Alan Garner was the author of The Owl Service, one of the key texts within the recent fad for the English Wyrd. This early 1980’s documentary features Garner talking about his life and influences, and comes loaded with narrated excerpts from his books and eerie musical interludes and recorded screams that are curiously reminiscent of The League Of Gentlemen. Other scenes of Garner wandering around his key sites of inspiration – mainly around Alderley Edge in Cheshire – look like they’re from the early days of pop videos, with shaky hand-held footage and sudden zooms into blacked-out windows and strange rock formations. Somehow it all adds to the sincere intention of introducing Garner’s unusual body of work to the unsuspecting viewer.
Interview with punk poet and musisicn John Cooper Clarke
Dreams Never End; ICB; Chosen Time; Denial; Ceremony; Truth - performed by New Order live at Granada TV studios
Hosted by Mike Harding, this Granada TV program captures the "Full House" line-up of Fairport - Dave Swarbrick, Richard Thompson, Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg and Dave Mattacks with guest Linda Thompson - in the period when the band was in hiatus. They reformed with a somewhat different line-up in 1985 and continue to this day.
Documentary exploring Manchester music phenomena of the late 80s and early 90s. It includes live footage and interviews of Happy Mondays, 808 State, A Guy Called Gerald, Inspiral Carpets and Northside.
February 1992 concert in Hamburg includes old hits such as "Holding Back the Years" as well as tracks from the big-selling album, Stars. Lead performer and songwriter Mick Hucknall is interviewed.
A new series of the Granada arts show begins by exploring contemporary sculpture in Zimbabwe. In the townships near Harare, internationally acclaimed stone sculptors - Shona tribesmen - find shapes in the stones as we might find faces in clouds.
German singer Ute Lemper explores the cabaret of the late Marlene Dietrich and Edith Piaf and performs the songs the pair made famous, including "Lilli Marlene", "Falling in Love Again" and "Non, je ne regrette rien".
The Brodsky Quartet performs.