Television biography of the late Paul Scofield

Due to the wonders of modern technology it is possible to record programmes and watch them at a later date - not such fantastic news one might think given the advent of the video recorder over two decades ago. It is just that the latest version -courtesy of the company owned by well-known Antipodean media tycoon turned US citizen - makes the recording business so startlingly, and in some ways worryingly easy - just the push red button. And so, in the household of the Oldest Trainee we push the red button and store up programmes that we may or may not watch later.

One such programme successfully retrieved from the system was a BBC documentary paying tribute to the late Shakespearian actor Paul Scofield. A gem of a TV biographical film for its example of the 'less is more' school of artistic philosophy. What was brought out by the programme was that this giant of the British post-war theatre: West End star, film actor of enormous renown, brilliant Shakespearian interpreter with a mesmeric stage presence and voice to match, was a shy man who was happiest at home with his family and who would return by train from the theatre to his Sussex village. A very un-show business actor. Therefore there were was not the usual roster of big names attesting to a an actor's life of premieres, parties and late-night goings-on in post-performance restaurants or of big personality clashes with fellow performers or of on-set tensions associated with film making. The contributors were themselves leading artists of stage and screen and they attested to Scofield's brilliance combined with modesty. Among their number, Sir Peter Hall; Sir Richard Eyre; Felicity Kendall; Peter Brook; Donald Sinden, John Harrison, Christopher Hampton most of whom declared they were inspired by this man.

The director of the last film Scofield made, Nicholas Hytner, reported that he agreed to play the part of Danforth the witchfinder in Arthur Miller's great play The Crucible, set in 17th Century Massachusetts, because he saw Danforth as the other side of the character that he played to great acclaim on stage and film - Thomas More in Robert Bolt's play A Man for All Seasons. What separated Danforth and More was time, circumstance and geography - from Tudor England to pre-Revolutionary America - but men of unyielding principle whose conscience is uncompromising but no less troubling with very different outcomes. More will not bend to the people's will and Danforth is unbending in his will to root out what he sees as heresy amongst the people of Salem. To have seen those connections across decades of experience shows a man of rare insight and sensitivity and the performances flank an extraordinary career. All in all a portait of a shy man who let his acting do the talking - man for all seasons.