Is imagine... coming back?
imagine... (2003–present) on BBC One
The answer: Between seasons — last episode March 3, 2025, no return date announced yet.
40seasons
239episodes
About imagine...
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.
imagine... episode schedule
239 aired
Aired · 239
| Date | Ep. | Title |
|---|---|---|
| March 3, 2025 | S40·E1 | The Academy of Armando |
| April 16, 2024 | S39·E5 | Pet Shop Boys: Then and Now |
| December 27, 2023 | S39·E4 | French & Saunders: Pointed, Bitchy, Bitter |
| December 18, 2023 | S39·E3 | Russell T Davies: The Doctor and Me |
| December 11, 2023 | S39·E2 | The Factory: Made in Manchester |
| March 20, 2023 | S39·E1 | Stephen Frears: Director for Hire |
| November 14, 2022 | S38·E8 | Douglas Stuart: Love, Hope and Grit |
| November 7, 2022 | S38·E7 | Sonia Boyce: Finding Her Voice |
| October 31, 2022 | S38·E6 | Malorie Blackman: What If? |
| May 2, 2022 | S38·E5 | Jacob Collier: In the Room Where It Happens |
| April 25, 2022 | S38·E4 | Miriam Margolyes: Up for Grabs |
| February 21, 2022 | S38·E3 | Wayne McGregor: Dancing on the Edge |
| February 14, 2022 | S38·E2 | Labi Siffre: This Is My Song |
| February 7, 2022 | S38·E1 | Marian Keyes: My (not so) Perfect Life |
| September 9, 2021 | S37·E4 | Tom Stoppard: A Charmed Life |
| September 2, 2021 | S37·E3 | Bernardine Evaristo: Never Give Up |
| March 28, 2021 | S37·E2 | Kazuo Ishiguro: Remembering and Forgetting |
| February 9, 2021 | S37·E1 | We'll Be Back? |
| October 11, 2020 | S36·E6 | Marina Abramovic: The Ugly Duckling |
| August 6, 2020 | S36·E5 | My Name Is Kwame |
| July 30, 2020 | S36·E4 | Kate Prince: Every Move She Makes |
| July 23, 2020 | S36·E3 | Lemn Sissay: The Memory of Me |
| July 12, 2020 | S36·E2 | This House Is Full of Music |
| January 2, 2020 | S36·E1 | Lenny Henry: Young, Gifted and Black |
| September 30, 2019 | S35·E7 | EastSide Story |
| July 28, 2019 | S35·E6 | Olafur Eliasson: Miracles of Rare Device |
| July 14, 2019 | S35·E5 | Faith Ringgold: Tell It Like It Is |
| July 7, 2019 | S35·E4 | Edna O'Brien: Fearful... and Fearless |
| February 4, 2019 | S35·E3 | Bill Viola: The Road to St Paul's |
| January 28, 2019 | S35·E2 | Jo Brand: No Holds Barred |
Show next 200 of 209 earlier episodes
| January 21, 2019 | S35·E1 | James Graham: In the Room Where It Happens |
| December 19, 2018 | S34·E9 | Andrea Levy: Her Island Story |
| October 30, 2018 | S34·E8 | Becoming Cary Grant |
| October 23, 2018 | S34·E7 | Tracey Emin: Where Do You Draw The Line? |
| October 16, 2018 | S34·E6 | George Benjamin: What Do You Want to Do When You Grow Up? |
| October 9, 2018 | S34·E5 | Hockney, the Queen and the Royal Peculiar |
| July 29, 2018 | S34·E4 | Tacita Dean: Looking to See |
| July 22, 2018 | S34·E3 | Rose Wylie: This Rose is Blooming |
| May 27, 2018 | S34·E2 | Orhan Pamuk: A Strange Mind |
| May 20, 2018 | S34·E1 | Rupert Everett: Born to be Wilde |
| April 22, 2018 | S33·E7 | Habaneros: You Say You Want a Revolution? Part Two |
| April 21, 2018 | S33·E6 | Habaneros: You Say You Want a Revolution? Part One |
| March 26, 2018 | S33·E5 | Ingrid Bergman in Her Own Words |
| March 19, 2018 | S33·E4 | Andrew Lloyd Webber: Memories |
| March 5, 2018 | S33·E3 | Philip Pullman: Angels and Daemons |
| February 17, 2018 | S33·E2 | Mel Brooks: Unwrapped |
| December 2, 2017 | S33·E1 | Rachel Whiteread: Ghost in the Room |
| September 11, 2017 | S32·E4 | Cameron Mackintosh: The Musical Man |
| September 4, 2017 | S32·E3 | Alma Deutscher: Finding Cinderella |
| August 28, 2017 | S32·E2 | Margaret Atwood: You Have Been Warned! |
| July 29, 2017 | S32·E1 | Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures |
| July 15, 2017 | S31·E9 | Chris Ofili: The Caged Bird's Song |
| March 6, 2017 | S31·E8 | Alice Neel: Dr Jekyll and Mrs Hyde |
| February 28, 2017 | S31·E7 | Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise |
| February 21, 2017 | S31·E6 | She Spoke the Unspeakable |
| January 14, 2017 | S31·E5 | Listen to Me Marlon |
| December 6, 2016 | S31·E4 | The Art World's Prankster: Maurizio Cattelan |
| November 29, 2016 | S31·E3 | Serial Killers - The Women Who Write Crime Fiction |
| November 22, 2016 | S31·E2 | The Triumph and Laments of William Kentridge |
| October 29, 2016 | S31·E1 | The Seven Killings of Marlon James |
| July 31, 2016 | S30·E4 | Sir Roderick Stewart: Can't Stop Me Now |
| July 26, 2016 | S30·E3 | Georgia O'Keeffe: By Myself |
| July 19, 2016 | S30·E2 | Danger! Cornelia Parker |
| July 17, 2016 | S30·E1 | One Night in 2012 - An Imagine Special |
| December 8, 2015 | S29·E7 | Carlos Acosta: Cuba Calls |
| December 1, 2015 | S29·E6 | David Chipperfield: A Place to Be |
| November 24, 2015 | S29·E5 | The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson |
| November 17, 2015 | S29·E4 | The Last Impresario |
| November 10, 2015 | S29·E3 | My Curious Documentary |
| November 3, 2015 | S29·E2 | Antony Gormley: Being Human |
| October 27, 2015 | S29·E1 | Shylock's Ghost |
| July 21, 2015 | S28·E5 | Richard Flanagan: Life After Death |
| July 14, 2015 | S28·E4 | Toni Morrison Remembers |
| July 7, 2015 | S28·E3 | Beware of Mr Baker |
| June 30, 2015 | S28·E2 | Jeff Koons: Diary of a Seducer |
| June 23, 2015 | S28·E1 | Frank Gehry: The Architect Says |
| December 2, 2014 | S27·E7 | Colm Toibin: His Mother's Son |
| November 25, 2014 | S27·E6 | The One and Only Mike Leigh |
| November 18, 2014 | S27·E5 | Anselm Kiefer: Remembering the Future |
| November 11, 2014 | S27·E4 | Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On |
| November 11, 2014 | S27·E3 | Bette Midler: The Divine Miss M |
| November 4, 2014 | S27·E2 | The Art That Hitler Hated: The Sins of the Fathers |
| October 28, 2014 | S27·E1 | The Art That Hitler Hated |
| June 29, 2014 | S26·E4 | Monty Python: And Now for Something Rather Similar |
| May 27, 2014 | S26·E3 | Philip Roth Unleashed, Part Two |
| May 20, 2014 | S26·E2 | Philip Roth Unleashed, Part One |
| May 18, 2014 | S26·E1 | Rio 50 Degrees: Carry on CaRIOca |
| December 3, 2013 | S25·E6 | Who's Afraid of Machiavelli? |
| November 26, 2013 | S25·E5 | Hitler, the Tiger, and Me |
| November 19, 2013 | S25·E4 | Turning the Art World Inside Out |
| November 12, 2013 | S25·E3 | Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy |
| November 5, 2013 | S25·E2 | Edmund de Waal: Make Pots or Die |
| October 29, 2013 | S25·E1 | Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train A Comin' |
| July 30, 2013 | S24·E8 | Zaha Hadid: Who Dares Wins |
| July 24, 2013 | S24·E7 | Woody Allen: A Documentary - Part Two |
| July 23, 2013 | S24·E6 | Woody Allen: A Documentary - Part One |
| July 9, 2013 | S24·E5 | Rod Stewart: Can't Stop Me Now |
| July 2, 2013 | S24·E4 | McCullin |
| June 25, 2013 | S24·E3 | Vivian Maier - Who Took Nanny's Pictures? |
| April 4, 2013 | S24·E2 | David Bowie - Cracked Actor |
| March 28, 2013 | S24·E1 | Beyoncé: Life is But a Dream |
| December 18, 2012 | S23·E9 | A Beauty is Born: Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty |
| December 4, 2012 | S23·E8 | Jeanette Winterson: My Monster and Me |
| November 27, 2012 | S23·E7 | How Music Makes Us Feel |
| November 20, 2012 | S23·E6 | The Many Lives of William Klein |
| November 12, 2012 | S23·E5 | Lang Lang |
| November 12, 2012 | S23·E4 | Do or Die: Lang Lang's Story |
| November 6, 2012 | S23·E3 | Ian Rankin and the Case of the Disappearing Detective |
| October 16, 2012 | S23·E2 | Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender |
| September 19, 2012 | S23·E1 | The Fatwa - Salman's Story |
| July 24, 2012 | S22·E5 | Dancing with Titian |
| July 17, 2012 | S22·E4 | Glasgow: The Grit and the Glamour |
| July 10, 2012 | S22·E3 | Just One Falsetto |
| July 3, 2012 | S22·E2 | Paul Simon's Graceland - Under African Skies |
| June 26, 2012 | S22·E1 | Theatre of War |
| December 20, 2011 | S21·E9 | The Art Of Stand-Up (Part Two) |
| December 19, 2011 | S21·E8 | The Art Of Stand-Up (Part One) |
| December 13, 2011 | S21·E7 | Books - The Last Chapter? |
| December 6, 2011 | S21·E6 | The Lost Music of Rajasthan |
| November 22, 2011 | S21·E5 | Vidal Sassoon - A Cut Above |
| November 15, 2011 | S21·E4 | Alan Ayckbourn - Greetings from Scarborough |
| November 8, 2011 | S21·E3 | Simon and Garfunkel - The Harmony Game |
| November 1, 2011 | S21·E2 | Grayson Perry and the Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman |
| October 9, 2011 | S21·E1 | U2: From the Sky Down |
| July 26, 2011 | S20·E7 | Iraq in Venice |
| July 19, 2011 | S20·E6 | Harry Nilsson: The Missing Beatle |
| July 12, 2011 | S20·E5 | Lennon: The New York Years |
| July 5, 2011 | S20·E4 | The Pharaohs' Museum on Liberation Square |
| June 28, 2011 | S20·E3 | The Man Who Forgot How to Read and Other Stories |
| April 3, 2011 | S20·E2 | The Trouble with Tolstoy - 2. In Search of Happiness |
| March 27, 2011 | S20·E1 | The Trouble with Tolstoy - 1. At War with Himself |
| December 21, 2010 | S19·E6 | Ray Davies - Imaginary Man |
| December 14, 2010 | S19·E5 | Ben-Hur |
| December 7, 2010 | S19·E4 | Bruce Springsteen: Darkness Revisited |
| November 30, 2010 | S19·E3 | The Weird Adventures of Eadweard Muybridge |
| November 23, 2010 | S19·E2 | Smash His Camera |
| November 16, 2010 | S19·E1 | Ai Weiwei - Without Fear or Favour |
| July 6, 2010 | S18·E4 | Tom Jones - What Good Am I? |
| June 29, 2010 | S18·E3 | Growing Old Disgracefully |
| June 22, 2010 | S18·E2 | Art Is Child's Play |
| June 15, 2010 | S18·E1 | Nigel Kennedy's Polish Adventure |
| May 23, 2010 | S17·E2 | The Stones in Exile |
| April 5, 2010 | S17·E1 | Vincent Van Gogh: Painted with Words |
| December 22, 2009 | S16·E6 | Scrabble - A Night on the Tiles |
| December 15, 2009 | S16·E5 | Placido Domingo: The Time of My Life |
| December 8, 2009 | S16·E4 | Joan Baez... How Sweet the Sound |
| December 1, 2009 | S16·E3 | Own Art |
| November 24, 2009 | S16·E2 | Dame Shirley Bassey: The Girl from Tiger Bay |
| November 17, 2009 | S16·E1 | The Year of Anish Kapoor |
| July 28, 2009 | S15·E8 | Art in Troubled Times: Part II – The Home Front |
| July 25, 2009 | S15·E10 | The Smoking Diaries Update |
| July 21, 2009 | S15·E6 | Art in Troubled Times: A New Deal for Art |
| July 14, 2009 | S15·E5 | The Colourful Mr Eggleston |
| July 7, 2009 | S15·E4 | Rufus Wainwright, Prima Donna |
| June 30, 2009 | S15·E3 | David Hockney: A Bigger Picture |
| June 23, 2009 | S15·E2 | Save the Last Dance for Me |
| April 5, 2009 | S15·E1 | Yes We Can! The Lost Art Of Oratory |
| December 2, 2008 | S14·E10 | Heavy Metal in Baghdad |
| November 25, 2008 | S14·E9 | Richard Serra: Man of Steel |
| November 18, 2008 | S14·E8 | How an Orchestra Saved Venezuela's Children |
| November 11, 2008 | S14·E7 | Let There Be Light |
| October 28, 2008 | S14·E6 | Jay-Z: He Came, He Saw, He Conquered |
| October 21, 2008 | S14·E5 | A Love Story |
| October 19, 2008 | S14·E4 | The Story of the Guitar - This Time it's Personal |
| October 14, 2008 | S14·E3 | Dangerous Liaisons: When Akram met Juliette |
| October 12, 2008 | S14·E2 | The Story of the Guitar - Out of the Frying Pan |
| October 5, 2008 | S14·E1 | The Story of the Guitar - In The Beginning |
| July 8, 2008 | S13·E7 | Love, Loss and Anthony Minghella |
| July 1, 2008 | S13·E6 | Werner Herzog: Beyond Reason |
| June 24, 2008 | S13·E5 | A Wild Sheep Chase: In Search of Haruki Murakami |
| June 17, 2008 | S13·E4 | A Trip to Asia: On the Road with the Berlin Philharmonic |
| June 10, 2008 | S13·E3 | Annie Leibovitz - Life Through a Lens |
| June 3, 2008 | S13·E2 | Oliver Sacks: Tales of Music and the Brain |
| May 27, 2008 | S13·E1 | Doris Lessing - The Reluctant Heroine |
| March 4, 2008 | S12·E8 | Marc Newson: Urban Spaceman |
| February 26, 2008 | S12·E7 | Richard Rogers, Inside Out |
| February 19, 2008 | S12·E6 | The Secret of Life |
| November 20, 2007 | S12·E5 | How to Get on in the Art World |
| November 13, 2007 | S12·E4 | Louise Bourgeois: Spiderwoman |
| November 6, 2007 | S12·E3 | Helvetica |
| October 30, 2007 | S12·E2 | Bollywood's Big B |
| October 23, 2007 | S12·E1 | Henry Perkins: Bolshoi Boy |
| July 4, 2007 | S11·E5 | Damon and Jamie's Excellent Adventure |
| May 29, 2007 | S11·E4 | It's The Surreal Thing |
| May 22, 2007 | S11·E3 | Scott Walker |
| May 15, 2007 | S11·E2 | Stealing Klimt |
| May 8, 2007 | S11·E1 | Gilbert and George: No Surrender |
| December 27, 2006 | S10·E10 | The Beatles in Love |
| December 19, 2006 | S10·E9 | And Then There Was Television |
| December 19, 2006 | S10·E8 | www.herecomeseverybody.co.uk |
| November 28, 2006 | S10·E7 | Being a Diva |
| November 21, 2006 | S10·E6 | Hans Holbein, International Man of Mystery |
| November 14, 2006 | S10·E5 | Who Cares About Art? |
| November 7, 2006 | S10·E4 | The Movie Brats, Take Two |
| October 31, 2006 | S10·E3 | A Play for Today |
| October 24, 2006 | S10·E2 | Velazquez, The Painter's Painter |
| October 17, 2006 | S10·E1 | Peter Pan, a Hard Act to Follow |
| June 13, 2006 | S9·E4 | A Picture of the Painter Howard Hodgkin |
| June 6, 2006 | S9·E3 | The Ingenious Thomas Heatherwick |
| May 30, 2006 | S9·E2 | Yusuf, the Artist Formerly Known as Cat Stevens |
| May 23, 2006 | S9·E1 | Being Hamlet |
| February 7, 2006 | S8·E4 | Sitting Comfortably |
| January 31, 2006 | S8·E3 | A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Studio |
| January 24, 2006 | S8·E2 | Andy Warhol: Denied |
| January 17, 2006 | S8·E1 | Sweet Home New Orleans |
| December 14, 2005 | S7·E4 | Rhythm Is It! |
| December 7, 2005 | S7·E3 | Chuck Close, Close Up |
| November 30, 2005 | S7·E2 | Amos Oz: The Conscience of Israel |
| November 23, 2005 | S7·E1 | Elgar and the Missing Concerto |
| June 29, 2005 | S6·E2 | Frida Kahlo |
| June 22, 2005 | S6·E1 | Fantastic Mr Dahl |
| June 6, 2005 | S6·E3 | Being a Concert Pianist |
| May 25, 2005 | S5·E3 | A Short History of Tall Buildings - Episode 3 |
| May 18, 2005 | S5·E2 | A Short History of Tall Buildings - Episode 2 |
| May 11, 2005 | S5·E1 | A Short History of Tall Buildings - Episode 1 |
| December 22, 2004 | S4·E5 | Antonio Pappano: A Year at the Opera |
| December 15, 2004 | S4·E4 | Marlon Brando |
| December 8, 2004 | S4·E3 | Bruce Nauman: The Godfather of Modern Art |
| December 1, 2004 | S4·E2 | Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson's Smile |
| November 24, 2004 | S4·E1 | Arthur Miller: Finishing the Picture |
| July 7, 2004 | S3·E6 | Simon Gray's Smoking Diaries |
| June 30, 2004 | S3·E5 | Unsuitable for Children? |
| June 23, 2004 | S3·E4 | Dirty But Clean Pierre |
| June 16, 2004 | S3·E3 | Saint John Coltrane |
| June 9, 2004 | S3·E2 | Sitting for Lucian Freud |
| June 2, 2004 | S3·E1 | The Mysterious Mr Hopper |
| December 17, 2003 | S2·E6 | An A-Z of the OED |
| December 10, 2003 | S2·E5 | From Pencils to Pixels |
| December 3, 2003 | S2·E4 | The World According to Parr |
| November 26, 2003 | S2·E3 | Entertaining Mr Soane |
…and 9 earlier episodes not shown. Long-running show.