SIXTH (AND FINAL) CENTURY

For the past five weeks I've been shamelessly plugging the repeat broadcasts of my BBC Radio 2 series, David Puttnam's Century of Cinema.

We made those shows back 1999 to mark what was then the first century of cinema and in the final programme (which was a kind of 'state of the union' summary of where the movies had got to on the eve of the new millennium) David Puttnam expressed the hope that if we'd done a good enough job, the BBC might invite us back to present the sequel.

Well, tonight you can hear that sequel as David and I cogitate on what's been going on in the cinema over the past decade: the digital revolution, the decline of star-name box-office champs and the rise of the franchise; the continuing success of independent filmmaking (with input from Robert Redford at Sundance) and the ongoing importance of Oscars and BAFTAS - despite Sunday's marathon where Jonathan Woss delivered a tediously unfunny script, where most of the presenters had to peer helplessly into the back of the auditorium of the Royal Opera House in a attempt to read the auto-cue and Vanessa Redgrave sadly made a speech that was neither amusing nor politically bonkers.

We'll be talking about Pixar and Potter (Harry that is, with a visit to the studio where they're busy working on the seventh film in the series); about why Twitter is the new word-of-mouth that can decide, in just one day, the fate of the movie and whether - this time - 3D really is here to stay!


You can hear David Puttnam's Century of Cinema - 'Reel 6: The Sequel' - on BBC Radio 2 at 10:30 pm, and, if you miss the transmission this evening, it can be heard again for the next seven days via the BBC iPlayer.

And, until the transmission of tonight's episode, you've still a few hours left to catch 'Reel 5: The British Are Coming', looking at the British film industry.

FIFTH CENTURY

I know it's hard to believe, but there's only two more episodes of David Puttnam's Century of Cinema, to go!

Next week: a brand new programme bringing the story of the movies up to date with a look at what's happened in the decade since the series was first broadcast.

Meanwhile, there are seats in all parts for the fifth installment of our centennial celebration of film, in which David Puttnam and I look at the British film industry.

You'll hear Ken Annakin and Richard Curtis talking about the Ealing studios and their classic comedies like The Ladykillers and Kind Hearts and Coronets; Richard Attenborough recollecting the work of the Crown Film Unit founded during WWII; Michael Caine on The Italian Job and Get Carter and Dirk Bogarde remembering the revolutionary impact of a new style of gritty filmmaking which began with The Blue Lamp and the groundbreaking - and heroic - Victim, the story about a gay barrister being blackmailed (made at a time when homosexuality was still illegal) as well as, in lighter vein, the 'Doctor' series that was a prelude to the rather more raucous Carry On films.

We also look at the Bond franchise and talk to Michael Apted who, when we made this series, was directing The World is Not Enough.

You can hear David Puttnam's Century of Cinema - 'Reel 5: The British Are Coming!' - on BBC Radio 2 at 10:30, and, if you miss the transmission this evening, it can be heard again for seven days via the BBC iPlayer.

And, until the transmission of tonight's episode, you've still a few hours left to catch 'Reel 4: Something for Everyone', which looks at some of the most popular and enduring movie genres.

FOURTH CENTURY

Yes! It's that time of the week again when -- yawn, yawn! -- I invite you to tune into David Puttnam's Century of Cinema, the fourth episode of which airs on BBC Radio 2 this evening.

When Lord Puttnam and I made this series, back 1999, it was broadcast as celebration of the first century of cinema and this installment finds us discussing some of the tried and tested popular film genres that were the life-blood of the movie industry over those years.

We look at westerns, musicals, comedies, epics, sci-fi films and war movies, with Fred Zinnerman talking to me about High Noon and why he cast Gary Cooper in the role of the beleagured sheriff and Robert Wise telling me why he didn't cast Claude Raines as Klaatu the alien in The Day the Earth Stood Still -- hands up anyone who can remember Klaatu's three-word message! -- and why The Sound of Music is the perfect musical. Ken Annakin recalls working on The Longest Day and Richard (Notting Hill) Curtis pays tribute to the comedy of the Marx Brothers.

Other movies that get a viewing include Apocalypse Now, Saving Private Ryan, Lawrence of Arabia and Some Like It Hot while David himself recalls the triumph that was Chariots of Fire.

You can hear David Puttnam's Century of Cinema - 'Reel 4: Something for Everyone' - on BBC Radio 2 at 10:30, and, if you miss the transmission this evening, it can be heard again for seven days via the BBC iPlayer.

And, until the transmission of tonight's episode, you've still a few hours left to catch 'Reel 3: Hollywood Incorporated', which looks at the great studios, their history and their movies.

THIRD CENTURY

Your weekly reminder to tune into David Puttnam's Century of Cinema, the third episode of which will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 tonight.

As you will have gathered, when the series originally hit the airwaves in 1999 it was as a celebration of the first 100 years of cinema and in this episode we talk specifically about the Hollywood film factories where so many of the century's greatest movies were made.

MGM it was said had more stars than there were in the heavens above, and like all of the other great studios - Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount, Universal, Warner Brothers, RKO Pictures, Columbia, Walt Disney - they each had their hallmark style and stars.

Margaret O'Brien, Dirk Bogarde and Angela Lansbury tell us what it was like to work under the studio system and we find out that the tycoons who ran these studio came from just about every trade and business other than filmmaking.

Nevertheless this motley crowd of immigrant glove-salesmen and junk-dealers with such improbably namers as Samuel Goldfish and Edgar and Archibald Selwyn (the men behind Goldwyn Pictures) became the great studio bosses who were, as David Puttnam says, "responsible for America's sense of self-identity..."

The question in 1999 - and it is still relevant today - is whether those studio names with their famous logos and fanfares mean what they once meant back in those formative years of movie-making.

You can hear David Puttnam's Century of Cinema - 'Reel 3: Hollywood Incorporated' - on BBC Radio 2 at 10:30, and, if you miss the transmission this evening, it can be heard again for seven days via the BBC iPlayer.

And, until the transmission of tonight's episode, you've still a few hours left to catch 'Reel 2: Right Directions', which explores the talents of the people who make the movies.

SECOND CENTURY

In the second part of David Puttnam's Century of Cinema, broadcast on BBC Radio 2 tonight, DP and I look at the filmmakers.

The series originally aired in 1999 to celebrate the first 100 years of cinema and in this episode we talked to the people who make the movies: writers, directors, composers and producers.

Among those featured in the programme are writer/director Woody Allen, writer Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill), producer Charles Gordon (Die Hard, Waterworld), directors Stephen Spielberg, Fred Zinnerman (From Here to Eternity, A Man for All Seasons) and Robert Wise (The Sound of Music, The Day the Earth Stood Still) and, from archive, Alfred Hitchcock and Frank Capra.

You can hear David Puttnam's Century of Cinema - 'Reel 2: Right Directions' - on BBC Radio 2 at 10:30, and, if you miss the transmission this evening, it can be heard again for seven days via the BBC iPlayer.

And, until the transmission of tonight's episode, you've still a few hours left to catch 'Reel 1: Star Billing'.