Sir Ian McKellen to portray LS Lowry in new BBC documentary

Actor Sir Ian McKellen will portray the acclaimed English artist LS Lowry “through his own voice” using unheard recordings from his final days in a new BBC documentary.

The Lord Of The Rings star, 86, will play the artist, also known as Laurence Stephen Lowry, nearly five decades on from his death in a new immersive BBC Arts Arena film LS Lowry: The Unheard Tapes.

The documentary will feature a number of unheard recordings between the painter and Angela Barratt, a young fan at the time who interviewed Lowry as he recounted his childhood through to his final days and the experiences that shaped him as both a man and an artist.

Sir Ian, who will lip-sync the tapes in the documentary, said: “To give play to Lowry through his own voice has been a unique privilege.

“These tapes reveal an intimate insight into the artist’s thoughts – his ambitions, regrets and his humour.

“Anyone like me, who admires his paintings and drawings, will be intrigued and delighted that the artist is brought back to life through his own words.”

The one-hour Arena documentary, the BBC’s long-standing arts strand, will also explore how Salford and Greater Manchester’s industrial landscape changed over the years, a feature which was often captured in Lowry’s work.

Mark Bell, BBC Arts commissioning editor, said: “Marking 50 years since Lowry’s death, and celebrating Arena’s own 50-year tradition of ambitious, intelligent storytelling, this film comes at very special moment.

“The inspired casting of Ian McKellen and Annabel Smith – an echo of the age and energy between Lowry and Angela – feels like life imitating art in the best possible way.

“But this film isn’t just about the life of the artist, it also provides an insight into the realities of urban life in the north of England in the 20th century.”

The film will air on BBC Two and iPlayer with broadcast details yet to be announced.