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.
Omnibus (Season 31)
Wild Swans (Episode 1)
Air date: 1993-09-28
Korda: I Don't Grow on Trees: Part One (Episode 2)
Air date: 1993-10-05
Nina Simone -The Legend (Episode 3)
Air date: 1993-10-12
Korda: I Don't Grow on Trees: Part Two (Episode 4)
Air date: 1993-10-12
Sweet Home Chicago (Episode 5)
Air date: 1993-10-19
Runtime: 46 min
Overview: When southern blues musicians moved north in the years after the war Chicago was an obvious destination, offering day jobs in Industry and night work in the clubs. Of the record labels reflecting this migration the most successful was Chess, and the fascinating story of Chicago blues is therefore also a procession through the tiny Chess studios, from Muddy Waters to the Roiling Stones, who took their name from one of Waters's songs and helped spread the music to Europe. Mick Jagger talks of his debt to Chicago blues, and the great survivors like Buddy Guy tell their own tale, interspersed with priceless archive footage of artists like Chuck Berry , Howlin' Wolf and Little Walter.
Houdini (Episode 6)
Air date: 1993-10-26
The Magic Lantern (Episode 7)
Air date: 1993-11-02
The Russian Striptease (Episode 8)
Air date: 1993-11-09
Everything You Wanted to Know About Conductors But Were Afraid to Ask (Episode 9)
Air date: 1993-11-23
The Boy Next Door (Episode 10)
Air date: 1993-11-30
Overview: A portrait of Boy George. UK telly. Early 90s. Crying Game US release era.
Who Killed Tchaikovsky (Episode 11)
Air date: 1993-12-07
Overview: 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.
Sebastião Salgado: Looking Back at You (Episode 12)
Air date: 1993-12-14
Runtime: 51 min
Overview: A documentary that visits Brazil, India and Paris to explore the work of photojournalist Sebastião Salgado, who had been working for seven years on a huge project recording the lives of manual workers throughout the world.
Sunset Boulevard (Episode 13)
Air date: 1993-12-21
Overview: A look behind the scenes of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical version of the classic movie 'Sunset Boulevard'
Freeze, But Is It Art? (Episode 14)
Air date: 1994-02-22
The Piero Trail 1 (Episode 15)
Air date: 1994-02-23
Mister Abbott's Broadway (Episode 16)
Air date: 1994-03-01
The Piero Trail 2 (Episode 17)
Air date: 1994-03-02
Vikram Seth: A Suitable Boy (Episode 18)
Air date: 1994-03-08
Overview: Profile of the novelist Vikram Seth, including footage from a family reunion in Delhi.
Hildegard (Episode 19)
Air date: 1994-03-29
Bill T Jones (Episode 20)
Air date: 1994-04-05
Gielgud: Scenes from 9 Decades (Episode 21)
Air date: 1994-04-12
Joan Littlewood's Lovely War (Episode 22)
Air date: 1994-04-19
Sir John Betjeman (Episode 23)
Air date: 1994-04-26
Duke Ellington 1: Reminiscing in Tempo (Episode 24)
Air date: 1994-05-03
Duke Ellington 2 (Episode 25)
Air date: 1994-05-10
Robert Stephens: Every Inch a King (Episode 26)
Air date: 1994-05-24
