Original version

Formerly part of a wider BBC One South East region that included London and part of the South region. Separated from BBC One London 2001-09-03 following reorganisation of the South East region.

BBC One South East

imagine...

Documentaries

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

Arts series edited and presented by Alan Yentob.

The biggest names from the world of art, film, music, literature and dance. Alan Yentob gets close up with those shaping today's cultural world.

BBC Four

Simulcast of network BBC One in high definition. From 03/11/2010

BBC One HD

The BBC West region started on 1st September 1957 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One West.

BBC One West

The BBC South West region started on 20th April 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South West.

BBC One South West

The BBC South region started on 5th January 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South.

BBC One South

BBC One London

London

BBC One West Midlands

BBC One region covering Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

BBC One East Midlands

The BBC East region started on 1st May 1959 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One East.

BBC One East

BBC One North West

The BBC North East & Cumbria region started in 1959 (tbc) as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One North East & Cumbria.

BBC One North East & Cumbria

BBC One Yorkshire

BBC One Oxfordshire

BBC One Cambridgeshire

BBC One Channel Islands

BBC One Yorks & Lincs

BBC One Scotland

Scotland

BBC Northern Ireland region started on 19th April 1955 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One Northern Ireland.

BBC One Northern Ireland

BBC One Wales

Wales

BBC Four HD

imagine...: Summer 2011: The Trouble with Tolstoy

Alan Yentob

Ross Wilson

Fiona Morris

imagine...: Summer 2011: The Trouble with Tolstoy: Part 2: In Search of Happiness

In Search of Happiness

Part 2 Part 2: In Search of Happiness

Summer 2011

BBC One - imagine..., Summer 2011, The Trouble with Tolstoy, In Search of Happiness

Alan Yentob follows Tolstoy through the tortured second half of his life.

Alan Yentob follows Tolstoy through the tortured second half of his life as he transformed from aristocrat to anarchist and turned his back on his wife.

Alan Yentob continues his train ride through Tolstoy's Russia, examining how Russia's great novelist became her great troublemaker.

The success of War and Peace brought Tolstoy fame, wealth and a massive mid-life crisis. Alan follows the writer through the tortured second half of his life as he transformed himself from aristocrat to anarchist and turned his back on his novels, his possessions and finally his wife of 48 years. 

Alan travels east into the remote emptiness of the Russian steppe, through the dark pages of Tolstoy's great romantic novel Anna Karenina, on to the small town where Anna takes her life, and then on the pilgrimage to the spectacular monastery where Tolstoy's spiritual quest began. 

Using extraordinary early film of Tolstoy, we witness the tumultuous events of Tolstoy's final years and his passionate relationship with his disciple Chertkov, the man his wife called 'the devil incarnate'. 

Finally, Alan retraces Tolstoy's flight from home at the age of 82, a journey that ended in a remote railway station. Heartbreaking archive footage shows his wife Sofya being turned away from the deathbed of her husband. So great was Tolstoy's influence at the time of his death that the government feared the news would spark revolution. 

Contributors include leading Russian commentators, as well as AN Wilson and the author of a Tolstoy biography, Rosamund Bartlett.

imagine...: Summer 2011

The Trouble with Tolstoy

BBC One

BBC One is a TV channel that started broadcasting on the 20th April 1964. It replaced BBC Television.

BBC 1

BBC1

Alan Yentob examines how Russia's greatest novelist became her greatest troublemaker.

Alan Yentob takes an epic train ride through Tolstoy's Russia, examining how Russia's greatest novelist became her greatest troublemaker.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

imagine...

Summer 2011

The Trouble with Tolstoy

Part 2: In Search of Happiness

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Brand

Series

Series

BBC One South East

About BBC One