Arena is the BBC's premier arts and culture documentary showcase. More than 600 films by some of the world's greatest directors have been featured—from profiles of cultural icons like Bob Dylan, Salman Rushdie, and Orson Welles to explorations of more esoteric topics like the Ford Cortina, New York's Chelsea Hotel, and subcultures from the Caribbean to China. Originally conceived as a weekly magazine-style show in 1975 with three "strands"—Art & Design, Theatre, and Cinema—it transitioned to fe…
Arena is the BBC's premier arts and culture documentary showcase. More than 600 films by some of the world's greatest directors have been featured—from profiles of cultural icons like Bob Dylan, Salman Rushdie, and Orson Welles to explorations of more esoteric topics like the Ford Cortina, New York's Chelsea Hotel, and subcultures from the Caribbean to China. Originally conceived as a weekly magazine-style show in 1975 with three "strands"—Art & Design, Theatre, and Cinema—it transitioned to fe…
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Seasons (52)
Season 1975
1 Oct 1975 – 17 Dec 1975 · 12 episodes
1Theatre: Lilian Baylis & the Old Vic/David Hockney & the Rake's Progress1 Oct 1975
2Art and Design: How They Sold the 70s/Space Studios8 Oct 1975
3Theatre: Howard Barker/Kenneth Tynan/Birds of Paradise15 Oct 1975
4Art and Design: New Yorker/Serpentine Gallery/Jarrow22 Oct 1975
5Theatre: National Theatre29 Oct 1975
6Art and Design: Painting the End of the World/Landscape Photography/Sci-Fi Illustrations5 Nov 1975
7Theatre: News Round-up12 Nov 1975
8Art and Design: Shirley Conran/Barry Lategan/Edward Burne-Jones19 Nov 1975
9Theatre: News Round-up26 Nov 1975
10Art and Design: Landscape into Art/Charles Tomlinson3 Dec 1975
11Theatre: Mikhail Baryshnikov/Albert Finney10 Dec 1975
12Art and Design: Forgotten Heritage17 Dec 1975
Season 1976
7 Jan 1976 – 15 Dec 1976 · 31 episodes
1Theatre: News Round-up7 Jan 1976
2Art and Design: News Round-up14 Jan 1976
3Theatre: News Round-up21 Jan 1976
4Art and Design: Paul Strand28 Jan 1976
5Theatre: Just Between Ourselves4 Feb 1976
6Art and Design: Keith Grant11 Feb 1976
7Theatre: What is Great Acting?18 Feb 1976
8Art and Design: Sculpture25 Feb 1976
9Theatre: Paris3 Mar 1976
10Art and Design: Video Artists10 Mar 1976
11Theatre: Goodbye to a Building?17 Mar 1976
12Art and Design: The New Realism Painting24 Mar 1976
13Theatre: Happy Birthday, Royal Court Theatre31 Mar 1976
14Art and Design: Art for Money's Sake?7 Apr 1976
15Edinburgh International Festival 1976: Part 125 Aug 1976
16Edinburgh International Festival 1976: Part 21 Sep 1976
17Edinburgh International Festival 1976: Part 38 Sep 1976
18Theatre: Manchester Royal Exchange15 Sep 1976
19Cinema: Robert Altman22 Sep 1976
20Art and Design: After Samuel Palmer29 Sep 1976
21Cinema: Frank Westmore6 Oct 1976
22Theatre: Peter Shaffer13 Oct 1976
23Cinema: Eric Rohmer20 Oct 1976
24Art and Design: The Illustrators: The Work of Mick Brownfield and Allan Manham/The Swish of the Curtain27 Oct 1976
25Cinema: Don Siegel3 Nov 1976
26Theatre: The Cultural Common Market10 Nov 1976
27Cinema: British Cinema17 Nov 1976
28Art and Design: Sculpture for the Blind/Linda Benedict-Jones/James Boswell24 Nov 1976
29Cinema: 'The Long Vacation of 36'1 Dec 1976
30Theatre: Brecht in Newcastle8 Dec 1976
31Cinema: Christmas Special15 Dec 1976
Season 1977
5 Jan 1977 – 14 Dec 1977 · 35 episodes
1Cinema: Mel Brooks5 Jan 1977
2Art and Design: Sam Smith: Genuine England/Arena Review12 Jan 1977
3Cinema: The Front19 Jan 1977
4Theatre: Spokesong/At Home with Mole26 Jan 1977
5Cinema: News2 Feb 1977
6Art and Design: Ralph Steadman9 Feb 1977
7Cinema: Network16 Feb 1977
8Theatre: The Cultural Common Market: Peter Stein and the Schaubuhne23 Feb 1977
9Cinema: Z2 Mar 1977
10Art and Design: What Is a Hologram?/Kit Williams - Ring Around the Moon9 Mar 1977
11Cinema: A Star is Born16 Mar 1977
12Theatre: A Night Out23 Mar 1977
13Cinema: Ealing Studios30 Mar 1977
14Art and Design: Family Pieces/Both Sides of the Line/The Divine and the Fantastic6 Apr 1977
15Cinema: Bernardo Bertolucci13 Apr 1977
16Theatre: The Prospect Before Us20 Apr 1977
17Cinema: Bernardo Bertolucci Part 227 Apr 1977
18Art and Design: The Continuous Diary/Dine's Drawings4 May 1977
19Cinema: Erotic Films11 May 1977
20Cinema: Sophia Loren25 May 1977
21Edinburgh Festival7 Sep 1977
22Cinema: John Frankenheimer14 Sep 1977
23Cinema: New York, New York21 Sep 1977
24Art and Design: Achtung Minen! The work of Ian Hamilton Finlay28 Sep 1977
25Cinema: Annie Hall5 Oct 1977
26Theatre: Noel Coward in The Gorbals12 Oct 1977
27Cinema: Greece19 Oct 1977
28Art and Design: Richard Seifert26 Oct 1977
29Cinema: News Round-up2 Nov 1977
30Theatre: Hands Off the Classics9 Nov 1977
31Cinema: 21st London Film Festival16 Nov 1977
32Art and Design: The Family/Wrapping up the Reichstag23 Nov 1977
33Cinema: 21st London Film Festival Part 230 Nov 1977
34Theatre: Leonard Rossiter7 Dec 1977
35Cinema: The Deep14 Dec 1977
Season 1978
11 Jan 1978 – 6 Dec 1978 · 23 episodes
1Cinema: The Force is with us?11 Jan 1978
2Art and Design: The Journey/Henry Moore Meets Leonardo18 Jan 1978
3Cinema: The Force is with us? Part 2 / Howard Hawks25 Jan 1978
4Theatre: The Cherry Orchard1 Feb 1978
5Cinema: Conrad on Screen8 Feb 1978
6Art and Design: Carrington/Robert Motherwell/Michael McKinnon15 Feb 1978
7Cinema: Claude Renoir22 Feb 1978
8Theatre: Hey Kids! Let's Do the Show Right Here ...1 Mar 1978
9Cinema: Close Encounters of the Third Kind8 Mar 1978
10Art and Design: Carl Andre/Madame Stravinsky15 Mar 1978
11Cinema: Dancing Years/Roseland22 Mar 1978
12Theatre: Taking Our Time29 Mar 1978
13Art and Design: Way Out West5 Apr 1978
14Theatre: Children of the Gods12 Apr 1978
15Television: When Is a Play Not a Play?17 Apr 1978
16Art and Design: George Melly3 May 1978
17Theatre: John Byrne/Arnold Wesker10 May 1978
18Rock: Tubes on Tour24 May 1978
19Cinema: François Truffaut/Bill Douglas11 Oct 1978
20Theatre: Vanessa Redgrave18 Oct 1978
21Cinema: Hooray for Hollywood?25 Oct 1978
22Cinema: The Thirty-Nine Steps22 Nov 1978
23Cinema: A Report from Bombay6 Dec 1978
Season 1979
8 Jan 1979 – 29 Sep 1979 · 23 episodes
1The Museum of Drawers8 Jan 1979
2On Photography15 Jan 1979
3Cinema: News Round-up17 Jan 1979
4Who is Poly Styrene?22 Jan 1979
5Athol Fugard: A Lesson from Aloes29 Jan 1979
6Cinema: John Carpenter and star Donald Pleasence31 Jan 1979
7Maler's Requiem5 Feb 1979
8Piaf/What Did You Do in ' The Warp ' Daddy?12 Feb 1979
9Cinema: John Barry14 Feb 1979
10Other Writers Will Tell You Different....26 Feb 1979
11Cinema: Isabelle Huppert28 Feb 1979
12Arena Presents Ubu5 Mar 1979
13My Way12 Mar 1979
14Cinema: Don Siegel14 Mar 1979
15La Dame aux Gladiolas: The Agony and the Ecstasy of Edna Everage19 Mar 1979
16'Let Us Now Praise Famous Men ': Alabama 40 Years On26 Mar 1979
17Cinema: Kung Fu, Run Run Shaw and Bruce Lee28 Mar 1979
18Tell Us the Truth2 Apr 1979
19The King and I9 Apr 1979
20Their Lips are Sealed15 Apr 1979
21Rock: The Tubes on Tour21 May 1979
22Pictures of the Mind14 Jun 1979
23Six Days in September29 Sep 1979
Season 1980
16 Jan 1980 – 22 Dec 1980 · 17 episodes
1Building for Change16 Jan 1980
2Lene Lovich - Sleeping Beauty23 Jan 1980
3Mentioned in Dispatches30 Jan 1980
4Isaac Singer's Nightmare and Mrs Pupko's Beard6 Feb 1980
5Peggy Taub, the Learned Goat and Other People ...13 Feb 1980
6Bring Me Back a Song27 Feb 1980
7' I talk about me - I am Africa'3 Mar 1980
8Rudies Come Back or The Rise and Rise of 2-Tone12 Mar 1980
9Working at It19 Mar 1980
10Left: Andrea Dunbar Right: Victoria Wood26 Mar 1980
11Climb Every Mountain or Nothing Succeeds Like Failure2 Apr 1980
12Arena presents Double Vision9 Apr 1980
13Dedicated Followers of Fashion16 Apr 1980
14Luck and Flaw21 May 1980
15In Their Own Image28 May 1980
16Making The Shining4 Oct 1980
17Dire Straits22 Dec 1980
Season 1981
3 Jan 1981 – 15 Dec 1981 · 26 episodes
1Chelsea Hotel3 Jan 1981
2Hazell Meets His Makers10 Jan 1981
3Getting Away from Sidney17 Jan 1981
4Private Worlds24 Jan 1981
5Today Carshalton Beeches... Tomorrow Croydon31 Jan 1981
6Edward Hopper21 Feb 1981
7Stages28 Feb 1981
8The Smallest Theatre...7 Mar 1981
9Huston's Hobby14 Mar 1981
10A Walk with Amos Oz21 Mar 1981
11God's Fifth Columinist28 Mar 1981
12Did You Miss Me?4 Apr 1981
13The Return of Lupino Lane15 Apr 1981
14The Comic Strip Hero18 Apr 1981
15Arena on Clair2 May 1981
16Somewhere Over the Rainbow...9 May 1981
17If the Music Had to Stop...16 May 1981
18Curtains?16 Aug 1981
19The Cinema of Andrzej Wajda6 Sep 1981
20"I Thought I Was Taller" - A Short History of Mel Brooks2 Oct 1981
21Have You Seen the Mona Lisa?3 Nov 1981
22Let Them Know We're Here10 Nov 1981
23A Pretty British Affair17 Nov 1981
24The Art of Radio Times and The Eye of the "Eye"24 Nov 1981
25A Tall Story - How Salman Rushdie Pickled All India8 Dec 1981
26Brixton to Barbados15 Dec 1981
Season 1982
19 Jan 1982 – 28 Dec 1982 · 22 episodes
1The Private Life of the Ford Cortina19 Jan 1982
2What Makes Rabbit Run?28 Jan 1982
3Here They Kill People for It2 Jan 1982
4Listen to Britain9 Feb 1982
5True to Life?9 Feb 1982
6Desert Island Discs23 Feb 1982
7Housing Problems9 Mar 1982
8The Orson Welles Story: Part One18 May 1982
9The Orson Welles Story: Part Two21 May 1982
10Mike Leigh Making Plays4 Sep 1982
11A Genius Like Us: A Portrait of Joe Orton9 Nov 1982
12A Play for Bridport16 Nov 1982
13Upon Westminster Bridge23 Nov 1982
14Eddie Cochran: Three Steps to Heaven30 Nov 1982
15Angus McBean11 Dec 1982
16Samuel Beckett Season: Happy Days11 Dec 1982
17Samuel Beckett Season: Eh Joe13 Dec 1982
18Samuel Beckett Season: Rockaby14 Dec 1982
19Samuel Beckett Season: Not I15 Dec 1982
20Samuel Beckett Season: Quad16 Dec 1982
21Samuel Beckett Season: Last Tape17 Dec 1982
22Guernica - The Long Exile28 Dec 1982
Season 1983
11 Jan 1983 – 30 Dec 1983 · 19 episodes
1Last Waltz In Vienna11 Jan 1983
2Classically Cuban: Alicia Alonso and the Cuban National Ballet18 Jan 1983
3Hair: By Their Hair Shall Ye Know Them...1 Feb 1983
4Boulez Now8 Feb 1983
5Jazz Juke Box I15 Feb 1983
6Burroughs22 Feb 1983
7The Catherine Wheel1 Mar 1983
8Kurt Vonnegut: So It Goes8 Mar 1983
9It's All True9 May 1983
10The Life and Times of Don Luis Bunuel19 Aug 1983
11Borges and I26 Oct 1983
12Bette Davis - The Benevolent Volcano2 Nov 1983
13Anthony Powell - An Invitation to the Dance9 Nov 1983
14The Ghost Writer12 Nov 1983
15Jazz Juke-Box II23 Nov 1983
16The GPO Story14 Dec 1983
17The Everly Brothers Reunion Concert23 Dec 1983
18George Orwell: Part 1 - Such, Such Were the Joys29 Dec 1983
19George Orwell: Part 2 - Road to Wigan Pier30 Dec 1983
Season 1984
2 Jan 1984 – 26 Dec 1984 · 27 episodes
1George Orwell Part 3: Homage to Catalonia2 Jan 1984
2George Orwell Part 4: The Lion and the Unicorn3 Jan 1984
3George Orwell Part 5: Nineteen Eighty-four4 Jan 1984
4Say Amen Someone4 Feb 1984
5Dame Edna Everage - A Birthday Tribute17 Feb 1984
6Four Rooms21 Feb 1984
7The Theatre of Dario Fo28 Feb 1984
8Sunset People3 Mar 1984
9The Caravaggio Conspiracy6 Mar 1984
10Between Dreaming and Waking13 Mar 1984
11Ken Russell 's Elgar20 Mar 1984
12Jerry Lee Lewis: Live in Bristol 198427 Mar 1984
13True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist3 Apr 1984
14My Dinner with Louis6 May 1984
15Milan Kundera - Laughter and Forgetting19 May 1984
16A Tribute to Joseph Losey7 Jul 1984
17Beat This! A Hip Hop History12 Jul 1984
18The Everly Brothers: Songs of Innocence and Experience2 Nov 1984
19Billie Holiday: The Long Night of Lady Day9 Nov 1984
20Eubie Blake10 Nov 1984
21Francis Bacon18 Nov 1984
22We Don't Like Your House Either!23 Nov 1984
23Teacher Don't Teach Me: Nonsense - The Music of Fela Kuti30 Nov 1984
24After the Rehearsal7 Dec 1984
25What's Cuba Playing At?21 Dec 1984
26Music of the other Americas22 Dec 1984
27Pavarotti at Madison Square Garden26 Dec 1984
Season 1985
29 Apr 1985 – 17 Dec 1985 · 18 episodes
1Watch Me Move....29 Apr 1985
2Hugh Masekela - The African Ambassador6 May 1985
3The Theatre of Robert Wilson25 Jul 1985
4Sonny Boy Williamson Sings27 Jul 1985
5B.B. King Speaks27 Jul 1985
6Chicago Blues27 Jul 1985
7Blind John Davis28 Jul 1985
8Blues Medley28 Jul 1985
9Big Bill Blues28 Jul 1985
10Robert Wilson on the Civil Warpath1 Aug 1985
11The Real Buddy Holly Story12 Sep 1985
12Saint Genet12 Nov 1985
13The Accordion Strikes Back19 Nov 1985
14The Cinema of Francesco Rosi26 Nov 1985
15The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima3 Dec 1985
16Billie Holiday: The Long Night of Lady Day7 Dec 1985
17The Apollo Story: Part 110 Dec 1985
18The Apollo Story: Part 217 Dec 1985
Season 1986
8 Jan 1986 – 19 Dec 1986 · 21 episodes
1Arena Presents Tosca's Kiss8 Jan 1986
2The New Babylon11 Jan 1986
3Tango Mio18 Jan 1986
4Cinderella21 Jan 1986
5The Journey Man28 Jan 1986
6Go-Go in Washington DC4 Feb 1986
7Marguerite Yourcenar11 Feb 1986
8Kurosawa4 Mar 1986
9Caribbean Nights - Bob Marley15 Jun 1986
10Caribbean Nights - C.L.R. James's First Cricket XI16 Jun 1986
11Caribbean Nights - Danzon16 Jun 1986
12Caribbean Nights - Rasta and the Ball17 Jun 1986
13Caribbean Nights - Arturo Sandoval18 Jun 1986
14Caribbean Nights - Kapo19 Jun 1986
15Henry Moore7 Sep 1986
16Jerry Lee Lewis1 Oct 1986
17Salvador Dali21 Nov 1986
18The Life and Times of Don Luis Buñuel22 Nov 1986
19The Spirit of Lorca Federico Garcia28 Nov 1986
20Scarfe on Scarfe12 Dec 1986
21Night Moves19 Dec 1986
Season 1987
16 Jan 1987 – 4 Dec 1987 · 20 episodes
1Stand by Your Dream (The Tammy Wynette Story)16 Jan 1987
2Night and Day23 Jan 1987
3Dennis Potter30 Jan 1987
4Martin Chambi and the Heirs of the Incas6 Feb 1987
5Confessions of Robert Crumb13 Feb 1987
6Ruth, Roses and Revolver20 Feb 1987
7A Brother with Perfect Timing27 Feb 1987
8Andrei Tarkovsky's Cinema13 Mar 1987
9Putting Ourselves in the Picture20 Mar 1987
10How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?27 Mar 1987
11Bayan Ko Pilipinas3 Apr 1987
12Talk is Cheap10 Apr 1987
13Night Moves11 Apr 1987
14The Waugh Trilogy Part 1: Bright Young Thing18 Apr 1987
15The Waugh Trilogy Part 2: Mayfair and the Jungle19 Apr 1987
16The Waugh Trilogy Part 3: An Englishman's Home20 Apr 1987
17Joseph Beuys6 Jun 1987
18Revolutionary with a Paintbox20 Nov 1987
19Your Honour, I Object! Guccione V Russell27 Nov 1987
20Invisible Ink4 Dec 1987
Season 1988
8 Jan 1988 – 23 Dec 1988 · 15 episodes
1Woody Guthrie8 Jan 1988
2The Dandy-Beano Story15 Jan 1988
3Broadway - The Great White Way22 Jan 1988
4Ryszard Kapuscinski: Your Man Who is There29 Jan 1988
5The Emperor5 Feb 1988
6My Name Is Celia Cruz12 Feb 1988
7An Andalucian Journey4 Mar 1988
8Robert Mapplethorpe18 Mar 1988
9The English Thoroughbred25 Mar 1988
10Byrne About Byrne1 Apr 1988
11Ten Green Bottles25 Nov 1988
12Clint Eastwood2 Dec 1988
13Moving Across the World on Horses9 Dec 1988
14History Boys on the Rampage16 Dec 1988
15The Unforgettable Nat King Cole23 Dec 1988
Season 1989
6 Jan 1989 – 27 Dec 1989 · 14 episodes
1Tales of Barcelona6 Jan 1989
2Blackpool13 Jan 1989
3The Tip of the Iceberg27 Jan 1989
4Laurens Van Der Post and Albert Sample3 Feb 1989
5New York - The Secret African City10 Feb 1989
6Eugene Ionesco: The Joke's on Us17 Feb 1989
7John Cassavetes24 Feb 1989
8Power in the Blood3 Mar 1989
9The Old Brass Plate Rattle Test - The Englishman and His Jukebox17 Mar 1989
10Juke Box Jury19 Mar 1989
11Lubetkin Thoughts of a Twentieth Century Anarchist31 Mar 1989
12Heavy Metal7 Apr 1989
13The Other Graham Greene21 Apr 1989
1425 X 5 The Continuing Adventures of The Rolling Stones27 Dec 1989
Season 1990
19 Jan 1990 – 20 Sep 1990 · 9 episodes
1Numbers19 Jan 1990
2Jerry Lee Lewis2 Feb 1990
3Roberto Rossellini9 Feb 1990
4Next Time Dear God Please Choose Someone Else23 Feb 1990
5Salif Keita2 Mar 1990
6Paris Is Burning6 Apr 1990
7Jana Bokova's Havana15 Apr 1990
8Oooh er Missus! The Frankie Howerd Story1 Jun 1990
9Agatha Christie - Unfinished Portrait20 Sep 1990
Season 1991
18 Jan 1991 – 13 Oct 1991 · 16 episodes
1Miller Meets Mandela18 Jan 1991
2Derek Jarman - A Portrait25 Jan 1991
3Anselm Kiefer: Operation Sealion1 Feb 1991
4The Very Strange Story of... The Legendary Joe Meek8 Feb 1991
5Mardi Gras12 Feb 1991
6Caroline 199 - A Pirate's Tale1 Mar 1991
7Staring at the Ceiling8 Mar 1991
8Three Irish Writers15 Mar 1991
9One Irish Rover16 Mar 1991
10The Importance of Being Oscar17 Mar 1991
11The Other Roci22 Mar 1991
12Lifepulse29 Mar 1991
13Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon5 Apr 1991
14Elmore Leonard's Criminal Records12 Apr 1991
15The Human Face19 Apr 1991
16The Complete Citizen Kane13 Oct 1991
Season 1992
23 Jan 1992 – 26 Dec 1992 · 6 episodes
1Billy, How Did You Do It? - Part 123 Jan 1992
2Billy, How Did You Do It? - Part 224 Jan 1992
3Billy, How Did You Do It? - Part 325 Jan 1992
4Masters of the Canvas31 Jan 1992
5Armistead Maupin Is a Man I Dreamt Up27 Mar 1992
6Linda McCartney - Behind the Lens26 Dec 1992
Season 1993
29 Jan 1993 – 8 May 1993 · 15 episodes
1A Tribute to Dizzy Gillespie29 Jan 1993
2Edward Said: The Idea of Empire12 Feb 1993
3Philip Roth19 Mar 1993
4Tales of Rock 'n' Roll: Walk on the Wild Side1 May 1993
5The Time Signal18 Dec 1993
6The Last Soviet Citizen19 Feb 1993
7Derek Walcott26 Feb 1993
8Zhang Yimou - A Story of China12 Mar 1993
9Only the Names Have Been Changed....26 Mar 1993
10Weegee2 Apr 1993
11Duchamp's Fountain2 Apr 1993
12Tales of Rock 'N' Roll: Peggy Sue17 Apr 1993
13Not a Bad Girl18 Apr 1993
14Tales of Rock 'N' Roll: Heartbreak Hotel24 Apr 1993
15Tales of Rock 'N' Roll: Highway 61 Revisited8 May 1993
Season 1994
29 Jan 1994 – 6 Aug 1994 · 13 episodes
1In Search of Oz29 Jan 1994
2Who Is Vladimir Pozner?5 Feb 1994
3The Dark Side of Black12 Feb 1994
4The Two Voyages of Donald Crowhurst22 Feb 1994
5Glitterbug - Derek Jarman5 Mar 1994
6Theatre without Actors12 Mar 1994
7Philip K. Dick: A Day in the Afterlife9 Apr 1994
8Voices from the Island23 Apr 1994
9Cindy Sherman - Nobody's Here but Me24 Apr 1994
10Bahia of All the Saints7 May 1994
11Sandra Bernhard - Confession of a Pretty Lady20 May 1994
12The Ring - A South London Tale31 May 1994
13Louise Bourgeois6 Aug 1994
Season 1995
11 Feb 1995 – 20 Aug 1995 · 4 episodes
1The Peter Sellers Story Part 1 - From Southsea to Shepperton11 Feb 1995
2The Peter Sellers Story Part 2 - From Jack to Jacques18 Feb 1995
3The Peter Sellers Story Part 3 - I am Not a Funny Man25 Feb 1995
4Punk and the Pistols20 Aug 1995
Season 1996
9 May 1996 – 24 Dec 1996 · 3 episodes
1The Burger & the King: The Life & Cuisine of Elvis Presley9 May 1996
2Tony Bennett 's New York22 Dec 1996
3Caesar's Writers24 Dec 1996
Season 1997
25 Dec 1997 – 24 Dec 1997 · 6 episodes
1Cigars - Out of the Humidor25 Dec 1997
16There 's No Such Thing as a Small Head of State2 Jan 1997
17Busby, Stein and Shankly - the Football Men: Underground28 Mar 1997
18Busby, Stein and Shankly - the Football Men: Football is the Faith29 Mar 1997
19Busby, Stein and Shankly - the Football Men: The Price of Glory30 Mar 1997
20The Banana24 Dec 1997
Season 1998
25 Dec 1998 – 26 Dec 1998 · 2 episodes
1The Brian Epstein Story: The Sun Will Shine Tomorrow25 Dec 1998
2The Brian Epstein Story: The Sun Will Shine Tomorrow (Part 2)26 Dec 1998
Season 1999
2 Jan 1999 – 27 Dec 1999 · 7 episodes
1The 40-Year Face-off2 Jan 1999
2Salman Rushdie and the Ground beneath His Feet22 Apr 1999
3Looking for the Iron Curtain7 Nov 1999
4Casanova20 Dec 1999
5Blondes - Jayne Mansfield24 Dec 1999
6Blondes - Diana Dors26 Dec 1999
7Blondes - Anita Ekberg27 Dec 1999
Season 2000
2 Jul 2000 – 20 May 2000 · 3 episodes
1Wisconsin Death Trip2 Jul 2000
2The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Money2 Jan 2000
3The Veil20 May 2000
Season 2001
6 May 2001 – 25 Dec 2001 · 10 episodes
1James Ellroy's Feast of Death6 May 2001
2And the Winner is...13 May 2001
3Budd Schulberg - a Contender19 May 2001
4The Source28 May 2001
5Salgado - the Spectre of Hope30 May 2001
6Stalin - the Red God31 May 2001
7According to Beryl6 Oct 2001
8Sykes and a Day25 Dec 2001
9The Private Dirk Bogarde26 Dec 2001
10Max Bygraves: I Wanna Tell You a Story25 Dec 2001
Season 2002
26 Oct 2002 – 26 Dec 2002 · 6 episodes
1Harold Pinter - Part One: The Room26 Oct 2002
2Harold Pinter - Part Two: Celebration26 Oct 2002
3One for the Road26 Oct 2002
4The Room5 Nov 2002
5Radio Ha! Meet Dead Ringers26 Dec 2002
6Radio Ha! It's Time for Just a Minute26 Dec 2002
Season 2003
22 Nov 2003 – 25 Aug 2003 · 6 episodes
1Dylan Thomas - From Grave to Cradle22 Nov 2003
2Buffalo Bill's Wild West: How the Myth Was Made19 Dec 2003
3Alec Guinness: A Secret Man29 Dec 2003
5Imagine Imagine20 Sep 2003
6The Many Lives of Richard Attenborough - Part 124 Aug 2003
7The Many Lives of Richard Attenborough - Part 225 Aug 2003
Season 2004
29 May 2004 – 25 Dec 2004 · 5 episodes
1Pavarotti: The Last Tenor29 May 2004
2Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus9 Jul 2004
3Shadowing the Third Man2 Oct 2004
4Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball?9 Dec 2004
5Painting the Clouds: A Portrait of Dennis Potter25 Dec 2004
Season 2005
5 Feb 2005 – 25 Dec 2005 · 9 episodes
1Hank Williams - Honky Tonk Blues5 Feb 2005
2Calling Hedy Lamarr12 Feb 2005
3Francis Bacon's Arena19 Mar 2005
4Arena at 303 Sep 2005
5No Direction Home - Bob Dylan Part 126 Sep 2005
6No Direction Home - Bob Dylan Part 227 Sep 2005
7The Princess and Panorama8 Nov 2005
8Routemasters! The Double Decker Bus Conductors10 Dec 2005
9Lunch with Galton and Simpson25 Dec 2005
Season 2006
11 Sep 2006 – 17 Dec 2006 · 3 episodes
1Chi-Chi the Panda11 Sep 2006
2Pete Doherty12 Nov 2006
3Saints17 Dec 2006
Season 2007
18 Mar 2007 – 31 Dec 2007 · 16 episodes
1The Underground18 Mar 2007
2Bob Marley Exodus '773 Jun 2007
3Encountering Bergman13 Jul 2007
4Bergman and Faro Island: Arena13 Jul 2007
5Bergman and the Cinema: Arena14 Jul 2007
6Art and Design: The Journey25 Jul 2007
7Flames of Passion: The Other Side of British Cinema2 Sep 2007
8The Comic Strip Hero30 Sep 2007
9Radio Ha! It's Time for Just a Minute1 Oct 2007
10The Archers4 Oct 2007
11Into the Limelight - Tribute Bands6 Oct 2007
12Tribute Bands - Live6 Oct 2007
13Dylan's Folk - the Pure, the Bad and the Holy14 Oct 2007
14The Other Side of the Mirror - Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival14 Oct 2007
15Ken Dodd's Happiness24 Dec 2007
16Shadowing the Third Man31 Dec 2007
Season 2008
10 Apr 2008 – 24 Dec 2008 · 6 episodes
1The Strange Luck of V.S. Naipaul10 Apr 2008
2Cab Driver26 Jul 2008
3The Hunt for Moby Dick20 Sep 2008
4The Whale in the Museum21 Sep 2008
5The Agony and Ecstasy of Phil Spector25 Oct 2008
6Paul Scofield24 Dec 2008
Season 2009
14 Feb 2009 – 6 Jun 2009 · 3 episodes
1Tony Bennett: The Music Never Ends14 Feb 2009
2Cool3 Apr 2009
3T.S. Eliot6 Jun 2009
Season 2010
22 Jan 2010 – 29 Dec 2010 · 6 episodes
1Brian Eno - Another Green World22 Jan 2010
2Harold Pinter - A Celebration24 Jan 2010
3Frank Sinatra - The Voice of the Century2 Apr 2010
4Johnny Mercer - The Dream's on Me4 Apr 2010
5Dave Brubeck - In His Own Sweet Way3 Dec 2010
6Rolf Harris Paints His Dream29 Dec 2010
Season 2011
25 Apr 2011 – 13 Nov 2011 · 3 episodes
1Produced by George Martin25 Apr 2011
2George Harrison: Living in the Material World - Part 112 Nov 2011
3George Harrison: Living in the Material World - Part 213 Nov 2011
Season 2012
10 Jan 2012 – 25 Dec 2012 · 10 episodes
1Dickens on Film10 Jan 2012
2Sonny Rollins: Beyond the Notes17 Feb 2012
3Sonny Rollins '74: Rescued!17 Feb 2012
4The Dreams of William Golding17 Mar 2012
5Jonathan Miller31 Mar 2012
6Amy Winehouse - The Day She Came to Dingle23 Jul 2012
7The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour - 1. Magical Mystery Tour Revisited6 Oct 2012
8The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour - 2. 'The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour6 Oct 2012
9Screen Goddesses22 Dec 2012
10Sister Wendy and the Art of the Gospel25 Dec 2012
Season 2013
21 Apr 2013 – 31 Oct 2013 · 3 episodes
1aka Norman Parkinson21 Apr 2013
2The National Theatre Part One: The Dream24 Oct 2013
3The National Theatre Part Two: War and Peace31 Oct 2013
Season 2014
20 Mar 2014 – 29 Jun 2014 · 3 episodes
1Whatever Happened to Spitting Image?20 Mar 2014
2The National Theatre - Learning Zone2 Apr 2014
3The 50 Year Argument - The New York Review of Books29 Jun 2014
Season 2015
28 Jun 2015 – 22 Nov 2015 · 2 episodes
1Nicolas Roeg - It's About Time28 Jun 2015
2Night and Day22 Nov 2015
Season 2016
18 Mar 2016 – 23 Oct 2016 · 4 episodes
1Loretta Lynn: Still a Mountain Girl18 Mar 2016
2All the World's a Screen - Shakespeare on Film24 Apr 2016
31966 - 50 Years Ago Today24 Jul 2016
4The Roundhouse - The People's Palace23 Oct 2016
Season 2017
10 Feb 2017 – 9 Jun 2017 · 6 episodes
1Alone with Chrissie Hynde10 Feb 2017
2American Epic Part 1: The Big Bang21 May 2017
3American Epic Part 2: Blood and Soil28 May 2017
4Kirsty Young: 75 Years of Desert Island Discs29 May 2017
5American Epic Part 3: Out of the Many, the One4 Jun 2017
6American Epic Part 4: The Sessions9 Jun 2017
Season 2018
4 Feb 2018 – 4 Nov 2018 · 4 episodes
1Stanley and His Daughters4 Feb 2018
2Bob Dylan - Trouble No More30 Mar 2018
3Nothing Like a Dame2 Jun 2018
4Make Me Up!4 Nov 2018
Season 2019
6 Apr 2019 – 30 Dec 2019 · 8 episodes
1Unstoppable: Sean Scully and the Art of Everything6 Apr 2019
2That Summer7 Jul 2019
3Cindy Sherman #untitled28 Jul 2019
4Kusama: Infinity1 Sep 2019
5Bergman: A Year in the Life22 Sep 2019
7A British Guide to the End of the World4 Nov 2019
8Everything Is Connected - George Eliot's Life10 Nov 2019
9Seamus Heaney and the Music of What Happens30 Dec 2019
Season 2020
7 Mar 2020 – 21 Nov 2020 · 5 episodes
1Hilary Mantel: Return to Wolf Hall7 Mar 2020
2The Changin' Times of Ike White18 May 2020
3I Am Not Your Negro20 Jun 2020
4Keith Haring: Street Art Boy4 Jul 2020
5Fela Kuti: Father of Afrobeat21 Nov 2020
Season 2021
21 Mar 2021 – 28 Nov 2021 · 8 episodes
1My Father and Me21 Mar 2021
2Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and the Legendary Tapes16 May 2021
3African Apocalypse22 May 2021
4Dark Matter: A History of the Afrofuture29 May 2021
5Dylan Thomas: From Grave to Cradle10 Oct 2021
6Painted with My Hair31 Oct 2021
7B. Catling: Where Does It All Come From?21 Nov 2021
8The Vasulka Effect28 Nov 2021
Season 2022
13 Feb 2022 – 27 Nov 2022 · 5 episodes
1The Most Beautiful Boy in the World13 Feb 2022
2River25 Jul 2022
3James Joyce's Ulysses7 Sep 2022
4TS Eliot: Into the Waste Land22 Oct 2022
5Kanaval: A People's History of Haiti in Six Chapters27 Nov 2022
Season 2023
22 Apr 2023 – 29 Nov 2023 · 6 episodes
1Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll22 Apr 2023
2The Mysterious Mr Lagerfeld26 Apr 2023
3The Stones and Brian Jones15 May 2023
4All the Beauty and the Bloodshed4 Jun 2023
5Coco Chanel Unbuttoned15 Sep 2023
6Being Kae Tempest29 Nov 2023
Season 2024
Season 2025
14 Mar 2025 – 28 Mar 2025 · 2 episodes
1Steven McRae: Dancing Back To The Light14 Mar 2025