Films with: Beavan, Clare

Codebreaker

The remarkable and tragic story of one of the 20th century's most important people. Alan Turing set in motion the computer age and his World War II codebreaking helped turn the tide of the Second World War. Instead of receiving accolades, he faced terrible persecution. In 1952, the British Government forced him to undergo chemical castration as punishment for his homosexuality. In despair, Turing committed suicide. He was only 41 years old.

DVD 10483

Simon Schama's Power of art

Focusing on eight iconic works of art, this series reveals the history of visual imagination through the ages. A combination of reconstruction, photography and storytelling transport the viewer back to the intense moments when great works were conceived and born: the murderous, messianic world of Baroque Rome; opulent, parvenu Amsterdam; paranoid, revolutionary Paris; Victorian England suffocating beneath riches and righteousness; the madhouses and brothels of Provence; the carnage of civil war Spain; 1950s New York, caught between Cold War jitters and Manhattan glitter. In each place, a great artist is backed into a corner, facing a crisis, given a chance to confound his rivals, enemies and critics one more time.

DVD 7772