Arena Season 1998

Mark Seen

The Sir Noel Coward Trilogy Part One: The Boy Actor This first programme of the trilogy follows Coward's rise from suburban South London boy to the world's highest-paid author at the age of 30. He earned notoriety with his play The Vortex, but by the late Twenties his huge success had driven him to a nervous breakdown.

Mark Seen

The Sir Noel Coward Trilogy Part Two: Captain Coward Captain Coward focuses on his journeys to the Far East with Earl Amherst (which inspired famous songs such as Mad Dogs and Englishmen), as well as entertaining the troops during the war years and films In Which We Serve and Brief Encounter.

Mark Seen

The Sir Noel Coward Trilogy Part Two: Sail Away Sail Away follows Coward's cabaret triumphs in London and Las Vegas after the Second World War and his years as a tax exile in Switzerland and Jamaica, right up to his death. His long-term partner, the late Graham Payn shows us around Chalet Coward, and archive film reveals the glamorous poolside lifestyle he enjoyed, as well as his late successes: a cameo performance in The Kitchen, and the musical Sail Away as recalled by its star Elaine Stritch.

Mark Seen

The Brian Epstein Story: The Sun Will Shine Tomorrow Dec 25, 1998 First in a two-part documentary examining the turbulent life and career of Beatles manager Brian Epstein. Gay when homosexuality was illegal, a gambler, shopkeeper and failed actor, he was also pop king with a midas touch who, in the 60s, was as well known as the band he managed.

Mark Seen

The Brian Epstein Story: Tomorrow Never Knows Dec 26, 1998 Part two of the documentary on Beatles manager Brian Epstein. By the mid 60s, Epstein was lured into the world of gambling, sex and drugs and in 1967 he was found dead in his London mansion at the age of 32.