The literary programme returns for afour-part series with a profile of novelist, artist and poet Mervyn Peake , whose
Gormenghast trilogy of grotesque fantasies set in an imaginary world is widely regarded as a neglected masterpiece.
Born in China in 1911, Peake later lived in an artists' colony on the Channel island of Sark. He suffered intermittent nervous breakdowns - exacerbated by a trip to Belsen as a war artist in 1945 - and, from his forties to his death in 1968, was afflicted by a degenerative brain disease. Contributors include Peake's three children, explorer Sir
Ranulph Fiennes and Quentin Crisp. Narrated by Julian Glover. ProducerVanessa Engle; Executive producer Roger Thompson
Followed by Conversation Piece Fred Watson 's sculpture Inside, Outside. Subtitled