Original title
Omnibus
Released
10/13/1967
Origin country
GB
Genre
Documentary
Production companies
BBC
Status
Cancelled
Number of seasons
36
Number of episodes
718
Omnibus was an arts-based BBC television documentary series, broadcast mainly on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The programme was the successor to the long-running arts-based series 'Monitor'. It ran from 1967 until 2003, usually being transmitted on Sunday evenings. During its 35-year history, the programme won 12 Bafta awards. Among the series' best remembered documentaries are Cracked Actor, a profile of David Bowie, and Rene Magritte, a graduate film by David Wheatley, 'Madonna: Behind the American dream', a film produced by Nadia Hagger, and a profile of the British film director Ridley Scott. For a season in 1982, the series was in a magazine format presented by Barry Norman. The series was replaced by 'Imagine' hosted by Alan Yentob.
The first edition of a regular weekly programme about the creative world of art and artists. Introduced by Henry Livings. Tonight: Everybody's Expo - An account of a world event.
The British debut of a new world opera star—at the age of twenty-four.
The first of three performances of Beethoven symphonies conducted by Colin Davis. BBC Symphony Orchestra Leader, Trevor Williams Part of a public concert in the Royal Festival Hall, London.
An enquiry into the power of a familiar poem. Introduced by Henry Livings. "Tyger tyger burning bright In the forests of the night What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry" Why does this poem by William Blake 1757-1827 stick in the mind, and seize the imagination of so many different people?
The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Pink Floyd, Cream, Donovan, Frank Zappa & Eric Burdon.
The historic Farewell Concert at Albert Hall in London by one of rock's greatest groups has been dynamically recorded in this film by Robert Stigwood. The group, composed of Eric Clapton on lead guitar, Jack Bruce on bass and lead vocals, and Ginger Baker on drums, give an electrifying performance that is as exciting to watch as it is to hear. Each of the musicians has gone on to become a superstar in his own right, and we get to see fascinating backstage interviews with all of them. Highlights include the long version of "Sunshine of Your Love" and "White Room" along with other Cream hits.
An improvised celebration of Apollo 11's landing on the Moon.
Documentary about author Christopher Isherwood, in which he is interviewed about his life and work and which features extracts from films of his novels and stories.
An imaginary portrait of composer Richard Strauss.
A group of people with regular jobs (factory clerk, Lighterman,Inspector etc) take part in an experimental and improvised drama in which they are encouraged to writhe around the floor making strange noises and movements. The idea being that returning to a primitive state may help them better cope with the modern world. This experiment is then taken to their familiar local streets and landmarks and casual observers are invited to comment or join in.
An examination of the life and work of Humphrey Jennings, scholar, writer painter but, above all, filmmaker.
The first part of this special documentary film traces the tempestuous history of the Royal Opera House from the time the first building opened its doors in 1732 up to the present day, 26 years after Sir David Webster 's appointment.
A programme in two parts on the past, present and future of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
An investigation of regional theatre in Britain. Amongst the Theatres - and their Artistic Directors - discussed are the Northcott Theeatre, Exeter; Theatre Royal Windsor, Peter Cheeseman's Victoria Theatre Stoke on Trent and theatres in Nottingham and Hull.
The film traces Orwell's life during 1936 when he spent time in the depressed north of England, married, set off for the Spanish Civil War and completed his book 'The Road to Wigan Pier', which marked his beginnings as a political author.
An Omnibus Arts documentary made to celebrate the centenary of the birth of author Marcel Proust. The film examines the creation of his autobiographical novel "A La Recherche du temps perdu".
Portrait of the filmmaker Ken Russell.
An exploration of industrial Folksong in Britain from the birth of the Industrial Revolution through to contemporary events affecting us all.It was filmed in Folk Clubs across Britain.
A portrait of Yorkshire writer and author Stan Barstow; includes contributions from his friends.
A personal appraisal of the caricaturist William Hogarth.
A tour of the arts,dance and theatre of Amiens, a town that makes car tyres.
Young West Indians give an impression of their life in this country through their paintings, music, and writing.
Christopher Plummer invites the audience into the world of great playwright, George Bernard Shaw, at his home with fellow actors and an actress playing St. Joan.
A journey across Australia through the paintings of Sidney Nolan. Earlier this year Sidney Nolan revisited the country where he was born. He likes long journeys and cannot help painting pictures, and every picture tells a story. In this adventure through myth and imagery Nolan looks again at the Australia of Ned Kelly, Mrs Fraser and the convicts, Burke and Wills.
Memories of Judy Garland, from people who knew and worked with her.
This film for Omnibus follows the two weeks of rehearsal that led up to the recording of a Morecambe and Wise Show that aired on 16 February 1973. 'Fools Rush In' was Eric and Ernie's billing in their early days. Thirty years later, they had become Britain's best-known comedians, with regular audiences of nearly 20 million people. Producer John Ammonds, writer Eddie Braben, as well as Eric and Ernie talk about the skill and sheer hard work of comedy.
An Omnibus calendar of tribal England. This film traces how the passing of the seasons is still celebrated with folk song, dance and-ritual. For 12 months cameras have been recording the genuinely surviving ceremonies associated with May Day marches. Summer Dances, Harvest Festivals, Christmas, New Year and Easter.
The former Cream drummer travels to Nigeria to build a recording studio.
A tongue-in-cheek look at how heroes have been depicted through the ages.
A Dickens favourite as interpreted by Marcel Marceau the mime artist.
Stars of British Music Hall and Variety take a look back at traditional seaside entertainment.
Omnibus presents a unique opportunity to see this highly acclaimed performance by Ella Fitzgerald with Tommy Flannagan (piano) Joe Pass (guitar) Bobby Durham (drums) Keeter Betts (double bass) Introduced by Benny Green
Omnibus presents Ella Fitzgerald in performance at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. This second show confirms yet again all the superlatives which critics have lavished on her in recent weeks.
This film is a documentary about Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich.
How nightmares inspired the greatest horror writers of the 19th Century
Documentary about the classic comedy duo Laurel and Hardy, featuring many film clips and reminiscences from entertainers and associates. Narrated by Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise.
BBC documentary showing David Bowie looking back on his Ziggy Stardust character during his Diamond Dogs tour.
A partially dramatized arts programme about the life and work of Auguste Rodin
Presented by Benny Green and Roy Castle this is a delightful song-filled affectionate tribute to the career of Irving Berlin
A celebration of the novelist, who was born 200 years ago.
An Arts Documentary about the Composer Gyorgy Ligeti whose music became popular after having been used in Kubrick's 2001
Dancer, choreographer, director and father of the 'new' American musical of the 1940s. He talks to Gavin Millar about his early life, the struggles to become a dancer and the great days at MGM when a new form of 'cinema-dance' was invented
An account of the events that led up to the American War of Independence from Britain, filmed in the locations where they took place.
Various artists and musicians at work, and performing, throughout a day in the SoHo district of New York City.
A fun documentary in which Organist Robin Richmond demonstrates the power, and tells the history, of Cinema Organs. The film was shown as part of an Omnibus programme on Nostalgia
Introduced by Humphrey Burton the Stan Kenton Band perform Jazz classics. Stan Kenton, Shelly Manne and Bud Shank are interviewed.
'Gagaku' is the ancient Court music of Japan. In this film dancers and musicians discuss and demonstrate the traditional movements, styles and the sounds of an art culture little known in the West. Master players of the Sho and Kyoto demonstrate the special meaning of performance techniques.
Edward Kienholz was an American artist known for his found-object assemblages and installations he referred to as tableauxs. In one of his most controversial works, The State Hospital (1966), Kienholz provided a grisly account.
John Peel Interviews The Mekons, Sham 69, Alternative TV, The Slits, and UK Subs.
A look at "Gonzo journalist", Hunter S. Thompson with his collaborator, British illustrator, Ralph Steadman.
A look at stand-up comediennes.
TV documentary about a packed and unpredictable year in the life of 25 year-old artist in stained-glass, Brian Clarke.
Documentary on the widow of Kurt Weill, the legendary actress and singer Lotte Lenya.
Documentary which looks at the history of the English Stage Company and its base, the Royal Court Theatre in London. Past triumphs and failures are reviewed with the aid of Sir John Gielgud, John Osborne, Max Stafford-Clark, Arnold Wesker, Dennis Waterman, Oscar Lewenstein, Nigel Williams and E.A. Whitehead.
Tonight Omnibus features two artists separated by more than 60 years. The first is the 14-year-old Greek pianist, Dimitris Sgouros. Already a renowned performer on the international stage, this child prodigy has been compared to Mozart. What is it like to have so much talent so young and what pressures must this boy prodigy endure? The second artist is the painter Eileen Agar. Once described as the 'darling of the Surrealists' she talks tonight about her life and work, recalling the holiday with Picasso, and friendships with Ezra Pound and Evelyn Waugh.
The sound of Muzak, investigates the background music that we always hear but to which we never listen. Featuring Alan Freeman , Neil Innes (with robots), Brian Eno, Joseph Cooper (at the dummy keyboard) and the music critics of the Bristol Babies Forum. Also in this programme, 22 year old British dancer Michael Clark's work that he and his newly-formed company are preparing for their launch in London and the Edinburgh Festival.
A look at the films produced at Ealing Film Studios in London.
Israeli Go-Go Boys Golan and Globus at the height of their careers - everybody is working for Cannon!
A documentary that chronicles the making of the movie. It looks at the process of casting real Indians in the film and their importance in adding authenticity to the story, their performances and involvement in the intricacies of the filmmaking process, Native culture today in South America, the history of Jesuit missions, the film's set construction, action scene construction, the picture's story and themes, the presence of the modern-day Colombian Army on the set and the resultant parallels to the film, and much more.
Dramatized documentary about the life of the painter George Grosz.
Todays theme is Getting to Dylan.
A celebration of a century of recording history as seen through the eyes of Nipper the 'His Master's Voice' dog for ever seen listening to a gramophone horn in the world famous trademark. In the programme there are extracts from nearly 100 recordings.
A study of the life and work of the Russian film director and theorist Sergei Eisenstein.
Anna Ford speak to Harold Pinter about how life experience had politicized his work.
Paul Simon is interviewed by Mark Steyn a couple of years after he released his Graceland album. In response to Steyn's thoughtful questions, Simon reflects on his music, his songwriting and his influences.
How Vladimir Nabokov wrote his most famous novel, and why it is one of the greatest novels ever written.
Michael Billington, drama critic of The Guardian newspaper, explores the life and work of Alan Ayckbourn, including his latest play due to open in London - Man of the Moment - and also conducts an interview with the playwright and director.
Vincent Van Gogh [played by Linus Roache] meets Roulin, [played by Jim Broadbent]and Gaughin [played by Jack Shepherd]
BBC documentary directed by Iann Potts. Follows BB King's home-coming playing a concert in his home town of Indianola, to Parchman Prison bull ring where he gives a concert to inmates.
About the American novelist Don Delillo who is obsessed by violent images and what they can do to the soul of a 20th century culture like his, is dazzlingly, nay blindingly, assembled.
Radical feminist Andrea Dworkin's expose on the pornography industry.
A portrait of Boy George. UK telly. Early 90s. Crying Game US release era.
A hundred years ago Tchaikovsky died suddenly In St Petersburg, within days of conducting the work many consider to be his greatest, the Pathétique Symphony. How did the great composer meet his death? Officially, he died of cholera, but a Russian emigre living in America has produced evidence to show that he was forced to commit suicide. Anthony Holden conducts an investigation into the mystery, and the film follows clues in New York, St Petersburg and Moscow, clues within the music and the known facts of Tchaikovsky's life, in search of the facts behind the composer's untimely death.
A look behind the scenes of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical version of the classic movie 'Sunset Boulevard'
Profile of the novelist Vikram Seth, including footage from a family reunion in Delhi.
A look back at the band's 30 year career.
First part of a two part doc on Robert Louis Stevenson, tracing his life from his childhood in Edinburgh through teenage travels with his father to his time as a wild student in Edinburgh.
Part 2 covers last 14 years of his life and work, including his return to America, touring the South Pacific, and settling in Samoa. Also a newly discovered 1940's interview with step-daughter Belle Strong.
Documentary about abstract expressionist artist Willem de Kooning. This explores his late work and the allegations that they have been kept off the market to inflate their value.
Soul legend Curtis Mayfield talks to writer Caryl Phillips about his life, career and contribution to the Civil Rights Movement in America. Program includes archive footage and contributions from family, friends and colleagues.
A look at the work of television comedy writers David Croft and Jimmy Perry, featuring interviews with the men themselves, the many stars of the shows they created and other famous admirers.
Hollywood star Ginger Rogers, who died at her California home on 25 April, began her career as a teenage vaudeville dancer and became the world's highest paid film actress. Above all, she is remembered for her dancing partnership with Fred Astaire. This film, screened as an Omnibus special on 30 April, shortly after her death, looks at how the legendary musicals were made, with anecdotes by Ginger herself, and clips from Astaire's last television interview.
Robert Harris's Fatherland was a publishing phenomenon, the most successful first novel by a British author in 20 years. Now he's writing his 2nd novel, Enigma, which looks like being the publishing event of the year. Can he do it? Is he a one-hit wonder or a hardback hero?
Documentary about a pioneering American photojournalist Eve Arnold.
A moving look at the legendary dancer Rudolf Nureyev through the final decade of his life, when he struggled to continue in his role as artistic director of the Paris Opera Ballet even as he tried to keep his battle against AIDS a secret.
Documentary about the famed Polish-French painter Balthasar Klossowski de Rola, known as Balthus.
Mother's Day special.
Focuses on the Hampstead Garden Suburb set up by Dame Henrietta Barnett to rescue people from East End.
Celebrating the centenary of Lewis Carroll.
A look at the Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Berkeley California, which was conceived by Halifax entrepreneur Ian Smith, who took considerable financial risks on the venture.
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