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Unfinished Masterpieces

Alastair Sooke explores the appeal of unfinished works of art. He talks to those who have attempted to finish them and those who believe that any such task is impossible.

Alastair Sooke explores the mysterious appeal of unfinished works of art. From Dickens's unfinished The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Jane Austen's Sanditon to Coleridge's Kubla Khan, he talks to those who have attempted to finish these literary enigmas and those who believe that any such task is impossible. In a film that picks through literature's leftovers, Sooke explores the moral dilemmas as well as the commercial opportunities finishing presents. And he considers how, in the modern era, artists have purposefully left their work unfinished. Paul Morley, Mark Lawson, John Mullan, Robert McKee, Sarah Churchwell, Gwyneth Hughes, Andrew Motion and Mike Figgis amongst others, help Sooke work his way through a never-ending story.

50 minutes

Last on

Sun 3 May 2015 21:10GMT

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