Jonathan Meades

Acting

Jonathan Meades

Born

1947-01-21 (79)

Place of birth

Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

28 titles

Jonathan Turner Meades is an English writer and film-maker, primarily on the subjects of place, culture, architecture and food. His work spans journalism, fiction, essays, memoir and over fifty highly idiosyncratic television films, and has been described as "brainy, scabrous, mischievous", "iconoclastic" and possessed of "a polymathic breadth of knowledge and truly caustic wit".

Known for

Mark Lawson Talks To poster
6.0

A series in which arts presenter Mark Lawson has a 60-minute in-depth conversation with a notable figure.

Mark Lawson Talks To

2003

Travels with Pevsner poster
NR

Series in which presenters explore architecture in the footsteps of Nikolaus Pevsner.

Travels with Pevsner

1997

Bunkers Brutalism and Bloodymindedness poster
NR

Two-part documentary in which Jonathan Meades makes the case for 20th-century concrete Brutalist architecture in an homage to a style that he sees a brave, bold and bloodyminded. Tracing its precursors to the once-hated Victorian edifices described as Modern Gothic and before that to the unapologetic baroque visions created by John Vanbrugh, as well as the martial architecture of World War II, Meades celebrates the emergence of the Brutalist spirit in his usual provocative and incisive style. Never pulling his punches, Meades praises a moment in architecture he considers sublime and decries its detractors.

Bunkers Brutalism and Bloodymindedness

2014

Building Sights poster
NR

Personal reflections on the best of 20th Century architecture.

Building Sights

1988

Victoria Died in 1901 and is Still Alive Today poster
NR

Jonathan Meades's personal, entertaining and deliberately provocative journey through Victorian architecture. From fantasy castles to the House of Parliament, he explores the Jekyll-and-Hyde nature of Victorian society, using a combination of comic sketches, dance routines and riotous bad taste. Meades concludes that the British obsession with escapism and the desire to live in the past means Queen Victoria is still very much alive today.

Victoria Died in 1901 and is Still Alive Today

2001

Jonathan Meades: Off Kilter poster
NR

Jonathan Meades takes a quixotic tour of Scotland, a country which has intrigued him since he first encountered lists of towns only known from football coupons

Jonathan Meades: Off Kilter

2009

Film credits

2010s · 2 titles

Series credits

Mark Lawson Talks To poster
6.0

A series in which arts presenter Mark Lawson has a 60-minute in-depth conversation with a notable figure.

Mark Lawson Talks To

2003

Travels with Pevsner poster
NR

Series in which presenters explore architecture in the footsteps of Nikolaus Pevsner.

Travels with Pevsner

1997

Bunkers Brutalism and Bloodymindedness poster
NR

Two-part documentary in which Jonathan Meades makes the case for 20th-century concrete Brutalist architecture in an homage to a style that he sees a brave, bold and bloodyminded. Tracing its precursors to the once-hated Victorian edifices described as Modern Gothic and before that to the unapologetic baroque visions created by John Vanbrugh, as well as the martial architecture of World War II, Meades celebrates the emergence of the Brutalist spirit in his usual provocative and incisive style. Never pulling his punches, Meades praises a moment in architecture he considers sublime and decries its detractors.

Bunkers Brutalism and Bloodymindedness

2014

Building Sights poster
NR

Personal reflections on the best of 20th Century architecture.

Building Sights

1988

Victoria Died in 1901 and is Still Alive Today poster
NR

Jonathan Meades's personal, entertaining and deliberately provocative journey through Victorian architecture. From fantasy castles to the House of Parliament, he explores the Jekyll-and-Hyde nature of Victorian society, using a combination of comic sketches, dance routines and riotous bad taste. Meades concludes that the British obsession with escapism and the desire to live in the past means Queen Victoria is still very much alive today.

Victoria Died in 1901 and is Still Alive Today

2001

Jonathan Meades: Off Kilter poster
NR

Jonathan Meades takes a quixotic tour of Scotland, a country which has intrigued him since he first encountered lists of towns only known from football coupons

Jonathan Meades: Off Kilter

2009

Jonathan Meades on Jargon poster
10.0

In this provocative television essay, writer and broadcaster Jonathan Meades turns his forensic gaze on that modern phenomenon that drives us all up the wall - jargon. In a wide-ranging programme he dissects politics, the law, football commentary, business, the arts, tabloid-speak and management consultancy to show how jargon is used to cover up, confuse and generally keep us in the dark. He contrasts this with the world of slang, which unlike jargon actually gets to the heart of whatever it's talking about even if it does offend along the way. With plenty of what is called 'strong language', Meades pulls no punches in slaying the dragon of jargon.

Jonathan Meades on Jargon

2018

Jonathan Meades: Abroad Again poster
NR

Jonathan Meades Explores architecture and the British psyche once again in this series.

Jonathan Meades: Abroad Again

2007

tv-ssfbm ehkl Surreal Film poster
NR

Surreal. Totally surreal. Well surreal. Double surreal. What does "surreal" mean? Does it mean anything? Documentary about Surrealism

tv-ssfbm ehkl Surreal Film

2001

Jonathan Meades - Magnetic North poster
9.0

Jonathan Meades travels from the flatlands of Flanders to Germany's spectacular Baltic coast in an attempt to decipher exactly what northernness entails.

Jonathan Meades - Magnetic North

2008

Abroad Again in Britain poster
9.0

Jonathan Meades gives a personal perspective of British history.

Abroad Again in Britain

2005

Abroad in Britain poster
NR

Series in which Jonathan Meades considers unusual homes or architecture around Britain.

Abroad in Britain

1990

Even Further Abroad With Jonathan Meades poster
NR

My name is Jonathan Meades and this Series is called 'Even Further Abroad'. It peels off the drab grey overcoat of preconception to reveal the lime green posing pouch of reality beneath.

Even Further Abroad With Jonathan Meades

1997

Further Abroad With Jonathan Meades poster
NR

Set In a distant Present. In a land where there is no such word as 'ordinary' and where every.... AAhh.. AATCHOO!

Further Abroad With Jonathan Meades

1994

Jonathan Meades On France poster
NR

Jonathan Meades scrutinises the 95 per cent of France that Brits drive through and don't notice en route to the 5 per cent that conforms to their expectation

Jonathan Meades On France

2012

No artwork available
NR

Jonathan Meades offers an affectionate critique of Birmingham - home of Balti, ELO, heavy metal, conferences, 'Crossroads' and Cadbury's - from its architecture and canals to the Brummie accent and humour.

Heart Bypass: Birmingham

1998

Behind the camera

Franco Building with Jonathan Meades poster
NR

Writer and broadcaster Jonathan Meades turns his gaze onto Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.

Franco Building with Jonathan Meades

2019

L'Atlantide poster
6.7

A mythical land who must be discover. Or invented. In an impressive library, two old men. One is a great Polish archaeologist at the end of his work. The second- his best friend. They are masters of a substantial slice of human history: legendary Atlantis. It is refuge and masterpiece, propriety and treasure.

L'Atlantide

1992

Jerry Building: Unholy Relics of Nazi Germany poster
7.0

Jonathan Meades explores the architecture of Nazi Germany, from its holiday camps to its concentration camps.

Jerry Building: Unholy Relics of Nazi Germany

1994

No artwork available
5.0

A surreal film about surrealism.

tvSSFBM EHKL

2001

Ben Building: Mussolini, Monuments and Modernism poster
6.5

Having previously investigated the architecture of Hitler and Stalin's regimes, Jonathan Meades turns his attention to another notorious 20th-century European dictator, Mussolini. His travels take him to Rome, Milan, Genoa, the new town of Sabaudia and the vast military memorials of Redipuglia and Monte Grappa. When it comes to the buildings of the fascist era, Meades discovers a dictator who couldn't dictate, with Mussolini caught between the contending forces of modernism and a revivalism that harked back to ancient Rome. The result was a variety of styles that still influence architecture today. Along the way, Meades ponders on the nature of fascism, the influence of the Futurists, and Mussolini's love of a fancy uniform.

Ben Building: Mussolini, Monuments and Modernism

2016

Joe Building: The Stalin Memorial Lecture poster
NR

Jonathan Meades examines the cult of Stalinism through its buildings and monuments.

Joe Building: The Stalin Memorial Lecture

2006