PETER USTINOV 'S family were architects and theatre designers in Leningrad when it was still St Petersburg. He himself is proud to report that he was conceived there! NATALIE WOOD 'S family also comes from Russia and she speaks the language fluently.
For the first programme in BBC2's special Russian Season, Peter and Natalie take us on a vivid and unconventional tour of the Hermitage, one of the world's greatest treasure houses of art and history, housed in the beautiful Winter Palace on the banks of the Neva. We see fabulous golden sculpture fashioned by the Scythians over 2,000 years ago; great Rembrandts, Raphaels and Titians traced down all over Europe by Catherine the Great; superb early Picassos and Matisses, priceless gems, an enormous Wedgwood dinner service, the famous gilded peacock clock, all magnificently displayed in rooms which themselves are works of art.
Film cameraman CLIVE TICKNER
Film sound JUDY FREEMAN , PETER RANN Film editor PAUL O'DELL
Associate producers TANYA BRUCE-LOCKHART and ALFRED MARIA-SCHWARZER
Script DEREK BAILEY and JUDY MARI. E
Executive producers WILLIAM STORKE (NBC) and HUMPHREY BURTON (BBC)
Directed and produced by DEREK BAILEY A LANDSEER film for
Lothar Bock Associates , Munich