'No one's walked out on me yet'

A self-confessed political junkie with a talent for communication, it's difficult to think of anyone better than former BBC political editor Andrew Marr to guide viewers through the complexities, intrigues and nuances of British social and political life since 1945. And in the new documentary series beginning this week, he does exactly that.

''It's one person's attempt to tell the story of the last 60 years which is bumpier, wilder, but also more entertaining than you might imagine, or I imagined when I started it,'' says Andrew, who also presents the BBC One weekend show Sunday AM. ''It's an extraordinary story, but because we've lived through it, sometimes we don't realise quite how extraordinary it's been.

''I've done documentaries before, but what's been new and exciting is doing a series - trying to shape a whole long story,'' he adds. ''And I make some quite tough judgements about individuals and about policies which people may disagree with.''

In this week's episode, Andrew examines the shock 1945 election result when Labour's Clement Attlee scored a resounding victory over wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

''It was an absolute shock which reverberated throughout the world,'' he explains. ''Then came Labour's struggle to build the New Jerusalem. The UK was totally different in those days - all-white and very impoverished. There was a lot of idealism and optimism - the sense that the world could be built anew.

''The second programme covers the big consumer boom in the 1950s, when for the first time, people have cars, washing machines - all the stuff they want,'' he continues. ''Then the third film takes us to Harold Wilson and Edward Heath, ending with the Winter of Discontent and the Three-Day Week.''

After examining the Thatcher years, finally and more poignantly following Tony Blair's recent resignation announcement, Andrew looks at the Blair years and Cool Britannia.

''I see Blair very much as a post-Thatcher politician,'' Andrew explains. ''She set the weather and he carried on in the same direction. What's happened in the Blair years, above all, is the country has been completely changed by migration. We have become the most open country in the world. I call it a world's island because we belong to the world in a way we didn't before.

''So Britain is a more dangerous place in many ways, a more crowded place, a more frantic place, but it's also exciting and buzzy. And I for one wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I like it here. It's one of the most liberal countries in the world. Although with this stuff about ID cards, there's a question if that will be the case in a few years' time.''

Few people are better placed to comment on today's political landscape, and with the next general election likely to be a close-run contest between Conservative David Cameron and Labour's likely new leader Gordon Brown, who does Andrew have his money on?

''That's impossible to say,'' he says. ''It's more open than it's been in a long time. The Tories are doing extremely well at the moment but they're not in a position where you can say they're definitely going to win. We can make all these predictions, but until we've experienced Gordon Brown for a year or so, we don't really know.''

During his five years as political editor of the Beeb and more recently on Sunday AM, Andrew has interviewed an array of heavyweight names. So he finds it understandably difficult to pick out his most memorable chat.

''Oh wow. That's a hard question,'' he exclaims. ''There's no doubt it would be the big players - Brown and Blair in particular. Interviewing them is always difficult, always fascinating. I've cross-questioned Bush in Press conferences and I was able to question both Ariel Sharon and Yassar Arafat on the same day a few miles apart, and find both equally wildly incoherent and angry. That was interesting. In terms of the Sunday AM show, we've had fantastic people. But I won't rest until I've had Bob Dylan reviewing the papers. Unfortunately, I don't think he's given an interview to a journalist since the early 1970s. It's a bit of a big ask.''

However, Andrew doesn't have the same aggressive interview technique of say, a Jeremy Paxman or John Humphrys.

''I'm not naturally aggressive,'' he says. ''I'm not one those interviewers who gets off on huge amounts of tension, though I can do it if I need to. I tend to believe I get a better, more interesting interview, and more out of them, by putting them at their ease, and asking direct, pointed questions, but in a slightly friendly way. Polite, direct, friendly, persistent. That's the answer. No one's walked out yet.''

Andrew covered some fascinating stories as political editor at the BBC - with the 9/11 tragedy and Iraq War among his most memorable. ''I spent a lot of time as political editor on the back of the Blair Force One aircraft, charging around the world - first assuring the Arab countries that we weren't interested in attacking Iraq,'' Andrew says. ''But that took me to places like Syria, Pakistan, Gaza, as well as Putin's Moscow.''

So does he miss it?

''I miss it terribly for about ten days a year,'' Andrew admits. ''There are a couple of big story days when I'd like to be out there. But in the political editorship job, you're just skimming the top of the waves the whole time. Instant reaction, instant headline, then you move onto something new.''

Not that Andrew has much time to spare. When he's not working, he's relaxing with his political journalist wife Jackie Ashley and their three children, and indulging in favourite hobbies.

''I like to paint and I run again now after snapping my Achilles tendon,'' Andrew says. ''I read a lot because I present Start The Week on Radio Four and there's a constant stream of books coming in to be read. So between all of those things, it's a pretty busy life.''

And although Andrew has a bit of an intellectual reputation, he happily admits to liking culture of the more popular variety.

''I watch a lot of the big TV series like Desperate Housewives, 24 and Life On Mars, which I thought was brilliant,'' he says. ''I listen to music on my i-Pod although I'm not that into current bands because I'm just too much of an old git - although I do listen to people like Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Beautiful South, Manic Street Preachers.''

So what's next for Andrew, surely one of the busiest men in political journalism?

''A break please,'' he sighs. ''A bit of time off - I'm really looking forward to that.''

Andrew Marr's five-part documentary series, Andrew Marr's History Of Modern Britain, begins on BBC2 tomorrow, 9pm