Sunday Feature is a Documentary programme.

Image for Documentary programme "Sunday Feature"

Next Show Times

Seasons in Detail

Sunday Feature: Anything But Banal - The Fascination of the Villain

Series 1, episode 0

Paul Allen explores the allure of evil through the great villains, from Hollywood baddies to Shakespearean antiheroes, with notable British actors, directors and writers from stage and screen. He learns the art of playing the villain from Rory Kinnear, Iago to Adrian Lester's Othello at the National Theatre in 2013 year. Kinnear disagrees with Coleridge's description of Iago as a 'motiveless malignity'. Jonathan Slinger reveals that Macbeth and Richard III, too, have strong reasons for their violent actions. Nina Kristoffersen explains why, though Medea murders her children, she is not simply a monster. Maxine Peake describes how she researched for her performance of Myra Hindley, and the impact this had on her. Director Richard Eyre explains how a supposed villain can be the victim of a villainous society and playwright Alan Ayckbourn considers the delight and moral necessity of creating venal characters. Plus Judi Dench and Ian McKellen, as well as Kate Fleetwood, Anna Maxwell Martin and Sam Troughton on villains in King Lear