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The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee

The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee

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Summary

Peter Serafinowicz narrates a portrait of Christopher Lee's life, visiting everything from his wartime experiences to his role as Dracula through archival footage.

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Review

David Butcher

The most telling moment in this quirky profile of Christopher Lee is a clip of the day he received his knighthood. Rounding off her interview with him, a reporter turns to camera: “So there you have it. A knight of the realm, but still the king of horror.” Lee looks appalled. “Don’t say that, dear,” he protests. “I haven’t done a horror film for 34 years!”

We hear the frustration in his voice — that commanding basso profundo that made his name in a string of Dracula films from the 1950s onwards. But Lee (born into an Italian noble family, we learn) longed to rise above his “graveyard period”. And later, in The Man with the Golden Gun, the Lord of the Rings films and Star Wars prequels, he succeeded, though contributors here (including Peter Jackson and Lee’s niece, Harriet Walter) recall how insecurity never left him.

The programme takes a crafty, sideways approach, using animated sequences and a marionette voiced, wonderfully, by Peter Serafinowicz. But Lee’s heavy metal albums? They should stay buried deep in a crypt.

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7.2/10

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Credits

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rolenameDirectorJon Spira

Details

Released on

2024-01-01

Languages

English

Formats

Colour

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