Secret Life of the Novel

The Secret Life Of The Novel (from BBC 2) To air Spring 2010

Celebrating the brilliance of the British novel, BBC Two presents a major four-part documentary series for spring 2010 presented by Sebastian Faulks, best-selling author of The Girl At The Lion d'Or, Birdsong, Charlotte Gray and Engleby.

The Secret Life Of The Novel explores the history of the form through its characters. In each programme, Sebastian focuses on a different archetype and looks at the development over the centuries of The Hero, The Lover, The Snob and The Villain.

Journeying around the country, with the occasional foray abroad, Sebastian uses his unique personal understanding of characterisation to get under the skin of some familiar and not so familiar creations of British literature.

From Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe to Martin Amis's John Self (see the Drama section for details of a new adaptation of Martin Amis's Money), from Jane Austen's Emma to Monica Ali's Chanu, Sebastian puts them all on the psychiatrist's couch.