Genres
Networks
Created By
Face to Face
Overview
Face To Face is a BBC television series originally broadcast between 1959 and 1962, created and produced by Hugh Burnett, which ran for 35 episodes. The insightful and often probing style of the interviewer, former politician John Freeman, separated it from other programmes of the time. The series was revived in 1989 with Jeremy Isaacs as the interviewer. This version ran until 1998.
Top Cast
Jeremy Isaacs
Himself
Seasons
Season 1 (1959)
No overview available.
18 episodes
Episodes
Episode 1: Lord Birkett
1959-02-04Episode 2: Bertrand Russell
1959-03-04Philosopher Bertrand Russell is the second guest on the series, beginning the interview by reading from a fictitious obituary he'd written for himself. Among the topics discussed are guilt, sex, money, childhood, prison and loss of faith.
Runtime: 43 minEpisode 3: Dame Edith Sitwell
1959-05-06John Freeman interviews the first of just two female guests in the series - poet Dame Edith Sitwell. The Dame discusses her unhappy childhood, her working relationship with Dylan Thomas, and her unexpected diversion into Hollywood.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 4: Lord Boothby
1959-05-27Episode 5: Nubar Gulbenkian
1959-07-15Episode 6: Adlai E. Stevenson
1959-07-22Adlai Stevenson relives his early life in journalism and law, and discusses losing two Presidential elections to Dwight Eisenhower. Among his other reflections are how others see him, and how he sees himself.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 7: John Huston
1959-09-01A cigar-puffing John Huston discusses his directing career, his desire to make films under the United Nations, his relationship with his father and fighting with Errol Flynn.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 8: Professor Jung
1959-10-22John Freeman interviews Carl Jung at his Zürich home, asking the psychologist questions about consciousness, his friendship with Freud, his thoughts on death, and his own self-analysis.
Runtime: 38 minEpisode 9: Lord Morrison of Lambeth
1959-12-18Episode 10: His Majesty King Hussein of Jordan
1960-01-01Episode 11: Lord Shawcross Q.C.
1960-01-10Episode 12: Tony Hancock
1960-02-07Tony Hancock engages in self reflection, looking back at his childhood, his need to work, his health issues, and whether he could ever truly be happy.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 13: Henry Moore
1960-02-21Episode 14: Dr. Hastings Banda
1960-04-22Episode 15: Augustus John
1960-05-15Episode 16: Sir Roy Welensky
1960-05-29Episode 17: Stirling Moss
1960-06-12Racing driver Stirling Moss is called upon to ponder his career. Customary for the series, the questions go deeper than usual interviews: Does he think about mortality? Does he feel close to God? What about the breakdown of his marriage?
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 18: Evelyn Waugh
1960-06-26Evelyn Waugh takes part in the series due to what he claims is "poverty", and that "everyone thinks ill of the BBC". Among the topics under discussion are religion, truth in fiction, and Waugh's own periods of mental illness.
Runtime: 30 minSeason 2 (1960)
No overview available.
7 episodes
Episodes
Episode 1: Gilbert Harding
1960-09-18Arguably the most famous episode of the series, as Gilbert Harding verges on breaking down under John Freeman's questioning. "I shall be very glad to be dead" remains a poignant response - Harding died less than two months after broadcast.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 2: General von Senger und Etterlin
1960-10-02Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin discusses his role in the second World War, including whether he was ever accused of war crimes, and whether he was given any orders he felt were unacceptable.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 3: Lord Reith
1960-10-30John Freeman talks to a former director-general of his own employer, as ex-BBC head Lord John Reith discusses his early life and time with the corporation. Debated among the two is the value of the BBC in Reith's time, and in the present.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 4: Simone Signoret
1960-11-13John Freeman and Simone Signoret play a verbal game of cat and mouse, as he wants to know "the woman behind the actor's mask." However, Simone is deliberate in what she reveals, answering one question with "I think that's my own business."
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 5: Victor Gollancz
1960-11-27Episode 6: Adam Faith
1960-12-1145-year-old John Freeman admits that he's been "consulting some teenage friends of mine" as he interviews his first pop star, Adam Faith. Faith talks about the difference between his showbusiness persona and his real self, Terry Nelhams.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 7: Otto Klemperer
1961-01-08Season 3 (1961)
No overview available.
10 episodes
Episodes
Episode 1: Frank Cousins
1961-10-15Episode 2: Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
1961-10-29"It is never easy for one to accept the role of symbolism without going through constant moments of self examination." Martin Luther King discusses his childhood in a segregated America, and the challenges he still faces in the present.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 3: Lord Hailsham
1961-11-12Episode 4: Jomo Kenyatta
1961-11-26Jomo Kenyatta discusses his release from prison, and whether there was more he could have done to prevent his incarceration. Also discussed is Kenyatta's vision for the future of Kenya.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 5: Sir Compton Mackenzie
1962-01-07Episode 6: John Osborne
1962-01-21Episode 7: Roy Thomson
1962-02-04Episode 8: Cecil Beaton
1962-02-18Episode 9: Albert Finney
1962-03-04Episode 10: Danny Blanchflower
1962-03-18In the final edition of the programme, footballer Danny Blanchflower faces what he calls the "challenge" of appearing, and describes why he fled from the studio when he was the planned subject of "This Is Your Life".
Runtime: 30 minSeason 4 (1989)
No overview available.
5 episodes
Episodes
Episode 1: Anthony Burgess
1989-03-21Episode 5: Bernardo Bertolucci
1989-09-26Interview With Bernardo Bertolucci
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 6: JG Ballard
1989-11-07In one of a series of occasional revivals of the BBC's classic Face to Face series, first broadcast in 1989, Jeremy Isaacs talks to science writer JG Ballard about his life, writing and fascination with the violence of the 20th century.
Runtime: 29 minEpisode 7: Ken Dodd
1995-03-13In this television interview, comedian Ken Dodd discusses his career and approach to comedy.
Runtime: 40 minEpisode 8: Paul Eddington
1995-03-14Jeremy Isaacs talks to actor Paul Eddington about his eminent career in both television and the theatre, and his battle against skin cancer.
Runtime: 38 min
