Francis Whately

Francis Whately

Profile

Francis Whately

Movies

Dolly Parton: Here I Am
Producer
Dolly Parton leads a moving, musical journey in this documentary that details the people and places who have helped shape her iconic career.
Dolly Parton: Here I Am
Director
Dolly Parton leads a moving, musical journey in this documentary that details the people and places who have helped shape her iconic career.
David Bowie: Finding Fame
Director
Coming 50 years after the release of Space Oddity, the 90-minute film explores the Bowie before Ziggy Stardust, following the period from 1966 when he changed his name from David Jones to Bowie. It includes footage from the BBC Archives including footage of a BBC audition in 1965 of David Bowie and the Lower Third, which included a performance of Chim-Chim-Cheree and Baby That's A Promise.
Rock 'n' Roll Guns for Hire - The Story of the Sidemen
Director
Film shining a spotlight on the untold story of The Sidemen, the musicians behind some of the greatest artists of all time. The Sidemen are the forgotten 'guns for hire' that changed musical history. Featuring interviews with Mick Jagger, Billy Joel and Keith Richards, this film takes viewers from the 1960s to today, via global stars such as Prince, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones and Beyoncé.
David Bowie: The Last Five Years
Producer
In the last five years of his life, David Bowie ended nearly a decade of silence to engage in an extraordinary burst of activity, producing two groundbreaking albums and a musical. David Bowie: The Last Five Years explores this unexpected end to a remarkable career. Made with remarkable access, Francis Whately’s documentary is a revelatory follow-up to his acclaimed 2013 documentary David Bowie: Five Years, which chronicled Bowie’s golden ‘70s and early-‘80s period.
David Bowie: The Last Five Years
Director
In the last five years of his life, David Bowie ended nearly a decade of silence to engage in an extraordinary burst of activity, producing two groundbreaking albums and a musical. David Bowie: The Last Five Years explores this unexpected end to a remarkable career. Made with remarkable access, Francis Whately’s documentary is a revelatory follow-up to his acclaimed 2013 documentary David Bowie: Five Years, which chronicled Bowie’s golden ‘70s and early-‘80s period.
Judi Dench: All the World's Her Stage
Producer
This documentary celebrates one of Britain’s greatest actors, Dame Judi Dench, and looks back over her remarkable 60-year career.
Judi Dench: All the World's Her Stage
Director
This documentary celebrates one of Britain’s greatest actors, Dame Judi Dench, and looks back over her remarkable 60-year career.
Kim Philby: His Most Intimate Betrayal
Producer
Author Ben Macintyre explores the truth behind one of the most famous double agents in modern history - Harold Kim Philby. He argues that Philby has become a caricature of the gentleman spy, obscuring the fact that Philby was a ruthless killer, who betrayed everyone around him. The key to Philby's success and his survival, Macintyre explains, lay in his friendship with a man that history has largely forgotten - Nicholas Elliott. Elliott was Philby's colleague in MI6 who befriended him, defended him, and unwittingly supplied him with secrets until he discovered the truth. This is the remarkable tale of two friends and two spies, each working on opposite sides in the Cold War.
Kim Philby: His Most Intimate Betrayal
Director
Author Ben Macintyre explores the truth behind one of the most famous double agents in modern history - Harold Kim Philby. He argues that Philby has become a caricature of the gentleman spy, obscuring the fact that Philby was a ruthless killer, who betrayed everyone around him. The key to Philby's success and his survival, Macintyre explains, lay in his friendship with a man that history has largely forgotten - Nicholas Elliott. Elliott was Philby's colleague in MI6 who befriended him, defended him, and unwittingly supplied him with secrets until he discovered the truth. This is the remarkable tale of two friends and two spies, each working on opposite sides in the Cold War.
David Bowie: Five Years
Producer
Featuring a wealth of previously unseen archive, this film looks at how Bowie continually evolved: from Ziggy Stardust to the Soul Star of Young Americans, to the ‘Thin White Duke’. It explores his regeneration in Berlin with the critically acclaimed album Heroes, his triumph with Scary Monsters and his global success with Let’s Dance. With interviews with all his closest collaborators, David Bowie - Five Years presents a unique account of why Bowie has become an ‘icon of our times’.
David Bowie: Five Years
Director
Featuring a wealth of previously unseen archive, this film looks at how Bowie continually evolved: from Ziggy Stardust to the Soul Star of Young Americans, to the ‘Thin White Duke’. It explores his regeneration in Berlin with the critically acclaimed album Heroes, his triumph with Scary Monsters and his global success with Let’s Dance. With interviews with all his closest collaborators, David Bowie - Five Years presents a unique account of why Bowie has become an ‘icon of our times’.
The Most Courageous Raid of WWII
Director
Lord Ashdown, a former special forces commando, tells the story of the 'Cockleshell Heroes', who led one of the most daring and audacious commando raids of World War II. In 1942, Britain was struggling to fight back against Nazi Germany. Lacking the resources for a second front, Churchill encouraged innovative and daring new methods of combat. Enter stage left, Blondie Hasler. With a unit of 12 Royal Marine commandos, Major Blondie Hasler believed his 'cockleshell' canoe could be effectively used in clandestine attacks on the enemy. Their brief was to navigate the most heavily defended estuary in Europe, to dodge searchlights, machine-gun posts and armed river-patrol craft 70 miles downriver, and then to blow up enemy shipping in Bordeaux harbour. Lord Ashdown recreates parts of the raid and explains how this experience was used in preparing for one of the greatest land invasions in history, D-day.