imagine... - Season 35

Alan Yentob follows celebrated young British playwright James Graham, whose award-winning works take audiences to the very heart of key political events.

Alan Yentob looks into the life of comedian Jo Brand. Brand burst on to the nation's largely male stand-up comedy scene in the 1980s. In doing so, she revolutionised what women could be - and say - on stage. From her working-class roots in south London, through her teenage tearaway years in Hastings to the decade that she spent as a psychiatric nurse, Jo's journey into comedy has not been an easy one. imagine... goes behind the scenes with Jo as she presents HIGNFY and The News Quiz on Radio 4 and accompanies her on the book tour circuit as she promotes her latest book. Brand has been a trailblazer for women on screen. Not only has she broken through into the tough world of stand-up comedy, but she has demonstrated enormous diversity, including acting, writing and performing, factual, drama and comedy. Contributors include Peter Capaldi; Alan Davies, Victoria Coren Mitchell, Mark Thomas, Mary Beard, Morwenna Banks and Ian Hislop.

Bill Viola is renowned the world over as a pioneer of video art. As the Royal Academy in London mounts a major exhibition of his vast and immersive installations, alongside works by Michelangelo, imagine... charts Viola's career over 12 years and follows him as he creates his most high-profile commission to date, Mary and Martyrs, a permanent installation for St Paul's Cathedral.

Gerry Fox's film follows Viola on set as he films, with stunt gear and pyrotechnics, his striking visual tableaux in fields, salt lakes and studios. Viola talks candidly about his preoccupations with life, death and suffering, alongside his wife and collaborator Kira Perov.

Edna O'Brien is one of the greatest literary talents and rule breakers of her generation. In 1960, her revolutionary debut novel, The Country Girls, broke down social and sexual barriers for women and was subsequently banned in her native country of Ireland. The awrd-winning O'Brien continues to produce some of the most urgent work of her unparalleled career, with her eighteenth novel, Girl, a searing story inspired by the schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram, to be published later this year. In this honest and engaging documentary, Edna O'Brien reflects on her remarkable and ongoing writing life, interwoven with actors who perform extracts from her novels and rare family archive footage.

Alan Yentob meets Harlem-born artist, author and activist Faith Ringgold as she prepares for her London show at the Serpentine Gallery.

Documentary following Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson and his studio in the run-up to his landmark exhibition, In Real Life, at Tate Modern.

Filmed over several months in Waltham Forest, London Borough of Culture 2019, imagine… follows a group of young people from two local estates in as they take part in a ground-breaking arts intervention programme designed to change the course of their lives for good.

Working with youth and performances coaches and guided by mentors from the arts world, including the artistic director of the Young Vic Kwame Kwei-Armah, 22-year-old Leytonstone-born actor, writer and director Harris Dickinson, EastEnders actress and comedian Tameka Empson and producer and composer Talvin Singh, the participants will write and perform a musical based on their lives.