Alan Yentob's last interview to be broadcast on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer
Jenny Saville is one of the most successful figurative painters working today, first coming to prominence as part of the YBA movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She has been reluctant to discuss her work for many years on television, until now.
Alan Yentob was working with Jenny on a film for his imagine strand and earlier this year, they met in Vienna on the eve of two major exhibitions she is mounting. This was the last interview Alan Yentob conducted in a career spanning six decades at the BBC, bringing many of the world's leading artists and creatives to the screen. Alan also persuaded Jenny to allow cameras into her painting studio for the first time in almost three decades.
Suzy Klein, Head of Arts and Classical Music TV says: 'Alan Yentob was a titan of arts broadcasting and a passionate supporter of so many of the leading creative artists of the last half century. His final interview, in conversation with Jenny Saville, is testament to his relentless curiosity and advocacy for the arts across many decades - part of a night dedicated to celebrating his work as a programme maker, channel controller and visionary television executive.'
Jenny Saville says: 'Alan and I were beginning to work on a documentary about my paintings from across the years. It was an honour to know Alan, who I'd met in my early twenties and we reconnected to make this film.'
When Alan Yentob Met Jenny Saville airs as part of a tribute night on Sunday on BBC Two and iPlayer alongside some of the legendary programme maker's best loved films, including imagine… Mel Brooks: Unwrapped, imagine… David Bowie: Cracked Actor, Salman Rushdie: Through a Glass Darkly, imagine… Diana Athill: Growing Old Disgracefully, imagine… Tom Stoppard: A Charmed Life, and Ella Fitzgerald at Ronnie Scott's, as well as Alan's iconic BBC Two idents, from 9.15pm.
When Alan Yentob met Jenny Saville is a BBC Studios production for BBC Arts. The Producer / Director is John O'Rourke and the Executive Producer is Tanya Hudson. The commissioning editor for BBC Arts is Mark Bell.
Watch When Alan Yentob met Jenny Saville on BBC iPlayer
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