BBC SECURE EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH OBAMA

In an exclusive UK broadcast interview ahead of the release of his memoirs, former President of the United States Barack Obama will be interviewed by historian and broadcaster David Olusoga in a special programme - Barack Obama Talks To David Olusoga - commissioned by BBC Arts and to be broadcast on Wednesday 18 November at 7.30pm on BBC One.

In the 30-minute special from BBC Studios Production, Barack Obama will discuss the first volume of his presidential memoirs, A Promised Land, and his motivations for writing the book and the challenges he faced confronting political, cultural and racial divisions in America, as the first African American to hold the nation’s highest office.

Historian and broadcaster David Olusoga says: “Meeting Barack Obama to discuss his memoirs is a great honour. To be interviewing him now - at the end of a year in which race and racism and the histories that lie behind them have been at the centre of global events - seems fitting. My interview with the former President will highlight the obstacles he faced as President and ask whether his optimism in what he calls the 'possibility of America' has been challenged in recent years.”

Jonty Claypole, Director of BBC Arts, says: "We’re thrilled to have commissioned an exclusive UK broadcast interview with Barack Obama for BBC Arts. Ever since the publication of Dreams from My Father 25 years ago, Obama’s books are masterpieces of political memoir and autobiography...

"Having the opportunity to bring him face to face with David Olusoga, one of our foremost social historians and broadcasters, at the end of a year that has been defined by Covid-19, Black Lives Matter, and one of the most fiercely-fought American elections in history, promises to be deeply illuminating. The programme will be broadcast on BBC One and will then be available on BBC platforms in the UK and internationally."