| Opinions | |
|---|---|
 Politician and authorAlan Clark appearing onOpinions in 1993 | |
| Genre | Talk show |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | Channel 4 |
Opinions is a British talk programme broadcast onChannel 4 television in the 1980s and 1990s. According toTime magazine,Opinions gave "a public figure 30-minutes of airtime each week to expound on a controversial topic (Germaine Greer onMargaret Thatcher,Edward Teller on nuclear defence)".[1] "A speaker could express his or her own views straight to camera for 30 minutes"[2] "an earnest of Channel 4's faith and mission to bring edgy, alternative fare to the public and to excite reaction".[3] "Individuals like the novelistSalman Rushdie and the historianEP Thompson each spoke to the camera for half an hour on a subject that interested them".[4]
During the time it was produced byOpen Media, the series featured such figures asEdward de Bono,Alan Clark,Linda Colley,Brian Cox,James Goldsmith,Paul Hill,Dusan Makavejev,G.F. Newman,George Soros andNorman Stone.[5] One – byDennis Potter, in 1993 – was given a cinema screening by theBFI in July 2014.[6]
Among those appearing in theOpinions 1993 debate inWestminster Central Hall about democracy in Britain chaired byVincent Hanna wereZaki Badawi,Christine Crawley,Paul Ekins,Christopher Hitchens,Paul Kennedy,Michael Mansfield,David Miliband,Geoff Mulgan,Vincent Nichols,Janet Paraskeva,Jonathan Sacks,Nancy Seear,Roger Scruton,Anthony Smith andCrispin Tickell.[7]