Kirsty Wark

Acting

Kirsty Wark

Born 1955-02-03 · Dumfries, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, UK

Kirsteen Anne "Kirsty" Wark FRSE is a British journalist and television presenter, best known for fronting BBC Two's news and current affairs programme Newsnight since 1993, and its weekly arts spin-off Newsnight Review from 2002 to 2014. Wark was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in March 2017.

Acting credits

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie poster
5.3

Edina and Patsy are still oozing glitz and glamour, living the high life they're accustomed to; shopping, drinking and clubbing around London's trendiest hotspots. Blamed for a major incident at an uber fashionable launch party, they become entangled in a media storm and are relentlessly pursued by the paparazzi. Fleeing penniless to the glamorous playground of the super-rich, the French Riviera, they hatch a plan to make their escape permanent and live the high life forever more!

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie

2016

Joan Rivers at the BBC poster
NR

Katherine Ryan presents a celebration of one of the biggest comedy talents to ever appear on the small screens – the razor-sharp-tongued first lady of laughter, Joan Rivers.

Joan Rivers at the BBC

2024

Carnage: Swallowing the Past poster
6.4

It's 2067, the UK is vegan, but older generations are suffering the guilt of their carnivorous past. Simon Amstell asks us to forgive them for the horrors of what they swallowed.

Carnage: Swallowing the Past

2017

J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and Me poster
9.0

J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and Me is a landmark 2001 BBC television documentary in which creator J.K. Rowling discussed the origins of the series. It famously revealed her handwritten character notes, plot drafts, and original Hogwarts house rosters

J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and Me

2001

City Lights: Pure Dead Brilliant poster
NR

A nostalgic look back at City Lights, the iconic Scottish sitcom that captured the spirit of 1980s Scotland, featuring the writer, cast and the famous faces it inspired

City Lights: Pure Dead Brilliant

2025

No artwork available
6.3

Documentary about legendary Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis who's credits range from Fellini's La Strada to today's Hannibal franchise. This profile follows octogenarian De Laurentiis in Hollywood and returning to Rome to set up a new film.

Dino De Laurentiis: The Last Movie Mogul

2001

The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story poster
7.8

The full bizarre, tragic but celebratory story of Syd Barrett, the co-founder of Pink Floyd.

The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story

2003

Empire of the Nude: The Victorian Nude poster
NR

The Victorian era is often cited for its lack of sexuality, but as this documentary reveals, the period's artists created a strong tradition surrounding the classical nude figure, which spread from the fine arts to more common forms of expression. The film explains how 19th-century artists were inspired by ancient Greek and Roman works to highlight the naked form, and how that was reflected in the evolving cultural attitudes toward sex.

Empire of the Nude: The Victorian Nude

2001

No artwork available
4.5

Documentary on Ruth Ellis, a Welsh-born model and actress, who was the last woman to be hanged in the United Kingdom. She went to the gallows of London's Holloway prison on July 13, 1955, for the gunshot murder of her lover, David Blakely, on Easter Sunday, April 10, of that same year. She was 28 at the time and was hanged, despite a 50,000-signature petition from the British public for leniency.

Ruth Ellis: A Life for a Life

1999

Lee Miller: A Crazy Way of Seeing poster
NR

Documentary charting the fascinating life and work of Lee Miller, a model for Vogue in 1920s New York who became the only female photojournalist to cover the Second World War. Having given up photography in later life and virtually disowned her own work, Miller's extraordinary archive of 40,000 negatives was only rediscovered after her death. George Melly, David Hare, friends, colleagues and her only son, Tony Penrose, trace the story of her unconventional life through her own remarkable pictures and photographs, as well as rarely seen archive footage.

Lee Miller: A Crazy Way of Seeing

2001

No artwork available
NR

After the success of the BBC drama Wolf Hall, Mark Rylance and the director Peter Kosminsky join Kirsty Wark in the Tower of London to look back over the series.

Wolf Hall: The Inside Story

2015

Cast & Crew: If.... poster
2.0

Episode of the BBC Scotland television series focusing on Lindsay Anderson's 1968 film "If...", featuring interviews with star Malcolm McDowell, cinematographer Miroslav Ondříček, assistant editor Ian Rakoff, director’s assistant Stephen Frears, producer Michael Medwin, and screenwriter David Sherwin

Cast & Crew: If....

2004

The Many Primes of Muriel Spark poster
NR

Kirsty Wark celebrates the life and work of Scottish writer Dame Muriel Spark, one of the 20th century's most enigmatic cultural figures, on the 100th anniversary of her birth.

The Many Primes of Muriel Spark

2018

Bridget Riley: Painting the Line poster
NR

With exclusive behind-the-scenes access, seldom-seen footage from the archives and a rare interview with Kirsty Wark, this is the story of a true visionary of British art.

Bridget Riley: Painting the Line

2021

Vivienne Westwood Talks to Kirsty Wark poster
NR

Kirsty Wark interviews the fashion icon Vivienne Westwood about her career as one of Britain's most inventive and influential fashion designers. Filmed on location at her V&A retrospective, Vivienne Westwood discusses her career from the early days of designing clothes worn by the Sex Pistols to her catwalk shows. She gives an insight into how she works, including her use of very British fabrics such as Harris tweed and tartan and her reinterpretation of historic garments such as the corset and crinoline.

Vivienne Westwood Talks to Kirsty Wark

2004

Royal Academy of Arts: Summer Exhibition 2018 poster
NR

In 2018 the Royal Academy celebrates its 250th Summer Exhibition and artist Grayson Perry takes the helm to coordinate the world's longest running and largest open-submission show. Presented by Kirsty Wark and Jayson Mansaray the programme comes from the very glamorous private view and goes behind the scenes of the Academy as it prepares for its annual artistic extravaganza. Grayson in his role as chief coordinator celebrates the democracy of the exhibition with the theme of Art Made Now and creates a room of fun dedicated to pieces he finds amusing.

Royal Academy of Arts: Summer Exhibition 2018

2018