:01:17. > :01:25.After 100 yards, turn right. Go around the roundabout. 4th exit.
:01:25. > :01:29.Which exit? 4th Exeter. At the end of the road, turn left... I must
:01:29. > :01:34.have interviewed hundreds of people in my time and very often you are
:01:34. > :01:39.going to their house or a film set or a TV studio and they send you
:01:39. > :01:49.detailed directions so you don't get lost. But this has to be a
:01:49. > :01:52.
:01:52. > :02:02.first. Turn left. Turn right. it is rather surreal. How far to
:02:02. > :02:02.
:02:02. > :02:06.the next exit? 700 yards!. You have reached your destination. Here we
:02:06. > :02:13.are, outside the house of my guest today whose voice is as distinctive
:02:13. > :02:18.as his figure, and whose career has spanned uneventful 50 years.
:02:18. > :02:23.# Don't stop me now, I'm having such a good time...
:02:23. > :02:28.Brian Blessed is a man with a greater sense of adventure. He has
:02:28. > :02:36.been a pioneer of Live TV drama. He has climbed Everest. He has
:02:36. > :02:43.presented wish shows. I am Brian Blessed. He has flown with Flash
:02:43. > :02:49.Gordon and paid cats and emperors. -- played. And throughout it all,
:02:49. > :02:53.Brian has had a fascination with religion. He has met the Dalai Lama,
:02:53. > :02:58.played Saint Peter and called on divine help when needed. 1 Everest
:02:58. > :03:03.when an avalanche is coming down in this place and that place, 200 mph
:03:03. > :03:10.and it is heading for the, I called for God. He is, of course famously
:03:10. > :03:14.loud. "Gordon's alive!". Brian is a force of nature, if you want
:03:14. > :03:20.something extreme and mad and poetical, Brian is your man.
:03:20. > :03:24.will fill any room. But there is a side to him that few know about, a
:03:24. > :03:30.more reflective Brian Blessed. is a national asset. There should
:03:30. > :03:34.be railings but around him. We are going to sail to the top this time.
:03:34. > :03:38.Brian Blessed is one of our best- loved actors and he is a man with a
:03:38. > :03:44.taste for adventure. We now he has climbed mountains but he is also on
:03:44. > :03:53.a spiritual quest. -- we know. I have no idea what Turner this
:03:53. > :03:59.conversation will take. -- what turn.
:03:59. > :04:05.So, Brian, this is your temple. it is. To your work and you're
:04:05. > :04:09.doing so. Yes. I have always wanted to have a shared and my wife was
:04:09. > :04:16.not always that happy about it -- shed, that I didn't want to be in
:04:16. > :04:22.the house, but quite a lot of men, they want to have that kind of
:04:22. > :04:32.cubbyhole. I love peace. I love silence. The Boer War is very thick
:04:32. > :04:32.
:04:32. > :04:36.in his wooden shed -- the Boer War. I can come here and be meditate and
:04:36. > :04:42.pray and I can read and learn. It is here that I create my projects
:04:42. > :04:47.and the things I want to do. Brian was born in 1936 and grew up in a
:04:47. > :04:52.village in South Yorkshire the son of a miner. He was a boy with a
:04:52. > :04:58.vivid imagination. As a child, I wept at the thought that there were
:04:58. > :05:03.no dinosaurs. I missed the dinosaurs. And I used to create
:05:03. > :05:08.them and scare the whole street. I said they lived under my house in
:05:08. > :05:15.great caves and caverns leading down to South America. And they
:05:15. > :05:19.believed me. A petition was drawn up by the parents, a long line of
:05:19. > :05:23.parents to our house, to complain that my imagination was too much to
:05:23. > :05:27.the children and I had to tell them there were no such thing as
:05:27. > :05:33.dinosaurs and I refused. When I discovered at the age of six that
:05:33. > :05:37.the planet Mars existed and there were other worlds beside mind... We
:05:37. > :05:44.are the children of stardust, as old as the universe, we are part of
:05:44. > :05:48.it. All of that was in me as a child. I arrived happy. I feel as
:05:48. > :05:55.if I am trying to tether a hot-air balloon. You don't spend your life
:05:55. > :06:01.with us mortals, do you? I do, I do. He is a one-off, it is a terrible
:06:01. > :06:06.cliche, but he is. Like no one else. He is not constricted by class, he
:06:06. > :06:12.is never showing off, he is authentic and eccentric, yes, but
:06:12. > :06:22.not in a self-conscious way. If a true eccentric doesn't know perhaps
:06:22. > :06:24.
:06:24. > :06:28.why he is funny. Sunday Driver! am not sure whether Brian knows
:06:28. > :06:32.about reining himself in. I admire that. There are lots of us who
:06:32. > :06:37.would love to think that we could just let ourselves go in any
:06:37. > :06:43.society. The most important thing in life is to love yourself. Oscar
:06:43. > :06:48.Wilde said "To love oneself is to have a lifelong romance", and so I
:06:48. > :06:55.do love my company and I like myself, and therefore, I like
:06:55. > :06:58.people. He has this extraordinary vitality and sometimes it is
:06:58. > :07:04.completely off the wall, but there is always an absolute truth and
:07:04. > :07:08.honesty about what he says and what he believes. When he comes round,
:07:08. > :07:12.my children adore him, and they see the truth very instant the, kids,
:07:12. > :07:16.whether people are interested in them, what they like a don't like -
:07:16. > :07:20.- instantly. They think Brian is the funniest person on the planet.
:07:20. > :07:25.He never forget she wore what he cares about and his generosity of
:07:25. > :07:30.spirit and generosity of soul will never be diminished -- he never
:07:30. > :07:35.forgets you or what he cares about. Perhaps that the generosity of soul
:07:35. > :07:42.first sprang from his interest even as a child in religion. But that
:07:42. > :07:48.interest was even quashed before it began. We had a wonderful school
:07:48. > :07:52.and wonderful teachers. Three or four times a week, you had the BBC
:07:52. > :08:01.Rep company doing religious stories. You would hear the same actors
:08:01. > :08:06.doing it. "I am Jesus!" And they were lacking. But Mr RB, he was at
:08:06. > :08:12.gardening teacher and a priest on the weekends, he had one eye -- Mr
:08:12. > :08:17.Paul Daly. He totally entranced me about Jesus as we turned over the
:08:17. > :08:21.compost heap. We talked about the distances Jesus walked. He worked
:08:21. > :08:26.it out in mileage, he was incredibly fit, and what kind of
:08:26. > :08:30.language he had used. Brian lived in the village of Goldthorpe in
:08:30. > :08:34.South Yorkshire. Most families they relied on the Colman's for
:08:34. > :08:39.employment. -- coal mines. It was a hard life with little scope for
:08:39. > :08:42.ambition. Most of the kits would follow their fathers down the mines
:08:42. > :08:48.and marry pretty younger and that is how they imagined it would
:08:48. > :08:52.always be. A difficult life with soot in your lungs and it collapses.
:08:52. > :08:58.Not exactly the highest paid job and one of the most dangerous and
:08:58. > :09:03.unpleasant. So Brian, although his childhood was tough, then it an
:09:03. > :09:07.inspiring time. The coal mines, they were wonderful days. I am not
:09:07. > :09:13.knocking the days I had. The war years were wonderful and fed meat,
:09:13. > :09:19.my imagination, because we had to cinemas in the village -- fed me.
:09:19. > :09:24.We could see Flash Gordon in black and white, we had a wooden radios,
:09:24. > :09:30.no television, programmes on the BBC, and Mike father was a cold
:09:30. > :09:37.cure and he came through at home with their gas lights -- my father
:09:37. > :09:44.was a cold cure. He came through like Hector, with his light on. "I
:09:44. > :09:49.am reading about the amazing Mr X, Dad!". And I had uncles with
:09:49. > :09:52.enormous power he would go to the opera in Sheffield, Orpheus in the
:09:52. > :09:58.underworld, and they would describe it and acted and we had heroes
:09:58. > :10:03.around us. With such inspiration, it is hardly surprising that Brian
:10:03. > :10:07.felt drawn to perform himself. He discovered that he had a talent for
:10:07. > :10:12.acting and there were plenty of opportunities close at hand for
:10:12. > :10:19.young person keen to take the stage. There was a man in South Yorkshire
:10:19. > :10:25.called Harry Dobson. I have never met the director to recall him, as
:10:25. > :10:32.a mentor, a big man with sausage fingers, great big ball of a man,
:10:32. > :10:38.and I beg him to take me on. He said, "My God, lad, you're a rough
:10:38. > :10:41.diamond. It's going to be an lot of hard work". And he worked on May.
:10:41. > :10:47.Harry Dobson worked on another people who would become a famous
:10:47. > :10:52.actor. The future captain of the USS Enterprise, Patrick Stewart.
:10:52. > :10:55.is strange to think that these two, one of them unbelievably hairy and
:10:55. > :11:04.I think Patrick Stewart was bowled when he was 17, so a wonderful
:11:04. > :11:07.mixture, -- bald. I think God was soon an amusing mood when he was
:11:07. > :11:10.sending babies down the chimney that particular day, he thought
:11:10. > :11:16.there would be fun to have been that part of Yorkshire with two
:11:16. > :11:22.extraordinary people, both of them extraordinary actors. Patrick has
:11:22. > :11:26.that extraordinary tenor voice. Brian like this... The most
:11:26. > :11:31.extraordinary couple. Let's ask about this voice. As a South
:11:31. > :11:37.Yorkshire boy, you obviously had a good Yorkshire accent, and now...
:11:37. > :11:44.Yes, it was a problem. Patrick Stewart was the same. He was my
:11:44. > :11:47.buddy, Patrick, though he was much more refined. I have to say, the
:11:47. > :11:53.people in South Yorkshire found it very hard to understand what I was
:11:53. > :11:59.saying. I told him very much a Yorkshire accent, even Shakespeare,
:11:59. > :12:04.everything. I could hold on to the Val also be there could reasonably
:12:04. > :12:11.understand, but by Haddad incredibly thick Yorkshire accent,
:12:11. > :12:14.more than anybody ass -- I had. Harry encouraged him to moderate
:12:14. > :12:20.his accent but not lose the expression. The result is one of
:12:20. > :12:26.the most distinctive voices. He has resonance, power. I will never
:12:26. > :12:33.bring him back, he can stay there and rot. Brian was always quite
:12:33. > :12:38.allowed young man. He wasn't quiet. He has a kind of Henry VIII sort of
:12:38. > :12:44.voice. It is like an instrument, his voice. At first blush, he
:12:44. > :12:49.appears to be allowed, and they actor. -- a loud. And then you
:12:49. > :12:54.realise he is very good. Goldthorpe in the early 1950s,
:12:54. > :12:59.Brian's new way of speaking and his love of acting lead from criticism
:12:59. > :13:04.from some who felt he was getting above himself -- led to criticism.
:13:04. > :13:07.For his bravado, he was a sensitive lad. I think he is more complicated
:13:07. > :13:12.than he seems and growing up in Yorkshire, this mixture of
:13:12. > :13:18.sensitivity and intelligence, with a big, boisterous energy and
:13:18. > :13:23.strength, it is an odd combination. I don't think, if you're an actor,
:13:23. > :13:26.it's very easy to be part of the group who grew up with and there
:13:26. > :13:33.she grew up with in a bohemian sort of atmosphere, because most people
:13:33. > :13:37.regard actors as a bit weird, and I can't imagine what a lot of his
:13:37. > :13:41.contemporaries, the other boys at school, would have thought, that
:13:41. > :13:45.saw him on stage, speaking in Shakespearean verse or whatever.
:13:45. > :13:50.harsh review in the local paper of one of his amateur performances had
:13:50. > :13:57.a terrible effect on Brian. It led to dramatic break them. The paper
:13:57. > :14:04.claims that he had over acted his part. Everywhere I went, people
:14:04. > :14:07.said, I will try to this part. It was a chink of light armour, and I
:14:07. > :14:11.didn't take any notice, or so I thought. I ignored them and ignored
:14:12. > :14:18.them and then suddenly I found, gradually, that I was becoming
:14:18. > :14:23.morose. And my mother was frightened. I would come home in
:14:23. > :14:33.the evenings and look at the fire, with big staring eyes. "You're
:14:33. > :14:34.
:14:34. > :14:39.frightening me, Brian, what's the matter?" "I'm fine!" I thought my
:14:39. > :14:44.thoughts were speeding up, "You have got a gift, you have got a
:14:44. > :14:54.gift" and I was doing it all day. I couldn't cope. And then I called
:14:54. > :15:00.
:15:00. > :15:04.for God. Help may! I'm drowning! I need help! -- help me. And I called.
:15:04. > :15:09.No point being an armchair philosopher, do you believe in God,
:15:09. > :15:19.do you not? For God's sake, if you are put in that situation, you call
:15:19. > :15:27.
:15:27. > :15:31.for help and I needed help, I was There was an answer to Brian's plea
:15:31. > :15:36.for help in the form of his speech to a chair, Frank Cooper. Brian
:15:37. > :15:42.went to visit him. I walked in through the door. Forget the speech
:15:42. > :15:49.election, I am finished! I can't think, I can't speak, I can't do
:15:49. > :15:54.anything. And I collapsed. I said "I'm no good, everyone says it" And
:15:54. > :15:58.I wept and wept and groaned Emily and groans and collapsed,
:15:58. > :16:02.unconscious on the floor -- a million groans. When I woke up, he
:16:02. > :16:09.was washing my face with at Halle and his wife was saying "It's all
:16:09. > :16:16.right." And he started singing songs and then he did some poetry
:16:16. > :16:21.about love and bits of Shakespeare, bits of this, bits of that.
:16:21. > :16:29.Wonderful, deeper things that penetrated my head. And he stroked
:16:29. > :16:35.my head and whispered all of these are wonderful Lions from Ulysses by
:16:35. > :16:41.Tennyson, to strive to yield, you know. Not to Gillian and it all
:16:41. > :16:50.went in to my head -- give in. And he cured me. It was a miracle. And
:16:50. > :16:58.I laughed and he said, that better. Nice to see a laugh. You'll be all
:16:58. > :17:02.right now. And that never looked Brian has certainly never looked
:17:02. > :17:07.back. After National Service with the RAF, he went to drama school at
:17:07. > :17:12.the Bristol Old Vic. Brian was different, he was quite different
:17:12. > :17:17.from all other students. Not that one particularly looked up to buy
:17:17. > :17:21.up -- to Brian. One just looked at him in amazement and wonder. Brian
:17:21. > :17:27.used to tell stories, a bit like a fairy stories, and everything he
:17:27. > :17:30.ever said, one bought 100%, even though one may have thought, he is
:17:30. > :17:34.having me on. You believe everything and maybe that is the
:17:34. > :17:38.mark of somebody who is rather a good actor. Brian couldn't be
:17:38. > :17:42.described as a model student. He had his own ideas. He wouldn't
:17:42. > :17:48.necessarily do what teachers wanted him to do. Maybe that is the nature
:17:48. > :17:57.of a drama school. I am not sure that they are much use to you, if
:17:57. > :18:07.you have already got what Brian He didn't have to wait long for
:18:07. > :18:13.
:18:13. > :18:19.success. His first big role was in I watched Z Cars as a boy. If I
:18:19. > :18:24.hear that tuned to this day, I get prickles up the back of my neck.
:18:24. > :18:29.Cars was a police drama set in the fictional Liverpool suburb of
:18:29. > :18:36.Newtown. What was startling is that it was an extremely realistic
:18:36. > :18:41.depiction of police work. He is arguing with the inspector, he
:18:41. > :18:46.can't win. It used top quality writers, high quality scripts and
:18:46. > :18:53.realism about police work, and compelling characters. Brian played
:18:53. > :18:58.a confident bobbly, nicknamed Fancy Smith. I am going to have to take
:18:58. > :19:02.you in for stealing property from a toy company. I have nothing to say,
:19:02. > :19:07.I want my scarf. We can let him have a cup of tea before he goes?
:19:07. > :19:17.We could, I suppose. It was a series that lived dangerously. It
:19:17. > :19:20.
:19:20. > :19:24.went out alive. It is being with him, I suppose. Live performance
:19:24. > :19:29.gives you the same as theatre, it gives you an age, and excitement, a
:19:29. > :19:35.pace. The other side of that is that you can't, by definition, have
:19:35. > :19:40.retakes. Genuine courage was required. I did not by those
:19:40. > :19:45.brushes. As far as I know, he opened the door and he went. What
:19:45. > :19:54.courage was it, to do a live broadcast every week, live
:19:54. > :20:01.television is exciting, and good fun. But dangerous. Yes. It was all
:20:01. > :20:05.new on Z Cars. It was 45 minutes live, and five minutes filmed. We
:20:05. > :20:11.had 24, to 28 million viewers. The first time I was introduced as
:20:11. > :20:18.Fancy Smith, dancing outside a pub, I a slightly get a word wrong.
:20:18. > :20:24.you got... One of those cars. managed to grip on and do something
:20:24. > :20:30.interesting. You wait there.
:20:30. > :20:34.I almost lost it, I almost lost my nerve. After that, I was fine. I
:20:34. > :20:40.could do anything on a live show. Ad-lib if things went wrong, hold
:20:40. > :20:43.up a wall if things went wrong. Even hold up the car if the springs
:20:43. > :20:53.had gone in the studio. I have said nothing about it to
:20:53. > :20:53.
:20:53. > :20:59.John. I believe you. You don't! It was a wonderful challenge.
:20:59. > :21:04.guests used to have terrible times. John Hurt, I had a 10 minutes seen
:21:04. > :21:08.with him. The light came on, that meant 24 million, or 28 million
:21:08. > :21:14.viewers, and I was supposed to break him down. I said, I want to
:21:14. > :21:21.have a word with you. He said, I'm guilty. Steel 10 minutes scene had
:21:21. > :21:29.gone! The news went out 10 minutes early map - the whole 10 minutes
:21:29. > :21:35.scene had gone. It was me who got the blame. When the news comes in
:21:35. > :21:38.early, it is because people are terrified of me! Fancy Smith is
:21:38. > :21:43.this marvellous character that you grew and loved and created. He was
:21:43. > :21:47.as big and as famous as The Beatles, they were there at the time as well.
:21:47. > :21:53.Yes, I couldn't walk down the street. I lived in Richmond, Surrey.
:21:53. > :22:01.I had to wait until about 515, and rushed to Woolworths and get some
:22:01. > :22:08.food quick. I went to Derby to do a book signing, I had never done a
:22:08. > :22:12.book signing. James Bond was on, Sean Connery, From Russia With Love,
:22:12. > :22:19.thousands of people were going to see this film. I said, can you tell
:22:19. > :22:22.me the way to this book... He's here! I spent nine hours in this
:22:22. > :22:27.book shop, signing autographs with the police looking after me. That
:22:27. > :22:32.was the effect of Z Cars. It was phenomenal. How do you stop that
:22:32. > :22:36.making you too big for your boots? Or did it affect you? You are young
:22:36. > :22:42.man, it is going to have an effect on you. It was a shock that one
:22:42. > :22:46.could be so well known. And yet not known? I wasn't resentful, but I
:22:46. > :22:53.realised I had lost a lot of freedom. That I couldn't get around,
:22:53. > :22:59.I couldn't go into my parks. I was already thinking of Adventures and
:22:59. > :23:04.things, it curtailed a lot of that. I slightly became a prisoner. I
:23:04. > :23:14.think it would be fair to say, I was known as the big head of the
:23:14. > :23:14.
:23:14. > :23:18.company. In that I tended... I find it difficult, being a somewhat
:23:18. > :23:27.classical actor. I had to do a little bit off the set as well,
:23:27. > :23:30.which I think people found a bit Brian had run-ins with one member
:23:30. > :23:37.of the cast in particular, Stratford Johns, who played
:23:37. > :23:42.Inspector Barlow. I said you are a cheeky young fellow. I was always
:23:42. > :23:46.answerable to him, as the inspector in Z Cars, Stratford Johns. In I
:23:46. > :23:56.Claudius, I was Augustus Caesar. Suddenly, he was a senator in my
:23:56. > :23:57.
:23:57. > :24:07.court. There was a long scene, I walk down and I put it in and I say
:24:07. > :24:09.
:24:09. > :24:19.about moderation. Don't I know you? No, Caesar. He suddenly dropped it
:24:19. > :24:22.
:24:22. > :24:26.After leaving Z Cars, Brian took on roles very different from Fancy
:24:26. > :24:32.Smith. He played St Peter in its Dennis Potter's controversial TV
:24:32. > :24:37.drama, Son Of Man. Brian hadn't lost his childhood fascination with
:24:37. > :24:42.the figure of Jesus. Colin Blakely played the title role. I wanted to
:24:43. > :24:50.come with me. Where to? All over this land, I have to preach to the
:24:50. > :25:00.people. I have to tell them things kept secret since the world began.
:25:00. > :25:02.
:25:02. > :25:06.There had not been many depictions of Christ, or Christ's story in
:25:06. > :25:16.broadcasting, because for many decades they were not allowed.
:25:16. > :25:16.
:25:16. > :25:21.What Dennis Potter did, and the cast did fantastically well in Son
:25:21. > :25:26.Of Man, was to try to give a more naturalistic, realistic portrayal
:25:26. > :25:35.of that story. And so the key thing in the acting and the writing was
:25:35. > :25:40.realism. When it came to doing the film, when they started the first
:25:40. > :25:45.scene, Colin could not come out of his dressing room. I can't be
:25:45. > :25:50.choosers, I can't do it. He was a terrific actor. -- I can't be Jesus.
:25:50. > :25:57.They couldn't get him out. I went in there. I had him doing the
:25:57. > :26:02.Lord's Prayer. I said, that's it, that's it, mechanical. Like every
:26:02. > :26:08.time people do the Lord's Prayer, it is generally mechanical. So
:26:08. > :26:15.there is a kind of boredom element about it. I had him doing things,
:26:15. > :26:25.for thine is the kingdom! Thine is the kingdom! The Power And the
:26:25. > :26:31.Glory! For ever! And ever! And it shook him. And I said. Get on and
:26:31. > :26:36.play it! And he was tremendous. He sailed through it and it came to
:26:36. > :26:44.the Crucifixion. It is the Crucifixion... You find out, you
:26:44. > :26:51.ask, before you do the scene. You find out what it means. And he went
:26:51. > :27:01.on the cross, and he went, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?
:27:01. > :27:16.
:27:16. > :27:22.Colin went, my God! My God! Swire Everybody went, God... It was
:27:22. > :27:28.amazing. It was so amazing that there were live debates after it on
:27:28. > :27:34.television. And all sorts of things. Yes. What do you feel about this?
:27:34. > :27:40.He was a real man, he had hairs on his chest, he had failings. He said,
:27:40. > :27:45.is it me? One word from the cross, only. Why have you forsaken me. The
:27:45. > :27:50.one that expresses doubt. This sums up quite validly, dramatically from
:27:50. > :27:54.Dennis Potter's point of view, that this in no doubt is in Jesus. He
:27:54. > :27:59.doesn't say that the final words of Christ are, it is completed, a cry
:27:59. > :28:02.of triumph. More than 40 years on from Dennis Potter's drama, the
:28:02. > :28:12.importance and power of the Crucifixion is undiminished for
:28:12. > :28:12.
:28:12. > :28:19.Brian. The creator, God, loves his son. Who he is proud of. It's but
:28:19. > :28:29.he allows his sons to be stretched on a cross, and nails put through,
:28:29. > :28:29.
:28:29. > :28:34.and why? It is Jesus' mission, why he came. They would take all the
:28:34. > :28:39.sins of the world on his shoulder. All the sins, Hitler, everything,
:28:39. > :28:49.everybody, Saddam Hussein, whatever, all this, murderous killers, he
:28:49. > :28:49.
:28:49. > :28:55.takes it all on his shoulders. And what loneliness must he feel, as he
:28:55. > :29:01.allows himself to become a man? I am being over-dramatic on his
:29:01. > :29:05.interview, aren't I? When are you not have a dramatic? There is
:29:05. > :29:15.nothing I can do about it. I have a three-litre engine, there is hugger
:29:15. > :29:17.
:29:17. > :29:20.all I can do about it. Brian is an extraordinary person to interview.
:29:20. > :29:25.And he is right about the three- litre engine, he has an agent
:29:25. > :29:33.energy for a man of 75. -- amazing energy. It has field some
:29:33. > :29:39.remarkable acting. To be, or not to be. -- it has fuelled some
:29:39. > :29:43.remarkable acting. This is my patch. It is something inside him. It
:29:43. > :29:46.transmits through the camera, you don't have to stand next to him,
:29:46. > :29:51.sit round the dinner table with him, be in his physical presence, I
:29:51. > :29:57.think you can feel it. Sort of imagine it, imagine being hugged by
:29:57. > :30:01.him and how it could turn into a rib cracking experience. I think he
:30:01. > :30:05.is quite an instinctive actor, actually. I am not sure he goes
:30:06. > :30:14.home at night and looks at the lines and thinks, if I go up at the
:30:14. > :30:20.end of this line or down, that will do that. He was back - it was
:30:20. > :30:24.always an adventure, and excitement, on stage to work with him. Some
:30:24. > :30:30.people might say Brian is not subtle. But why should he be?
:30:30. > :30:40.Quiches is a performer. He is an over a go. -- he is a performer. He
:30:40. > :30:45.
:30:46. > :30:50.perhaps does more than is necessary, I sometimes have a longing to be a
:30:50. > :30:55.private citizen again. One of Brian's most famous roles was
:30:55. > :31:00.Caesar Augustus and the BBC series I Claudius. It showed he could play
:31:00. > :31:05.not only policemen and fisherman, but emperors as well. I watch it at
:31:05. > :31:09.least once a year, it is so magnificent. It is the last great
:31:09. > :31:13.studio made drama in British television history. It is the
:31:14. > :31:18.acting that people remember and they were really on a tightrope,
:31:18. > :31:25.because they were using theatre actors predominantly and they bring
:31:25. > :31:30.a power and a weight and a sort of Shakespearian Association. Is it
:31:30. > :31:39.too late to lay down the burdens of office? You are just like your
:31:39. > :31:45.father. Always wanting the Republic. He was my enemy to at one time. --
:31:45. > :31:50.also. He was the bullying but rather put upon emperor, Augustus,
:31:50. > :31:54.the first emperor. Under around him, his family and his loved ones were
:31:54. > :32:00.being poisoned by his wife, whom he trusted and that the very end, he
:32:00. > :32:04.himself is poisoned. It is very embarrassing. People might think we
:32:05. > :32:11.were trying to poison you. death of August this is one of the
:32:11. > :32:15.series's most famous moments. death scene is magnificent, if you
:32:16. > :32:22.watch it, he keeps completely still with his eyes are open for, I think
:32:22. > :32:28.it must be, 90 seconds. You actually watch him die, you see the
:32:28. > :32:33.RA's the Delays slightly. They don't blink and he doesn't move. --
:32:33. > :32:43.you see the IRA's blaze. It is one of the great death scenes in
:32:43. > :32:47.
:32:47. > :32:51.television history. -- eyes glaze. The extraordinary adventure of
:32:51. > :32:56.Brian Blessed's life took another turn in the early 80s and it had a
:32:56. > :33:00.lot to do with a set of poems around cats and one of Britain's
:33:01. > :33:05.most successful composers of musical theatre. When Andrew Lloyd
:33:05. > :33:08.Webber said his next musical was based on TS Eliot's Old Possum's
:33:08. > :33:13.Book of Practical Cats, the common feeling was that he was completely
:33:13. > :33:20.mad and it would be a disaster, so the claws were red, as it were, for
:33:20. > :33:26.Cats. -- out. It was as far away from the mainstream as you can get.
:33:26. > :33:31.A group of people saying, "We are going to turn ourselves into
:33:31. > :33:39.pussycats and we are going to seeing children's songs." it was an
:33:39. > :33:43.extraordinary experiment. And the fact that it ran for 23, 24 years,
:33:43. > :33:48.those of us involved could never quite believe it. Brian played the
:33:48. > :33:54.role of the wise cat Old Deuteronomy.
:33:54. > :33:59.# The cat who has led many lives... A Old Deuteronomy was gentle, why
:33:59. > :34:08.is, ultimately ecstatic and priest like -- why is. And scarcely ever
:34:08. > :34:16.moves, the traffic stops for him. Hatchback you've heard there are
:34:16. > :34:21.several kinds of cat... I had no idea that Brian could sing,
:34:21. > :34:29.but he was very game. He was very up for it. He was an adventurer in
:34:29. > :34:36.every sense. The first time I saw my dad acting on a stage that I can
:34:36. > :34:42.remember properly really was when he was in Cats. That was this
:34:42. > :34:47.amazing voice. It was overwhelming, so exciting. The first six months,
:34:47. > :34:53.it was like no other show. It was transcendental, wherever you went.
:34:53. > :34:57.You could touch the air. The audience and the cast became one.
:34:57. > :35:03.Old Deuteronomy stayed on stage during the interval, and children
:35:03. > :35:07.were encouraged to cuddle and talk to him. It became a big thing. Boys
:35:07. > :35:13.and girls dressed as cats and they would come and sit with me.
:35:13. > :35:17.stage? They would have ice-creams and talk to me. It is lovely to see
:35:17. > :35:24.your dad like that, everyone loving him and him being the safe, warm
:35:24. > :35:28.place. When I was that age, I was five, that is what he was for me.
:35:28. > :35:32.Then up on stage, he was that for everybody else, which was lovely.
:35:32. > :35:38.At one performance, something remarkable happened. There was a
:35:38. > :35:47.man and woman to bear and a little girl and I said "Are you enjoying
:35:47. > :35:52.it?" and she said "... Yes" And her parents started to cry and I
:35:53. > :35:59.thought I had said the wrong thing. And they said, "Know, quite the
:35:59. > :36:03.contrary. That is the first time at child has ever spoken -- no.". And
:36:03. > :36:08.she came after that quite regularly and her speech got better and
:36:08. > :36:15.better. What you think it was in Old Deuteronomy that did something
:36:15. > :36:23.to that little girl that she could respond? She totally and utterly
:36:23. > :36:28.believed that as Old Deuteronomy... She forgot her ailment and
:36:28. > :36:36.responded with great heart. She just believe did me. A child's
:36:36. > :36:41.belief is astonishing, isn't it, occasionally? Occasionally, you get
:36:41. > :36:47.feedback from audience, a letter, a postcard, a telephone call, and the
:36:47. > :36:51.sort of incident that Brown has described, where somebody will say
:36:51. > :36:56.that as a result of the show, something like changing has gone on
:36:56. > :37:02.-- Brian has described. You definitely can't ever set out to
:37:02. > :37:12.bring that about and if you hear of such a thing, it is only humbling
:37:12. > :37:15.
:37:15. > :37:20.and just make you go a bit quiet. There is one place that appealed to
:37:21. > :37:28.Brian's sense of adventure far more than being on stage in the West End.
:37:28. > :37:33.Somewhere that as a boy, he often dreamed of. Mount Everest. Brian
:37:33. > :37:40.was inspired by one climber in particular, George Mallory, who in
:37:40. > :37:43.1924, died attempting to conquer the peak. I wanted to follow in his
:37:43. > :37:48.footsteps to pay tribute to this great man, and his great
:37:48. > :37:53.mountaineer friends, a tribute to their great ideals. Ideals that to
:37:53. > :37:57.a certain extent we have lost the day. People said it was impossible.
:37:57. > :38:03.But Bryant didn't want to just conquer Everest, he wanted to make
:38:03. > :38:08.a film that faithfully recreated Mallory's climb. Murray left his
:38:08. > :38:13.wife and children, babies basically, for this dream and passion -- and
:38:13. > :38:16.Mallory. I think that appealed to Brian, because he has the same
:38:16. > :38:21.desire to do something extraordinary. There is no way that
:38:21. > :38:28.Brian could play Mallory. He was too old, he was and slim and young.
:38:28. > :38:34.But what he did do was embody Mallory. He sold it as a one-man
:38:34. > :38:39.show up Everest. And also not in modern beer. We had gone out and
:38:39. > :38:45.got tweed jackets and tweed trousers -- Kiev. And hobnail boots,
:38:45. > :38:51.basically. We were doing it as Mallory would have done it. When
:38:51. > :38:57.Dad did finally go up Everest to make his film, I think my mother
:38:57. > :39:01.and I just listened to the silence. It was quite restful, because he
:39:02. > :39:04.had been so obsessed with it was such a long time, he needed to go
:39:04. > :39:10.out there and do it, because he could only tell us the story so
:39:10. > :39:14.many times. And there was only so me times we could hear it. John-
:39:14. > :39:19.Paul Davidson knew that when Brian Ayres or Everest for the first time,
:39:19. > :39:25.it would be a moment he had to capture -- saw Everest.
:39:25. > :39:30.purposely held it back from him and those days, you had to have all the
:39:30. > :39:34.magazines Loaded, so could week -- so we could record his first sight
:39:34. > :39:40.of the mountain, when you see it at the head of the ballet. It was
:39:40. > :39:46.extraordinary, because he just filled up. It looks so beautiful. I
:39:46. > :39:50.can see the North face... He is not one for weeping and crying, but you
:39:50. > :39:59.could see the intensity of the experience. He had dreamt about
:39:59. > :40:09.this moment for so long. I think that is where... That is where
:40:09. > :40:10.
:40:10. > :40:14.Mallory is. I just can't believe I am there. It is a dream come true.
:40:14. > :40:23.Just to add to the adventure, despite the dangerously thin air,
:40:23. > :40:28.Brian was climbing without oxygen. He loves the fact that he has a
:40:28. > :40:33.pair of lungs on him that are almost unique and therefore have
:40:33. > :40:38.allowed him to climb up Everest and without using oxygen. Yet when you
:40:38. > :40:46.speak to him, he is always wheezing and you think "How can he even
:40:46. > :40:50.climb the stairs" This is hell, I never envisaged this.
:40:50. > :40:54.I have always thought that my father was indestructible and I
:40:54. > :40:59.have no doubt that he would come back. He is a force of nature and I
:40:59. > :41:03.can't imagine anything ever happening to him. I have never
:41:03. > :41:06.climbed a mountain, so I don't know, but I have a feeling that there
:41:06. > :41:11.must be a conversation that the mountain is having with you.
:41:11. > :41:14.there something spiritual, that when you get so high and you can
:41:14. > :41:19.see the heavens and you are so close, do you feel you are closer
:41:19. > :41:23.to something else? Absolutely. And the beauty of the place is
:41:23. > :41:30.staggering. The privilege of being amongst its millions of rainbows
:41:30. > :41:35.and to look up into the cobalt blue and the ridges that go on, and the
:41:35. > :41:41.curvature of the Earth. You are closer to the Creator. Your
:41:41. > :41:45.emotions are rarefied. For me, the sacrifice of being physically
:41:45. > :41:49.pummelled was made up for by the spiritual ascent that I made and I
:41:49. > :41:52.have never looked back since. were talking before you went and I
:41:52. > :41:57.heard you say that you were concerned about hallucinating it,
:41:57. > :42:03.you were scared of that, yet fellow climbers said they are to be
:42:03. > :42:07.welcomed. Yes, I welcomed them indeed. Reinhold Messner, the
:42:07. > :42:12.greatest mountaineer ever, he said, "You hallucinate, that is good and
:42:12. > :42:21.you will talk to your rucksack, it is good. Hallucinate with the
:42:21. > :42:27.mountain and she will look at you". So just go with it.
:42:27. > :42:32.Everest, or when it is you are feeling refined and in love with it,
:42:32. > :42:38.that is when she is at her most dangerous. And at one point, my
:42:38. > :42:44.grandfather appeared. This happens many time on Everest Two people.
:42:44. > :42:50.Open but you better go down, that, you have done really well, -- "You
:42:50. > :42:57.better go down, lad, you have done really well." And I turned around
:42:57. > :43:01.and he was not there. He is not there. Then I turned around and he
:43:01. > :43:06.was still there. Solid. I have had that experience several times on
:43:06. > :43:15.Everest. We are going to sail to the top
:43:15. > :43:25.this time, God willing! All we will stamp to the top. We are taking the
:43:25. > :43:36.
:43:36. > :43:40.Brian did it turn back. He had climbed to 27,000 feet -- did turn
:43:40. > :43:48.back. It was a significant achievement. There is just now F. I
:43:48. > :43:52.have got to stop or I will never get back. -- no the air. I can't
:43:52. > :43:57.think of many actors that would have the endurance, the fortitude,
:43:57. > :44:07.the persistence, all the qualities that are needed to climb any
:44:07. > :44:10.
:44:10. > :44:14.For Brian, life is a spiritual as well as a physical adventure. On
:44:14. > :44:19.his expedition, he was fascinated by the Buddhist faith of the
:44:19. > :44:23.Himalayan people he encountered. To Brian's delight, after much
:44:23. > :44:28.negotiation, he was able to meet the Dalai Lama and get his blessing
:44:28. > :44:34.for that climb. But any conversation involving Mr Blessed
:44:34. > :44:38.can take an unusual term. Mallory, when they were first going, they
:44:38. > :44:43.were going through Tibet and had to get permission from the Dalai Lama
:44:43. > :44:49.to climb it, because it is a sacred mountain. I was trying to recreate,
:44:49. > :44:54.in a sense, that meeting. Brian was, of course, thrilled to meet him.
:44:54. > :44:59.And it his blessing. That was what we were hoping for. He was very
:44:59. > :45:03.generous and found the meeting with Prayad Hallur areas. Brian is not
:45:03. > :45:12.intimidated with anyone -- the meeting with Brian hilarious. The
:45:12. > :45:16.I think a middle-aged man here, dressed in 1920s clothes, very much
:45:16. > :45:26.needs a lot of blessing. It would be a great privilege and I would be
:45:26. > :45:30.
:45:30. > :45:34.This is a symbolised blessing. you meet someone like the Dalai
:45:34. > :45:41.Lama, if you can get some time alone with him, or someone like
:45:41. > :45:48.that, you become yourself. I was almost rude to him. I am saying,
:45:48. > :45:57.it's Your Holiness, you make me 6th! You make me really sick! Why
:45:57. > :46:01.do I make you sick? Because you are so good! It is hard to live with.
:46:02. > :46:06.So millions turn out to see you, you are so good! Don't you ever get
:46:06. > :46:12.angry? Yes, if you weeks ago, a doctor came to inject me, to go
:46:12. > :46:16.abroad, and he had a needle, and he stuck it and it went into my bone
:46:16. > :46:24.and I was in such pain, I thought, I hate that doctor, he is fatter
:46:24. > :46:28.than... What? Fatter than me? Is that what you are saying? I am a
:46:28. > :46:34.human being, you are going to hurt me. I am hurt.
:46:34. > :46:39.So, please forgive me. On your knees! He goes on his
:46:39. > :46:46.knees! I said, all right, I am a forgiving man, I forgive you, stand
:46:46. > :46:52.up. That was my relationship with him all the time. He is a man with
:46:52. > :46:56.a powerful sense of humour? A huge sense of humour. This extraordinary
:46:56. > :47:00.conversation took an even more surprising twist. Brian claims that
:47:00. > :47:05.the Dalai Lama knew that Brian's brother was seriously ill, and told
:47:05. > :47:13.him that when he died, he would be reincarnated. He said, your brother,
:47:13. > :47:19.not well. It won't be long now. It's when you pass away. -- when he
:47:19. > :47:29.passed away. But three, 4 o'clock in the morning, he believed in God.
:47:29. > :47:31.
:47:31. > :47:36.He will be fine. He will be born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Yeah. I never
:47:36. > :47:41.mentioned that before. Good heavens, did that come true? I believe so. I
:47:41. > :47:50.would rather leave it alone, but yes. That is what he said. My
:47:50. > :47:57.brother is alive in Nova Scotia, about 12 years old. Go at heavens.
:47:57. > :48:01.-- good heavens. Can I ask you how you know that? Because I have
:48:01. > :48:06.visited him. I went to Halifax, I was filming in some lovely studios
:48:06. > :48:09.there. I went to this area where he was, and that is exactly the guy I
:48:09. > :48:15.knew, my little brother when I was 12 years of age, with a Canadian
:48:15. > :48:20.accent. I have to keep asking you this. Did the Dalai Lama to you
:48:20. > :48:23.precisely the address? He did. went to that address and waited?
:48:23. > :48:28.didn't tell anybody, I said I was in the area for but I didn't even
:48:28. > :48:35.say to the boy. The boy like me straight away, we got on very well.
:48:35. > :48:40.I was looking at Allen. You totally believe that? Totally. I find that
:48:40. > :48:45.life is a miracle, the whole thing is a complete miracle. I agree that
:48:45. > :48:55.life is a miracle in itself, but once again, Brian has left me with
:48:55. > :48:55.
:48:55. > :49:02.For many people, Brian Blessed is not associated with climbing
:49:02. > :49:07.Everest, starring in Z Cars, or I Claudius. Instead, he is famous for
:49:07. > :49:12.possibly the two best-known words in cinema history. I am sure when
:49:12. > :49:20.he goes down the street, everybody shouts, Gordon's a live! Because
:49:20. > :49:23.that is how they remember him, been good old Flash Gordon. Flash Gordon
:49:23. > :49:28.was an epic and slightly camp science-fiction film, in which
:49:28. > :49:33.Brian played Prince Vultan, leader of the Hawkmen. It was a part that
:49:33. > :49:41.Brian was thrilled to take. Did you think this was going to be a very
:49:41. > :49:46.defining role for you? This is your Everest, on film, in a way? Yes, I
:49:46. > :49:50.did. I had seen Flash Gordon as a child in the local cinema, the
:49:50. > :49:54.Empire Cinema, once a week on Saturday, in black and white,
:49:54. > :50:00.terrific. I always pretended to be Prince Vultan, pretending to fly
:50:00. > :50:07.and jumping off the bridge, on to the top of a train and on again.
:50:07. > :50:11.Anyway, I never dreamt I would play it. During one important day's
:50:11. > :50:17.filming, Brian got rather carried away. His boyhood self took over.
:50:17. > :50:21.There is a scene in it, where we attack a rocket ship. It took five
:50:21. > :50:29.days to get these dynamite ready, the special effects, the lads on
:50:29. > :50:35.board, the monsters on board. We are flying 2,500 men. We are trying
:50:35. > :50:45.to get ready, I had a big bazooka, which was made of cardboard. It
:50:45. > :50:53.took five days to get ready, stand by! Action! Come in, a flash! Dive!
:50:53. > :51:03.Which I invented, it is from the iron. Squadron 14, died! -- it is
:51:03. > :51:07.
:51:07. > :51:13.They said, cut, cut, cut. Brian, we put in the special effects. I had
:51:13. > :51:18.never felt such a twit in all my life. Because I was doing the
:51:18. > :51:22.special effects with my mouth. bless you! They had to reset the
:51:22. > :51:32.whole thing, it took two days. Brian! We put in the special
:51:32. > :51:42.effects! You raced to be there. That is one of those... You'll have
:51:42. > :51:44.
:51:44. > :51:47.to give us a quick Gordon's I live! I feel good! Wherever I go and I am
:51:47. > :51:53.walking down the street, on the scaffolding and taxes, people say,
:51:53. > :51:59.give us -- hears the telephone, please say to my wife, Gordon's
:51:59. > :52:09.alive. Jukes and Lords and Camilla Parker Bowles! Would you mind
:52:09. > :52:09.
:52:09. > :52:14.saying Gordon's alive. Everybody asks me to say Gordon's alive.
:52:14. > :52:18.polls continued to slide for Gordon Brown. Some people are saying he's
:52:18. > :52:25.dead and buried, but I think the opposite. I say Gordon pars alive!
:52:25. > :52:29.Yes! Other people know dad would different things. The vast majority
:52:29. > :52:33.of what defined the idea of Brian Blessed really was Prince Vultan.
:52:33. > :52:40.Which is fantastic, I just think it's a bit of a shame that some of
:52:40. > :52:44.his other work gets missed. He is no one-trick pony, but sometimes I
:52:44. > :52:47.think people see him like that. There is a difficulty being an
:52:47. > :52:53.actor, many actors go through their careers without ever having a stand
:52:53. > :52:58.out role. Obviously, that's bad. The flipside is that sometimes, you
:52:58. > :53:02.get a role that is so remarked on, and so visible, that it actually
:53:02. > :53:08.overshadows the rest of your career, and the decisions of casting
:53:08. > :53:14.directors. I think that did happen with Flash Gordon. It was such a
:53:14. > :53:20.perfect role that I think that after that, when the parodies of
:53:20. > :53:25.Brian Blessed really became very big. Do you have a copy of All
:53:25. > :53:29.quiet On the Western Front? quiet on the Western Front! Let me
:53:29. > :53:33.just check! With his booming voice and Everest sized personality,
:53:33. > :53:37.there was always a danger that Brian would become an exaggeration
:53:37. > :53:44.of his younger self. He seems very comfortable, it is just another
:53:44. > :53:48.part of his big adventure. Bollards! Is see a national
:53:48. > :53:54.treasure, yes. He is a national asset. There should be railings but
:53:54. > :53:59.around him. He has done 60, 70 films now. Dad had is still the
:53:59. > :54:09.high point, physically and I think, metaphorically, of what I have done
:54:09. > :54:17.
:54:17. > :54:26.I would like to say how really lucky I think I am, to have grown
:54:26. > :54:35.up with someone who is so it's generous, and extraordinary and
:54:35. > :54:39.funny. And just inspiring. You know, and a pain, obviously! Brian is
:54:39. > :54:44.still busy acting, which after 50 years in the profession, is quite
:54:44. > :54:48.an achievement. Last year, he and Ros perform together for the first
:54:48. > :54:52.time in the BBC series, Doctors. She played a daughter whose father
:54:52. > :54:56.is suffering from memory loss and he believes he should go into an
:54:56. > :55:01.old people's home. How long have you been in the nursing home?
:55:01. > :55:06.has been an age. South you tried it for one day. It is full of old
:55:06. > :55:16.people! It was lovely to work with dad, we have never acted face to
:55:16. > :55:18.
:55:18. > :55:22.face before. It was basically a tussle between a daughter, who
:55:22. > :55:26.wants to come into her own right as a person, who has grown up with a
:55:26. > :55:32.famous father. I don't know where they got that idea!
:55:32. > :55:37.Daddy, are you all right? Yes, I frightened Stirling Moss here.
:55:37. > :55:42.you only know how much it's worry you have called me. I have aged 20
:55:42. > :55:50.years in an hour. That's nice, you can catch up with me! It's not
:55:50. > :55:57.funny! Your youngest daughter is an actress and recently, your paths
:55:57. > :56:00.crossed and you work together. Was that a deliberate happening? They
:56:00. > :56:06.cast their before me and then they realised I would be good as an
:56:06. > :56:14.eccentric who is a bit of a genius. I wish I had been born infertile.
:56:14. > :56:19.wish I had been brought up by nerves -- by walls. I was very
:56:19. > :56:29.nervous. She is very mercurial and volatile. The pair of us, having
:56:29. > :56:32.
:56:32. > :56:36.such gargantuan qualities, would we Daddy, you are wonderful. But if we
:56:36. > :56:43.carry on like this, we are going to kill each other. And I love you too
:56:43. > :56:47.much. Our time in Brian's little hut at the end of his garden is
:56:47. > :56:51.almost over. With Christmas close at hand, I wondered how Brian's
:56:51. > :57:01.family would be spending it. How important is this Advent time for
:57:01. > :57:01.
:57:01. > :57:06.you? I find I will not be put off Christmas. Since a child. I find it
:57:06. > :57:14.my favourite time of the year. I love all the carols. Some of them
:57:14. > :57:20.There is something about it that centres people, and that I believe,
:57:20. > :57:24.even the person who despises the commercial side of Christmas, or
:57:24. > :57:34.quietly on their own somewhere, in their garden, in their sitting room
:57:34. > :57:34.
:57:35. > :57:40.somewhere, quietly just so's an unheard pref -- quietly just says.
:57:40. > :57:47.An unheard prayer. Because we are saved. The politicians can't save
:57:47. > :57:57.us, but we are saved by this single act of colossal bravery, and by the
:57:57. > :58:00.
:58:00. > :58:04.trust of the maker. Happy Christmas, What an extraordinary man Brian
:58:04. > :58:08.Blessed is. I know he has conquered so many things in this physical
:58:08. > :58:13.life, whether climbing mountains or creating Prince Vultan ordering
:58:13. > :58:17.whatever he does, but it is the spiritual question inside him that
:58:17. > :58:21.is so fascinating. I don't know what he is going to do next, he
:58:21. > :58:25.probably will climb Everest, he probably will be on the first space