About this season
Face To Face is a BBC television series originally broadcast between 1959 and 1962, created and produced by Hugh Burnett, which ran for 35 episodes. The insightful and often probing style of the interviewer, former politician John Freeman, separated it from other programmes of the time. The series was revived in 1989 with Jeremy Isaacs as the interviewer. This version ran until 1998.
Episodes (18)
1. Lord Birkett
Aired 4 February 1959 • 30 min
2. Bertrand Russell
Aired 4 March 1959 • 43 min
Philosopher Bertrand Russell is the second guest on the series, beginning the interview by reading from a fictitious obituary he'd written for himself. Among the topics discussed are guilt, sex, money, childhood, prison and loss of faith.
3. Dame Edith Sitwell
Aired 6 May 1959 • 30 min
John Freeman interviews the first of just two female guests in the series - poet Dame Edith Sitwell. The Dame discusses her unhappy childhood, her working relationship with Dylan Thomas, and her unexpected diversion into Hollywood.
4. Lord Boothby
Aired 27 May 1959 • 30 min
5. Nubar Gulbenkian
Aired 15 July 1959 • 30 min
6. Adlai E. Stevenson
Aired 22 July 1959 • 30 min
Adlai Stevenson relives his early life in journalism and law, and discusses losing two Presidential elections to Dwight Eisenhower. Among his other reflections are how others see him, and how he sees himself.
7. John Huston
Aired 1 September 1959 • 30 min
A cigar-puffing John Huston discusses his directing career, his desire to make films under the United Nations, his relationship with his father and fighting with Errol Flynn.
8. Professor Jung
Aired 22 October 1959 • 38 min
John Freeman interviews Carl Jung at his Zürich home, asking the psychologist questions about consciousness, his friendship with Freud, his thoughts on death, and his own self-analysis.
9. Lord Morrison of Lambeth
Aired 18 December 1959 • 30 min
10. His Majesty King Hussein of Jordan
Aired 1 January 1960 • 30 min
11. Lord Shawcross Q.C.
Aired 10 January 1960 • 30 min
12. Tony Hancock
Aired 7 February 1960 • 30 min
Tony Hancock engages in self reflection, looking back at his childhood, his need to work, his health issues, and whether he could ever truly be happy.
13. Henry Moore
Aired 21 February 1960 • 30 min
14. Dr. Hastings Banda
Aired 22 April 1960 • 30 min
15. Augustus John
Aired 15 May 1960 • 30 min
16. Sir Roy Welensky
Aired 29 May 1960 • 30 min
17. Stirling Moss
Aired 12 June 1960 • 30 min
Racing driver Stirling Moss is called upon to ponder his career. Customary for the series, the questions go deeper than usual interviews: Does he think about mortality? Does he feel close to God? What about the breakdown of his marriage?
18. Evelyn Waugh
Aired 26 June 1960 • 30 min
Evelyn Waugh takes part in the series due to what he claims is "poverty", and that "everyone thinks ill of the BBC". Among the topics under discussion are religion, truth in fiction, and Waugh's own periods of mental illness.