And The Academy Award Goes To...

Paul Gambaccini reveals how David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia won the Best Picture Award in 1963.

But - away from the red carpet and the bright lights and the tearful speeches - what do the Academy's decisions tell us about the state of America?

Are the awards a hotline to the American psyche, revealing an array of political, cultural and social calculations - conscious or unconscious - behind what are presented as purely artistic judgements.

Producers: Sara Jane Hall and Paul Kobrak

First broadcast on Radio 4 in February 2008.

Paul Gambaccini discovers how David Lean's epic won the Best Picture Award in 1963.

Milos Foreman (Best Director) reveals how 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' (Best Picture) reflected his views on the Iron Curtain and how the script (Best Writing, Screenplay Adapted From Other Material) came to influence mental health care in America.

Meanwhile, Louise Fletcher (Best Actress in a Leading Role) recalls the experience of working alongside the mixed cast of amateurs and professionals like Jack Nicholson (Best Actor in a Leading Role).

Producers: Paul Kobrak and Sara Jane Hall

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2008.

Paul Gambaccini examines the first post-war winner to sweep five major Academy Awards.

In 1992, The Silence of the Lambs became the first post-war film to win all five of the major Academy Awards.

Jodie Foster (Best Actress in a Leading Role) recalls the experience of working alongside both Anthony Hopkins (Best Actor in a Leading Role) and Jonathan Demme (Best Director)

Ted Tally (Best Writing, Screenplay Adapted From Other Medium) considers the extent to which The Silence of the Lambs (Best Picture) reveals more about celebrity culture than serial killers.

Producers: Paul Kobrak & Sara Jane Hall

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2008.

Paul Gambaccini talks about the winner of 1992's Best Picture Award. With Jodie Foster.

4/4. The English Patient

Paul talks to author Michael Ondaatje about the adaptation of his novel. Publicist Tony Angelloti recalls how he ran the campaign to persuade the Academy that this film was a winner.

Paul Gambaccini examines why the book considered unfilmable, won Best Picture of 1996.

An offer that can't be refused...

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola - the stars of The Godfather and The Godfather Part II included Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan and Robert De Niro.

Series about how some of the greatest Oscar-winning films were made, and what they tell us about the history of the time.

Producer: Jane Lewis

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2009.

Paul Gambaccini explores how The Godfather and its sequel won Best Picture Oscars.

How the comedy won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress.

Crash, the controversial 2006 Oscar Best Picture winner, is a film that explores the tensions within the USA.

Series about how some of the greatest Oscar-winning films were made, and what they tell us about the history of the time.

Producer; Jane Lewis

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2009.

The controversial 2006 Oscar winner, a film that explores the tensions within LA society.

With a young fresh cast - Natalie Wood in her first adult role, Rita Moreno sweeping everyone else off the dancefloor, and a relatively inexperienced but dazzling array of support actors - the movie sizzles with colour, drama, the outstanding choreography of Jerome Robbins, the music of Leonard Bernstein and the lyrics of a young Stephen Sondheim.

Who could tell that behind the scenes there were arguments, voice dubbings and overruns, plus issues over racial casting and 'blacking up'?

What emerged from a tumultuous production was a triumph.

Producer: Sara Jane Hall

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2009.

The behind-the-scenes arguments, dubbings and overruns of the film that won 10 Oscars.

The series about how some of the greatest Oscar-winning films were made, and what they tell us about the history of the time.

When The Deer Hunter emerged as a potential Oscar winner, it was only three years since the Vietnam War had ended.

The film became the subject of huge controversy, not least for its portrayal of the Vietnamese as sadistic torturers, and for the unforgettable scenes featuring a game of Russian roulette.

Paul Gambaccini explores how the original shocking screenplay came about, the battles between the producers, and director Michael Cimino's approach to acting that almost brought the cast to the edge of a nervous breakdown. He also ponders whether The Deer Hunter was actually even a war film at all.

Producer: Sarah Jane Hall

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2010.

Paul Gambaccini tells how the film The Deer Hunter won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1978

Paul Gambaccini tells how The Deer Hunter, starring Robert DeNiro and Meryl Streep, won the 1978 Best Picture Oscar. From 2010.

Away from the red carpet, bright lights and tearful speeches, what do the decisions made by the Academy each year tell us about the state of America at the time?

When it emerged as a potential Oscar winner, it was only three years since the end of the Vietnam War. The film became the subject of huge controversy, not least for its portrayal of the Vietnamese as sadistic torturers, and for the unforgettable scenes featuring a game of Russian roulette.

How The Deer Hunter came to win the Oscar for Best Picture in 1978.

Considered to be the last of MGM's great musicals, Gigi tells the story of a young girl being groomed as a courtesan, and the movie's producers battled with the censors to get it made. Director Vincente Minnelli's lavish film, which was shot mostly in Paris, sugar-coated the subject matter, and Caron's gamine performance melted Hollywood cinemagoers.

The programme also explores how Gigi represented the passionate early days of the on-off American love affair with France - a relationship that has come under strain in recent years following the war in Iraq.

Paul Gambaccini discovers how Gallic charm won Gigi the Best Picture Oscar in 1959.

Paul Gambaccini tells how in 1959, the Gallic charm of Gigi, starring Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier and Louis Jourdan, won nine Oscars, including Best Picture.

In April 1959 the musical Gigi broke the previous record of eight awards which went to Gone With The Wind in 1940.

Paul Gambaccini discovers how the combination of Gallic charm and memorable songs, including The Night They Invented Champagne, Gigi and I Remember It Well, sanitised Colette's risque novella for the big screen.

Considered to be the last of MGM's great musicals, Gigi tells the story of a young girl being groomed as a courtesan and the movie's producers battled with the censors to get it made. Director Vincente Minnelli's lavish film, which was shot mostly in Paris, sugar-coated the subject matter and Caron's gamine performance melted Hollywood cinema goers.

Producer: Paula McGinley

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.

Paul Gambaccini tells how the Gallic charm of Gigi, starring Maurice Chevalier, won 1959's Best Picture Oscar. From 2010.

When the screenplay of Unforgiven landed on his desk, Clint Eastwood optioned it, then sat on it for two decades, developing his directoral skills, gathering a team of experts around him at Malpaso Productions, and waiting until he himself was the right age to take the leading role.

Film editor Joel Cox, cinematographer Jack N Green, actor Jaimz Woolvett and screenwriter David Webb Peoples tell of the experience of working with a legend as director and star, and biographer Richard Schickle and critics David Thomson and Kenneth Turan ruminate on how Clint Eastwood, the eternal cowboy, became a Best Picture director.

Paul Gambaccini tells the story behind the production of Clint Eastwood's 1992 Western.

The series about how some of the greatest Oscar-winning films were made, and what they tell us about the history of the time.

Clint Eastwood's 1992 film Unforgiven, starring Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman and Eastwood himself as both actor and director, won the Best Picture Oscar.

Paul Gambaccini reflects on Clint Eastwood's extraordinary Hollywood career, from the epitome of the lonesome cowboy to respected Hollywood director.

When the screenplay of Unforgiven landed on his desk, Clint Eastwood optioned it, then sat on it for two decades, developing his directoral skills, gathering a team of experts around him at Malpaso Productions, and waiting till he himself was the right age to take the leading role.

Film editor Joel Cox, cinematographer Jack N. Green, actor Jaimz Woolvett and screen writer David Webb Peoples tell of the experience of working with a legend as director and star.

While biographer Richard Schickle, and critics David Thomson and Kenneth Turan ruminate on how Clint Eastwood, the eternal cowboy, became Best Picture director.

Producer: Sarah Jane Hall

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2010.

Paul Gambaccini on Clint Eastwood's Oscar winning 1992 film, Unforgiven

Paul Gambaccini tells how the 1992 Western, Unforgiven, starring Clint Eastwood, won the Best Picture Oscar. From 2010.

The 27th Academy Awards, for films released in 1954, were dominated by 'On The Waterfront', a gritty, black and white masterpiece, set at the highly unionised New Jersey docks, then controlled by the mob.

A real tale of corruption and murder on the waterfront is transformed into a fiction - as a simple minded ex-boxer, played by Marlon Brando, wrestles with his conscience as he turns informer to win the girl he loves.

This film not only gives us the most famous scene ever to take place in the back of a taxi, ('I coulda been a contender!'), it also showcases the talents of director Elia Kazan, and an astonishingly strong support cast - Rod Steiger, Karl Malden, Lee J Cobb and newcomer Eva Marie Saint- Method Acting at its height.

It also marks the end of the powerful team of director Elia Kazan and Method actor Marlon Brando - blown apart by Brando's horror at Kazan's decision to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee, HUAC - then investigating the red-scare in Hollywood.

Is it a coincidence that ‘On the Waterfront' tells the story of a man who informs - snitches on his friends - but holds the moral high ground?

Featuring a rich mix of archive and original interviews with actors, screen writers and film critics, and a revelatory interview with Thomas Hanley, a real life longshoreman who played Brando's young friend Tommy back in 1954.

Producer: Sara Jane Hall

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2013.

On The Waterfront; an Oscar Best Picture starring Marlon Brando - with Paul Gambaccini.

Is it a coincidence that ‘On the Waterfront' tells the story of a man who informs - snitches on his friends - but holds the moral high ground?

Paul Gambaccini on Best Picture Oscar for Marlon Brando's On The Waterfront and what it says about society in 1954. From 2013.

'So, boy, what do they call you in Philadelphia?'

'They call me Mister Tibbs!'

It's one of the great movie lines in history, from Sidney Poitier's favourite of all his films. But was 'In The Heat of the Night' a worthy winner of the Best Picture?

Up against tough competition, including 'The Graduate' and 'Bonnie and Clyde', it's been suggested that this might have been an Oscar vote carried on a tidal wave of outrage during the peak years of the Civil Rights movement.

In 1967, 'In The Heat of the Night' seemed to speak out against an America riven with racial tensions. The Watts Riots had just devastated Los Angeles, close to Hollywood. The film was set in Mississippi, but the crew were forced to choose Illinois in the North as a safer location. The murder of Martin Luther King, and his subsequent funeral, delayed the Oscar ceremony in 1968 by several days - enabling the cast and crew of 'In The Heat of the Night' to attend his funeral.

All these stories and more are told to Paul Gambaccini by veteran director - Norman Jewison, and he also hears from his legendary producer - Walter Mirisch - who at the age of 91, still makes his way to his film studios in Hollywood, and takes lunch at Spagos.

Plus the thoughts of one of the world's great cinematographer's Haskell Wexler - who was the first to devise lighting especially for darker skin tones - and sets the scene for Norman Jewison's dramatic reconstruction of a country divided along racial lines that has echoes today.

Producer: Sara Jane Hall

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2013.

Paul Gambaccini talks to veteran director Norman Jewison about In The Heat of the Night

Paul Gambaccini talks to veteran director Norman Jewison about 'In The Heat of the Night

Paul Gambaccini on Best Picture Oscar for Norman Jewison's In The Heat of the Night, starring Sidney Poitier. From 2013.

Director Milos Forman, who had left Czechoslovakia as a political refugee, chose Prague as the best 'double' for Vienna - only to find himself followed by spies for his former homeland as a suspected anti-communist.

Forman recalls how he first met Sir Peter Shaffer backstage at the National Theatre in London where, Sir Peter confirms, Forman promised there and then, to make a film out of Shaffer's masterpiece of the stage.

Simon Callow who played Mozart in the original London stage production was the only actor to appear in the Hollywood version - but probably enjoyed himself more because of it. Gambaccini also talks to Sir Neville Mariner, choreographer Twyla Tharp, producer Ken Tuohy and the actor Elizabeth Berridge, who was told she'd got the part as Mozart's wife as she most resembled an 'landlady's daughter'.

Cold War mystery and the greatest composer on earth - how they brought to screen a musical and cinematic masterpiece.

Producer: Sara Jane Hall.

Milos Foreman, Sir Peter Shaffer and Sir Neville Marriner talk to Paul Gambaccini.

Paul Gambaccini talks to the team behind the rich, musical extravaganza, Amadeus, released in 1984, which won 8 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor.

It's remembered for its brilliant interpretation of the life and genius of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the shrill giggle of Tom Hulce and the cleavage of his wife.

Gambaccini also talks to Sir Neville Mariner, choreographer Twyla Tharp, producer Ken Tuohy and the actor Elizabeth Berridge, who was told she'd got the part as Mozart's wife as she most resembled a 'landlady's daughter'.

The story of how the Cold War and the greatest composer on earth came together to create a musical and cinematic masterpiece.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2013.

Paul Gambaccini explores the making of Best Picture Oscar winner, Amadeus.

Paul Gambaccini explores the making of Best Picture Oscar winner, Amadeus, talking to its director, Milos Foreman. From 2013.

The black comedy American Beauty swept the board at the 2000 Oscars ceremony, pushing aside The Sixth Sense and The Green Mile. It was an unexpected hit for the studio - Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks - and went on to become a popular, critical and commercial success around the world.

Telling a story of dysfunction in suburbia it tackled many taboo themes head on: homophobia, drugs, blackmail, infidelity and domestic abuse. Kevin Spacey won an Oscar for Best Actor after giving a landmark performance as suburban everyman who's had enough and embraces his midlife crisis. Annette Benning, who memorably plays his wife, holds onto the facades that make up her world whilst inside she's falling apart.

For the director, Sam Mendes, it was his first movie and he picked up an Oscar. He's come a long way in Hollywood since then, having just finished the new James Bond blockbuster Skyfall. Paul talks to Mendes about his vision and the evolution of American Beauty on and off set and reflects on cultural event it soon became. He recalls his Oscar night and the tribute to his hero Billy Wilder. He talks to the producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, who went on to produce Milk, about casting the movie and getting it made. Thomas Newman, of the Hollywood composing dynasty wrote the score and tells him how close to the wire the iconic opening music sequence was. And the young actors in the film Thora Birch and Wes Bentley discuss how, at the start of their careers, they immersed themselves in roles which resonated with their lives at the time.

American Beauty still stands out as a bold, classic movie but Paul hears how its legacy is felt more in the cable tv series of the past decade rather than in Hollywood, where it was created.

Producer Neil McCarthy.

American Beauty swept the 2000 Oscars, an unexpected hit for Spielberg's Dreamworks studio

Paul Gambaccini explores a Best Picture Oscar film to find out how and why it won and what it tells us about society at the time.

Telling a story of dysfunction in suburbia, it tackled many taboo themes head on: homophobia, drugs, blackmail, infidelity and domestic abuse. Kevin Spacey won an Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of Lester Burnham, the suburban husband and father who embraces his midlife crisis. Annette Bening, who plays his wife, holds onto the facades that make up her world, whilst falling apart inside.

For the director, Sam Mendes, it was his first movie and he picked up an Oscar. Paul talks to Mendes about his vision and the evolution of American Beauty on and off set and reflects on the cultural event it soon became. Producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, talk about casting the movie and getting it made. Thomas Newman, of the Hollywood composing dynasty, wrote the score and tells Paul how close to the wire the iconic opening music sequence was. And the young actors in the film - Thora Birch and Wes Bentley - discuss how, at the start of their careers, they immersed themselves in roles which resonated with their lives at the time.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2013.

Paul Gambaccini explores the making of Best Picture Oscar winner, American Beauty.

Paul Gambaccini discovers more about Best Picture Oscar winner, American Beauty, talking to its director Sam Mendes. From 2013.

First up, Mrs Miniver, from 1942, a war time classic.

During the filming, star Greer Garson insisted on tea every afternoon at four o'clock, whilst director William Wyler hated the chocolate box set of rose-strewn villages he was forced to work with. Despite these restrictions Mrs Miniver turned out to be a film that helped change history - credited by many, including Churchill, with helping to turn popular opinion in America away from isolationism and towards whole hearted support for the Allied Forces in Europe.

It portrays a family living a safe life in the Garden of England, Kent - a world where Mrs Miniver worries more about a hat than the approaching conflict. But as her world falls apart, she changes and becomes more resilient, as the people of Britain bravely face up to the task of defending this island, whatever the cost.

So did Mrs Miniver deserve Best Picture for 1942?

Veteran film critic Philip French believes that it hasn't lasted, though he recalls from his own childhood in Liverpool how it touched the hearts of British cinema goers.

And behind this patriotic movie lies a darker story - did Hollywood studios protect their sales in Germany by going softly, softly on the Nazi regime, until the tide of public opinion finally turned against the Germans?

Producer: Sara Jane Hall.

Nazis and Hollywood, roses and Dunkirk - Paul Gambaccini on the 1942 film Mrs Miniver.

Paul Gambaccini explores the artistic, political and personal decisions that lie behind the winners of the Best Picture Oscar.

Nazis, and Hollywood, roses and Dunkirk and roses. Paul explores the making of a war time classic from 1942, Mrs Miniver.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.

Nazis and Hollywood, Dunkirk and roses - Paul Gambaccini on 1942 classic film Mrs Miniver.

Nazis, Hollywood, Dunkirk and roses. Paul Gambaccini on the story behind Best Picture winner for 1942, Mrs Miniver. From 2015.

It was a shock, but not a surprise when 'Midnight Cowboy' won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1969 - not to mention gongs for the director, John Schlesinger, and screen writer, Waldo Salt.

But take a fresh look at this film, 45 years later, and it's obvious why it blasted its way passed the opposition at the Academy Awards. The film was rife with acting talent; a young Dustin Hoffman, messing up his clean cut reputation by taking on the role of a down at heel New York bum; Jon Voight as a nave but optimistic hustler; Brenda Vaccaro as a lush, fur-coated party girl and Sylvia Miles hilarious in a short but lauded sex scene. .

It also brought one of the most extraordinary scriptwriters, Waldo Salt, and one of the first 'out' directors, John Schlesinger, together with one of the least experienced, but adventurous cinematographers, Adam Holender - a moment of production chemistry.

With fresh interviews with Adam Holender, Sylvia Miles, producer Jerome Hellman, Brenda Vacaro, Waldo Salt's daughter Jennifer, and Schlesinger's long-term partner Michael Childers, Paul Gambaccini presents 'And The Academy Award Goes To... Midnight Cowboy.

Producer: Sara Jane Hall.

Dustin Hoffman's 1969 post-Graduate role as a sleazy pimp stands the test of time.

An X–rated picture winning the Oscar for Best Picture? From squeaky clean, well-shaved 'Graduate', to sleazy pimp - Dustin Hoffman shows his acting prowess in John Schlesinger's well-deserved but shocking Oscar Best Picture from 1969.

Paul Gambaccini explores though it was a shock, it was not a surprise when 'Midnight Cowboy' won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1969 - not to mention gongs for the director, John Schlesinger, and screen writer, Waldo Salt.

But take a fresh look at this film, 45 years later, and it's obvious why it blasted its way passed the opposition at the Academy Awards. The film was rife with acting talent; a young Dustin Hoffman, messing up his clean cut reputation by taking on the role of a down at heel New York bum; Jon Voight as a naïve but optimistic hustler; Brenda Vaccaro as a lush, fur-coated party girl and Sylvia Miles hilarious in a short but lauded sex scene.

With fresh interviews with Adam Holender, Sylvia Miles, producer Jerome Hellman, Brenda Vaccaro, Waldo Salt's daughter Jennifer, and Schlesinger's long-term partner Michael Childers, Paul Gambaccini presents 'And The Academy Award Goes To... Midnight Cowboy.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.

Dustin Hoffman as a sleazy pimp? Paul Gambaccini on the story behind Best Picture winner for 1969, Midnight Cowboy. From 2015.

It was the brainchild of Lord Puttnam, the screenplay by socialist Colin Welland, and yet adored by President Ronald Reagan, for its patriotic glory.

David Puttnam was looking around the bookshelves of a rented house in Los Angeles.

He'd just finished Midnight Express and was scouting for a new story to tell. The books were all about yachting - these people were sailing nuts - until suddenly 'The History of the Olympic Games' stood out on a shelf.

Sitting back and reading about the games in the early decades of the 20th century, he came across two remarkable stories - Eric Liddell, son of Scottish missionaries, who was supposed to run in the 100 metres, but withdrew as the heats were held on a Sunday - but who went on the break world records and take Gold medal in the 400 metres. And the story of Harold Abrahams, a Cambridge scholar, determined to win in a world where anti-semitism was rife.

Paul Gambaccini meets the men who made these stories into the Best Picture Oscar winner of 1981; Lord Puttnam, editor Terry Rawlings, director Hugh Hudson, actor Nigel Havers and athletics adviser Tom McNab, who all give fresh accounts of their own race to the top of the pile at the Academy Awards.

With contributions from David Thomson and Toby Miller. Archive interviews with Colin Welland and Ben Cross.

Producer: Sara Jane Hall

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.

Race, class and religion to the rhythm of Vangelis. Best Picture of 1981 revisited.

Race, class, religion and Vangelis. Paul Gambaccini on the story behind 1981 Best Picture winner, Chariots of Fire. From 2015.

In Episode 1 Paul hears from the director, producer, cinematographer and composer of the epic which opened up the recent history of China to the West and swept the Oscars in 1988.

Producer: Marya Burgess.

Paul Gambaccini explores the epic film that won all 9 Oscars it was nominated for in 1988.

Producer: Paul Kobrak.

Paul Gambaccini assesses the first R-rated movie to win the Best Picture Oscar.

Paul Gambaccini tells the gripping story of the low budget independent production that got lucky.

He talks to some of those central to its creation, from Vikas Swarup, the Indian Diplomat who wrote the original novel, co-director Loveleen Tandem, who helped persuade the studios to let the child actors speak Hindi, and Resul Pookerty, whose magical soundscape of India won him an Oscar and changed his life for ever.

It's a film which took a city, a child of the slums, and a game show - and turned it into a star-crossed romance; a film which snuck past the infamous Foreign Language category and into the mainstream Best Picture category at the 81st Academy Awards - despite being at least 20% Hindi.

Winning 8 Oscars, the film had no star actors, but a cast of millions - the city of Mumbai. The real star name was Danny Boyle, a director who, according to screen writer Simon Beaufoy, discovered in Mumbai a city ‘like the inside of his head' - vibrant, frenetic, dazzling, and full of extremes.

It nearly went straight to DVD, but rose again to take Oscar after Oscar, from under the noses of studio films.

Paul Smith of Celador Productions, describes how his company, who invented the game show, `Who Wants To Be A Millionaire`, got lucky a second time - winning a Best Picture Oscar.

Producer: Sara Jane Hall

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2016.

The little film that got lucky - how Danny Boyle's 'Slumdog Millionaire' won 8 Oscars.

Somewhere between Bollywood and Hollywood, ‘Slumdog Millionaire' captured the heart of the world, and 8 Oscars in 2009.

It's a film which took a city, a child of the slums, and a game show – and turned it into a star-crossed romance; a film which snuck past the infamous Foreign Language category and into the mainstream Best Picture category at the 81st Academy Awards - despite being at least 20% Hindi.

Winning 8 Oscars, the film had no star actors, but a cast of millions - the city of Mumbai. The real star name was Danny Boyle, a director who, according to screen writer Simon Beaufoy, discovered in Mumbai a city ‘like the inside of his head' - vibrant, frenetic, dazzling, and full of extremes.

Paul Smith of Celador Productions, describes how his company, who invented the game show, “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire ?, got lucky a second time - winning a Best Picture Oscar.

With 90 years of the Academy Awards to choose from, Paul Gambaccini is back with a swashbuckling, all singing, all dancing, behind the scenes new series of AND THE ACADEMY AWARD GOES TO... digging up the stories behind the greatest Best Picture Oscar winners - reflecting the world in which they were made.

With 'La La Land' a hot favourite at this year's awards, with 14 nominations, Gambaccini takes as his first subject a similarly feted film from 1950.

All About Eve' was Bette Davis's come back picture, as she took on the role of Margo Channing, a Broadway star on the wrong side of 40. Davis had been Hollywood divinity, but the previous year she had won Worst Actress of the Year from the San Francisco Critics Circle.

Even back then navel gazing was a favourite Hollywood obsession, and the Academy had to weigh up the merits of two films about show business - 'All About Eve' and 'Sunset Boulevard'.

With 14 nominations and 6 wins, 'All About Eve' carried the day - but the night was a keen disappointment for Davis, who was hoping for a third Oscar, as her co-star, Anne Baxter, would cancel out her chances of winning Best Actress.

Michael Merrill, Davis's son, recalls her bitter disappointment, but it's still his favourite film - 'Because it was how my mother and father met each other'.

Gary Merrill, Davis's on screen love interest, would become her 3rd husband.

Paul also hears from Cheryl Bray Lower - biographer of director Joseph L Mankiewicz, Ed Sikov - author of 'Dark Victory - The Life Of Bette Davies', film writer David Thomson, critic Larushka Ivan Zadeh, and Professor Toby Miller.

Is it all about Eve, or all about Bette Davies?

Producer: Sara Jane Hall.

The first film to get 14 Oscar nominations - Paul Gambaccini on the bitchiest movie ever.

Paul Gambaccini talks to key personnel behind the flim and hears from its stars (both behind and in front of the camera) to find out how the film was made, including editor Joe Walker, production designers Adam Stockhausen, stars Kelsey Scott and Chiwetel Ejiofor and director Steve McQueen. And with the help of critics David Thompson, Toby Miller and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh explores what it's success at the 2014 Oscars tells us about the concerns of society an d of the Academy which in the two years that followed failed to nominate a black person for its top awards.

Producer: Paul Kobrak.

It takes an English director to tackle one the most horrific chapters in US history.

Finder is one of a handful of those who were on Schindler's List, still alive to share her story - which she does with Paul Gambaccini, as he tells the story behind the film 'Schindler's List'.

In 1982 Steven Spielberg was best known for directing films about sharks and aliens, in 'Jaws' and 'E.T.'. When he read Thomas Keneally's Booker Prize winning novel about the life of the 'good Nazi', who saved 1,300 Jews from the gas chambers in Auschwitz, he was determined to see the film made. But he wasn't even sure if he was the director to do it.

It would be ten years until he found himself filming in Poland, outside the death camp gates, with extras dressed in striped prisoner uniforms, acting alongside the almost unknown British actors Ralph Fiennes, Liam Neeson and Caroline Goodall.

With 12 nominations in 1993, the film won 7 Oscars, including cinematography for Janusz Kaminski, and art direction for Allan Starski - two of the Polish Crew - who recall their confrontations with the evils that happened in their homeland, whilst shooting the movie.

For Spielberg, it won him Best Director and Best Picture for the first time.

Producer: Sara Jane Hall.

The biggest director in Hollywood takes on the most difficult challenge of his life.

Film critic - David Thomson.

Oscar night approaches; what will Paul Gambaccini be wearing as he sits back on the sofa to predict the winners and losers?

In the new series of 'And The Academy Award Goes To...' he takes time to look back at three of the best - 'Casablanca', 'Titanic ', and 'Argo' - Ben Affleck's drama about the US Embassy Siege.

Would he have predicted 'Casablanca' as Best Picture back in 1944? Probably, because even now, 75 years later, this classic film-noir retains every inch of its power, and even seems to reflect on todays' world.

Packaged as a love story, underneath the Bogart and Bergman romance lies a hard hitting political thriller, a war story, a story of sacrifice. Gambaccini takes us deep into the heart of 'Rick's Caf退 Americain' - a meeting place for refugees and exiles, vultures preying on those desperate to escape, and those damaged by war.

I still my neck out for no-one', claims Rick - Humphrey Bogart - who presides over his bar, immaculate and cynical in white jacket and black bow tie, feigning indifference to the war tearing Europe apart, reflecting the 'America First' attitude of non-intervention which dominated popular thinking in the USA, right up until the attack on Pearl Harbour. It was a remarkable piece of good timing that the original play, 'Everyone Comes to Ricks', landed in the post room at Warner Brothers, just days after.

From that day on, Hollywood saw its role as helping to turn the tide of opinion, and 'Casablanca' was immediately recognised as the perfect vehicle to influence public opinion to move towards supporting the war effort.

Paul talks to film-noir expert Alan K Rode, author of the very first biography about Casablanca's under recognised director, 'Michael Curtiz - A Life in Pictures'. Like many of the cast members he too was a refugee, going on to direct many great studio movies, including 'Angels With Dirty Faces', 'Robin Hood' and 'White Christmas'.

Noah Isenberg discusses his book 'We'll Always Have Casablanca', re-examining the original drama on which the film was based, and the team of seven writers who helped create one of the finest scripts in Hollywood history. While Historian Nick Rankin notes the perfect timing of the films inception and release as the war progressed.

Paul is also joined by regular contributors Larushka Ivan Zadeh and David Thomson.

Producer: Sara Jane Hall.

75 years since murder, refugees, music and love reached peak perfection in Hollywood.

Diving to the wreck of Titanic, 12,000 feet under the North Atlantic, became an obsession for director James Cameron.

Over many dives Cameron came to know every detail of the celebrated catastrophe. He visited the wreck more times than any other human being, and the moviemaker felt a compulsion to tell the tale of those on board the first and final voyage in 1912.

But to make a new film about a familiar tragedy on the scale he wanted required a very big budget.

When the production hit the $200 million mark, the studios that back it feared ruin - but ended up with the biggest grossing film of all time.

Titanic, in every sense. was a work of extraordinary scale and wonder.

The passion of director James Cameron for the real ship wreck drove the production, but how was it for cast and crew?

We hear of arguments and walk outs, but also the work of consummate professionals working together.

Producer: Sara Jane Hall.

How Titanic, the disaster movie to end all disaster movies, nearly ended up a disaster.

Actually based on an article in 'Wired' magazine,'Argo' tells the fantastical story of how a CIA agent used Hollywood to rescue six U.S. diplomats from Tehran, during the 1979-1981 Iran hostage crisis - under the guise of filming a science fiction film. Acclaimed by the critics as both 'tense, exciting and often darkly comic' and 'a movie from an earlier era - less frenetic, less showy, more focused on narrative than sensation'. Nominated for seven Oscars, though controversially no nomination for director Ben Affleck, the film walked away with three statuettes, including the coveted Best Picture Award.

With the help of writer Chris Terrio and editor Billy Goldenberg (winners of the two other Oscars for the film), as well as director (and star) Ben Affleck, cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, actor Clea DuVall and the real-life diplomat she portrayed, Paul Gambaccini hears how the facts behind a fantastical story were turned into a tense but believable plot.

Producer: Paul Kobrak.

From real-life events that had been classified for 17 years to Oscar success in 2013: Argo

Bring on the orcs!

How do you turn an unfilmable book, beloved of millions of fans, set in another world inhabited by strange, mythical creatures, into one of the most successful and loved adaptations ever?

Find yourself a young director with a lot of nerve - Peter Jackson - and let him loose.

The job of turning J.R.R.Tolkiens's novel, 'The Lord Of The Rings' into an elaborate, no-holds barred, fantastically believable and enchanting piece of cinema makes for a fabulous story of its own.

With acting magic from Sir Ian McKellen, Sean Bean, Viggo Mortensen, Andy Serkis, Bernard Hill, Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett.... and a whole heap of orcs and hobbits besides; a bevy of assistant directors, and the astonishing cinematic tricks of WETA... a team of thousands... with one director to rule them all...

Paul Gambaccini hears from head of WETA workshops, whose visual effects gained him 5 Oscars, Richard Taylor, film - editor Jamie Selkirk, and Mark Ordeksy, who was involved from the start with New Line who stumped up the funding when Miramax pulled out, Peter Jackson and screen writer Phillipa Boyens.

Ian Nathan, author of `Peter Jackson - and the Creation of Middle Earth`, and critics David Thomson, Larushka Ivan Zadeh, and Professor Toby Miller, pass their judgements of the record breaking 11 out of 11 Oscars the final film won - tying with Ben Hur and Titanic.

Find out the real production story behind the epic trilogy, which unusually for a fantasy film, swept the board at the 2004 Oscars.

New Zealand would never be the same again.

Other Best Pictures in this series: 'It Happened One Night' and ' Moonlight'.

Producer: Sara Jane Hall

Bring on the Orcs! New Zealand would never be the same again.

Once the mistake was rectified the rightful winners took to the stage, elated.

For the first time a film with an all black cast had won. There are many other firsts in this coming of age movie set in Miami. Critically acclaimed as a work of art, the story stems from the lives of both the director Barry Jenkins and the writer Tarell Alvin McCraney. The film drops in on three stages of the life of a boy called Chiron, challenging stereotypes and exploring sexuality and parenthood.

The independent, coming-of-age movie set in Miami and featuring an all black cast

Producer: Simon Elmes

Paul Gambaccini traces the origin of the film and hears why it triumphed so spectacularly at the Oscars. There are contributions from the film's Musical Supervisor Maureen Crowe who recalls the way the music was recorded and put together in London, Toronto and Los Angeles and how difficult it was to get the opening horn lick in the first few bars just right.

We also hear from film critics Toby Miller and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and there are interviews recorded at the time of the film's release with starring actor Richard Gere and director Rob Marshall.

Producer: Emma Kingsley

This week, Paul Gambaccini tells the story of ‘GWTW', one of cinema's most famous creations and in which British acting talent was surprisingly prominent. For this quintessentially American story of the Old South, English heartthrob Leslie Howard turned in a rather stiff performance as Ashley Wilkes, husband to Olivia de Havilland's somewhat milk-and-water Melanie Hamilton. But it was, of course, the dashing Vivien Leigh, as the coquettish, headstrong Scarlett O'Hara, who took the Best Actress Oscar - a part she landed after almost all Hollywood's leading actresses had screentested for the coveted part. `Sshh, she's the Scarlett dark horse` David O Selznick, GWTW's producer wrote to his wife.

With film historians David Thomson and Toby Miller, Clark Gable's biographer Chrystopher Spicer and critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, as well as archival contributions from Olivia de Havilland, co-star Evelyn Keyes and the film's Academy Award winner for Best Editing, Hal Kern.

Producer: Simon Elmes

David Leans first epics size film, `Bridge on The River Kwai`, was released to a country victorious, but still suffering the aftershocks of war. Rationing had been lifted, but half the cinema audience may well have seen service, sometimes in conditions as brutal as the film portrayed.

The story is based on real events - the building of a railway line from Bangkok to Rangoon - under the command of the Japanese invaders. More than 100,000 soldiers and enslaved Asian labourers would die in the process.

Ostensibly portraying the POW's internment and resistance to the Japanese - beaten, starved and humiliated, yet standing up to their Japanese oppressors - the films performs a more universal sleight of hand, portraying a British Army Captain lost in the rules and narrow ideals of what constituted ‘good form' - Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson, played by a ram-rod straight Alec Guinness.

The screen play was written by two blacklisted writers - victims of the McCarthy Communist Witch Hunt of the 1950's. Initially scripted by Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson - both of whom had to flee to the UK to escape their persecution in the USA - Pierre Boulle, who had written the original book, and who barely spoke any English, had to appear on Oscar night to pick up the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

6 more Oscars guaranteed its place in film history, and that of David Lean, the film's director, and Alex Guinness, who would take the coveted trophy for Best Actor, that night in 1958 in Hollywood.

Hero or fool - who can keep their heads when pushed to the edge?