Mark Lawson Talks to... - Episode Guide

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Environmental thinker James Lovelock recalls his long career as a scientist and inventor. He discusses his development of the Gaia theory explaining how life and the earth have survived in a self-regulating system, and his warning that human civilisation is threatened by an overheating planet due to our burning of fossil fuels.

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Interview with the comic and naturalist. Bill delves into his past, from his early passion for wildlife to his varied TV career and the repercussions of his mother's mental illness.

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Interview with the writer and comedian.

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Episode: 2006-11-14 | Airdate: Nov 14, 2006

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Horror writer Stephen King talks to Mark Lawson about his life and work.

Episode: 2007-01-10 | Airdate: Jan 10, 2007

Mark Lawson in conversation with satirist Armando Ianucci.

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Bestselling author Ian Rankin in conversation with Mark Lawson.

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Luvvie actor Nicholas Craig chews the fat with Mark Lawson. Craig discusses his prolific 35-year career and reveals how the relationship with his mother heavily influenced his decision to become an actor.

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Interview with the TV editor and producer who brought Blue Peter to the screen.

Episode: 2007-08-18 | Airdate: Aug 18, 2007

Mark Lawson talks to Renaissance man Stephen Fry about his many talents, his mysterious disappearance from the cast of Cell Mates in 1995 and how he battles with his demons.

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Comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar in conversation with Mark Lawson.

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Mark Lawson talks to David Attenborough about his career - the animals, the people and the state of broadcasting in this country. One of the nation's best-loved TV presenters, Attenborough practically invented the BBC's Natural History programming. Less well known is his success as a manager - he brought colour television to Britain and was the man who commissioned Porridge and Monty Python.

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David Renwick, the man who created the sitcom One Foot in the Grave, in conversation with Mark Lawson.

Episode: 2008-01-16 | Airdate: Jan 16, 2008

Top scriptwriter Russell T Davies in conversation with Mark Lawson.

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Just a Minute host and raconteur Nicholas Parsons in conversation with Mark Lawson.

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Journalist and broadcaster Lionel Blue, the first openly gay British rabbi, in conversation with Mark Lawson.

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Galton and Simpson talk about their famous creations Hancock's Half Hour and Steptoe and Son, how they met each other in hospital, and why they stopped working together.

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Actor George Cole, best known as Arthur Daley in the long-running TV series Minder, in conversation with Mark Lawson.

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Comedy writer and raconteur Barry Cryer in conversation with Mark Lawson.

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Mark Lawson talks to the actress Liz Smith about her life and career. She reflects on her lonely childhood, her days as a single mother and her determination to become an actress.

Episode: 2008-07-21 | Airdate: Jul 21, 2008

Writer and television performer Jonathan Meades discusses his life and career with Mark Lawson. In his unmistakable dark suits and sunglasses, Meades has presented many opinionated and sometimes controversial documentaries on architecture, culture and food. Meades talks about the secrets of his distinctive presenting style, gaining weight as restaurant critic for The Times and his Humanist beliefs.

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Writer GF Newman discusses his life and career with Mark Lawson. Responsible for the classic drama serial Law and Order and more recently Judge John Deed, Newman also discusses his belief in reincarnation and vegetarianism.

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Melvyn Bragg divides his time between broadcasting and writing. He has presented The South Bank Show since 1978 and his best-selling books include A Time To Dance, The Routes of English and the semi-autobiographical Remember Me. He discusses growing up in Cumbria, the death of his first wife, and the state of arts television, with Mark Lawson.

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John le Carre converses with Mark Lawson about his fragmented childhood, life in the diplomatic service, working with Alec Guinness and his book A Most Wanted Man. Le Carre worked as an intelligence officer in the 1970s before turning to writing full time. His personal experiences during the Cold War informed a string of best-selling espionage novels including The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. He also wrote the corporate corruption thriller The Constant Gardener, which became a Oscar-winning film.

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The interviewer turns interviewee as Michael Parkinson sits in the guest's chair, talking to Mark Lawson about turning to journalism to avoid life in the Yorkshire coalmines, his schoolboy cricket record, flirting with his female guests, meeting Muhammad Ali and how the run-ins with Emu and Meg Ryan will follow him to the grave.

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Quentin Blake talks to Mark Lawson about life as one of Britain's best known illustrators and children's authors and whose most prolific collaboration was with Roald Dahl.

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Rolf Harris, inventor of the wobble-board and portrait painter to the Queen, discusses his career as one of the best-loved entertainers in Britain. He describes his early success as Australian junior swimming champion, how Animal Hospital changed his life, how he came to sing that version of Stairway to Heaven and shows Mark Lawson how to play the didgeridoo.

Episode: 2009-01-04 | Airdate: Jan 4, 2009

Phil Collins made his name as the drummer and then the lead singer of Genesis, before embarking on a successful solo career with hits including In the Air Tonight. In the 1980s he took on the role of one of the great train robbers in the film Buster and has recently had success with scoring for films such as Disney's Tarzan. Collins talks frankly to Mark Lawson about his three marriages and the various myths that surround him, including that he divorced his second wife by fax.

Episode: 2009-01-11 | Airdate: Jan 11, 2009

Actress and writer Maureen Lipman talks to Mark Lawson about life after the death of her screen-writer husband Jack Rosenthal, working with Roman Polanski, being the face of BT, and how she has been banned from Woking shopping centre.

Episode: 2009-01-25 | Airdate: Jan 25, 2009

Anglophile travel writer Bill Bryson, whose books include The Lost Continent and Notes From a Small Island, chats to Mark Lawson about how a boy from Iowa who dropped out of college has ended up as Chancellor of Durham University. He also discusses how he shares the British sense of humour, his techniques for tackling litter louts and his childhood superpowers.

Episode: 2009-02-15 | Airdate: Feb 15, 2009

Antony Sher is a renowned actor, writer and artist. He chats to Mark Lawson about growing up as a white South African, working with his partner Gregory Doran, and failing drama school auditions.

Episode: 2009-04-19 | Airdate: Apr 19, 2009

Film director Mike Leigh talks to Mark Lawson about his life and career. He talks about collaborative creative processes and why he doesn't want to work with Hollywood stars.

Episode: 2009-05-09 | Airdate: May 9, 2009

Private Eye editor Ian Hislop discusses his role as a satirist with Mark Lawson. He talks about the importance of Christianity to him and his years in Have I Got News For You?

Episode: 2009-08-30 | Airdate: Aug 30, 2009

Author and screenwriter William Boyd talks about his life and work, reflecting on how his upbringing has shaped his writing's themes, which include identity and its loss.

Episode: 2009-09-30 | Airdate: Sep 30, 2009

Mark Lawson talks to the actor and director Richard Wilson, best known for playing Victor Meldrew in One Foot in the Grave, about his life and work.

Episode: 2009-11-14 | Airdate: Nov 14, 2009

Mark Lawson talks to explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes about his life's work, as Fiennes reveals the ingredients behind his incredible determination and exploits.

Episode: 2009-11-22 | Airdate: Nov 22, 2009

In a revealing interview, actress Jane Horrocks - famous for Little Voice and as Bubble in Ab Fab - discusses her life and explores how gender and age can affect career longevity.

Episode: 2009-11-29 | Airdate: Nov 29, 2009

Actress Imelda Staunton talks to Mark Lawson about her life and career, from her early ambitions to become an actress to her role on the West End stage in Entertaining Mr Sloane.

Episode: 2009-12-06 | Airdate: Dec 6, 2009

Author, actor, humorist and playwright Alan Bennett talks to Mark Lawson about his life and career.

Episode: 2009-12-13 | Airdate: Dec 13, 2009

Mark Lawson talks to AS Byatt after her Man Booker Prize nomination for her novel The Children's Book. Byatt talks about her passion for literature and how she has managed to combine family life with the solitary world of a writer.

Episode: 2010-02-23 | Airdate: Feb 23, 2010

Mark Lawson talks to Brian Cox, ahead of his lead role in the BBC4 Westminster drama, On Expenses. In this candid interview, Cox talks about his passion for portraying complex and difficult characters, but also about his personal psychological battles and the low point in his career when he almost gave up acting.

Episode: 2010-03-14 | Airdate: Mar 14, 2010

Mark Lawson talks to the enfant terrible of the British art world, Tracey Emin, famed for her unmade bed and the tent embroidered with the names of everyone she had ever slept with. The 1990s wild child talks in detail about her unconventional childhood and the traumatic adolescent experiences which inspired much of her controversial work.

Episode: 2010-03-15 | Airdate: Mar 15, 2010

Veteran 'home economist' Marguerite Patten reflects on nine decades of cookery. From learning to cook as a child, to being one of the first celebrity TV chefs to her performances at the Palladium, to writing over 170 books, she explains what has motivated her to keep going and how, in her early 90s, she shows little sign of slowing down.

Episode: 2010-03-16 | Airdate: Mar 16, 2010

Claudia Roden, the cookery writer who brought us Middle Eastern recipes long before couscous and houmous were on every supermarket shelf, talks to Mark Lawson about her memories of growing up Jewish in Cairo in the 1930s, the true origins of pasta, and going kosher for her award-winning Book of Jewish Food.

Episode: 2010-05-10 | Airdate: May 10, 2010

Mark Lawson talks to actor Timothy Spall about his life and career. Spall reflects on his working-class roots, on being a 'professional depicter' and his fight with leukaemia.

Episode: 2010-05-23 | Airdate: May 23, 2010

Mark Lawson talks to notorious literary bad boy Martin Amis ahead of the BBC dramatisation of his book Money. In this revealing interview Amis speaks candidly about his relationship with his father Kingsley Amis, which survived the breakup of his parents' marriage and his father's disinterest in reading Martin's books. Amis also reveals how his sister Sally was a 'victim of the sexual revolution' whose consequent struggles in life influenced his latest book The Pregnant Widow.

Episode: 2010-05-30 | Airdate: May 30, 2010

Mark Lawson talks to Oscar-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave about her life and career. She reflects on her acting family, political activism and the loss of her daughter Natasha.

Episode: 2010-06-13 | Airdate: Jun 13, 2010

Renowned broadcaster and satirist David Frost talks about his life and career.

Episode: 2010-10-31 | Airdate: Oct 31, 2010

Mark Lawson talks to the actress Julie Walters about her life and career, as she explores her working class roots, struggles with self-confidence and finding peace at 60.

Episode: 2010-11-07 | Airdate: Nov 7, 2010

Mark Lawson talks to actress Alison Steadman about her life and career, as she explores her gift for mimicry, passion for improvisation and joy of working with great dramatists.

Episode: 2010-11-14 | Airdate: Nov 14, 2010

Mark Lawson talks to Tom Jones about his life in and out of the limelight. Jones reflects on his upbringing in a coal mining community, early pub tours and international acclaim.

Episode: 2010-11-21 | Airdate: Nov 21, 2010

Mark Lawson talks to screenwriter Jimmy McGovern about his life and career in television drama, his memories of working-class Liverpool and the impact of Catholicism on his work.

Episode: 2010-12-24 | Airdate: Dec 24, 2010

Mark Lawson talks to the actor Simon Russell Beale about his life on and off stage. He offers insights into how he approaches his diverse roles and his recent career changes.

Episode: 2011-02-03 | Airdate: Feb 3, 2011

Mark Lawson talks to the controversial artists and 'living sculptures' Gilbert and George about their lives and careers. Since meeting as students at St Martins School of Art in 1967, Gilbert Proesch and George Passmore have forged an extraordinary artistic partnership ranging from photo-pieces and dirty word pictures to their latest postcard exhibition. Their vivid, graphic work set out to challenge the elitist art world through universal themes of identity, sex, class and nationality.

Episode: 2011-02-09 | Airdate: Feb 9, 2011

Sculptor Sir Anthony Caro reflects on his time as Henry Moore's assistant, his groundbreaking shift from figurative to abstract sculpture and his position on public art.

Episode: 2011-02-28 | Airdate: Feb 28, 2011

In a candid interview, Anne Robinson reflects on the journey from finishing school to Fleet Street, alcoholism to America and print journalism to prime-time television.

Episode: 2011-03-22 | Airdate: Mar 22, 2011

Mark Lawson talks to the comedian David Mitchell about his life and career, from his partnership with Robert Webb to panel show regular and co-host of the series 10 O'Clock Live.

Episode: 2011-09-27 | Airdate: Sep 27, 2011

Mark Lawson talks to Dame Diana Rigg about her life and 50-year career, exploring her conflicted views on being a sex symbol and the pleasures of professional success in her 70s.

Episode: 2011-10-04 | Airdate: Oct 4, 2011

Mark Lawson talks to actor and comedian Rob Brydon about his life and career in entertainment, including writing and performing for radio, film, television, stand-up and theatre.

Episode: 2011-10-11 | Airdate: Oct 11, 2011

Mark Lawson talks to Michael Frayn about his life and 50-year career writing novels, plays, philosophy, memoirs, screenplays, translations, farce, tragedy, verse and drama.

Episode: 2011-11-21 | Airdate: Nov 21, 2011

Mark Lawson talks to Alice Cooper about his life and 45-year career as a musician and actor, including his memories of his Detroit childhood and the perils of addiction.

Episode: 2011-07-11 | Airdate: Jul 11, 2011

Mark Lawson talks to the artist Sir Peter Blake about his life and 60-year career, including how he became an 'accidental artist' and his reputation as the godfather of Pop Art.

Episode: 2012-03-13 | Airdate: Mar 13, 2012

Mark Lawson talks to comedian Frank Skinner about a career that has involved stand-up, broadcasting, writing and pop music. Skinner also talks candidly about his personal life.

Episode: 2012-03-20 | Airdate: Mar 20, 2012

Mark Lawson talks to legendary broadcaster Terry Wogan about his life and 50-year career, from his early years on Irish radio to his ever-popular Radio 2 show.

Episode: 2012-03-26 | Airdate: Mar 26, 2012

Mark Lawson talks to celebrity interviewer and chat show host Graham Norton about growing up in Ireland, his sexuality and a near fatal mugging whilst he was at drama school.

Episode: 2012-03-30 | Airdate: Mar 30, 2012

Mark Lawson talks to former Oasis lynchpin Noel Gallagher about his life, career and becoming one of the most successful songwriters of his generation.

Episode: 2012-04-03 | Airdate: Apr 3, 2012

Mark Lawson talks to writer, actor and comedian Mark Gatiss about his life and career, including how his passion for horror and science fiction have influenced his success.

Episode: 2012-04-15 | Airdate: Apr 15, 2012

Mark Lawson talks to actor Mark Rylance about his life and career, including his lifelong relationship with Shakespeare and how he prepares for his role in the play Jerusalem.

Episode: 2012-04-22 | Airdate: Apr 22, 2012

Mark Lawson talks to Felicity Kendal about her childhood in India and returning to the UK in the 1960s to become one of the best-loved actors of her generation.

Episode: 2012-04-26 | Airdate: Apr 26, 2012

In this in-depth interview Mark Lawson meets the award-winning journalist and filmmaker Sean Langan, whose kidnap by the Taliban in 2008 inspired BBC Four's hostage drama The Kidnap Diaries. Langan's professional life began as a TV entertainment presenter, but his investigative nose led him to document some of the most volatile and war-torn regions in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. Armed with a camera and irrepressible courage, he has produced a series of enlightening documentaries including Afghan Ladies Driving School, African Railway, Langan Behind the Lines, Mission Accomplished and Fighting the Taliban.

Episode: 2012-04-29 | Airdate: Apr 29, 2012

Mark Lawson talks to actress Zoe Wanamaker about her life and career. Wanamaker reveals insecurities about her looks and talents, and how her father Sam was a hard act to follow.

Episode: 2013-01-13 | Airdate: Jan 13, 2013

Mark Lawson talks to the astronomer and English eccentric Sir Patrick Moore about his early life, career and the future of space exploration in an interview that was recorded in 2007. The late Sir Patrick presented the BBC programme The Sky at Night for over 50 years, making him the longest-running host of the same television show ever. He presented the first edition of the programme on 24th April 1957 and last appeared in an episode broadcast in late 2012.

Episode: 2013-03-03 | Airdate: Mar 3, 2013

Mark Lawson talks to songwriter Mark Knopfler about his early life and influences, the years with Dire Straits and his quiet contempt for modern TV talent shows.

Episode: 2013-03-11 | Airdate: Mar 11, 2013

Mark Lawson talks to Python and globetrotting national treasure Michael Palin about his childhood and early career days. He recalls some of the highs and lows of the famous ensemble and regales Mark with a German rendition of the Lumberjack song. Palin has been a successful writer, comedian and broadcaster for nearly fifty years. After his early global success with Monty Python, he reinvented himself as our favourite Englishman abroad with his prolific travelogues, as well as an author of novels and diaries.

Episode: 2013-03-20 | Airdate: Mar 20, 2013

Mark Lawson talks to prolific writing duo Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais about their careers, from classic comedy The Likely Lads to recent drama Spies of Warsaw.

Episode: 2013-04-01 | Airdate: Apr 1, 2013

Mark Lawson talks to character actress and voice artist Miriam Margolyes, who has recently channelled her lifelong devotion to Dickens into a one-woman show. She speaks to Mark about her passion for acting, her lively schooldays and her inexorable self-confidence. Margolyes has graced the stage, television and silver screen for 50 years. Her award-winning performances in Little Dorrit and The Age of Innocence gave her international recognition, and more recently she appeared as Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films.

Episode: 2013-04-07 | Airdate: Apr 7, 2013

Mark Lawson talks to singer Michael Ball.

Episode: 2013-10-06 | Airdate: Oct 6, 2013

Mark Lawson talks to Sir Bob Geldof about his life and career. From the formation of the Boomtown Rats in the mid 1970s to his work with Band Aid and Live Aid in the 1980s and his continuing influence on key figures on the world stage, Geldof has been a key figure in music and politics over several decades. In 2013, the Boomtown Rats reunited for the first time in over 25 years and Geldof talks candidly to Mark about his career in music, his activism, his family and his very public personal traumas.

Episode: 2013-11-12 | Airdate: Nov 12, 2013

Mark Lawson talks to the writer, comedian, actor and producer Steve Coogan about his life and career, from comic characters Paul Calf and Alan Partridge to straight acting roles.

Episode: 2014-03-10 | Airdate: Mar 10, 2014

In a career spanning more than five decades, photographer David Bailey has captured many of the 20th century's most iconic faces. With his first major solo exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery currently on show, he talks frankly to Mark Lawson about his life, loves and illustrious career.

Episode: 2014-03-23 | Airdate: Mar 23, 2014

As she publishes her eighteenth novel, Joanna Trollope talks to Mark Lawson about creativity, divorce and the inescapable drama of domestic life. Her hugely popular novels include The Rector's Wife, The Choir and A Village Affair, which have all been adapted into major television dramas.

Episode: 2014-03-30 | Airdate: Mar 30, 2014

Julian Barnes won the 2011 Man Booker Prize for his novel The Sense of an Ending and his latest, Levels of Life is a memoir of bereavement following the loss of his wife to cancer. He talks candidly to Mark Lawson about love, death, memory and grief.

Episode: 2014-07-20 | Airdate: Jul 20, 2014

Mark Lawson talks to comedian, writer and actress Jo Brand about the 1980s alternative comedy scene, her approach to hecklers and taboos, and her experiences as a TV personality.

Episode: 2014-11-16 | Airdate: Nov 16, 2014

Michael Morpurgo reflects on the success of his novel War Horse and the theme of war in his books, and discusses his relationship with his father and friendship with Ted Hughes.

Episode: 2015-01-04 | Airdate: Jan 4, 2015

Mark Lawson talks to one of Britain's greatest exponents of the detective novel, the late PD James. In this frank discussion she talks about her need to write, the impact that the two world wars have had on her, religion and death.

Episode: 2015-01-07 | Airdate: Jan 7, 2015

From the long-suffering Miss Jones in Rising Damp to headmistress Madame Maxime in Harry Potter, Tony and triple Olivier award-winning actress Frances de la Tour has a career spanning five decades. The star of stage, screen and television started out at the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1960s and is currently thrilling audiences as the giant in Hollywood blockbuster Into the Woods. Mark Lawson talks to her about her life and career.

Episode: 2015-02-08 | Airdate: Feb 8, 2015

From Calendar Girls to Cranford, Celia Imrie has been a familiar face on both TV and film for more than four decades. Ahead of her latest cinema release The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and the publication of her first novel Not Quite Nice, the actress talks to Mark Lawson about her life and career.

Episode: 2015-02-22 | Airdate: Feb 22, 2015

Interview with the Booker Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro, whose first novel in almost ten years, The Buried Giant, is published in March 2015.

Episode: 2015-03-01 | Airdate: Mar 1, 2015

Mark Lawson talks to author Alexander McCall Smith, whose No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series of books, set in Botswana, have sold in their millions around the world.

Episode: 2015-03-24 | Airdate: Mar 24, 2015

From princes to professors and cardinals to comedians, star of stage and screen Jonathan Pryce is one of Britain's most versatile actors. Here he talks to Mark Lawson about his life and extensive career.

Episode: 2015-11-15 | Airdate: Nov 15, 2015

Award-winning writer and director Sir David Hare talks frankly to Mark Lawson following the publication of his much-anticipated memoir The Blue Touch Paper. Hare, one of Britain's foremost political playwrights, rose to fame in the 1970s with Plenty, his play about post-war disillusion. He then went on to write a string of successes for the National Theatre, most notably his 1990s state-of-the-nation trilogy. Hare has also written screenplays including The Hours and The Reader and recently wrote and directed the political thriller The Worricker Trilogy for TV.