The Face in the Mirror
In this film, Simon Schama explores the complex motivations behind some of our most intriguing self-portraits, looking at what they say about both the creative minds of the artists who produced them and the human condition. From Tracy Emin's bed, a relic of our confessional age, to Lucien Freud's searing examinations of his ageing body, the film will explore how all self-portraits stand on a knife edge between self-indulgence and self-scrutiny. Schama explores the daring first glimmers of self-portraiture in a 13th-century manuscript and how the incarceration of the artist Gerlach Flicke led to the creation of the first English self-portrait that looks us straight in the eye. He shows how the frustrated potential of artist Isaac Fuller led to a self-portrait of unprecedented poignancy and how the romantic imagination of Samuel Palmer created works of visionary beauty. Laura Knight's use of her own image to defy the male-dominated art establishment and William Orpen's painted search for his own identity during World War I reflect the complex motivations that have driven artists to make themselves the subject of their work. Visiting the hundreds of figures that make up Antony Gormley's monumental sculpture Another Place, Schama reflects on this collective self-portrait that inspires us all to contemplate our place in the world.
Trailer
Recently Updated Shows
The Good Ship Murder
The Good Ship Murder is set aboard a luxury cruise liner touring everyone's favorite Mediterranean holiday hotspots bubbling with intrigue, rivalries, glamour, money and class divides – but its new cabaret singer, ex detective Jack Grayling, soon discovers there are also more sinister elements below the surface.
On a cruise out of Southampton, Jack meets newly promoted First Officer, Kate Woods. Fierce and ambitious, she's a woman in a man's world with plenty to prove. After a passenger is found murdered in their first port of call, Kate's dream of her own command is thrown into Jeopardy and Jack finds himself thrust back into his former life as a detective. What follows is a wave of murder mysteries – each set against the backdrop of a different stunning coastal destination where the ship has dropped anchor.
Tyler Perry's The Oval
The Oval tells the story of a family placed in the White House by people of power while also highlighting the personal side and everyday lives of the staff who run the inner workings of the nation's most iconic residence.
Real Time with Bill Maher
Real Time with Bill Maher includes an opening monologue, roundtable discussions with panelists, and interviews with in-studio and satellite guests. Politico hailed Maher as "a pugnacious debater and a healthy corrective to the claptrap of cable news", while Variety noted, "There may not be a more eclectic guest list on all of television".