CR spoke with BAFTA and Emmy Award winning Director Norman Stone

Jonathan: In recent years you've also done C.S. Lewis Beyond Narnia for the Hallmark channel and more recently for BBC1, The Narnia Code. What's been your fascination with C.S. Lewis?

Norman: Yes, I seem to be stuck on it don't I? I've done a lot of films as well, but very different to those three. I think Lewis is probably one of the most interesting characters throughout the age that we're in now. People do ask questions. It's good to have somebody with Lewis' wit, wisdom and indeed his own experience of searching and arriving at a faith. He was relentlessly honest. He didn't take rubbish from people. He thought his way through and did amazingly intelligent and interesting stories; not just the Narnia Code, the science fiction trilogies and all the rest of the massive output. He speaks well and he thinks well. Plus, and this is a big plus for me, he earned the right to be heard. So many people shout and expect you should listen because I'm shouting louder. He went through the ringer with the death of his wife and his own difficulties earlier on when he was growing up. He did a book called Surprised by Joy, which tells his earlier life in a most moving way. He'd been there and come back again and you trust people of that sort of quality when you hear what they say.

Jonathan: I mentioned earlier The Narnia Code, which was on BBC1. It's just been released on DVD. Can you say what it touches on?

Norman: Yes. It's fascinating to come across something that's a discovery. I came across a chap called Michael Ward, who reckoned to have discovered a very deliberately hidden, (by Lewis himself), piece of literary archaeology. Underneath the Narnia stories, he said, is an extra layer of meaning which is foundational to the whole understanding of it. It's a fascinating treasure hunt. At first I didn't believe him, but we started filming. We went to France, Belgium, and America and all over the place and I think he's right. There is this fascinatingly rich extra layer of meaning and the film explores that. It's quite a surprise.

Jonathan: You love tackling these in depth drama/documentary types of programming; others include Florence Nightingale and Stopping Hitler, which is on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. What is it about these people that draw you to bring them to the screen?

Norman: A lot of these people I've dealt with have got value and worth in themselves, as well as a jolly exciting story. When television began, it was the post war, brains, trust, man of science and that's the end of the question approach. Many of the characters who you'd expect to have films made about, were made, like Madame Curie; yet the people with a stronger level of meaning and spiritual compass, were left to one side, just because of the trends of the times. When you come across someone like Bonhoeffer or even Florence Nightingale and certainly C.S. Lewis, they have an awful lot to say to us and it's fresh. They haven't been mined that much before. It was amazing to me that Florence Nightingale has not had any sort of major drama about her on television, ever. We had great fun charging with the Light Brigade and other things. It was great.

Jonathan: With these kind of things that grab your heart, is it difficult to find something to watch on TV when you sit down in the evening?

Norman: I watch movies.

Jonathan: Do you? What kinds of movies inspire you?

Norman: I do watch movies, of course I do, but there is good stuff out there in television. The problem is there are so many options now on television and unfortunately, very often they're options for the same thing.

When Lord Reith began television at the BBC, he said that this broadcasting is to educate, inform and entertain, which sounds pretty good. Now I think it's to exploit, titillate and humiliate. That's a drift that I don't like, but still, there are some darn good things that entertain, make you laugh, cry and think.

Jonathan: The media and film are obviously powerful influences on people's minds and hearts, are you conscious of this when you're producing and directing?

Norman: I think you've got to be conscious, inspired and make it as truthful as you possibly can. You can't con people very easily on television; at least it soon shows up if you do. If you bring something of value and entertainment to light and then into people's lives, then it's up to them what they do with it. I love the idea of people talking about a programme or film the night after they've seen it. You know you've given them something to chew on. That's what I like to do.

Jonathan: You've also done a number of top TV dramas like Miss Marple and Catherine Cookson. Are they different to do?