Jonathan Miller
Jonathan Miller: Lost Memories

Jonathan Miller: Lost Memories

  • Radio documentary
  • BBC Radio 4
  • 2021
  • 1 episode (1 series)

Jonathan Miller's son William presents a documentary about his father's life and death from Alzheimer's. Part of Archive On 4. Also features William Miller, Richard Denton, Alan Bennett, Penelope Wilton, Rachel Miller and more.

Key details

Genre
Documentary
Broadcast
2021
Channel
BBC Radio 4
Episodes
1
Features
William Miller, Richard Denton, Alan Bennett, Penelope Wilton, Rachel Miller, Nori Graham, Barry Smith, Isabella Bywater and more
Producers
Eve Streeter and Richard Denton
Companies

William Miller's moving portrait of his father, whose extraordinary and unique memory would eventually be stolen by the thing he feared most - Alzheimer's.

Broadcaster and director Sir Jonathan Miller, one of the greatest minds of his generation, believed the most important cognitive function humans possess is memory. Without it, you can't learn or know who or where you are. Without a functioning memory, you wouldn't be able to recognise, recall or retrieve a thing. In fact, without it, you simply wouldn't exist.

Tragically, Jonathan died of Alzheimer's in 2019 before he got to make the one series he'd always wanted to present on the workings of human memory.

In this programme, William Miller embarks on a journey to uncover the story of his father's life as told through his extensive archive, and pieces together the documentary Jonathan was going to make with his producer, Richard Denton, that would have explored memory - what it is, where it is and how our memories define us. He talks to family and friends who share their own memories of Jonathan, including his Beyond The Fringe co-star Alan Bennett. And he seeks to learn more about Alzheimer's, the disease that killed his grandmother and father and still haunts his family today.

Additional details

Also known as
  • Archive On 4: Jonathan Miller: Lost Memories
Production
Studio

Broadcast details

First broadcast
Saturday 14th August 2021 at 8pm on BBC Radio 4
Episode length
1 hour

Share this page