Concorde: A Supersonic Story
01:40 am - 02:40 am, Thursday, April 23 on BBC Four (9)
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About this Broadcast
As new £19million museum Aerospace Bristol prepares to open, this documentary takes a look at the life of the most glamorous plane ever built. Rare footage tells the forgotten row between the French and British governments over the name of Concorde, which threatened to derail the whole project. Engineers, flight technicians and frequent fliers tell the supersonic story, aided by politician Michael Heseltine and actress Joan Collins, while a former passenger recalls sharing an intimate moment with the Rolling Stones. Narrated by Sophie Okonedo
HD
subtitles
16x9
sign-language
Documentary
News/Current Affairs
Cast & Crew
Sophie Okonedo
(Narrator)
Michael Heseltine
(Contributor)
Joan Collins
(Contributor)
Alastair McKee
(Producer)
Diana Hare
(Executive producer)
Maggie Latham
(Executive producer)
More Information
Did You Know..
Sophie Okonedo
(Narrator)
Born:
January 01, 1969
in
London
Best Known For:
Her role in Hotel Rwanda.
Early-life:
Born on January 1, 1969, in London, to a Jewish mother and Nigerian father. He was a government worker who returned to his native country when Sophie was five, leaving her mother to raise her. She left school at 16 and worked on a clothing stall at Portobello Market. She later attended a writing workshop run by Hanif Kureishi, but discovered she was better at acting in plays than writing them, prompting her to study at Rada. Upon graduating, she embarked on a series of theatrical roles.
Career:
Throughout the 1990s, Okonedo steadily built up a body of TV credits, including appearances in Casualty, The Bill and The Governor. She got her break in films with a small role in 1995 Jim Carrey vehicle Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. She also featured in The Jackal and Mad Cows, but it was Stephen Frears' thriller Dirty Pretty Things that people really began to take notice. More TV work followed in Clocking Off, Never Never and Spooks, before an Oscar-nominated performance in Hotel Rwanda. Other projects include Doctor Who, Tsumani: The Aftermath, The Secret Life of Bees, Skin, Criminal Justice, and Mrs Mandela.
Quote:
'I'm pretty secure about who I am. Anything that's truthful I'm not ashamed of.'
Michael Heseltine
(Contributor)
Born:
March 21, 1933
in
Swansea
Best Known For:
Being a Conservative MP.
Early-life:
Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine was born in Swansea on March 21, 1933. His father was an Army colonel. At school he wasn't very good at games and used the time to sell lemonade instead. Always interested in politics, he founded the Blue Ribbon Club at Pembroke College, Oxford. After graduating, he attempted to train as an accountant, but failed to qualify, before doing his National Service. In 1959, he left the forces to contest that year's General Election. He was eventually elected as MP for Tavistock, in Devon, in 1966.
Career:
In 1974, he won the Henley seat, and under Edward Heath's government, rose through the junior ranks. He was appointed Shadow Industry Secretary in the Conservative's shadow cabinet between 1974 and 1979, and it was during this time he famously swung the Mace at Labour MPs after they sang the Red Flag, gaining him the nickname Tarzan. When Margaret Thatcher came to power, he was given the office of Secretary of State for the Environment, before moving to Defence in 1983. Three years later, he resigned over the Westland affair. In the 1990s, he returned to the front benches, but when Labour regained power in 1997, ill health prevented him from standing for the Tory party leadership. Away from Parliament, he owns Haymarket publishers and is a keen gardener.
Quote:
On his hair: 'I let it grow long because I resent the cost of cutting it.'
Trivia:
He became a Lord in 2001, taking the title Baron Heseltine of Thenford.
Joan Collins
(Contributor)
Born:
May 23, 1933
in
London
Best Known For:
Playing superbitch Alexis in Dynasty.
Early-life:
Joan Henrietta Collins was born on May 23, 1933, in London. She's the daughter of theatrical agent and showbiz impresario Joe Collins and his wife Elsa, and made her stage debut aged nine in Ibsen's A Doll's House at the Arts Theatre. Collins later enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and after just 18 months of study was snapped up by the Rank Organisation. Her sister Jackie later made a name for herself as a novelist.
Career:
Collins' film debut came in 1951's Lady Godiva Rides Again. Later in the decade she moved to Hollywood to make more movies and US TV series, including Star Trek, The Man From UNCLE and Batman. She also starred in low-budget horrors such as Fear in the Night, and Tales That Witness Madness, and a series of famous adverts alongside Leonard Rossiter. The Stud and The Bitch - movie versions of her sister's novels - turned her into a sex symbol. She became an international star in 1981 thanks to glossy soap Dynasty. Since then she's starred in various TV movies and mini-series appeared on stage and turned to writing. She was awarded an OBE in 2007 for her lifetime contribution to the arts and her charity work and was made a Dame in the New Year's honours list.
Quote:
'After a certain age, you get the face you deserve.'
Trivia:
In 2013, she published her autobiography, Passion for Life. Collins is the godmother of model Cara Delevingne.
Alastair McKee
(Producer)
Diana Hare
(Executive producer)
Maggie Latham
(Executive producer)
