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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode guide us through the expanding universe of the moving image

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode guide us through the expanding universe of the moving image revealing fascinating links and hidden gems from cinema and TV to streaming and beyond.

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Screenshot: Watergate on Screen

Watergate on Screen

BBC Radio 4 - Screenshot, Watergate on Screen

Fifty years on from the Watergate scandal, Ellen and Mark explore its legacy on screen.

In 1972, a break-in at the Watergate complex caused a cover-up that toppled Nixon. Ellen and Mark explore its enduring screen presence with Michael Sheen and Armando Iannucci.

Fifty years ago a break-in at the Watergate complex in Washington DC caused a cover-up that ultimately cost Richard Nixon the presidency. From the moment the hearings into the scandal were televised, there has been a massive audience for all things Watergate. There have been feature films, plays, podcasts, online comedy series, documentaries and TV dramas. Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode investigate the lasting legacy of Watergate on screen. 

Actor and comedian Harry Shearer has been playing Tricky Dicky since the very start of his career. He tells Mark about turning the president's tape recordings into verbatim comedy-drama Nixon's The One. 

Over a series of TV interviews the late Sir David Frost got President Nixon to admit that he had acted illegally and let the American people down. Mark talks to Michael Sheen who played the British broadcaster on both stage and screen in Frost/Nixon.  

Meanwhile, Ellen explores politically focused TV and film with the creator of The Thick of It and Veep, Armando Iannucci and screenwriter Liz Hannah, whose films The Post and Long Shot focus on journalism and politics.

And journalist and broadcaster Martha Kearney gives her Viewing Notes.

Producer: Marilyn Rust

A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

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