Face to Face

Image: Tony Hancock interviewed by John Freeman on Face to Face 7 February 1960

The first of the classic television interview series Face to Face aired on 4 February 1959. Each episode featured an extended live interview with one guest, conducted by John Freeman. Interviewer and interviewee faced each other in an otherwise darkened studio. Close-up camera work showed the guest's reaction as Freeman – whose tenacity was known from his work on Panorama – interrogated them. The result was a popular programme that frequently produced dramatic and revealing interviews and created a high-watermark in serious television.

The first guest on Face to Face was the renowned criminal lawyer Lord Birkett. Birkett was a relaxed interviewee, having already appeared on Personal Call, the radio show devised by Face to Face producer Hugh Burnett. Some interviewees were more awkward, such as Gilbert Harding. He was reduced to tears when questioned about his mother who – unknown to Freeman – had only recently died. In its three year life Face to Face attracted an impressive list of names including Martin Luther King, Tony Hancock, Bertrand Russell, Carl Gustav Jung, Evelyn Waugh and Edith Sitwell.

In 1988 Freeman – who had gone on to be a diplomat and television executive - was interviewed by Anthony Clare in a Face to Face special. The programme was then revived with Jeremy Isaacs as interviewer. It continued to attract important subjects such as Arthur Miller, Germaine Greer, Martha Gellhorn and Lauren Bacall, before ending in 1997.