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Our Contested Land

Simon Schama looks at artists who鈥檝e explored why the landscape matters to people's sense of who they are. From Philip Larkin to Seamus Heaney and Derek Jarman. Featuring U2鈥檚 Bono.

Simon Schama explores the work of artists who have taken inspiration from the British landscape, and expressed how vital it is to people's sense of who they are.

He takes a look at Philip Larkin鈥檚 extraordinary poem Going, Going, conceived at the exact moment Britain and the world were waking up to the environmental cost of progress; the poetry of Seamus Heaney, which sought to find common ground in the Irish landscape in the midst of the violence of the Troubles; and the agitprop play The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black Black Oil, which asked profound questions about the Scottish people's relationship with their own land.

Simon also visits Derek Jarman鈥檚 extraordinary garden in Dungeness, created as he was dying from Aids, which touches on a universal need to connect with nature as a consolation for mortality. And there's an interview with U2鈥檚 Bono about his deep affection for Seamus Heaney鈥檚 poetry and the role of culture in the run-up to the historic Good Friday Agreement.

Release date:

59 minutes

On TV

Wed 22 Jan 2025 21:00

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Simon Schama
Interviewed Guest Bono
Interviewed Guest Joanne Coates
Interviewed Guest Dolina MacLennan
Interviewed Guest Ian Hay
Director Luke McMahon
Executive Producer Charlotte Sacher
Executive Producer Nicolas Kent

Broadcast