Paris with Marianne

Available for over a year

For journalist and writer Jude Rogers, when Marianne Faithfull died 12 months ago, the memory of one particular afternoon came flooding back - a visit to Marianne's Paris flat in the summer of 2018, where the legendary singer, actress and writer reflected on a life that had been endlessly mythologised. This Archive on 4 returns to that meeting to tell the fuller story of a woman far more complex than the clichés that followed her for decades. Through rare interviews, music and testimony from those closest to her – including her grandson Oscar Dunbar, collaborators Ed Harcourt and Barry Reynolds, writer and performer Jennifer Saunders, and school friend Sally Oldfield – the programme traces Marianne’s journey from convent schoolgirl to 'sixties pop icon, from tabloid scapegoat to homeless addict, and from the ferocious comeback of Broken English to her late, revelatory albums. At the heart of the programme is Marianne Faithfull’s own voice - witty, abrasive, vulnerable and fiercely intelligent. She speaks about love, loss, ageing, creativity and survival, and about the damage done by a culture that reduced her to a muse, a scandal, or a cautionary tale. This is an artist who insisted on being taken seriously – and who, against the odds, kept making extraordinary work to the very end. Presenter: Jude Rogers Producer: Victoria Ferran Executive Producer: Susan Marling A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4