said, "What parts are you going to do?
0:17:21 > 0:17:23"What audition pieces have you got?"
0:17:23 > 0:17:25I said, well, I've got Three Sisters.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29Yeah, Tuzenbach, yes.
0:17:29 > 0:17:30Major Barbara. Yes.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34"What's your Shakespeare?" I said, "Othello."
0:17:34 > 0:17:37"You've got a bloody nerve, haven't you?
0:17:37 > 0:17:38"You've got a bloody nerve."
0:17:38 > 0:17:42And I did the Othello, and he said, "Well, I think you are very good,
0:17:42 > 0:17:44"and I don't think I'll lose any sleep tonight," he said.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46"But you're good."
0:17:46 > 0:17:48And he said, "So, would you like to join us?"
0:17:49 > 0:17:52For Hopkins, the National Theatre was a training ground
0:17:52 > 0:17:55that brought him into the orbit of the greats.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59Stage giants like Olivier and Gielgud might have impressed him,
0:17:59 > 0:18:01but he was a cheeky pupil.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03It's been said of you that, in fact,
0:18:03 > 0:18:05you're one of the best mimics, actually, in the business,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08and you specialise in doing the actor knights, don't you?
0:18:08 > 0:18:11- Yes.- Yes, are you going to...? - Which one do you want?
0:18:11 > 0:18:13I love mimics. Well, let's start with...
0:18:13 > 0:18:17- Well, everybody does Gielgud, don't they?- Oh, yes.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19- AS JOHN GIELGUD:- To be, or not to be - that is the question.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer
0:18:21 > 0:18:23the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
0:18:23 > 0:18:25or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
0:18:25 > 0:18:26and by opposing, end them.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30To die, to sleep no more.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32What about Olivier doing the same one?
0:18:32 > 0:18:33- AS LAURENCE OLIVIER: - To be, or not to be -
0:18:33 > 0:18:35that is the question.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings
0:18:37 > 0:18:39and arrows of outrageous fortune,
0:18:39 > 0:18:42or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
0:18:42 > 0:18:44and by opposing, end them.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48To die, to sleep no more.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50And by a sleep, to say we end the heartache,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to.
0:18:53 > 0:18:54What about the...?
0:18:54 > 0:18:58APPLAUSE
0:18:59 > 0:19:01Undaunted by his venerable predecessors,
0:19:01 > 0:19:05Hopkins appeared in a BBC adaptation of Chekhov's The Three Sisters.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07This is my brother, Andrey.
0:19:07 > 0:19:09Prozorov...
0:19:09 > 0:19:12Chekhov was flavour of the month, and it was a role that showed Hopkins had
0:19:12 > 0:19:15the acting chops to go on to bigger things.
0:19:15 > 0:19:16Congratulations.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19You'll get no peace from my sisters now...
0:19:19 > 0:19:22Unlike many of the older generation of stage actors,
0:19:22 > 0:19:26he had a relaxed and restrained style that worked well on camera,
0:19:26 > 0:19:28which made his performances look effortless.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31I'm secretary of the local council now.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33Protopopov is chairman.
0:19:33 > 0:19:35The most I can ever hope for is
0:19:35 > 0:19:37to become a member of the council myself.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39I, who dream of the night that
0:19:39 > 0:19:41I'm a professor in the Moscow University -
0:19:41 > 0:19:43a famous academician,
0:19:43 > 0:19:45the pride of all Russia.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51The new generation's relationship with television ebbed and flowed.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54As I will not eat any...
0:19:54 > 0:19:57At the BBC in the '60s, Ian McKellen found an eclectic
0:19:57 > 0:19:59mix of parts in drama...
0:19:59 > 0:20:01..Incorrect use of the word, "intriguing"...
0:20:01 > 0:20:03..including this one wearing the wolf's mask.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07..I lacked a university education. It sometimes shows.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09But the word, as used, was not entirely incorrect.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12Ah! You mean other members of the plot?
0:20:12 > 0:20:14Or accessories after the facts!
0:20:14 > 0:20:15Ah, the '60s!
0:20:15 > 0:20:20..Exactly who - whom! - they were going to meet
0:20:20 > 0:20:22until they arrived at this place.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25Madam?
0:20:25 > 0:20:27When I first came here, you decided...
0:20:27 > 0:20:28Less experimentally,
0:20:28 > 0:20:31he also had a lead role in Dickens' David Copperfield.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34..but, I should be grateful for some indication as to what
0:20:34 > 0:20:36term of months or years you had in mind.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40You wish to become formally engaged to our ward, Mr Copperfield?
0:20:40 > 0:20:42With all my heart, ma'am.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44Come, sister Clarissa...
0:20:44 > 0:20:48He'd played Copperfield onstage a few years earlier and now,
0:20:48 > 0:20:5212 million people watched him reprise his energetic performance.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55We must send her in to you directly.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57You mean I am to propose to her now?
0:20:57 > 0:21:00I see no reason to keep you from happiness any longer.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03Oh, but I didn't think I should be proposing to her this afternoon!
0:21:03 > 0:21:05I just wanted to let...I mean, I haven't thought what to say.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08I should like time to think it over.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10By the end of the decade,
0:21:10 > 0:21:14McKellen was once more concentrating on his stage career.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16But he had little interest
0:21:16 > 0:21:18in being part of the prestigious National Theatre.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23He'd been recruited there in the mid-'60s,
0:21:23 > 0:21:25but quickly taken a dislike to it.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27Instead of working with the big production companies,
0:21:27 > 0:21:31he preferred the more radical theatre offered by smaller touring groups.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36McKellen was an outsider, and, for him,
0:21:36 > 0:21:40the '60s would end in both enormous controversy and acting triumph.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46In 1969, he was followed by a BBC crew as he toured,
0:21:46 > 0:21:50playing the lead in both Richard II and Edward II.
0:21:50 > 0:21:51APPLAUSE
0:21:51 > 0:21:53My name's Ian McKellen.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57I'm a 30-year-old actor earning £50 a week playing
0:21:57 > 0:21:59Richard II in a play by Shakespeare
0:21:59 > 0:22:02and Edward II in a play by Marlowe,
0:22:02 > 0:22:05at the end of a 12-week tour of theatres in Britain.
0:22:09 > 0:22:10'Like most stage actors,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14'part of Ian McKellen's life is still dominated by the trivial
0:22:14 > 0:22:18'technicalities of getting from place to place, week after week.'
0:22:18 > 0:22:22Hello, can you tell me about trains to Leeds this morning,
0:22:22 > 0:22:23please, from King's Cross?
0:22:23 > 0:22:27Is there one in about... Is there one at 12?
0:22:27 > 0:22:2811.30?
0:22:30 > 0:22:35To act for a long run in London doesn't hold that much appeal to me.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39It seems to me that the West End is mainly a tourist theatre.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42One doesn't feel that one is contributing much to society
0:22:42 > 0:22:46in general if one is acting to a lot of people who are just on holiday.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48When you come to Leeds,
0:22:48 > 0:22:51you play to packed houses, you feel that, for that week
0:22:51 > 0:22:53at least, you've set up your tent like a circus
0:22:53 > 0:22:57and you've made some sort of impact on people who won't forget you and
0:22:57 > 0:22:59their lives might just have been changed
0:22:59 > 0:23:01a little bit by the experience.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03How good do you think you are?
0:23:07 > 0:23:13Whenever I start rehearsing a play, I tell myself the fact
0:23:13 > 0:23:15that I'm the best actor in the world to play that part.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19Because, obviously, if there'd been a better actor
0:23:19 > 0:23:23who was willing to play it for the money that I accept,
0:23:23 > 0:23:25the company would have got that actor.
0:23:26 > 0:23:28Why do I rail on thee,
0:23:28 > 0:23:31Since thou, created to be aw'd by man
0:23:31 > 0:23:36Wast born to bear? I was not made a horse
0:23:36 > 0:23:38And yet I bear a burden like an ass,
0:23:38 > 0:23:42Spurr'd, gall'd and tired by jauncing Bolingbroke!
0:23:43 > 0:23:47His fear is that which makes me tremble less than I foretell them.
0:23:49 > 0:23:50Wherefore art...
0:23:50 > 0:23:53Whereas Richard II was recognised as a defining performance,
0:23:53 > 0:23:56his Edward was a more heated issue.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00McKellen pulled no punches in a legendarily gruesome death scene
0:24:00 > 0:24:03when the King is murdered with a red-hot poker.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07HE WHIMPERS
0:24:08 > 0:24:09Run for the table.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13Spare me or dispatch me in a trice!
0:24:15 > 0:24:18This scene caused huge debate for refusing to downplay
0:24:18 > 0:24:20the king's sexuality
0:24:20 > 0:24:23and the grim nature of his killing.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27But not too hard, lest that you bruise the body.
0:24:32 > 0:24:33WHIMPERING AND MOANING
0:24:36 > 0:24:40As the '70s dawned, there were new challenges
0:24:40 > 0:24:42and new opportunities for the knights-to-be.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48At the BBC there was growing pressure to bring down the costs of drama,
0:24:48 > 0:24:52which meant that one-off plays began to fall from favour.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55Scale production and serial programmes were seen as the answer.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58And costume drama came into its own.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04But not all of the new generation had broken out of theatre.
0:25:05 > 0:25:10In 1971, the BBC caught up with Ben Kingsley.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14He'd turned down an offer to become a pop star at the end of the '60s
0:25:14 > 0:25:17and was now at the Royal Shakespeare Company,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20bearing all as the character Ariel in The Tempest...
0:25:21 > 0:25:23..seen here in the background.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26It was Shakespeare, '70s style.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29..to dive into the fire.
0:25:29 > 0:25:34To ride on the curl'd clouds, to thy strong bidding task...
0:25:34 > 0:25:37# Ariel... #
0:25:37 > 0:25:40He even wrote the music.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44# ..and all his quality... #
0:25:44 > 0:25:46I wouldn't turn around if I were you!
0:25:49 > 0:25:53Soon enough, another future knight was ready for his close-up.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58Derek Jacobi was a founder member of the National Theatre
0:25:58 > 0:25:59and Olivier's protege.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07It was during a 1961 live performance of a BBC version
0:26:07 > 0:26:11of She Stoops To Conquer that Olivier first came across him.
0:26:14 > 0:26:19It was Jacobi's first TV appearance, but Olivier was suitably impressed.
0:26:23 > 0:26:28In 1972, Jacobi returned to the BBC a highly-rated stage actor
0:26:28 > 0:26:31in a series called Man of Straw.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36You can be very nice when you try, Herr Hessling.
0:26:38 > 0:26:46With you, Fraulein Goppel...I shall always e-endeavour to, to...
0:26:49 > 0:26:50..be...
0:26:51 > 0:26:54That stammer was to come in very useful a few years later.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00By the early '70s, television drama was getting ambitious.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06In 1972, the BBC planned a production on a scale
0:27:06 > 0:27:09never before seen on British TV -
0:27:09 > 0:27:11an adaptation of the book that many own,
0:27:11 > 0:27:14but few have read - War And Peace.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18At 20 episodes, it was almost as long as the original,
0:27:18 > 0:27:21but it wasn't without its limitations.
0:27:21 > 0:27:26Whilst location footage like the epic battle scenes were shot on film...
0:27:28 > 0:27:30..interior shots were recorded on video
0:27:30 > 0:27:34and the contrast between the two was poor.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37In a starring role was Anthony Hopkins.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42..as a traitor to his country on the rights of men
0:27:42 > 0:27:44I sentence to be...
0:27:46 > 0:27:49Well, hello. This is...
0:27:49 > 0:27:52Hopkins starred as Pierre Bezukhov,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55and skilfully balances the kind-hearted meekness
0:27:55 > 0:27:57and awkward irrationality his character feels
0:27:57 > 0:28:00at being a man out of place in high society.
0:28:01 > 0:28:06Oh, that's 40?
0:28:06 > 0:28:07Yes.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11Do you want to go on playing?
0:28:11 > 0:28:14Of course. I'm going to win it all back from you. Deal.
0:28:14 > 0:28:15270, take one.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19It was a landmark in television drama
0:28:19 > 0:28:22that changed the lives of everyone taking part.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25For a few months, they allowed me to be a child again.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27Wouldn't that be lovely?
0:28:27 > 0:28:31I finished the year surrounded by something like 400 cans of film.
0:28:31 > 0:28:34It meant being able to live with one character for 12 months.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38I think it meant illustrating Tolstoy's marvellous characters.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40It's paid the rent.
0:28:40 > 0:28:42Well, almost everyone.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45You better keep your head down. The French are coming!
0:28:45 > 0:28:47Hopkins was a man with a problem.
0:28:47 > 0:28:51Unlike his acting peers, AND despite being Olivier's
0:28:51 > 0:28:56understudy at the National, he had fallen out of love with theatre.
0:28:56 > 0:29:01In 1973, he abruptly left, halfway through a run of Macbeth.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03Hopkins wanted to be a film star
0:29:03 > 0:29:07and, soon afterwards, abandoned Britain for Hollywood.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10I was a bad boy. I was trouble. I was a rebel.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15I was discontented. I was angry. Fed up.
0:29:15 > 0:29:19I hated being part of an establishment and
0:29:19 > 0:29:20hated all the Shakespeare.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22When I started out, I just wanted to be famous.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25I didn't want to become a great actor, a great Shakespearean actor.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28I had no idea people would say I'd be the next Olivier.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30I didn't want to become the next Olivier.
0:29:30 > 0:29:31I didn't want to stand in wrinkled
0:29:31 > 0:29:33tights on the Old Vic stage for the rest of my life.
0:29:33 > 0:29:35I had ideas beyond that.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38Some people would call it arrogant and ambitious. I'm all those things.
0:29:41 > 0:29:45Whilst Hopkins had chafed under Olivier's bit, Sir Laurence was
0:29:45 > 0:29:47still the actor against whom the very best were judged.
0:29:47 > 0:29:51Starring alongside him in the film Sleuth
0:29:51 > 0:29:54wasn't one of his National Theatre proteges, though,
0:29:54 > 0:29:55but Michael Caine.
0:29:57 > 0:29:59Roy?
0:29:59 > 0:30:01Roy?
0:30:01 > 0:30:04Have you got the glasses or have I got them?
0:30:04 > 0:30:06I must have left them upstairs.
0:30:06 > 0:30:10'He was cast first and was asked who he would like to play the part,
0:30:10 > 0:30:14'and he said me.
0:30:14 > 0:30:17'I mean, I suppose, presumably... I wouldn't know...'
0:30:19 > 0:30:21A bit of Pinot.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26For Caine, hand-picked for the role by Olivier himself,
0:30:26 > 0:30:29it was validation that he was a real actor,
0:30:29 > 0:30:31helping produce perhaps his best performance.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35In countless studies, or propped up in the loft basket like a rag doll.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38Which do you fancy - early Agatha Christie or vintage SS Van Dine?
0:30:38 > 0:30:41For Christ's sake, Andrew, you're talking of murder.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44Of killing a real man! Don't you understand?
0:30:44 > 0:30:46In both the script and the choice of actors,
0:30:46 > 0:30:49Sleuth got under the skin of class attitudes.
0:30:49 > 0:30:50I've got one in my...
0:30:50 > 0:30:52And the backgrounds of Caine and Olivier
0:30:52 > 0:30:55reflected this theme perfectly.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58There is a tremendous class battle which goes on the entire time,
0:30:58 > 0:31:03during the, sort of, mental struggles between Andrew Wyke
0:31:03 > 0:31:05and the character that I play,
0:31:05 > 0:31:09and I find this extremely interesting,
0:31:09 > 0:31:13not just from the old, "What about the workers?"
0:31:13 > 0:31:17point of view, but the tremendous difference in frames of mind.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20But having Laurence Olivier playing Andrew Wyke
0:31:20 > 0:31:21must be fair competition for you.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24Is there a danger of being overshadowed by him?
0:31:24 > 0:31:26It's not something you worry about,
0:31:26 > 0:31:28and especially in a two-man piece.
0:31:28 > 0:31:34There must eventually come a time when you get your own,
0:31:34 > 0:31:36sort of, turn, and then,
0:31:36 > 0:31:40it's very nice to have someone like Lord Olivier off-camera.
0:31:43 > 0:31:44And now she's in love with me.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48And that's what you can't forgive, isn't it?
0:31:48 > 0:31:52And after me, there'll be others.
0:31:52 > 0:31:54Are you going to kill them, too?
0:31:54 > 0:31:57You're mad! You're a bloody madman.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02Whatever Olivier's legendary status, in Sleuth,
0:32:02 > 0:32:07the quality of performance between the two leads was evenly matched.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10Olivier was a giant of the stage,
0:32:10 > 0:32:13but it was Caine that had mastered acting in popular film.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17The achievement of the two men was recognised
0:32:17 > 0:32:21when they were both nominated for an Oscar in the same category -
0:32:21 > 0:32:23Best Actor in a Leading Role.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27Unfortunately, they were pipped to the post
0:32:27 > 0:32:29by Marlon Brando's Godfather.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32- It's an invasion of privacy. - LAUGHTER
0:32:35 > 0:32:40The same year, RSC great Ben Kingsley finally got a role in a BBC drama,
0:32:40 > 0:32:44as a dodgy Indian taxi driver, in the brilliantly depressing
0:32:44 > 0:32:47- Play For Today episode Hard Labour. - ..Can't you?
0:32:47 > 0:32:51- Well, I suppose so, I suppose Chris could...- £50, you're talking?
0:32:51 > 0:32:54- Could be done on £200.- 200?
0:32:54 > 0:32:55What, you said 50!
0:32:55 > 0:32:57Sometimes 50.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01Sometimes 100, £150, £200.
0:33:01 > 0:33:02I think it's rotten.
0:33:02 > 0:33:04It is rotten. It's a rotten business.
0:33:04 > 0:33:06Well, anyway, I want the cheap one.
0:33:07 > 0:33:11This drama was a far cry from Shakespeare.
0:33:11 > 0:33:15Here, Kingsley was required to give a much more naturalistic performance.
0:33:17 > 0:33:19She can get sick, you know?
0:33:19 > 0:33:20She can have that one, and get sick,
0:33:20 > 0:33:22what are you going to think about me?
0:33:22 > 0:33:24It's got nothing to do with you.
0:33:24 > 0:33:26It doesn't matter what happens to me afterwards.
0:33:26 > 0:33:27None of your business.
0:33:27 > 0:33:32You are asking me to talk to this fellow, see this man?
0:33:32 > 0:33:34You're making it my business.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37If it's not my business, you can go have baby...
0:33:37 > 0:33:40The Indian side of Kingsley's heritage would be
0:33:40 > 0:33:43sidelined for some time after this production.
0:33:43 > 0:33:45It was a relatively minor role,
0:33:45 > 0:33:47but in his next part, that same year,
0:33:47 > 0:33:51he would finally become a lord like Olivier -
0:33:51 > 0:33:53Lord Uplandtowers.
0:34:00 > 0:34:02Miss Barbara.
0:34:02 > 0:34:04Lord Uplandtowers.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07You'll not deny me a turn at the dance, I hope?
0:34:07 > 0:34:11- With pleasure, I'll not, sir. - POLITE APPLAUSE
0:34:11 > 0:34:16By the mid-'70s, our knights-to-be were finally building momentum.
0:34:23 > 0:34:27In 1976, it was Derek Jacobi's chance at glory.
0:34:29 > 0:34:31He would draw on his classical stage skills
0:34:31 > 0:34:35and television experience to play the lead role in "I, Claudius".
0:34:38 > 0:34:39Oh, come, Pollio, that's not fair...
0:34:39 > 0:34:44The stammer that had seen him through Strawman now went stellar.
0:34:44 > 0:34:45Which of us would you rather read?
0:34:45 > 0:34:47Well, it...
0:34:47 > 0:34:49it d-d-depends...
0:34:49 > 0:34:50Intelligent but cowardly.
0:34:50 > 0:34:52No, I mean,
0:34:52 > 0:34:54it d-depends on what I'm r-reading for.
0:34:54 > 0:34:59For beauty of language, I would read Livy,
0:34:59 > 0:35:05and f-for interpretation of f-f-fact, I would read P-P-Pollio.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08Now you please neither of us, and that's always a mistake.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12I w-wasn't trying to please, just to t-t-tell the truth.
0:35:14 > 0:35:18It may be a seminal moment in TV drama, but it's sheer theatre.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21TV just doesn't get more thespian than this.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23It was Jacobi's career-defining role,
0:35:23 > 0:35:26and the one that made his name in the public eye,
0:35:26 > 0:35:27winning him a Bafta.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34Dare I hope that you are b-better?
0:35:34 > 0:35:36And it wasn't only Jacobi having his moment.
0:35:36 > 0:35:38I've never really been ill.
0:35:38 > 0:35:41John Hurt was there, too, as the crazed Emperor Caligula.
0:35:41 > 0:35:43I've been undergoing a metamorphosis.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49Was it p-p-painful?
0:35:49 > 0:35:55It was like a birth in which the mother delivers herself.
0:35:55 > 0:35:57Oh, yes.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01Oh, that m-m-must have been p-p-painful...
0:36:01 > 0:36:05Both actors gave brilliant performances with different styles.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08While Jacobi's heart remained on the stage,
0:36:08 > 0:36:10Hurt played the unpredictable emperor more cinematically.
0:36:10 > 0:36:13..which has come over you.
0:36:15 > 0:36:17Isn't it obvious?
0:36:20 > 0:36:24Their approaches would be reflected in their future careers.
0:36:24 > 0:36:29You've b-b-become a God.
0:36:29 > 0:36:31Cassius, order the detachments and raise the levies...
0:36:31 > 0:36:33But when given the chance,
0:36:33 > 0:36:36Hurt could chew the scenery with the best of them.
0:36:36 > 0:36:41I go to forge, in the white-hot fires of war,
0:36:41 > 0:36:46a new and tempered spirit of Rome that will last 1,000 years!
0:36:48 > 0:36:54With I, Claudius, historical dramas reached new heights of popularity.
0:36:54 > 0:36:57Now one of the most famous classical actors in Britain,
0:36:57 > 0:37:00Jacobi got the chance to bring his first love, Shakespeare,
0:37:00 > 0:37:03into the nation's homes.
0:37:03 > 0:37:08In 1978, he played Richard II in a theatrical studio performance.
0:37:09 > 0:37:13Face to face, and frowning brow to brow,
0:37:13 > 0:37:17ourselves will hear the accuser and the accused freely speak...
0:37:17 > 0:37:18This was his home turf,
0:37:18 > 0:37:23and playing opposite him was stage and screen legend John Gielgud,
0:37:23 > 0:37:27but Jacobi held his own with one of the theatre's greats.
0:37:27 > 0:37:29Since thou dost seek to kill my name in me,
0:37:29 > 0:37:32I mock my name, great King, to flatter thee.
0:37:32 > 0:37:34Should dying men flatter with those that live?
0:37:34 > 0:37:36No, no, men living flatter those that die.
0:37:36 > 0:37:38Thou, now dying, say'st thou flatterest me?
0:37:38 > 0:37:40Oh, no! Thou diest, though I the sicker be.
0:37:40 > 0:37:42- I am in health. - HE SNIFFS
0:37:42 > 0:37:44I breathe and see thee ill.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47Now, he that made me knows I see thee ill.
0:37:47 > 0:37:52Ill in myself to see, and in thee, seeing ill.
0:37:52 > 0:37:55Thy deathbed is no lesser than thy land,
0:37:55 > 0:37:58wherein thou liest in reputation sick.
0:38:04 > 0:38:08They were the highlight of a series that dramatised all 36 of
0:38:08 > 0:38:10Shakespeare's First Folio works,
0:38:10 > 0:38:12and took seven years to finish.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24As the '70s were coming to a close,
0:38:24 > 0:38:28most of our future knights were well on their way to stardom,
0:38:28 > 0:38:30and TV drama was once again changing.
0:38:30 > 0:38:34The latest video technology would shape the course of things to come.
0:38:38 > 0:38:42In 1978, The Mayor Of Casterbridge was shot entirely on
0:38:42 > 0:38:45a new breed of portable video cameras.
0:38:45 > 0:38:50The use of this lightweight equipment broke drama out of the studio,
0:38:50 > 0:38:53and ended the need to use costly film for outside shots.
0:38:54 > 0:38:58It revolutionised the possibilities for drama on television.
0:39:00 > 0:39:02Starring Alan Bates,
0:39:02 > 0:39:05Thomas Hardy's classic novel was adapted by Dennis Potter,
0:39:05 > 0:39:09a writer who had a central role in developing TV drama
0:39:09 > 0:39:11as its own art form.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15For Potter, television was his first language, rather than theatre.
0:39:20 > 0:39:22The Mayor Of Casterbridge's bleak tale of a man
0:39:22 > 0:39:27who sells his own wife and daughter at a country fair
0:39:27 > 0:39:30provided Bates with a meaty title role
0:39:30 > 0:39:35as the lonely, unsympathetic mayor with the dark past.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38It was the challenge of a lifetime for the actor.
0:39:42 > 0:39:43I can't abide the streets
0:39:43 > 0:39:45of Casterbridge any more.
0:39:45 > 0:39:46I've had my fill.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51I came here with nothing but my basket and my knife
0:39:51 > 0:39:53and, well, that's how I want to go.
0:39:53 > 0:39:55You can't.
0:39:55 > 0:39:56I'll follow my own ways...
0:39:59 > 0:40:00..and then you can follow yours.
0:40:03 > 0:40:07For Bates, usually cast with one eye on his good looks,
0:40:07 > 0:40:10this was a change in tone and his favourite screen role.
0:40:12 > 0:40:16The visual quality of the series might have been lower than film,
0:40:16 > 0:40:18as video technology was still in its infancy...
0:40:18 > 0:40:19What is it you want?
0:40:19 > 0:40:23..but this was a point from which TV drama would never look back.
0:40:27 > 0:40:31The new generation were gradually making television their own.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37- How can you be so sure that I won't run away?- Well, where would you go?
0:40:37 > 0:40:39After this success of I, Claudius,
0:40:39 > 0:40:42John Hurt was particularly on the rise.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46Oh, don't imagine that I've admitted anything here today.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52I've listened. That's all. I've listened.
0:40:54 > 0:40:58Because, Porfiry Petrovic, you're a very entertaining fellow.
0:40:59 > 0:41:03As well as playing Raskolnikov in Crime And Punishment -
0:41:03 > 0:41:05another upmarket historical production -
0:41:05 > 0:41:07Hurt now had movie roles that would make him
0:41:07 > 0:41:10a successful character actor.
0:41:11 > 0:41:16In Alien, he wasn't the star, but stole the scene in an iconic moment.
0:41:21 > 0:41:23Hurt had only taken the role at a day's notice,
0:41:23 > 0:41:25after the original actor, John Finch,
0:41:25 > 0:41:30fell seriously ill on the first day of filming.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34The first thing I am going to do
0:41:34 > 0:41:36when I get back is to get some decent food.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39The scene was largely improvised
0:41:39 > 0:41:42and used a naturalistic style rare in sci-fi.
0:41:42 > 0:41:46It suited Hurt's style of acting perfectly.
0:41:46 > 0:41:48Right now, I'm thinking food.
0:41:49 > 0:41:51Now you know what it's made of.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56I don't want to talk about what it's made of. I'm eating this.
0:41:56 > 0:41:57COUGHING
0:41:57 > 0:42:02What's the matter? The food ain't that bad, baby.
0:42:02 > 0:42:04- HE RETCHES - Are you choking?- What's wrong?
0:42:04 > 0:42:07Nobody except him knew what was coming next.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09And the rest is cinema history.
0:42:17 > 0:42:21Then, in 1980, alongside John Gielgud and Anthony Hopkins,
0:42:21 > 0:42:24he played perhaps his most challenging role yet,
0:42:24 > 0:42:28in heavy prosthetic make-up, as John Merrick, the Elephant Man.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32It was directed by David Lynch and produced by the unlikely
0:42:32 > 0:42:36figure of Mel Brooks, who wanted to break into serious drama.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39May I introduce you to Mr Carr-Gomm?
0:42:39 > 0:42:42Mr Carr-Gomm, this is John Merrick.
0:42:42 > 0:42:43Hello.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48My name is John Merrick. Pleased to meet you.
0:42:48 > 0:42:50Despite being unrecognisable,
0:42:50 > 0:42:54Hurt's powerful performance led to him being nominated for an Oscar.
0:42:55 > 0:42:57Our knights may have had solid
0:42:57 > 0:43:01and critically acclaimed careers for some 20 years by this time,
0:43:01 > 0:43:05but true fame and stardom came late on for several of them.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08Not least Nigel Hawthorne.
0:43:08 > 0:43:12By 1979, Hawthorne had been paying his dues for a long time.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15Unlike the other knights, he had struggled with secondary
0:43:15 > 0:43:18roles as a jobbing actor, never quite finding his niche.
0:43:21 > 0:43:23All that suddenly changed in his 50s,
0:43:23 > 0:43:27when he landed a lead role in the hit series Yes, Minister.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36Ah, Minister, allow me to present Sir Humphrey Appleby,
0:43:36 > 0:43:39permanent undersecretary of state and head of the DAA.
0:43:39 > 0:43:40Hello, Sir Humphrey.
0:43:40 > 0:43:42- Hello and welcome. - Thank you, Sir Humphrey.
0:43:42 > 0:43:44I believe you know each other?
0:43:44 > 0:43:47Yes, we did cross swords when the minister gave me a grilling
0:43:47 > 0:43:49over the estimates in the Public Accounts Committee.
0:43:49 > 0:43:50I wouldn't say that.
0:43:50 > 0:43:53You asked all the questions I hoped nobody would ask.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55Opposition's about asking awkward questions.
0:43:55 > 0:43:57And government is about not answering them.
0:43:57 > 0:44:01- Well, you answered all mine anyway. - I'm glad you thought so, Minister.
0:44:01 > 0:44:05Hawthorne made his role so funny by playing it absolutely straight.
0:44:05 > 0:44:07Who else is in this department?
0:44:07 > 0:44:09Well, briefly, Sir, I am the permanent undersecretary of state,
0:44:09 > 0:44:11known as the Permanent Secretary.
0:44:11 > 0:44:13Woolley here is your principal private secretary.
0:44:13 > 0:44:15I too have a principal private secretary
0:44:15 > 0:44:17and he is the principal private secretary
0:44:17 > 0:44:18to the Permanent Secretary.
0:44:18 > 0:44:22Directly responsible to me are ten deputy secondaries,
0:44:22 > 0:44:2587 undersecretaries and 219 assistant secretaries.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28Directly responsible to the principal private secretaries
0:44:28 > 0:44:29are plain private secretaries
0:44:29 > 0:44:31and the Prime Minister will be appointing
0:44:31 > 0:44:34two Parliamentary undersecretaries and you will be appointing
0:44:34 > 0:44:36your own Parliamentary private secretary.
0:44:36 > 0:44:38Can they all type?
0:44:40 > 0:44:43None of us can type, Minister. Mrs Mackay types.
0:44:44 > 0:44:45She's the secretary.
0:44:46 > 0:44:48A product of the times,
0:44:48 > 0:44:52Yes, Minister was said to be Margaret Thatcher's favourite programme.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56And Hawthorne was rewarded with no less than four Baftas
0:44:56 > 0:45:00for playing Sir Humphrey, over fellow cast member Paul Eddington.
0:45:02 > 0:45:07For Ben Kingsley, too, true fame and recognition came relatively late.
0:45:07 > 0:45:11He had established a high-profile stage career as a leading light
0:45:11 > 0:45:13of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
0:45:15 > 0:45:19But in 1982, he took on the role that made him a superstar,
0:45:19 > 0:45:23as the main character in Richard Attenborough's epic Gandhi.
0:45:23 > 0:45:27Pappu. Pappu, please don't do it.
0:45:27 > 0:45:30What do you want me not to do?
0:45:30 > 0:45:32Not to meet with Mr Jinnah?
0:45:32 > 0:45:36Gandhi was an epic production, even for cinema, and a world apart
0:45:36 > 0:45:39from the television and stage work Ben Kingsley was used to.
0:45:39 > 0:45:45But on screen, Kingsley was transformed in an incredible
0:45:45 > 0:45:48performance as the father of India.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51You send fear into the hearts of your brothers.
0:45:51 > 0:45:54That is not the India I want. Stop it.
0:45:54 > 0:45:56For God's sake, stop it.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02It was, perhaps, some vindication for the actor, who had been forced
0:46:02 > 0:46:06to change his real name from Krishna Bhanji early in his career,
0:46:06 > 0:46:08as his Anglo-Indian heritage
0:46:08 > 0:46:11threatened to limit his opportunities.
0:46:11 > 0:46:12It's a great journey,
0:46:12 > 0:46:18because I do go from early to middle 30s to his death at 79 -
0:46:18 > 0:46:22to his assassination at 79, of course, it wasn't an actual death -
0:46:22 > 0:46:29and, er, examine the faith, the strength, the anger, the capacity
0:46:29 > 0:46:33to forgive, the articulacy, the way he used to mobilise his language.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36The script is very faithful to Gandhi.
0:46:39 > 0:46:41But Kingsley wasn't the only one of the knights
0:46:41 > 0:46:45to audition for the role of India's hero.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48You'd have done very well if you'd accepted a deal for Gandhi,
0:46:48 > 0:46:49wouldn't you? You turned down the part?
0:46:49 > 0:46:53No, I didn't turn it down, that was subject to a make-up test, actually,
0:46:53 > 0:46:56and there is no way I could look like an Indian amongst Indians.
0:46:56 > 0:46:58Dickie Attenborough and I looked at each other and said,
0:46:58 > 0:47:00"This isn't possible,"
0:47:00 > 0:47:04I looked rather like a Welsh rugby player with a nappy on, you know?
0:47:04 > 0:47:07Nor was it just John Hurt after Kingsley's job.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11- You are a sunny natured Celt, aren't you?- All the Celts are.
0:47:11 > 0:47:13- With our short legs and long bodies.- Yes.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18Is that the reason you turned down the part of Gandhi?
0:47:18 > 0:47:19AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:47:19 > 0:47:23Thereby lies a tale. Actually, that is absolutely true.
0:47:23 > 0:47:27With all due respect to Ben Kingsley, Attenborough did
0:47:27 > 0:47:29offer me the part and I phoned my father up and I said,
0:47:29 > 0:47:33"He's offered me Gandhi," and he said, "It's a comedy, is it?"
0:47:33 > 0:47:35He said, "You can't play Gandhi." I mean, look at me.
0:47:35 > 0:47:38But, no, I had to... Actually, it was a big mistake.
0:47:38 > 0:47:40I'm glad somebody else did it.
0:47:40 > 0:47:43Thankfully, in the end, it was Kingsley who got the part,
0:47:43 > 0:47:48winning an Oscar and recognition as one of Britain's finest actors.
0:47:51 > 0:47:55By this time, television drama had greatly enlarged its horizons.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01Productions like foreign legion romp Beau Geste were confidently
0:48:01 > 0:48:04showcasing a more cinematic film-making savvy.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09But while TV may have left the theatre behind,
0:48:09 > 0:48:12that didn't mean it entirely abandoned some of the things
0:48:12 > 0:48:15theatre can be particularly good at,
0:48:15 > 0:48:19such as making the serious seem comic and the comic serious.
0:48:21 > 0:48:25Enter an actor and writer with roots in both mediums,
0:48:25 > 0:48:29who would create a more intimate language for TV drama - Alan Bennett.
0:48:33 > 0:48:37Bennett's 1983 drama An Englishman Abroad stars
0:48:37 > 0:48:42Alan Bates as the notorious Cambridge spy and defector, Guy Burgess.
0:48:42 > 0:48:44It was based on the story of a real-life encounter involving
0:48:44 > 0:48:47Burgess in the 1950s, when he was living out his days
0:48:47 > 0:48:51as a washed-up alcoholic in dank, suburban Moscow.
0:48:53 > 0:48:56In the opening scene, the exiled spy is found watching a Shakespeare play
0:48:56 > 0:48:59in the theatre, drunk and bored rigid.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07But this little slice of British life in an alien Russia briefly transports
0:49:07 > 0:49:11him home and encourages him to seek out the company of one of the actors.
0:49:14 > 0:49:17Filming in Soviet Russia in the '80s was still tricky,
0:49:17 > 0:49:22so instead, the exteriors were shot in freezing old Dundee and Glasgow.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27If you want to come around and be sick,
0:49:27 > 0:49:30you might at least save it for the end of the performance.
0:49:30 > 0:49:32Oh, Pears soap.
0:49:33 > 0:49:38- Who are you? And who is that boy outside?- Boy? Outside?
0:49:40 > 0:49:43The role offered Bates the kind of complicated character
0:49:43 > 0:49:47he wasn't finding in the cinema. And it won him a Bafta.
0:49:47 > 0:49:48Could I have one of these?
0:49:52 > 0:49:54I love your frock.
0:49:54 > 0:49:59- You're very rude. Are you from the embassy?- Not exactly.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02Bates made his slippery spy character charming enough to
0:50:02 > 0:50:05win over even Cold War warriors.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09Well, why don't we tell him you're here? He's only down the corridor.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12All in good time. The question is, you see, are we as welcome as ever?
0:50:14 > 0:50:15I know your face.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20Interestingly, this version of Burgess's defection as comic farce
0:50:20 > 0:50:24was directed by Hollywood Oscar winner John Schlesinger.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29TV drama was no longer the poor cousin.
0:50:32 > 0:50:34Then, in 1986,
0:50:34 > 0:50:40television drama experienced one of its defining moments.
0:50:40 > 0:50:46The Singing Detective, written by Dennis Potter.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49Recently returned from Hollywood, Potter drew on his own life
0:50:49 > 0:50:53for inspiration to create a drama that could only have been made on TV.
0:50:56 > 0:50:58In the lead role was Michael Gambon.
0:51:01 > 0:51:04Gambon plays a bed-ridden writer with a terrible skin
0:51:04 > 0:51:08and joint disease that Potter himself suffered from.
0:51:08 > 0:51:09Don't you go and get any complications
0:51:09 > 0:51:11or anything silly like that.
0:51:11 > 0:51:12You're doing so well.
0:51:13 > 0:51:15Drink plenty of water, you hear?
0:51:18 > 0:51:20Now, let's see what's going on here.
0:51:23 > 0:51:26In a surreal series of fever-induced fantasies,
0:51:26 > 0:51:30he becomes a detective with his own mystery to solve.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34Too many people were beginning to ask the same question,
0:51:34 > 0:51:39and it wasn't because they wanted to polish my shoes for me.
0:51:39 > 0:51:41It was a bold and brilliant drama,
0:51:41 > 0:51:45an unconventional story for an unconventional leading man.
0:51:45 > 0:51:46- MIMING - # ..You're sure of a big surprise
0:51:46 > 0:51:48# If you go down in the woods today...
0:51:48 > 0:51:51Short on film, the style of the series was neither theatrical
0:51:51 > 0:51:54nor cinematic, but something more unique.
0:51:54 > 0:51:58Gambon's scenes often switch between reality and fantasy
0:51:58 > 0:52:02without warning, bursting into song, as his character's mind unravels.
0:52:05 > 0:52:08- Christ, the warbler. - Quick, use the shooter.
0:52:12 > 0:52:13With The Singing Detective,
0:52:13 > 0:52:16television proved it could make original works
0:52:16 > 0:52:18every bit as good as those in film and theatre.
0:52:26 > 0:52:30By the late '80s, our knights-to-be were at the top of their game.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35And in 1987, Michael Caine, by now an Oscar winner,
0:52:35 > 0:52:39held a masterclass in the art of film acting.
0:52:39 > 0:52:41It's a delicate operation.
0:52:41 > 0:52:45It's like, I regard the theatre as an operation with a scalpel.
0:52:45 > 0:52:49I think movie acting is an operation with a laser,
0:52:49 > 0:52:52because it's so tiny and it's so small that half the time,
0:52:52 > 0:52:55people will say, I don't know what you're doing.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59And you say, wait till you see the rushes.
0:52:59 > 0:53:03The greatest piece of advice I can give to someone who wants to
0:53:03 > 0:53:08act in movies is to listen and react, but, also,
0:53:08 > 0:53:11when you get really close to the camera,
0:53:11 > 0:53:15if some directors go in for the massive close-up,
0:53:15 > 0:53:20the thing that people never do in real life is they don't say,
0:53:20 > 0:53:23"I don't want to go out,"
0:53:23 > 0:53:27"I'll have the egg and chips," you know,
0:53:27 > 0:53:30but you will see actors doing that all the time,
0:53:30 > 0:53:33and so when you get in here, that doesn't look so obvious
0:53:33 > 0:53:35until you get in here, you know?
0:53:35 > 0:53:40You've got to...just be.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43There is no-one here.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46It's just you and me. You'll be standing there.
0:53:46 > 0:53:48And there isn't even a camera.
0:53:49 > 0:53:54Caine had proved himself not just a powerful actor, but a film star.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57He had led his generation,
0:53:57 > 0:54:01but his peers hadn't all kept pace with his success.
0:54:01 > 0:54:04Ian McKellan wasn't convinced they were anything special.
0:54:04 > 0:54:07He had almost given up on fame and movie stardom.
0:54:07 > 0:54:09I don't, as I now approach my 50s,
0:54:09 > 0:54:14and the '90s, imagine that I will ever get fully involved in film.
0:54:14 > 0:54:17I'll end up being, you know, an honourable character actor,
0:54:17 > 0:54:19like Sir John or other people.
0:54:19 > 0:54:24Now you are the senior generation, Ian, what do you feel that means?
0:54:24 > 0:54:26Well, that we are a pretty poor lot, really.
0:54:26 > 0:54:30I mean, there are a lot of us, but I don't see any giants,
0:54:30 > 0:54:33and I think giants are not just made by publicity machines or by
0:54:33 > 0:54:35governments deciding to knight anyone,
0:54:35 > 0:54:37but, apart from Dame Judi Dench,
0:54:37 > 0:54:40there is no-one of my generation that has been given the accolade.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45But McKellen didst protest too much.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48The following year, he was nominated for a knighthood
0:54:48 > 0:54:52and dubbed Sir Ian for services to the performing arts.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56He also managed to squeeze in a few films,
0:54:56 > 0:54:59becoming a megastar as the wizard Gandalf in Lord Of The Rings.
0:55:01 > 0:55:07I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.
0:55:07 > 0:55:08Anthony Hopkins,
0:55:08 > 0:55:12the portrayal of a terrifying Hannibal Lecter won him an Oscar.
0:55:12 > 0:55:17And a knighthood followed in 1993. He decided to stay in LA.
0:55:20 > 0:55:25Derek Jacobi topped off his theatre career with a knighthood in 1994.
0:55:25 > 0:55:28He later even found time to make the sitcom Vicious, with his friend
0:55:28 > 0:55:32Sir Ian, sending themselves up as a couple of struggling old actors.
0:55:35 > 0:55:381998 was Michael Gambon's turn to become a sir.
0:55:38 > 0:55:41He continued to work across theatre, TV
0:55:41 > 0:55:43and film in many critically acclaimed roles.
0:55:43 > 0:55:46He also played another wizard, Dumbledore,
0:55:46 > 0:55:47in the Harry Potter films.
0:55:50 > 0:55:54The following year, Nigel Hawthorne won a knighthood.
0:55:54 > 0:55:57More than just a funny man, he was nominated for an Oscar
0:55:57 > 0:56:00in The Madness Of King George, and died in 2001.
0:56:02 > 0:56:06Sir Maurice Micklewhite, Michael Caine, for services to drama.
0:56:08 > 0:56:10Michael Caine went on to win another Oscar,
0:56:10 > 0:56:14before becoming Sir Maurice Micklewhite in 2000,
0:56:14 > 0:56:17and cementing his legendary status for a later generation
0:56:17 > 0:56:20in Christopher Nolan's Batman films.
0:56:22 > 0:56:262002 was Ben Kingsley's time for a well-earned knighthood.
0:56:26 > 0:56:30As an Oscar winner, he's combined making Hollywood blockbusters like
0:56:30 > 0:56:35Iron Man 3 with highly acclaimed lower-budget films like Sexy Beast.
0:56:38 > 0:56:40Always determined to follow his own path,
0:56:40 > 0:56:43Alan Bates mixed high-profile roles like Claudius in the film version
0:56:43 > 0:56:48of Hamlet with less prominent appearances in television dramas.
0:56:48 > 0:56:52He was knighted in 2003 and died later that year.
0:56:54 > 0:56:58In 2015, John Hurt finally became a knight.
0:56:58 > 0:57:00A scene stealer in movies for decades,
0:57:00 > 0:57:02he was twice Oscar-nominated,
0:57:02 > 0:57:06won two Golden globes and four Baftas, and played dozens of roles,
0:57:06 > 0:57:08including, of course, a wizard.
0:57:11 > 0:57:15They were a generation of world-class talent that could only have
0:57:15 > 0:57:16emerged in Britain.
0:57:18 > 0:57:21A unique type of performer with theatrical prowess that
0:57:21 > 0:57:24translated into television and film.
0:57:24 > 0:57:29They followed their own path, dedicating decades to their craft,
0:57:29 > 0:57:32and reached the very top of their profession.
0:57:32 > 0:57:36And like the best wine, they have aged well.
0:57:36 > 0:57:41They command the biggest performances as a very British kind of export.
0:57:41 > 0:57:44Knights of stage and screen.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50# I play this part...
0:57:53 > 0:57:56# ..I can't For to live
0:57:56 > 0:57:58# I have to give
0:57:58 > 0:58:02# The performance
0:58:02 > 0:58:06# Of
0:58:06 > 0:58:09# My
0:58:09 > 0:58:15# Life. #