cover image Face to Face

Face to Face

John Freeman. Gloucester, $20.95 (185pp) ISBN 978-0-563-20805-1

From 1959 to 1962 the BBC produced Face to Face , a popular TV series of in-depth interviews with prominent personalities. The show was hosted by politician and broadcast journalist Freeman, who became known for his probing style of interviewing that occasionally unveiled hidden aspects of the subject's lives. Thirteen of the original conversations are published here as well as a 1988 interview with Freeman himself conducted by British psychiatrist Anthony Clare. Many of the figures have historical significance--Martin Luther King Jr., Bertrand Russell, Dame Edith Sitwell--and all are interesting, but Freeman's style would not generate controversy today. The lack of visual material also lessens the impact of the original. A lackluster bit of TV history. Photos. (Mar.)