Beatrix Potter with Patricia Routledge (UK)

(47 min; 2016; English)
Director: Ian Denyer

Actress Patricia Routledge takes viewers through the life of one of the most well-known children's authors ever, Beatrix Potter, creator of Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-Duck and Jeremy Fisher.

Routledge, who portrayed Potter in 1998 in the stage play Beatrix and is the writer and presenter of this documentary, and its story is as lovely, colourful, and engaging as any of Beatrix Potter’s illustrated tales. Born in 1866 into a wealthy family in Kensington, London, “artistic talent was in Beatrix’s genes,” says Routledge, who gives viewers of this programme a glimpse of Potter’s childhood art, housed in the archives of the Victoria & Albert Museum. In its collection are many of Potter’s early paintings, including wonderful ones she made in a sketchbook when she was only nine years old.