Arena: Season 1

Theatre

Oct 1, 1975

Premiere. Ronald Eyre reviews what's going on in the theatre, Kenneth Tynan talks to Laurence Olivier about Lilian Baylis and The Old Vic, and a film about David Hockney's sets for

Art and Design

Oct 8, 1975

George Melly looks at how they sold the 70's and a report on the opening of the Space Studios.

Theatre

Oct 15, 1975

An interview with Howard Barker, author of 'Stripwell', and an extract from same; commentary by Kenneth Tynan; and an investigation of 'Birds of Paradise'.

Art and Design

Oct 22, 1975

Cartoonist Mel Caiman on the New Yorker magazine and its artists, Richard Hamilton at the Serpentine Gallery, and a new documentary exhibition from Jarrow.

Theatre

Oct 29, 1975 · 90 min

Peter Hall talks about the history and new South Band location of the National Theater, where he is artistic director.

Art and Design

Nov 5, 1975 · 90 min

Features Observer critic William Feaver on Painting the End of the World, Bill Brandt's selection of landscape photography at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the best of scienc

Theatre

Nov 12, 1975 · 90 min

Extract from a contemporary play and Kenneth Tynan opines.

Art and Design

Nov 19, 1975 · 90 min

Shirley Conran is the guest columnist; fashion photographer Barry Lategan is filmed working; and Victorian painter Edward Burne-Jones' London exhibition.

Theatre

Nov 26, 1975 · 90 min

Deborah Norton reviews British stage events, a play extract, and Kenneth Tynan opines about the theatre.

Art and Design

Dec 3, 1975

Guest columnist Terry Measham; a look into the work of painter and poet Charles Tomlinson.

Theatre

Dec 10, 1975

Mikhail Baryshnikov and Natalia Makarova rehearse for a BBC New Year Gala Performance; Kenneth Tynan draws a portrait of Albert Finney.

Art and Design

Dec 17, 1975

Filmmaker Roger Graef and journalist Simon Jenkins discuss the destruction of historical buildings, in light of a recent SAVE campaign report and the conclusion of the European Arc

Theatre

Jan 7, 1976

Deborah Norton returns with reports, interviews and extracts from what is liveliest and best in the British theatrical scene.

Art and Design

Jan 14, 1976

Theatre

Jan 21, 1976

Jonathan Miller introduces this week's look at what is most stimulating and enjoyable on the theatrical scene.

Art and Design

Jan 28, 1976

A look at American photographer Paul Strand and recent trends in British photography.

Theatre

Feb 4, 1976

Arena goes to Scarborough for the British premiere of a new Alan Ayckbourn play "Just Between Ourselves".

Art and Design

Feb 11, 1976

Arena looks at aspects of community art and the work of painter Keith Grant, artist-in-residence at the New Charing Cross Hospital.

Theatre

Feb 18, 1976

Claire Bloom and Kenneth Tynan discuss extracts from Samuel Beckett's 'Happy Days', George Bernard Shaw's 'Too True to be Good', and Tennessee Williams' 'Sweet Bird of Youth'.

Art and Design

Feb 25, 1976

Arena talks with Robert Janz and Dante Leonelli about incorporating time into sculpture.

Theatre

Mar 3, 1976

Arena brings extracts from Paris' contemporary theatre season, including Frank Wedekind's 'Lulu' and Marguerite Duras' 'Days in the Tree', and an interview with Delphine Seyrig.

Art and Design

Mar 10, 1976

Arena presents the work of British and American video artists.

Theatre

Mar 17, 1976

Barbara Jefford, Laurence Olivier, Joan Plowright, Kenneth Tynan Billie Whitelaw and many of the people behind the scenes say goodbye to the Old Vic building.

Art and Design

Mar 24, 1976

Liverpool poet and painter Adrian Henry visits 'The Face of Merseyside'; Boyd and Evans use photographs as the basis of their explorations of everyday life.

Theatre: Happy Birthday Royal Court

Mar 31, 1976

Alumni of the Royal Court celebrate its 20th anniversary.

Art and Design: Art for Money's Sake?

Apr 7, 1976

Barrie Penrose investigates a multi-national art empire and the artists and methods that created it.

Edinburgh International Festival 1976: Part 1

Aug 25, 1976

Features Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Galina Visnevskaya in the Scottish Opera's production of Macbeth, The Kantor Theatre Company from Poland, and Fenella Fielding in a late-night revue

Edinburgh International Festival 1976: Part 2

Sep 1, 1976

Features the La Mama Theatre Company from New York; Bunraku, traditional Japanese Puppet Theatre; a recital by Frederica Von Stade; and Judith Blegen as Susanna in 'The Marriage of

Edinburgh International Festival 1976: Part 3

Sep 8, 1976

Writer Germaine Greer and her god-daughter Ruby take a look at a child's Edinburgh Festival and some of the fringe activities, including Gruppo Teatro Libero from Rome and Quentin

Theatre: A Dream Come True

Sep 15, 1976

A look at the opening of the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.

Robert Altman

Sep 22, 1976

Gavin Miller interviews the director Robert Altman on "M*A*S*H", "Nashville", "Buffalo Bill and the Indians" and more.

Art and Design: After Samuel Palmer

Sep 29, 1976

David Gould, the expert who discovered Tom Keating's Samuel Palmer imitations, shows the process of identifying and analyzing suspected pictures.

Frank Westmore

Oct 6, 1976

Gavin Millar talks with Frank Westmore, whose family has dominated the make-up departments of American cinema for decades.

Theatre

Oct 13, 1976

Peter Shaffer, writer of 'Equus', talks about his plays, his life and the theatre with an excerpt from the 1976 stage production of 'Equus'.

Cinema: Eric Rohmer

Oct 20, 1976

Gavin Millar interviews director Eric Rohmer about 'Die Marquise von O', 'Claire's Knee' and 'Love in the Afternoon'.

Art and Design: The Illustrators: The Work of Mick Brownfield and Allan Manha

Oct 27, 1976

British illustrators Mick Brownfield and Allan Manham are documented working on their current projects; Artist Chris Orr probes the dreadful truth behind the net curtains of suburb

Cinema: Don Siegel

Nov 3, 1976

Don Siegel, director of 'The Shootist', 'Charley Varrick', 'Coogan's Bluff', 'Dirty Harry' and many other violent thrillers talks about the problems of the director who is typecast

Theatre: The Cultural Common Market

Nov 10, 1976

A look at Theatre National Populaire, one of France's leading theaters, and Patrice Chéreau's 'La Dispute' by Marivaux and Roger Planchon's 'Tartuffe', as well as scene's from Plan

Cinema

Nov 17, 1976

In light of the low proportion of British films in the 20th London Film Festival, Gavin Millar looks at what's wrong with the British film industry and distribution system.

Art and Design: Sculpture for the Blind/Linda Benedict-Jones/James Boswell

Nov 24, 1976

Sculpture for the Blind - a special Tate Gallery exhibition; Linda Benedict-Jones, photographer; James Boswell - a revival of his war pictures.

Cinema

Dec 1, 1976

Arena speaks with Spanish directors at the Madrid premiere of 'The Long Vacation of 36'.

Theatre: Brecht in Newcastle

Dec 8, 1976

20th anniversary tribute to Bertolt Brecht at Newcastle's University Theatre with scenes from 'The Good Woman of Setzuan' and prose, poetry and music.

Cinema: Christmas Special

Dec 15, 1976

A look at the Disney exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum; an interview with 'The Ritz' director Dick Lester and actress Rita Moreno; an excerpt from Buster Keaton's 'Spite Ma

Cinema

Jan 5, 1977

Gavin Millar talks to Mel Brooks just before the London release of 'Silent Movie'.

Art and Design: Sam Smith: Genuine England/Arena Review

Jan 12, 1977

An introduction to the magical world of wood-sculptor Sam Smith, plus a look at one of this month's major exhibitions.

Cinema

Jan 19, 1977

Gavin Miller talks to director Martin Ritt, writer Walter Bernstein, and actors Woody Allen and Zero Mostel about 'The Front'

Theatre: Spokesong/At Home with Mole

Jan 26, 1977

An interview with Stewart Parker about his new musical 'Spokesong' with excerpt; a profile of 81 year old actor Richard Goolden with scenes from 'Toad of Toad Hall' and Tom Stoppar

Cinema

Feb 2, 1977

A fortnightly look at the big screen at home and abroad. News, views and interviews presented by Gavin Millar.

Art and Design: Ralph Steadman

Feb 9, 1977

Ralph Steadman illustrates a children's anti-war story, caricatures at his local pub, and speaks about his drawing techniques and his work, including Alice, and impressions of the

Cinema

Feb 16, 1977

Gavin Miller discusses 'Network' with director Sidney Lumet and Robert Kee; Alberto Cavalcanti talks about his film career on the occasion of his 80th birthday.

Theatre: The Cultural Common Market: Peter Stein and the Schaubuhne

Feb 23, 1977

Peter Stein, director of Die Schaubuhne theatre co-operative, comes to London with his Shakespeare Project. Includes extracts from 'Summerfolk' and 'Shakespeare's Memory'.

Cinema

Mar 2, 1977

Gavin Millar talks to New Yorker critic Pauline Kael about Costa-Gavras' 'Z' and 'Section Speciale', along with her passion for the movies and how she wields her power.

Art and Design: What Is a Hologram?/Kit Williams - Ring Around the Moon

Mar 9, 1977

Arena investigates holograms and their potential in the arts; artist Kit Williams' vivid folklore paintings.

Cinema

Mar 16, 1977

On the occasion of the release of the third film version of 'A Star is Born', James Mason talks about the curious business of stardom and how it has changed.

Theatre: A Night Out

Mar 23, 1977

Arena visits three theatres - the Mercury Theater in Colchester, the Humberside Theatre in Hull, and the Duke's Playhouse in Lancaster - to find out what they are doing, how they a

Cinema

Mar 30, 1977

A look at Ealing Studios, including excerpts of many of their popular films.

Art and Design: Family Pieces/Both Sides of the Line/The Divine and the Fantastic

Apr 6, 1977

Portrait painter Philip Sutton; Helmut Weissenborn, a German WWI soldier who illustrated with wood engravings the war diary of Edward Thomas, an English poet who died in WWI; and G

Cinema

Apr 13, 1977

In a special edition from Rome, Gavin Millar interviews Bernardo Bertolucci, director of 'Last Tango in Paris' and '1900', and Gore Vidal on Hollywood and 'Cinecitta'.

Theatre: The Prospect Before Us

Apr 20, 1977

Prospect Theatre Company reopens the Old Vic. Includes rehearsal footage from 'St Joan', 'Hamlet', 'Antony and Cleopatra', and 'War Music', a new musical adaptation of 'The Iliad'

Cinema

Apr 27, 1977

Gavin Millar talks to director Bernardo Berolucci in Rome about '1900', his new five and a half hour film, as well as his earlier work.

Art and Design: The Continuous Diary/Dine's Drawings

May 4, 1977

The artist Ian Breakwall gave up painting for the art of a daily diary; Jim Dine explains why he returned from pop art to drawing the human figure.

Cinema

May 11, 1977

Arena looks at erotic films, including 'Je T'Aime Moi Non Plus', 'Hardcore', and 'Come Play With Me'.

Cinema

May 25, 1977

An interview with Sophia Loren on the occasion of the opening of 'The Cassandra Crossing'.

Cinema

Jun 8, 1977

Mr Universe, the Crazy Horse Girls de Paris, Yum Yum Shaw, superstars with police escorts, topless bathing beauties-the Cannes Film Festival still sometimes seems more like a circu

Theatre: Playwrights of the 70's

Jun 15, 1977

In the last ten years an astonishing number of new writers have emerged. Plays by Barrie Keeffe, John McGrath, David Hare, Howard Barker, Howard Brenton, Trevor Griffiths and Steph

Edinburgh Festival

Sep 7, 1977

Features the 1977 Edinburgh International Festival with a new production of Carmen, the experimental shows, Film Festival, Television Festival, and art galleries.

Cinema

Sep 14, 1977

with Gavin Millar returns for a new season after a visit to Hollywood, which despite rumours of slump and panic is still the unquestioned capital of the cinema world. We talked to

Cinema

Sep 21, 1977

Art and Design

Sep 28, 1977

Cinema

Oct 5, 1977

Diane Keaton and Woody Allen talk about the filming of 'Annie Hall' and their long friendship.

Theatre

Oct 12, 1977

Cinema: Greece

Oct 19, 1977

Art and Design: Richard Seifert

Oct 26, 1977

Cinema

Nov 2, 1977

Theatre: Hands Off the Classics

Nov 9, 1977

In the 17th century Troilus and Cressida was censored and in the 18th century Tate gave King Lear a happy ending. The programme debates the line between interpretation and vandalis

Cinema: 21st London Film Festival

Nov 16, 1977

Art and Design: The Family/Wrapping up the Reichstag

Nov 23, 1977

Cinema: 21st London Film Festival - Part 2

Nov 30, 1977

Theatre: Leonard Rossiter

Dec 7, 1977

Cinema: The Deep

Dec 14, 1977

Cinema: The Force is with us?

Jan 11, 1978

Star Wars - the biggest and fastest money-maker in the history of the movies - has opened in Britain at last. What on earth - or in heaven - has caused the phenomenal success of th

Art and Design: 'The Journey' or The Memoirs of a Self-Confessed Surrealist

Jan 18, 1978

George Melly explores his lifelong relationship with surrealism in all its forms and prominent personalities; Henry Moore discusses Leonardo da Vinci's anatomical drawings.

Cinema: The Force is with us? - Part 2/Howard Hawks

Jan 25, 1978

The Force is with us? Star Wars - the biggest and fastest money-maker in the history of the movies - has opened in Britain at last. What on earth - or in heaven - has caused the p

Theatre: ' But please, this is a farce! ' The story of The Cherry Orchard

Feb 1, 1978

But please, this is a farce! ' The story of The Cherry Orchard CHEKHOV: '... It hasn't turned out a drama but as a comedy, in places even a farce.' STANISLAVSKY: ' ... I wept lik

Cinema: Joseph Conrad

Feb 8, 1978

A British film The Duellists starring Keith Carradine , Harvey Keitel and Albert Finney won the Special Jury Award at Cannes last year and it opened in London last week. It is a fi

Art and Design: Carrington

Feb 15, 1978

Cinema: Claude Renoir

Feb 22, 1978

Theatre: Hey Kids! Let's Do the Show Right Here ...

Mar 1, 1978

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Mar 8, 1978

Art and Design: Carl Andre

Mar 15, 1978

Cinema: Dancing Years

Mar 22, 1978

Theatre: Taking Our Time

Mar 29, 1978

Art and Design: Way Out West

Apr 5, 1978

Theatre: Children of the Gods

Apr 12, 1978

Television: When Is A Play Not A Play?

Apr 17, 1978

A tribute to the British filmmaker Alan Clarke (1935-1990).

Art and Design: George Melly

May 3, 1978

Theatre: Arnold Wesker

May 10, 1978

Rock: Tubes on Tour

May 24, 1978

Episode 99

Oct 11, 1978

Last Saturday in the Francois Truffaut Season now running on BBC2, "L'Enfant Sauvage", one of his masterpieces, was shown. Set in 18th-century France it is about the attempts of a

Vanessa Redgrave

Oct 18, 1978

'She is a creature of fire and light, her voice a golden gate opening on lapis lazuli hinges, her body a supple reed rippling in the breeze of her love. This is not acting at all b

Arena: Cinema

Oct 25, 1978

Hooray for Hollywood? Gavin Millar talks to: Christopher Isherwood has been a Hollywood immigrant for 40 years and loved every minute of bis screenwriting career there. 'Thank goo

Arena: Cinema

Nov 22, 1978

A new British film has its Royal Premiere tomorrow. It is an English period film and vividly demonstrates the high production values, quality and talent available in this country b

Arena: Cinema

Dec 6, 1978

This year's London Film Festival contained five entries from India. It's a reminder that we hardly see any of the output of the biggest film industry in the world. Gavin Millar re

Arena: The Museum of Drawers

Jan 8, 1979

Arena takes you on a guided tour of the smallest museum in the world - its 'curator', Swiss artist Herbert Distel, has transformed a small chest-of-drawers into a miniature museum.

On Photography

Jan 15, 1979

Featuring two of the greatest photographers of the 20th century Jacques Henri Lartigue began taking photographs at the age of seven in 1902. His celebrated Diary of a Century is a

Arena: Cinema

Jan 17, 1979

Gavin Millar presents another edition in his regular series about the cinema today.

Arena: Cinema

Jan 21, 1979

Gavin Millar talks to Robert Alt man about his new film A Wedding; plus Karel Reisz 's Dog Soldiers and other turn-of-the-year news. (Postponed from 20 December)

Who is Poly Styrene?

Jan 22, 1979

wo years ago Marion Elliott , a 20-year-old from Brixton, gave up working in Woolworths and became punk singer Poly Styrene. Having created her own plastic image, she formed a ban

Athol Fugard: A Lesson from Aloes

Jan 29, 1979

Aloe: a genus of plant indigenous to South Africa, noted for its ability to survive under the most adverse conditions. Athol Fugard is the author of such celebrated plays as The B

Arena: Cinema

Jan 31, 1979

Assault on Precinct 13 and Dark Star were two of the ' sleepers ' of the last two years - small-budget films from the USA that struck a chord right round the world. Their young wri

Maler's Requiem - Words and Images

Feb 5, 1979

Fibreglass carcasses, a flaming typewriter, and a troop of girl guides - each has been a -key ingredient in a work of art by Leopoldo Maler. Deliberately provocative, surprise and

Piaf AND What Did You Do in 'The Warp' Daddy?

Feb 12, 1979

The sell-out success of this year's Royal Shakespeare season at Stratford is the musical play, Piaf. Jane Lapotaire, television's Marie Curie, has won universal critical acclaim fo

Arena: Cinema

Feb 14, 1979

John Barry (designer Star Wars and Superman) is now directing Saturn 3. Ridley Scott (The Duellists) is shooting The Alien. Gavin Millar reports on these two new British SF films.

Other Writers Will Tell You Different and The Moving Picture Mime Show

Feb 26, 1979

Other Writers Will Tell You Different.... Lifers in prison cages, comedians in Hollywood, adolescents in the East End and female androids on the edge of the galaxy have all been s

Arena: Cinema

Feb 28, 1979

Isabelle Huppert is 23 - ' a stunning actress ', says Claude Chabrol ; 'Best Actress ' at Cannes in 1978 for Violette Noziere , the new Chabrol thriller. We talk to her in Paris.

Ubu

Mar 5, 1979

The television premiere of GEOFF DUNBAR'S brilliant animation film. Based on ALFRED JARRY's notorious surrealist hero, Pere Ubu , it chronicles the rise to power of a kind of punk

My Way

Mar 12, 1979

Q. What do the following have in common? Frank Sinatra, Sid Vicious, Dorothy Squires, Barry John, Paul Anka, Lord George-Brown, Elvis Presley, Prof Wilfrid Mellers, Shirley Bassey

Arena: Cinema

Mar 14, 1979

Twenty-three years ago Don Siegel made his famous horrorpic Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Now there is a new Invasion, even more chilling than the original; make-up effects by th

La Dame aux Gladiolas

Mar 19, 1979

Arena presents The Agony and the Ecstasy of Edna Everage In this, the first-ever exclusive Arts Documentary about a living legend, our cameras probe and etch the enigma which is D

'Let Us Now Praise Famous Men ': Alabama 40 Years On

Mar 26, 1979

At the height of the American depression in the summer of 1936, t writer JAMES AGEE and photographer WALKER EVANS travelled south to Alabama. There they lived with a family of poor

Arena: Cinema

Mar 28, 1979

with Gavin Millar. Everybody knows about Kung Fu, Run Run Shaw and Bruce Lee. They probably know less about the young film-makers who are trying to get a few of Hong Kong's more p

Tell Us the Truth

Apr 2, 1979

Rock band Sham 69 have a large and loyal following of working-class kids, who call themselves 'The Sham Army'. They have a reputation for causing trouble and Sham concerts have oft

The King and I AND Journey to the Surface of the Earth

Apr 9, 1979

The King and I For David Oxtoby, Elvis is king. He's been painting rock 'n' roll stars since the 50s, much to the bemusement of the art establishment. Most of the paintings in thi

Their Lips are Sealed

Apr 15, 1979

Arena presents a film about the strange art of ventriloquism with Tattersall and his amazing life-size doll.

Steel Pulse

May 21, 1979

A film about the popular reggae band Steel Pulse, Whose highly successful debut album ' Handsworth Revolution' launched them last summer on the road to fame. Although their roots

Ring Around the Moon

Jun 11, 1979

The Paintings of Kit Williams Inspired by the landscape, the wildlife and by his village neighbours, artist Kit Williams conjures up in his paintings a vivid folk-lore of his own.

Pictures of the Mind

Jun 14, 1979

One in six people in Britain will spend some time in a mental hospital. For 50 years, painting or drawing have provided an important key to the problems of the mentally ill. This

Six Days in September

Sep 29, 1979

John Hoyland is reckoned by many both here and abroad to be this country's finest abstract painter. A key figure for younger artists and critics, he has been both loved and hated t

Building for Change

Jan 16, 1979

Arena presents a profile of Richard Rogers, one of the most original and controversial talents in architecture today. It was Rogers, together with his Italian partner RENZO PIANO

Athol Fugard A Lesson from Aloes

Jan 17, 1980

Athol Fugard is the author of such celebrated plays as The Blood-knot, The Island and Sizwe Bansi is Dead. He is known throughout the world for his opposition to apartheid and for

Lene Lovich Sleeping Beauty

Jan 23, 1980

Formerly a professional screamer in horror films, a belly-dancer in the Middle East, Lene Lovich has now emerged as one of the most original performers in rock music -aided and abe

Mentioned in Dispatches

Jan 30, 1980

Arena presents the extraordinary story of Tim Page, war photographer and Vietnam legend-a tale first told in MICHAEL HERR'S celebrated book about Vietnam, Dispatches. 'People made

Isaac Singer's Nightmare and Mrs Pupko's Beard

Feb 6, 1980

Arena presents a hilarious and touching portrait of the great Yiddish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer, filmed on location in Brooklyn, New York, and featuring friends, relatives and o

Peggy Taub, the Learned Goat and Other People ...

Feb 13, 1980

This week Arena features two highly-individual women artists. Peggy Taub has always wanted to sculpt like the classic Greeks. But whenever she leans over the clay bin an animal he

Bring Me Back a Song

Feb 27, 1980

Irish folk music is one of the oldest unbroken cultural traditions in Europe. As the Sense of Ireland festival of arts comes to London, Arena presents some of the finest Irish musi

' I talk about me - I am Africa'

Mar 5, 1980

The growth of black consciousness through the 1970s has produced an explosion of original new theatre in black South Africa. At a secret performance in the backyard of a Soweto sho

Rudies Come Back or The Rise and Rise of 2-Tone

Mar 12, 1980

Adrian Thrills investigates a new and exhilarating musical blend which is taking the country by storm. 2-tone is a unique mix of music, fusing together reggae, rock, soul, ska, bl

Working At It

Mar 19, 1980

A profile of Liverpool playwright Alan Bleasdale With two new productions packing them in, in the North of England, ALAN BLEASDALE continues to build on the popular success of his

Victoria Wood and Andrea Dunbar

Mar 26, 1980

As prizewinning writer/performer Victoria Wood opens in her latest play, Good Fun, Arena looks at her talent to amuse through her witty and engaging songs. And we profile teenage

Climb Every Mountain or Nothing Succeeds Like Failure

Apr 2, 1980

"Failure can be fun' is the motto of self-confessed failures David McGillivray and Stephen Pile (above-if RADIO TIMES had only been able to take a picture of him). McGillivray was

Double Vision

Apr 9, 1980

The story of an unusual collaboration between rock musician Brian Eno and artist illustrator Russell Mills. The 65 works in Russell Mills' new series of paintings provide a remarka

Dedicated Followers of Fashion

Apr 16, 1980

featuring "Where Did You Get That Hat?" The outrageous hats of designer David Shilling, modelled by his mother Gertrude - doyenne of Ascot Day... "One Ascot I wore a Christmas tr

Luck and Flaw

May 21, 1980

One after another mighty politicians have fallen victim to the savage caricatures of Peter Fluck and Roger Law , better known as Luck and Flaw. Among their most memorable targets a

In Their Own Image AND Facing Up to Myself

May 28, 1980

In Their Own Image Two women photographers turn the camera on themselves ... Time Release For over a year Linda Benedict -Jones photographed herself, by using the time release on

Making 'The Shining'

Oct 4, 1980

Stanley Kubrick's long-awaited film The Shining opens in London this week and throughout the country from tomorrow. To mark the event Arena offers a unique opportunity to eavesdrop

Dire Straits

Dec 22, 1980

Not so long ago they were playing in London pubs. This week - 16 platinum discs, 21 gold and a triumphant world tour later, Dire Straits return to the London stage. Tonight's Arena

Chelsea Hotel

Jan 3, 1981

It was in the Chelsea Hotel, New York, that Bob Dylan wrote 'Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands', Andy Warhol filmed Chelsea Girls and Dylan Thomas drank himself to death. For 100 years

Hazell Meets His Makers

Jan 10, 1981

Arena eavesdrops on the writing of a new adventure for James Hazell , popular cockney private eye. He is the creation of Terry Venables , manager of Queen's Park Rangers, and Gordo

Getting Away from Sidney

Jan 17, 1981

' Uncle Sidney' is the kindly old soul in charge of an institute for the disabled: he tucks them up at night and keeps them supplied with back numbers of the Reader's Digest. But,

Private Worlds

Jan 24, 1981

This week two genuinely, original English artists introduce you to their work: Sam Smith , whose impeccably carved and printed wooden models evoke an Edwardian childhood - obsessed

Today Carshalton Beaches ... Tomorrow Croydon

Jan 31, 1981

Arena investigates the grass-roots of rock today with John Peel and John Walters ' When the punk thing started, the whole process of making records, and music as well, was demysti

Edward Hopper

Arena marks a major retrospective exhibition at London's Hayward Gallery with a film about the great American realist painter EDWARD HOPPER. His subject is the face of America - ha

Stages

Feb 28, 1981

For the past ten years Peter Brook and his unique company of actors have travelled the world with a series of extraordinary theatrical ventures. The last stage of their journey was

The Smallest Theatre

Mar 7, 1981

Tonight, from a converted cowshed in the wilds of Scotland, Arena presents The Smallest Theatre in Great Britain. Immortalised in the Guinness Book of Records, Barrie and Marianne

Huston's Hobby

Mar 14, 1981

There were these five guys round the table: the Lightweight Boxing Champion of California; an expert on Pre-Columbian art; an honorary lieutenant in the Mexican army; an architect

A Walk with Amos Oz

Mar 21, 1981

' Marching the streets of Jerusalem in 67, carrying a sub-machine-gun, I was in an absurd way acting out the role reserved* for the Arabs in my childhood nightmares. For the life o

God's Fifth Columnist

Mar 28, 1981

"I don't go out much these days, and when I do I find life infinitely dreary compared to my books..." William Gerhardie, who died at the age of 82 in 1977, was a legend in the worl

Did You Miss Me ...?

Apr 4, 1981

' It suddenly dawned on me that I was absolutely broke, completely and utterly. I didn't have a penny in the world ... this was where fame was cruel.' (GARY GLITTER) Five years ago

The Return of Lupino Lane

Apr 15, 1981

Lupino Lane , the man who made ' The Lambeth Walk ' famous, was a comic who once rivalled Chaplin and Keaton. With the advent of the talkies, his small studio folded and all the ne

The Comic Strip Hero

Apr 18, 1981

This week Arena patrols the skies above Metropolis in search of the legend that is SUPERMAN ... Meet Kirk Alyn , the first celluloid-Superman and Christopher Reeve the latest; Dr

Arena on Clair

May 2, 1981

Clair thought of himself as a screenwriter as well as a director. He put his stamp on French screen comedy in the 20s and 30s with such classics as The Italian Straw Hat , Sous les

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

May 9, 1981

As a child, trapped in a crazy Jewish household in a poor Chicago tenement, the American artist Robert Natkin had to find a way to change his life. His imagination was engulfed by

If the Music Had to Stop

May 16, 1981

Britain's musical reputation is second to none, and depends ultimately on an exceptional tradition of youth orchestras. The educational ideals which underlie this tradition are ex

Curtains? The Future of the National Youth Theatre

Aug 16, 1981

Derek Jacobi, Helen Mirren, Martin Jarvis, playwrights Peter Terson and Barrie Keefe - all products of the National Youth theatre, a unique organisation, which every summer brings

The Cinema of Andrzej Wajda

Sep 6, 1981

For 25 years the Polish film director ADRZEJ WAJDA has been making some of the most exciting and boldly critical films in Eastern Europe. He was filmed in Warsaw and Cracow shortly

'I Thought I Was Taller' A Short History of Mel Brooks

Oct 2, 1981

From Brooklyn to Beverly Hills - the life and times of a great comic film director. Tonight on BBC2 Mel Brooks , creator of Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein , and The Producers,

Have You Seen the Mona Lisa...?

Nov 3, 1981

She is two-and-a-half feet tall and nearly 500 years old. She hangs in The Louvre behind plate-glass - an unsigned, undated portrait of a smiling woman, the most idolised and abuse

Let Them Know We're Here

Nov 10, 1981

When JOINT STOCK began their latest project four months ago, they had a writer but no script, actors but no roles. Borderline, by award-winning young play-wright Hanif Kureishi, fi

A Pretty British Affair

Nov 17, 1981

Only a short while ago Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger were forgotten names in cinema history. Now, some of the greatest film-makers in the world are their ardent fans. Arena

The Art of Radio Times AND The Eye of the 'Eye'

Nov 24, 1981

This week, a total contrast in visual style-the art of RADIO TIMES and the jaundiced eye of Private Eye. The Art of Radio Times: Since 1923, the 'official organ' of the BBC has be

A Tall Story: How Salman Rushdie Pickled All India

Dec 8, 1981

Arena profiles one of the most dazzling literary talents of recent years - Saiman Rushdie , a storyteller extraordinary and winner of this year's Booker prize. Midnight's Children,

Brixton to Barbados

Dec 15, 1981

Reggae has its roots in Jamaica, and has found a home in Britain. But there are over 60 countries in the Caribbean, each with its own distinctive culture. Arena invited Linton Kwes

Private Life of the Ford Cortina

Jan 19, 1982

A ski run in Italy, a supermarket manager in Luton, a sandwich bar in London EC2, Arena opens the bonnet of the Ford Cortina, Britain's most popular, most stolen, and most misunder

What Makes Rabbit Run?

Jan 26, 1982

John Updike 's new book, Rabbit is Rich, is the third in the Rabbit series from the author of Rabbit, Run, Couples and The Coup. At 50, Updike is at the height of h s powers and

Here They Kill People for It

Feb 2, 1982

Osip Mandelstam, one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, died in a prison camp somewhere in Siberia in the 1930s: no one knows precisely how or when. He was imprisoned not f

True to Life?

Feb 9, 1982

In a month of continuing controversy about the aims and methods of the ' documentary', Arena presents a classic film by one of the pioneers of the movement-Humphrey Jennings 's Lis

Desert Island Discs

Feb 23, 1982

' I love its homeliness. It conjures up the best in traditional British pleasure, like the great British breakfast. It's an honour to be asked ' (PAUL MCCARTNEY ) For the past 40 y

Listen to Britain AND Housing Problems

Mar 9, 1982

Presents two classic films from the early days of documentary. Featured in last month's True to Life? edition, they're shown complete for the first time on British television. List

The Orson Welles Story: Part One

May 18, 1982

Arena presents an exclusive film profile in two parts of one of the great legends of the cinema. With unprecedented frankness and detail. Orson Welles talks about his long and turb

The Orson Welles Story: Part Two

May 21, 1982

'I should never have stayed in movies. But it's a mistake I can't regret because it's like saying I shouldn't have stayed married to that woman and I did because I loved her. I'm i

Mike Leigh Making Plays

Sep 4, 1982

Mike Leigh is a dramatist in a tradition of his own, a fiercely original talent whose work and working methods have always provoked curiosity and contention as well as praise. He i

A Genius Like Us

Nov 9, 1982

In April 1967 at the peak of his career as a dramatist, Joe Orton was murdered by his lover, Kenneth Halliwell... Arena presents a documentary portrait of the author of Loot and En

A Play for Bridport

Nov 16, 1982

One of the most spectacular and unlikely theatre events of last year took place a long way from the West End of London in the small Dorset town of Bridport. The Poor Man's Friend,

Upon Westminster Bridge

Nov 23, 1982

It is commonly thought that poets are university-trained intellectuals who occasionally produce slim volumes about their personal feelings. This is not so with Michael Smith. Smith

Three Steps to Heaven

Nov 30, 1982

Classics like ' Summertime blues , 'C'mon everybody' and Three steps to heaven' made Eddie Cochran one of the all-time greats of rock 'n' roll. But for his tragic death, many thin

Angus McBean

Dec 8, 1982

For nearly 50 years everybody who was anybody in the British theatre passed before the lens of Angus McBean - Gielgud, Olivier, Thorndike, Coward ... He was known as the photograph

Happy Days (Samuel Beckett Season)

Dec 11, 1982

by Samuel Beckett Starring Billie Whitelaw With Leonard Fenton Arena presents the first programme in a Samuel Beckett Season providing a unique opportunity to see famous interpr

Eh Joe (Samuel Beckett Season)

Dec 13, 1982

Continues the Samuel Beckett season. Starring Jack MacGowran A rare opportunity to see an early television premiere. Recorded in 1966, tonight's presentation has only one visible

Rockaby (Samuel Beckett Season)

Dec 14, 1982

Arena continues the Samuel Beckett Season with a unique record of his new play Rockaby which has just opened at the National Theatre. Premiered in America, it was filmed in rehears

Not I (Samuel Beckett Season)

Dec 15, 1982

Continues the Samuel Beckett Season. In one of the most extraordinary pieces of modern drama Billie Whitelaw, Beckett's foremost interpreter, performs this astonishing tour de for

Quad (Samuel Beckett Season)

Dec 16, 1982

Continues the Samuel Beckett Season with a premiere. A play without words. Quad has a musical structure. It is a kind of canon or catch-a mysterious square-dance. Four hooded figu

Krapp's Last Tape (Samuel Beckett Season)

Dec 17, 1982

Concludes the Samuel Beckett Season. One of the best-known Beckett monologues starring its creator, the late Patrick Magee. Krapp, an old man, is alone with his memories and the

Guernica: The Long Exile

Dec 28, 1982

Last year a £13-million painting travelled in top secret from America to Spain. Next day it was headline news that Picasso's masterpiece ' Guernica ' had come home at last, after 4

Classically Cuban: Alicia Alonso and the Cuban National Ballet

Jan 18, 1983

Today, in post-revolutionary Cuba, under the benign patronage of Fidel Castro, classical ballet thrives. This unlikely success story is mainly due to the legendary figure of Alicia

Hair

Feb 1, 1983

Tonight Arena takes you on a tour of contemporary British heads, from the exotic to the mundane, from hot wax to Brylcreem. Blue rinse, quiff, mohican, short back and sides, dreadl

Boulez Now

Feb 8, 1983

Pierre Boulez, leading composer of the post-war generation, later a powerful and innovative conductor, is now the head of an extraordinary experimental studio in Paris. This huge u

Jazz Juke Box

Feb 15, 1983

George Melly presents films of the greatest names of swing jazz - but with a difference. Some were made for visual juke boxes which flourished in the early 40s, others are promotio

Burroughs

Feb 22, 1983

Widely regarded as one of the greatest literary figures of the century, William Burroughs has perfected a unique and terrifying vision of the world. He is, most notably, a savage s

The Catherine Wheel

Mar 1, 1983

Tonight Arena presents one of the most ambitious dance projects ever seen on television. The Catherine Wheel combines the talents of Twyla Tharp , one of America's most imaginativ

Kurt Vonnegut

Mar 8, 1983

Writing about his experiences as a war prisoner in Dresden in the novel Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut achieved a unique blend of dead-pan humour and shrewd observation of human f

It's All True

May 9, 1983

Tonight Arena takes an extraordinary journey through the video age. Video pirates, video trials, video weddings, video graves.... Fifty years ago it was just the dream of a scienc

Luis Bunuel

Aug 19, 1983

The great Luis Bunuel died last month. Born in 1900, he was undisputably one of the outstanding creative figures of the 20th century. Tonight Gavin Millar introduces a ten-week sea

Bette Davis - The Benevolent Volcano

Nov 2, 1983

Dear boy, you are out of your mind, this woman will annihilate you, she will grind you to a fine powder and blow you away ... Director Joseph Mankiewicz recalls the warning he was

Anthony Powell - An Invitation to the Dance

Nov 9, 1983

Anthony Powell's 12-volume epic, A Dance to the Music of Time, is widely regarded as the most formidable single work of British fiction since the war. It is also largely entertaini

The Ghost Writer

Nov 12, 1983

Starring Claire Bloom, Sam Wanamaker from the novel by Philip Roth with Mark Linn Baker, Paulette Smit 'You're not so nice and polite in your fiction. You're a different person.

Jazz Juke-Box II

Nov 23, 1983

Following the success of Jazz Juke-Box I, George Melly presents another selection of jazz shorts and ' soundies ' - the delightful films made for visual juke-boxes in the early 40s

Roman Vishniac

Nov 30, 1983

Roman Vishniac is a Russian Jew born in St Petersburg in 1897. His striking images of life in the Jewish ghettos - taken with a concealed camera just before the last war - are extr

Classic British Documentaries

Dec 7, 1983

Arena shows three film classics from the early years of British documentary, which began 50 years ago.

The GPO Story

Dec 14, 1983

The GPO Film Unit-50 years old this year-went where no Hollywood film studio would dare to go in 1933. Down the mines, across the Alps, through the storms of the North Sea ... they

The Everly Brothers Reunion Concert

Dec 23, 1983

An Arena special Last September at the Royal Albert Hall Don and Phil Everly performed together for the first time in ten years. The concert was the popular music event of the yea

George Orwell 1: Such Such Were the Joys

Dec 29, 1983

George Orwell is one of the greatest writers England has produced. Tonight and for the next four nights Arena presents a unique full-scale portrait of this remarkable man, filmed i

George Orwell 2: The Road to Wigan Pier

Dec 30, 1983

Tonight's episode of the five-part Arena biography tells the story of Orwell's marriage to Eileen O'Shaughnessy , his growing political awareness and retraces what was to be the mo

George Orwell 3: Homage to Catalonia

Jan 2, 1984

Orwell, like many of his generation, enlisted to fight on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. Filmed in Barcelona and on the Huesca front, where he fought, tonight's film

George Orwell 4: The Lion and the Unicorn

Jan 3, 1984

For a brief period after the Spanish Civil War, Orwell was a revolutionary socialist, violently opposed to the coming war with Germany. Tonight's film shows his sudden emergence as

George Orwell 4: Nineteen Eighty-four

Jan 4, 1984

The last in this series of Arena films about the life and work of George Orwell begins with the tragic death of his wife Eileen in March 1945. Overcome with grief at his bereavemen

Say Amen Someone

Feb 4, 1984

Tonight's Arena Special tells the extraordinary story of two of the legendary figures of American 'gospel' -the music whose emotional impact and burning conviction lie at the heart

Four Rooms

Feb 21, 1984

ANTHONY CARO: 'I wanted to play games with our sense of space ... you experience this room with the eyes and the body too.' HOWARD HODGKIN: 'I tried to evoke a sense of romantic l

The Theatre of Dario Fo

Feb 28, 1984

Dario Fo is unique in world theatre. Playwright, actor, clown, teacher and philosopher, he is an international celebrity with two West-End smash hits to his credit - Can Pay? Won't

Sunset People

Mar 3, 1984

Tonight Arena takes a journey down one of the best known streets in the world. Sunset Boulevard stretches 27 miles from Los Angeles' Chinatown all the way to the ocean, a ride made

The Caravaggio Conspiracy

Mar 6, 1984

On 29 June 1982 a man called John Blake appeared mysteriously bidding in the major auction houses of London and New York. He was in reality the Sunday Times journalist, Peter Watso

Between Dreaming and Waking

Mar 13, 1984

David Inshaw belongs to a great tradition of English Romantic Painting - the tradition of Stanley Spencer, Samuel Palmer and the Pre-Raphelites. His most famous painting 'The Badmi

Ken Russell 's Elgar

Mar 20, 1984

Tonight, in the anniversary year of Edward Elgar 's death, Arena plays host to KEN RUSSELL 'S classic music documentary. Made in 1962 for the 100th edition of the arts magazine Mon

Jerry Lee Lewis

Mar 27, 1984

For the first time on British television, Arena presents a concert by this great legend of rock n roll. Jerry Lee Lewis doesn't sound like anybody else - the voice, the piano and t

True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist

Apr 3, 1984

Breyten Breytenbach writes about being an Afrikaner. His poetry was taught in schools and his paintings greatly admired. But in 1975 Breytenbach, living in self-imposed exile in Pa

My Dinner with Louis

May 6, 1984

Tonight Arena profiles the French film director Louis Malle. Malle is a director who has never let himself be tied down to one style of film making. The Lovers, with Jeanne Moreau

Milan Kundera- Laughter and Forgetting

May 19, 1984

From the vantage point of his Paris flat, the Czech writer Milan Kundera still obsessively contemplates Prague, the city he was forced to leave nine years ago when, silenced by the

A Tribute to Joseph Losey

Jul 7, 1984

American-born writer and director Joseph Losey died last month in London. He made his home in England in 1952 when he was hounded out of America after the Communist witch-hunt. To

Beat This! A Hip Hop History

Jul 12, 1984

Tonight Arena presents a musical entertainment set in the streets of New York City, an epic rap which will tap the roots of Hip Hop.... the true story of the most influential popul

The Everly Brothers: Songs of Innocence and Experience

Nov 2, 1984

Taught to sing from their earliest years, the brothers were raised in a unique cross-current of musical influences, from Appalachian harmony duos to black country blues singers. Th

Billie Holiday: The Long Night of Lady Day

Nov 9, 1984

Tonight Arena presents the first film portrait of the greatest of all the jazz singers. Billie Holiday's tragic story, from her traumatic childhood in Baltimore to her premature de

Eubie Blake

Nov 10, 1984

The legendary Eubie Blake 's career as a ragtime pianist and composer began in 1883. Sadly last year, five days after his 100th birthday he died. This short tribute includes one of

Francis Bacon

Nov 16, 1984

To mark his 75th birthday, Arena presents this exclusive film portrait of the great British painter, Francis Bacon. Despite his world-wide fame, Bacon remains one of the most cont

We Don't Like Your House Either!

Nov 23, 1984

This week: a portrait of one of the most individual architectural talents America has produced. Bruce Goff discovered his vocation as a child in Tulsa, Oklahoma, drawing cathedrals

Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense: The Music of Fela Kuti

Nov 30, 1984

Fela Anikulapo-Kuti is the most popular and controversial musician ever to come out of Africa. Born in Nigeria 47 years ago, he has dominated the African musical scene since the ea

After the Rehearsal

Dec 7, 1984

Arena presents the British premiere of Ingmar Bergman 's new film After the Rehearsal. Written and directed by Bergman last year soon after completing Fanny and Alexander, it conti

What's Cuba Playing At?

Dec 21, 1984

In the 25th anniversary year of the Revolution, Arena traces the Afro-Spanish roots of Cuba's rich musical history. If, for you, the rumba still means Come Dancing, then it's time

Music of the other Americas

Dec 22, 1984

Every November musicians from all over Latin America come to take part in the international music festival at Varadero in Cuba. For five days bands from all the 'other' Americas vi

Pavarotti at Madison Square Garden

Dec 26, 1984

For many Luciano Pavarotti is the world's greatest tenor - certainly his place is assured among the legends of Grand Opera. In New York on 16 August, he Performed before 20,000 Pe

My Son the Novelist

Feb 18, 1985

Howard Jacobson the eldest son of MAX JACOBSON the Manchester conjuror, made a late but successful start in the world of fiction. At the age of 41 he published Coming from Behind a

Painting for Pleasure ... and Profit: Five Artists of the 80s

Feb 25, 1985

The artists Julian Schnabel , Markus Lupertz , Sandro Chia , Francesco Clemente and Georg Baselitz command some of the highest prices on today's booming art market. Their painting

Marcel Carne

Feb 27, 1985

Arena this week presents a profile of the man many would consider the greatest living French film director. It introduces a BBC2 season of five of the masterpieces he made with the

From an Immigrant's Notebook: Karen Blixen in Africa

Mar 11, 1985

Karen Blixen's voyage to Africa in 1913 was a journey away from the 20th century. Kenya was then a semi-feudal society, a land of Masai and Kikuyu, teeming with game. In 1931 she

How Glorious is the Garden?

Mar 18, 1985

Tonight Arena and Newsnight join forces to mount a major studio debate between the embattled factions of the arts world. 'The Glory of the Garden' was the Arts Council's blueprint

Old Kent Road

Mar 25, 1985

From Chaucer's pilgrims to inter-continental juggernauts, generations of travellers have taken this historical route from Dover to the old City of London. It has become part of Lon

Ligmalion

Apr 8, 1985

A Musical for the 80s starring Tim Curry, Sting, Alexei Sayle, Gary Glitter and introducing Jason Carter To lig. verb. To gain something for nothing by wit and ingenuity. Young G

Them and Uz: A film about Tony Harrison

Apr 15, 1985

Tony Harrison is the son of a baker, and his poetry relishes, and mourns for the class he comes from. His subjects are sex, love, politics, class warfare, death, all the rituals an

Marc Chagall

Apr 22, 1985

One of the greatest masters of 20th-century painting died last month at the age of 97. This filmed tribute contains the last interview given by Chagall and charts his life and work

Watch Me Move...

Apr 29, 1985

'America gave to the world two original art forms: one was jazz, the other was full character animation' (Chuck Jones) In 1908, the comic strip artist Winsor McCay brought to life

Hugh Masekela: The African Ambassador

May 6, 1985

Hugh Masekela 's career as a musician has been dominated by his determination to take the music of black South Africans to the rest of the world. His music is a fusion of sophistic

The Theatre of Robert Wilson

Jul 25, 1985

Robert Wilson is one of the most revered and controversial talents in contemporary theatre. He first came to prominence in the New York avant garde of the 60s and 70s with a series

Blues Night: Introduction

Jul 27, 1985

Tonight Arena presents a cornucopia of the blues from the raw sounds of the Mississippi Delta to the jazz and rock 'n' roll that blues gave birth to. As a crowning delight, the eve

Blues Night: Sonny Boy Williamson Sings

Jul 27, 1985

Blues Night presents rare footage of the harmonica blues player Sonny Boy Williamson, who gave B.B. King his big break in 1948. ‘He was on the radio doing live performances when I

Blues Night: B.B. King Speaks

Jul 27, 1985

John Walters talks to B.B. King - aided by his guitar Lucille - about his extraordinary life, from a childhood picking cotton in Mississippi to worldwide stardom.

Blues Night: Chicago Blues

Jul 27, 1985

Harley Cokliss’ classic blues documentary includes performances by Muddy Waters, Junior Wells and Buddy Guy, and shows how the tough urban music of Chicago developed out of the ori

Blues Night: Blind John Davis

Jul 28, 1985

The great Chicago broadcaster and journalist Studs Terkel and pianist Blind John Davis meet in a downtown bar to discuss and play the blues. This interview was shot for "Omnibus: S

Blues Night: Blues Medley

Jul 28, 1985

This medley of the blues features Fred McDowell, Thomas 'Georgia Tom' Dorsey, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Huddie Ledbetter - better known as 'Lead Belly' - performs 'Pick a Ba

Blues Night: Big Bill Blues

Jul 28, 1985

Hard blues meets film noir as Big Bill Broonzy sings and plays in a Belgian nightclub back in the 1950s.

Buddy Holly

Sep 12, 1985

An Arena Special. Lubbock is a small town lost in the great plains of west Texas. Her most famous son, Buddy Holly , changed the face of popular music. Tonight Holly is remembere

Saint Genet

Nov 12, 1985

Tonight Arena presents a unique interview with one of the great figures of 20th-century literature, Jean Genet. His first novel, Our Lady of the Flowers, written in prison, moved

The Accordion Strikes Back

Nov 19, 1985

What do Charles Dickens , Count Leo Tolstoy , Barry Manilow and James Anderton , Chief Constable of Manchester, have in common? A love of the accordion. Tonight Arena investigates

The Cinema of Francesco Rosi

Nov 26, 1985

Francesco Rosi is one of the foremost figures in post-war Italian cinema. His films have an epic sweep covering Mafia crime, political corruption and economic mismanagement in Ital

The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima

Dec 3, 1985

Yukio Mishima was one of the outstanding writers of his generation. Nominated three times for the Nobel Prize, he was the author of 40 novels and 18 plays. But his legend rests les

The Apollo Story: part 1

Dec 10, 1985

The list of artists who have performed at Harlem's Apollo Theater reads like a Who's Who of black American entertainment. No black performer, from Sammy Davis Jr to Charlie Parker,

The Apollo Story: part 2

Dec 17, 1985

Harlem's Apollo Theater has been the ultimate testing ground for every black American performer from Duke Ellington to Michael Jackson. Tonight Arena continues its celebration of

Tosca's Kiss

Jan 8, 1986

Casa Verdi is a rambling mansion in the city of Milan, inhabited by an extraordinary and captivating group of people. Once it belonged to the composer Giuseppe Verdi : now it has b

The New Babylon

Jan 11, 1986

Arena presents the first television showing of a rare and extraordinary classic of the silent cinema, with an original music score by Dimitri Shostakovich. Directors GRIGORI KOZIN

Tango Mio

Jan 18, 1986

That most erotic and mysterious of dances, the tango, came to life in the suburbs and backstreets of Buenos Aires. This Arena Special traces its colourful and bizarre life story, t

Cinderella

Jan 21, 1986

From its origins in ninth-century China to its modern incarnation as a Christmas pantomime, Cinderella has endured as one of the best-loved fairytales. But what has made this fable

The Journey Man

Jan 28, 1986

Behind the quiet, gentlemanly exterior of Norman Lewis lies the acute Perception of one of Britain's foremost travel writers and investigative journalists. His fascinating accounts

Go-Go in Washington DC

Feb 4, 1986

The home of the White House, the Pentagon and the President is also the home of the most exciting soul scene of the 1980s. The raw power of the go-go beat has emerged within a ston

Marguerite Yourcenar

Feb 11, 1986

Novelist, poet, essayist and the first woman to be elected to the Academie Francaise, Marguerite Youreenar lives and writes on her island refuge off the coast of Maine. Her work ra

Louise Brooks

Feb 18, 1986

The American film actress Louise Brooks, who died last summer, was one of the most celebrated beauties in the history of the cinema. Her performance as unrepentant pleasure-seeker

Kurosawa

Mar 4, 1986

In 1950 the Grand Prix of the prestigious Venice Film Festival went quite unexpectedly to a Japanese film. It was called Rashomon and the director was Akira Kurosawa. In the years

Two Painters Amazed

Mar 11, 1986

Critical acclaim for a group of recent art school graduates has put Scottish art, and Glasgow in particular, firmly on the international map. Two people at the forefront of this u

Home Front

Mar 25, 1986

Don McCullin 's powerful pictures of the horrors of war and deprivation have made him one of the world's most celebrated photographers. Now, after more than 20 years working exclu

Caribbean Nights: Caribbean Journey

Jun 14, 1986

Linton Kwesi Johnson takes a trip home to Jamaica and files a personal report on the long-standing relationship between the Caribbean and the mother country.

Caribbean Nights: Medley

Jun 14, 1986

Calypso from Trinidad's Mighty Bomber, dancing from Nicaragua, Jamaican Bob Marley's 'Could you be loved', Grenadian poet Abdul Malik, and the original 'Peanut vendor' by Rita Mont

Caribbean Nights: Poetry

Jun 14, 1986

The celebrated West Indian poet Derek Walcott joins Linton Kwesi Johnson and Guyanese prodigy Fred D'Aguiar to debate the range and impact of Caribbean poetry. With filmed reading

Caribbean Nights: Ska

Jun 14, 1986

Out of the archives, a skanking delight from Kingston's Sombrero Club, 1964. Featuring Prince Buster, Toots and the Maytals and Jimmy Cliff.

Caribbean Nights: The Latin Caribbean

Jun 14, 1986

Darcus Howe interviews leading Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes and Trinidadian historian John La Rose on the exotic and often bloody story of the Caribbean.

Caribbean Nights: Maytime on the Mosquito Coast

Jun 14, 1986

Despite the dangers and deprivations of war, the people of Bluefields, Nicaragua, still find time to do the Lambeth Walk and dance Maypole. Bluefields, on Nicaragua's east coast, i

Caribbean Nights: Calypso and Carnival

Jun 15, 1986

Fuentes, La Rose and Howe are joined in the studio by this year's Calypso King David Rudder who tells the true story of the 'Trinidad Trinity' - calypso, steel pan music and carniv

Caribbean Nights: Whicker's Caribbean World

Jun 15, 1986

From the BBC treasure chest, Alan Whicker explores the forgotten comers of the Caribbean, where he meets the Pocomaniacs of Jamaica, the Redlegs of Barbados, and the last of the Ca

Caribbean Nights: Latin Sound

Jun 15, 1986

Filmed on his recent visit to London, Panamanian salsa star and politician Ruben Blades talks to Linton Kwesi Johnson about Latin music today, ranging from established stars like C

Caribbean Nights: God's Chillun

Jun 15, 1986

A bedtime treat from 1936: the GPO Film Unit present the Caribbean through the words of W.H. Auden and the music of Benjamin Britten.

Caribbean Nights Bob Marley

Jun 15, 1986

A portrait of the man who made reggae known and appreciated all over the western world and who refused to abandon a message of personal and political liberation. Tonight's program

Caribbean Nights: C.L.R. James's First Cricket XI

Jun 16, 1986

Born in Trinidad in 1901, C.L.R. James came to England in the 1930s and was cricket correspondent for the Manchester Guardian. In this programme the author of the now classic book

Caribbean Nights: Danzon

Jun 16, 1986

In an old church in Havana, the Urfe brothers play Danzones, the first popular Cuban music to emerge from the blend of African and European traditions at the turn of the century. T

Caribbean Nights: Rasta and the Ball

Jun 17, 1986

According to reggae greats Bob Marley and Burning Spear, football and Rastafari are one and the same thing. In the last week of the World Cup Rasta and the Ball takes you to the Ma

Caribbean Nights: Arturo Sandoval

Jun 18, 1986

Cuban jazz is rarely heard over here. Tonight Arena redresses the balance with a performance by virtuoso trumpeter, Arturo Sandoval. Much admired by Dizzy Gillespie , he returns th

Caribbean Nights: Kapo

Jun 19, 1986

'I dreamt there were 72 angels, 72 trumpets, 72 vases of flowers - all things were 72. And then I saw directly the face of God himself. I was summoned to be an artist.' Bishop of h

Henry Moore

Sep 7, 1986

Speaking from Henry Moore's own studio in Perry Green, Hertfordshire, John Read shares his personal memories of the artist he filmed six times over 28 years.

Salvador Dali

Nov 21, 1986

'The only difference between me and a madman is that I am not mad.' So says Salvador Dali one of the most famous painters in the world. Dali now lives as a recluse and has been vi

The Life and Times of Don Luis Bunuel

Nov 22, 1986

Following last night's story of Salvador Dali, Arena continues it's Spanish trilogy with this highly-acclaimed profile of the great film-maker Luis Bufiuel. From his collaboration

The Spirit of Lorca

Nov 28, 1986

Federico Garcia Lorca, perhaps the best-known and loved Spanish poet and dramatist of this century, was brutally executed at the age of 38 during the early days of the Spanish Civi

Cambodian Witness

Dec 5, 1986

When the Khmer Rouge invaded Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, they forced the entire population into the countryside where they were starved, beaten and worked to death on grandi

Scarfe on Scarfe

Dec 12, 1986

In this week's Arena Gerald Scarfe takes a long, hard look at himself. In his paintings and drawings he mercilessly pillories the powerful and the famous and yet in public he prese

Night Moves

Dec 19, 1986

Fifty years ago Basil Wright and Harry Watts' classic documentary "Night Mail" celebrated the role of the railways as the nation's distributor of goods, mail, food, and other essen

Dylan

Jan 2, 1987

Arena presents Bob Dylan, concentrating on his classic songs and backed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in his first concert on British television in over a decade.

Stand by Your Dream: Tammy Wynette

Jan 16, 1987

Tonight Arena presents the moving story of the first lady of country music. At the age of 44 she's had 35 number one records, three Grammy awards, 50 albums, five husbands, four ch

Night and Day

Jan 23, 1987

Night and Day is a 24-hour journey through the streets of London spent in the company of two different and unusual writers. The day is introduced by Spectator columnist Jeffrey Be

Dennis Potter

Jan 30, 1987

'You can open your veins on television more easily than anywhere. It's the last stronghold for the individualist-writer.' Over the last 20 years Dennis Potter has established himse

Martin Chambi and the Heirs of the Incas

Feb 6, 1987

Tonight Arena tells the story of one of the most extraordinary photographers of the 20th century. Martin Chambi , an Indian born into a peasant family in the remote Peruvian count

The Confessions of Robert Crumb

Feb 13, 1987

After Robert Crumb , comics could never be the same again. He came to fame in the mid 60s with characters such as Fritz the Cat and the archetypal guru Mr Natural , wicked satires

Ruth, Roses and Revolver

Feb 20, 1987

David Lynch , director of some of the strangest films in today's cinema, including Eraserhead and Elephant Man, guides us through the film works of a peerless group of artists - th

A Brother with Perfect Timing

Feb 27, 1987

Abdullah Ibrahim formerly Dollar Brand, pianist, composer, arranger, was bom in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1934. When Duke Ellington heard him in 1965 he was so impressed that he

Tarkovsky's Cinema

Mar 13, 1987

In 1986 Andrei Tarkovsky 's remarkable career in the cinema received the accolade of the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It sealed his reputation in the west as Russia's gr

Putting Ourselves in the Picture

Mar 20, 1987

Jo Spence 's photography defies definition - her work appears in community spaces as well as grand galleries. It deals with social problems, sexuality, myth and power. Tonight's Ar

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?

Mar 27, 1987

What do the following have in common? Maria von Trapp, whose story became "The Sound of Music"; Bob Guccione, the editor of Penthouse; Martin Scorsese, the director of "The Color o

Bayan Ko Pilipinas

Apr 3, 1987

(Lino Brocka 's Philippines) Lino Brocka is the most influential film director in the Philippines, and a leading figure in the civil rights movement. Throughout the period of marti

Talk is Cheap

Apr 10, 1987

What is a chat show - a forum for stimulating conversation and the exchange of ideas or just an economical way of filling the airwaves? Gus Macdonald becomes host for an evening a

The Waugh Trilogy: Bright Young Thing

Apr 18, 1987

Twenty-one years after his death Evelyn Waugh looms larger than ever over the English literary scene. In the course of three programmes Arena uses the testimony of his friends and

The Waugh Trilogy: Mayfair and the Jungle

Apr 19, 1987

The second of three programmes looks at Evelyn Waugh 's most productive period as a novelist, journalist, travel-writer and man of action. His exotic journeys from the coronation o

The Waugh Trilogy: An Englishman's Home

Apr 20, 1987

Last of three programmes. When Waugh died on Easter Sunday 21 years ago his friend Graham Greene felt 'as if one's commanding officer were dead'. During his last 20 years he retre

German Festival: Joseph Beuys

Jun 6, 1987

Joseph Beuys was one of the most prominent and controversial German artists of the past 30 years. Sculptor, performance artist, teacher and maverick politician - when he died last

ScreenPlay: Cariani and the Courtesans

Aug 5, 1987

by Leslie Megahey A story of intrigue and romance in 16th-century Venice. Starring Paul McGann, Simon Callow, Michael Gough, Diana Quick When Cariani the painter falls in love w

Revolutionary with a Paintbox

Nov 20, 1987

The Arena season opens with a profile of Diego Rivera , considered to be the most famous painter in the history of Latin America, and also the most notorious. He was a Rabelaisian

Invisible Ink

Dec 4, 1987

For 200 years British writers have achieved great success with their accounts of life on the Indian subcontinent. Less well-known are the writings of those Indians who travelled to

Of Cats and Mice

Dec 18, 1987

Art Spiegelman is one of America's leading comic-strip artists. Earlier this year he created a stir with Maus, a novel in strip form. Maus tells of a young Jewish couple who are a

Woody Guthrie

Jan 8, 1988

he legend of Woody Guthrie - the rambling guitar player who discovered America from the roof of a freight train - was an inspiration to two decades of Americans, from the Weavers t

The Dandy-Beano Story

Jan 15, 1988

Tonight Arena presents, on the occasion of their 50th anniversaries, a tribute to those great British institutions, the Beano and the Dandy. In their pages, the Softie has fought

Broadway - The Great White Way

Jan 22, 1988

Broadway is one of the most famous streets in the world. Legendary for bright lights, musical comedy, and the dreams of stardom, the myths and cliches of the theatre have influence

Ryszard Kapuscinski: Your Man Who is There

Jan 29, 1988

The first of two programmes featuring the work of a major figure in contemporary literature and journalism. In three decades, reporting from Latin America, Africa and the Far East,

The Emperor

Feb 5, 1988

Arena presents JONATHAN MILLER 'S acclaimed production for the Royal Court Theatre of RYSZARD KAPUSCINSKI's play. Adapted for the stage and television by MICHAEL HASTINGS and JON

My Name Is Celia Cruz

Feb 12, 1988

The Queen of Salsa, Celia Cruz has been the most adored and dynamic singer in Latin America for more than four decades. Since she left Cuba at the time of the Revolution with her b

All on a Mardi Gras Day Part One

Feb 16, 1988

Today is Shrove Tuesday, in French, Mardi Gras , and tonight is the night before Lent. While the British celebrate with pancakes, the Latin world explodes in a riot of music and sp

All on a Mardi Gras Day: Part Two

Feb 16, 1988

Continued from BBC2. From the Toulouse Cafe in the heart of downtown New Orleans where the day's t festivities climax with the cream of New Orleans rhythm and blues. One last burs

Kerouac

Feb 26, 1988

The novelist and poet Jack Kerouac died in 1969, a chronic alcoholic, at the age of 47. He was already something of a legend, not simply for his style of writing but for the style

An Andalucian Journey: Gypsies and Flamenco 1

Mar 4, 1988

The flamenco of southern Spain is more than music and much more than an exhilarating dance for the tourists. It's the soul of a culture, and its roots go back to the 15th century w

An Andalucian Journey: Gypsies and Flamenco 2

Mar 5, 1988

The flamenco of southern Spain is more than music. It's the soul of a culture and its roots go back to the 15th century, when gypsies travelled to Spain via Asia and North Africa.

Robert Mapplethorpe

Mar 18, 1988

This month the National Portrait Gallery opens its doors to the controversial photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. As the epitome of New York style he is less celebrated for his portr

The English Thoroughbred

Mar 25, 1988

The English Thoroughbred In the late 17th century the fastest, most elegant racing machine known to man was developed by the English aristocracy. The English gentry crossed their

Byrne About Byrne

Apr 1, 1988

Each season Arena invites a distinguished figure in the arts to direct a film. This year's guest director is John Byrne, painter and author of Tutti Frutti. In this diverse and inv

Rhythms of the World: Randy Travis at the Albert Hall

Oct 2, 1988

Randy Travis is the hottest new singer on the country music scene today. In June of this year he played his first British concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Arena filmed him and ton

Ten Green Bottles

Nov 25, 1988

Arena's new season begins with a special anniversary edition and a chance to see again some classic moments from the past ten years. Dame Edna admits to keen enthusiasm for women

Clint Eastwood: The Man with No Name.

Dec 2, 1988

Dirty Harry and the other characters in the Eastwood repertory have dominated the box office for over 25 years. He has made over 40 films and directed 14 of them, invariably starri

Moving Across the World on Horses

Dec 9, 1988

Born in Sri Lanka in 1943, educated in Dulwich and now living in Canada, Michael Ondaatje has criss-crossed the world in a search for what he calls the 'unofficial story'. Ondaatje

History Boys on the Rampage

Dec 16, 1988

From Dundalk to Dungannon, Ballycastle to Belfast, Field Day, Ireland's foremost touring theatre company, journeys past checkpoints and critics with Brian Friel's controversial new

The Unforgettable Nat King Cole

Dec 23, 1988

When Nat King Cole died in 1965, the world lost its greatest ballad singer. Last year, 22 years after his death, When I Fall in Love reached number 4 in the British charts. This p

Tales from Barcelona

Jan 6, 1989

Award-winning director Jana Bokova presents a typically idiosyncratic portrait of Europe's most fashionable city. An equally eccentric and fascinating collection of characters offe

Blackpool

Jan 13, 1989

With more visitors than the whole of Greece and more holiday beds than Portugal, Blackpool is Europe's most successful holiday resort. Growing to prominence in the Industrial Revol

The Tip of the Iceberg

Jan 27, 1989

Breasts/bosoms/bust/boobs/bristols/knockers... we live in a breast-obsessed society and 'tits' are by no means the preserve of the tabloids; the symbolism of the breast is expresse

Laurens van der Post and Albert Sample

Feb 3, 1989

Arena presents two films by award-winning director Georg Troller , made for West German television's leading arts programme Personenbeschreibung. Sir Laurens van der Post is the s

New York - The Secret African City

Feb 10, 1989

eyond the familiar world of Wall Street and Madison Avenue, there is another New York, whose roots lie in West and Central Africa. Successive waves of newcomers of African descent

Eugene Ionesco : the Joke's on Us

Feb 17, 1989

The absurdity of life has been Eugene lonesco's theme and preoccupation since he wrote the first of his 33 plays and, alongside Beckett and Genet, created a revolution in the theat

John Cassavetes

Feb 24, 1989

Actor and director, John Cassavetes, who died earlier this month was one of the few truly independent movie-makers working out of Hollywood. In this tribute to an influential and i

Power in the Blood

Mar 3, 1989

Ten years ago, Vernon Oxford turned his back on the bright lights of Nashville and a life as a popular country singer, and gave himself to the Lord. Today, he is a gospel preacher

The Old Brass Plate Rattle Test - the Englishman and his Jukebox

Mar 17, 1989

Elton John's jukebox sold at Sotheby's for £16,000. It has come a long way since it left the Wurlitzer factory in 1942. It is the same with most jukeboxes; they once entertained ba

Juke Box Jury

Mar 19, 1989

Arena continues its centenary celebration of the jukebox with a special edition of one of the original pop music programmes. Juke Box Jury is 30 years old and was essential weeken

Berthold Lubetkin

Mar 31, 1989

Born in Georgia in 1901, Berthold Lubetkin is one of the most outstanding and influential architects in Britain. His life has spanned the Russian Revolution and two World Wars. Fin

Heavy Metal

Apr 7, 1989

Ever since its noisy birth out of the primitive fuzzboxes of the 1960s, heavy metal music has been maligned and misunderstood by public and critics alike. But, to its millions of f

The Other Graham Greene

Apr 21, 1989

For some 25 years the author Graham Greene found himself the victim of a bizarre masquerade. A man calling himself Graham Greene opened hotels in Jamaica, courted high society in t

Slim Gaillard's Civilisation 1: A Traveller's Tale

Oct 22, 1989

'Look at the clocks - it doesn't matter if they're wrong. Somewhere in the world the time is right.' A typical line from Slim Gaillard. He became a jazz legend, collaborating with

Slim Gaillard's Civilisation 2: How High the Moon

Oct 29, 1989

In 1938 jazz legend and international star Slim Gaillard went to Hollywood to appear in Hellzapoppin: and then war broke out. Gaillard became one of America's first black bomber pi

Slim Gaillard's Civilisation 3: My Dinner with Dizzy

Nov 5, 1989

This week Slim Gaillard cooks dinner for his old friend Dizzy Gillespie. They discuss the English language and their contributions to it — 'bebop' and 'Vout-o-reenee'. They also r

Animal Night: Smashing Pigs

Dec 16, 1989

Some people see the pig as representing dirt, sloth and obesity; others view it with affection. In this film we see them all: farmyard pigs, performing pigs, pigs as pets, piggy ba

Animal Night: Sacred Elephant

Dec 16, 1989

A film version of Heathcote Williams 's epic poem, an impassioned hymn of praise to one of nature's most magnificent creatures, and a lament at man's folly of hunting it to near ex

Animal Night: Great Wildlife Presenters Through the Ages

Dec 16, 1989

The animals in wildlife films have always been vying for attention with that eccentric breed - the animal presenter. This medley of classic clips of wildlife films from the last 50

Animal Night: John Daniel the First

Dec 16, 1989

In the 1920s a middle-aged spinster went to buy a yard of ribbon and came out with a baby gorilla. He was the first gorilla to survive captivity. His uncanny intelligence and vers

Animal Night: A Day in the Life of Sam the Dog

Dec 16, 1989

What does Sam get up to when he's left on his own all day? This verite portrait looks at an ordinary day in the mysterious life of a very ordinary dog.

Animal Night: Animals on Trial

Dec 16, 1989

Novelist Julian Bames, philosopher Nicholas Humphrey and French historian Dr Michel Rousseau help to uncover one of the most bizarre chapters in criminal history: the judicial pros

Animal Night: The Animal Night Debate

Dec 16, 1989

Speciesism, vivisection, vegetarianism, farming, sport, zoos, circuses and pets will be some of the topics discussed in a live debate chaired by Donald MacCormick at the Royal Inst

25 x 5: the Continuing Adventures of the Rolling Stones

Dec 27, 1989

The phenomenal career of the Rolling Stones has taken them from being the bad boys of rock 'n' roll to becoming proteges of the establishment. They now tell their own story ... The

Numbers

Jan 19, 1990

So says Gregory Chaitin, one of the world's three leading mathematicians, addressing the camera from the deep recesses of the IBM building in Yorktown Heights, New York State. He c

Oblomov

Jan 26, 1990

Oblomov is a slob. Even Gorbachev is said to have denounced him from the podium: 'We must stamp out the Oblomovs from our society.' The lazy aristocrat of Goncharov's 19th-century

Jerry Lee Lewis

Feb 2, 1990

This is the story of 'the Killer', the ultimate wild man of rock, from his phenomenal success at the age of 20 with Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On to the present. After more than 30

Roberto Rossellini

Feb 9, 1990

The great Italian film director, who died in 1977, was the founder of 'neo-realism'. Following the international success of his films dealing with the Second World War - Rome, Op

Next Time Dear God Please Choose Someone Else

Feb 23, 1990

Traditional Jewish humour flourished in adversity. Religious persecution and life in the ghetto nurtured its own kind of bitter comedy which, in 20th-century America, has develope

Salif Keita

Mar 2, 1990

Salif Keita - the golden voice of Mali - is one of the first African world superstars. He can trace his lineage directly back more than 700 years to its founder, the warrior king

Fred Zinnemann: A Director's Life

Mar 9, 1990

Fred Zinnemann, best known for the classic western High Noon, has had a career in movies spanning 65 years. In an exclusive interview with Arena, Zinnemann talks about his life fro

Spike and Company - Do It a Cappella

Mar 16, 1990

Actor and director Spike Lee joins actress Debbie Allen on a journey in search of the perfect vocal performance. They travel through Brooklyn as different groups duel, jam and rehe

Peggy and Her Playwrights

Mar 23, 1990

Now in her 80s, Peggy Ramsay is the most powerful and unconventional play agent in Britain. She started her agency in the mid-50s in a converted brothel in the West End and has be

The English Rose

Mar 30, 1990

The term 'English rose' conjures up a variety of images which fall somewhere between the delicate pink roses of high summer and the fair complexion of a young girl. Either way, the

Paris Is Burning

Apr 6, 1990

They call themselves the 'Children'. By day they are cycle-messengers, assistants in department stores, prostitutes or unemployed; by night they are members of clubs or houses with

Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam

Apr 13, 1990

On 4 July 1967, Private Raymond Griffiths was killed in Vietnam. He was 19 years old - the average age of US combat troops in the war. He was one of more than 30,000 American servi

Havana

Apr 15, 1990

Cuba's legendary capital, once a playground for the rich, has an extraordinary faded beauty with its grand colonial palaces decaying into crumbling tenements. Since the popular re

The Princess

Apr 20, 1990

Niccolo Machiavelli 's infamous The Prince is a short book about power - how to get it and how to hang on to it. But if 'he' were changed to 'she' throughout, would Machiavelli's m

The Ten Commandments of Krzysztof Kieslowski

May 4, 1990

Krzysztof Kieslowski is the foremost director to have emerged in Poland since Andrzej Wadja. His two most recent features, A Short Film about Killing and A Short Film about Love, s

Le Paris Black

May 11, 1990

Paris's love affair with the black world stretches from the Cubists' discovery of African sculpture at the beginning of the century to the present day appreciation of rap and Afric

Kino Perestroika

May 18, 1990

Tonight's programme looks at the Soviet cinema since perestroika and examines the work of some of its most important film directors who are working again after years of enforced si

The Daily Worker Story

May 25, 1990

When Lenin told the newly formed Communist Party of Great Britain that its survival depended on having a daily paper, he could not have forseen that after 60 years of heroic strugg

Oooh Er, Missus! - The Frankie Howerd Story

Jun 1, 1990

Considered by many to be our greatest living stand-up comedian, the incomparable Francis Alick Howerd holds a special place in the hearts of the British public. Born during a snow

Agatha Christie - Unfinished Portrait

Sep 20, 1990

This Arena Special celebrates the centenary of Dame Agatha Christie's birth with the first film biography of the world's most widely read author. Total sales of her crime novels ar

The Fever

Sep 29, 1990

A new musical, Township Fever, is about to open on Broadway. Written by Mbongeni Ngema , the co-author of Woza Albert , it is vibrant and funny, but also quite shocking and contro

Food Night: Introduction

Dec 15, 1990

Tonight Arena brings you an evening of short films and a debate devoted to that most universal of subjects, food. Spitting Image has created your hosts, Meat and Two Veg. From thei

Food Night: Modern Food

Dec 15, 1990

Today's hypermarket is an Aladdin's cave compared to the grocery store of 30 years ago. Food Night looks at the ever-increasing gulf between what appears on the supermarket shelf a

Food Night: Great Moments in Food History

Dec 15, 1990

A salute to four great thinkers. If Rossini had not preferred food to music there would have been no Tornados Rossini. If Nellie Melba had not become so fat through eating too ma

Food Night: The Story of Food in 27 Minutes and 43 Seconds

Dec 15, 1990

Food has had a part to play in religion, politics, science and war, and throughout history has underlined the social divide between prince and peasant. Today food remains as divisi

Food Night: Good Manners

Dec 15, 1990

Some lessons in manners from the silver screen - Five Easy Pieces, Tampopo, Oliver Twist and more.

Food Night: What's Kosher?

Dec 15, 1990

This film explores the application of kosher dietary laws which have helped to preserve the separate identity of the Jewish people.

Food Night: The Last Supper

Dec 15, 1990

Louisiana State Penitentiary recently released a list of the last meals ordered by prisoners about to be executed. One man, whose crime was shooting a grocery store attendant, requ

Food Night: The Complete History of the Potato

Dec 15, 1990

With the help of potato experts from all over the world Food Night pays homage to this nutritious, delicious, maligned and sometimes despised vegetable - the paradoxical potato.

Food Night: I Just Happen to Have One Here I Made Earlier

Dec 15, 1990

A chance to sample some favourites from the kitchens of such legends as Fanny Cradock, Zena Skinner and Delia Smith. Director Sarah Mortimer

Food Night: Movable Feast - the Politics of Disgust

Dec 15, 1990

Mealworms served in a cherry tomato, grasshoppers rolled in bacon - these are just a few of the nourishing dishes served up in this film which explores repulsion and revulsion in f

Food Night: Eating for One

Dec 15, 1990

Left to your own devices, what do you eat, when do you eat it and how much of it do you eat?

Food Night: Fasting and Abstinence

Dec 15, 1990

As Christmas approaches, time to contemplate self-denial.

Food Night: Debate

Dec 15, 1990

As the evening's climax, Arena assembles a forum of distinguished politicians, economists, nutritionists, moralists and senders and receivers of aid to debate the international pol

Lifepulse - a Natural Thriller

Dec 28, 1990

A spectacular musical celebration of life, capturing evolution in all its glorious diversity, and the rhythms of nature in all its beauty, delight, and horror. From the raging fur

Miller Meets Mandela

Jan 18, 1991

Nelson Mandela, since his release, has become one of the most famous people in the world. Everyone has heard of the leader, but Mandela the man remains an enigma. For the first tim

Derek Jarman - a Portrait

Jan 25, 1991

Derek Jarman is a uniquely British outsider: a painter, film-maker and a self-appointed enfant terrible with a paradoxical affection for tradition. He makes films as a painter or p

Anselm Kiefer : Operation Sealion

Feb 1, 1991

Kiefer is Germany's most controversial and reclusive artist. He is also its most successful. The millions his work commands in the auction houses and his popularity with collectors

The Strange Story of Joe Meek

Feb 8, 1991

On 3 February 1967, Joe Meek, composer of Telstar and pioneer independent producer, shot his landlady and then himself. With Humphrey Lyttelton, Screaming Lord Sutch, Heinz, Jonath

The Other Roci

Feb 22, 1991

Rocky is the name of American artist Robert Rauschenberg's pet turtle. It is also the name of an epic and visionary project which in the last eight years has taken Rauschenberg aro

Caroline 199 - A Pirate's Tale

Mar 1, 1991

December 1990: a rusty ship drifts silently in the North Sea. As the Government and its Broadcasting Bill close in for the kill, Radio Caroline could be silenced for ever. For Rona

Staring at the Ceiling

Mar 8, 1991

This profile of Keith Waterhouse follows him through his hectic diary. As a columnist for the Daily Mail he reports from the Conservative conference in Bournemouth and the Labour c

Three Irish Writers

Mar 15, 1991

It has been said that the English hoard words like misers and the Irish spend them like sailors. Tonight's Arena presents three great Irish masters of the English language, Flann O

One Irish Rover

Mar 16, 1991

For more than two decades, Van Morrison has been fusing different musical influences, creating a style of his own. In this programme he duets with Bob Dylan and plays harmonica wit

The Importance of Being Oscar

Mar 17, 1991

This one-man show based on the life of Oscar Wilde was the jewel in the crown for Irish actor Michael MacLiammoir 's career. The programme was first shown on St Patrick's Day 1964

The Other

Mar 22, 1991

Roci Rocky is the name of American artist Robert Rauschenberg 's pet turtle. It is also the name of an epic and visionary project which in the last eight years has taken Rauschenbe

Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon

Apr 5, 1991

When Kenneth Anger first published his classic expose of Hollywood's best-kept secrets and scandals, it was immediately banned. The underground film-maker struck a raw nerve in 'ti

Elmore Leonard 's Criminal Records

Apr 12, 1991

Top US crime writer Elmore Leonard 's street-wise characters range from violent hoodlums in and around Detroit to low-life hustlers on Florida's Gold Coast. Arena travels with him

The Human Face

Apr 19, 1991

In the last of the current series of Arena, musical performance artist Laurie Anderson presents an examination of mankind's obsession with its own image. For thousands of years art

Texas Saturday Night

Apr 24, 1991

A show as big as the Lone Star State this is an epic voyage through the wildest state in the union - from the honkytonks and dancehalls to the hill country and burning deserts; fro

The Grass Arena

Jan 19, 1992

Brutalised at home and school, John Healy drinks a promising boxing career into the "grass arena" - the savage community of vagrant alcoholics. He drifts towards certain death, unt

Billy, How Did You Do It? 1

Jan 23, 1992

The first of a special three-part presentation in which American film director Billy Wilder discusses his career with German film maker Volker Schlondorff. From Marlene Dietrich to

Billy, How Did You Do It? 2

Jan 24, 1992

Second of three in-depth conversations with the film director and writer Billy Wilder. He recalls his memories of the great Hollywood stars - "Mae West walked out of the door all w

Billy, How Did You Do It? 3

Jan 25, 1992

Last of a special three-part presentation in which American director Billy Wilder discusses his career. He remembers working with Marilyn Monroe on Some Like It Hot "With Monroe

Masters of the Canvas

Jan 31, 1992

When pop artist Peter Blake confessed in a magazine article that his fantasy was to be the mysterious masked wrestler Kendo Nagasaki, who never speaks and never removes his mask, l

Oliver Stone

Feb 7, 1992

A portrait of the controversial American film director, Oliver Stone, whose work often arouses the fiercest passions in both supporters and critics. In a revealing interview, Stone

Fatwa

Feb 14, 1992

On 14 February 1989 Salman Rushdie was sentenced to death by the Ayatollah Khomeini. Tonight, on the third anniversary of the fatwa, a gathering of international writers and artist

Six Degrees of Separation: a New York Tale

Feb 21, 1992

In 1983, David Hampton was arrested for pretending to be the son of actor Sidney Poitier and conning his way into the homes of some of New York's most powerful and influential fami

The Incredible Case of Comrade

Feb 28, 1992

Rockstar Dean Read was the biggest rock star the communist world had ever seen. Virtually unknown in his native America, the "Red Sinatra" was the first pop musician Mikhail Gorbac

Croatia - the Artists' War

Mar 6, 1992

This film asks how the culture of a country survives amid gunfire. Ivan Rabuzin , the 71-year-old Croatian artist, says his paintings stand as accusations. "They show an image of e

Otto Dix : a Tale of Two Germanies

Mar 13, 1992

"I'll either be famous or infamous," declared the controversial German painter who died in 1969. His subjects range from tranquil landscapes to frenzied sex murders, from brutalise

Chi-Chi the Panda

Mar 20, 1992

Refused entry to America from China in 1958 because of the embargo on "communist goods", the giant panda Chi-Chi came to London Zoo - a constant object of media attention and publi

Armistead Maupin Is a Man I Dreamt Up

Mar 27, 1992

Tales of the City first appeared in the 70s as a daily column in the San Francisco Chronicle. Armistead Maupin's stories about life in San Francisco as seen through the eyes of a

Last Supper - Frank on Frank

Apr 3, 1992

A self-portrait of photographer and film maker Robert Frank. Often called the "eyes of the Beats", Frank's work spans 45 years from his influential book of photographs The America

A Spanish Odyssey - a Portrait of Javier Mariscal

Apr 10, 1992

Javier Mariscal is an artist who cannot be categorised - a designer who thinks a Camel cigarette packet has as much value as a Picasso. Phillipe Starck , the doyen of the design w

An Argentinian Journey: 1: The Gaucho and the Pampas

Apr 17, 1992

Three films which take a journey through the rich musical heritage of Argentina. The story begins just south of Buenos Aires in the Pampas. This is the land of the gaucho - the so

An Argentinian Journey: 2: Zamba, Chacarera and Chamame

Apr 18, 1992

Three films which take a journey through the rich musical heritage of Argentina. In the vast regions from the plains of the Pampas to the provinces of the north, three distinct st

An Argentinian Journey: 3: Pacha Mama - Sacred Land

Apr 19, 1992

The Calchaquies valleys in the Andes and the Humahuaca canyon form the most underdeveloped and remote region in Argentina, with traditions going back beyond the Inca conquest. The

Sportswriter: the Fight, the Match and the Race

Jul 18, 1992

Few activities in modern life can rival sport for creating excitement, passion and commitment. Arena takes a look at how the tensions and glories of sporting life are turned into p

Linda McCartney, behind the Lens

Dec 26, 1992

In her first television profile, Linda McCartney talks about her life in photography and, with husband Paul, about the difficulties of being married to a Beatle and how she has cop

The Graham Green Trilogy: England Made Me (1904-39)

Jan 8, 1993

Arena's 1993 season opens with this three-part exploration of the life and work of the enigmatic writer. Greene's obsessions with the seedy world of love, sex, betrayal, disloyalty

The Graham Greene Trilogy: The Dangerous Edge (1940-60)

Jan 9, 1993

Disloyalty, secrecy and spying fascinated Greene both in his work and in his private life. Tonight's film charts the hidden years of his life when his marriage broke down and he be

The Graham Greene Trilogy: A World of My Own (1961-91)

Jan 10, 1993

Last of the biographical films, with extracts read by Sir Alec Guinness. A World of My Own (1961-91) Passionately promoting the link between Catholicism and communism, defending K

On the Road with Boggs

Jan 15, 1993

In the 1980s American artist J S G Boggs stunned the art world by holding an exhibition of banknotes, drawn by himself. In one go, he broke moral, artistic and legal taboos-counter

The Grateful and the Dead

Jan 22, 1993

The story of the unlikely and unpublicised relationship between a 60s American rock band and some of Britain's little-known orchestral composers. Once the icons of the San Francisc

A Tribute to Dizzy Gillespie

Jan 29, 1993

Elder statesman of jazz and a co-founder of the style that became bebop in the 40s, John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie will be remembered by many as the trumpet player with ballooning ch

Larry Kramer

Jan 5, 1993

One of the world's leading figures in the battle against Aids is not a doctor, scientist or politician, but a writer - Larry Kramer - who says: "Aids has given me my life's work."

Edward Said: the Idea of Empire

Feb 12, 1993

Palestinian writer, academic and exile, Edward W Said takes a journey into the worlds of history, literature, ideas and imagination to explain how he wrote his most recent book, Cu

The Last Soviet Citizen

Feb 19, 1993

For three decades the Soviet Union's obsession with space stirred the soul of the nation like a secular religion - from the first space star Yuri Gagarin to the sad saga of cosmon

Derek Walcott

Feb 20, 1993

An interview with the poet who last December won the Nobel prize for literature, and whose current novel-length poem has caused him to be dubbed the "Homer of the Caribbean". He t

Zhang Yimou

Mar 12, 1993

One of China's most successful film directors, Zhang Yimou , talks about his life, his work, and his views on China. The stunning photography and quintessential "Chineseness" of hi

Philip Roth

Mar 19, 1993

To mark his 60th birthday, and the publication of his new book Operation Shylock, Philip Roth breaks his long silence and talks to Arena about his life, books, and some of the link

Only the Names Have Been Changed

Mar 26, 1993

To the innocent reader, the characters in a work of fiction are the author's inventions. To those in the know, it is often more complicated. Arena investigates the effect novels ca

Weegee

Apr 2, 1993

Chronicling New York low and high life, Weegee's photographs have often shocked the world. His wife, Wilma Wilcox , talks about the man behind the myth.

Duchamp's Fountain

Apr 2, 1993

In 1917, Marcel Duchamp entered a white porcelain object in a New York exhibition. it was a urinal. Arena unearths the origins of this extraordinary story with an account from Duch

Edgar Reitz: Return to Heimat

Apr 12, 1993

An Arena special which documents the making of Reitz's second great German epic, The Second Heimat, which begins on BBC2 next Saturday. When Jewish writer Carole Angier watched the

Tales Of Rock And Roll: Peggy Sue

Apr 17, 1993

The arts series returns with four films tracing the origins of classic rock songs. The inspiration behind Buddy Holly's famous song - Peggy Sue Gerron Rackham - now runs a drainag

Not a Bad Girl

Apr 18, 1993

Brenda Fassie is South Africa's answer to Madonna. A black singer for black people, she is streetwise, outrageous and aiming to be an international star. With her new album I'm Not

Heartbreak Hotel

Apr 24, 1993

The second documentary in this Arena series telling the true stories behind classic rock songs is devoted to Elvis Presley's first million-selling release, Heartbreak Hotel. This f

Walk on the Wild Side

May 1, 1993

All the characters named in the song were real people who frequented Andy Warhol's studio in the late 60s. Trans-sexual Holly, and Jackie and Candy, who were transvestites, starred

Highway 61 Revisited

May 8, 1993

Last programme in the Arena series tracing the origins of classic rock songs. This musical journey travels the famous highway that has inspired successive generations of musicians

Arena: Radio Night: Introduction

Dec 18, 1993

Your television and radio are cast as personalities (played by Peter Cook and Josie Lawrence) in this night of themed programmes showing how the two media have competed over the ye

Radio Night: The Seven Ages of Radio: First: the Infant.

Dec 18, 1993

Ian McKellen ruminates on the distinct eras of radio broadcasting, characterised as Shakespeare's seven ages of man, with the aid of Professor Asa Briggs.

Radio Night: TV Talk, Radio Rabbit What does the voice reveal?

Dec 18, 1993

Radio Night: The Seven Ages of Radio 2: The Schoolboy.

Dec 18, 1993

Radio Night: Heard But Not Seen

Dec 18, 1993

Alistair Cooke, whose weekly epistle has been broadcast on radio since 1946, explains why it is the best medium for him.

Radio Night: Back to Square One

Dec 18, 1993

The story of early radio's method of broadcasting live football, referring to a numbered grid - published in the Radio Times - on which listeners followed the action.

Radio Night: The Seven Ages of Radio 3: The Lover.

Dec 18, 1993

Radio Night: Sunday Dinner

Dec 18, 1993

Family Sunday meals conjure up for many Family Favourites, Round the Home and The Billy Cotton Band Show.

Radio Night: The Seven Ages of Radio 4: The Soldier.

Dec 18, 1993

Radio Night: Pirates

Dec 31, 1993

On just one estate in east London there are five pirate stations, battling to stay on air.

Radio Night: The Seven Ages of Radio 5: The Judge.

Dec 18, 1993

Radio Night: TV Theft, Radio Rip-Off

Dec 18, 1993

Does TV steal radio's best comedy ideas? Included in the debate are Frank Muir, Denis Norden, Armando Iannucci and the voice of Spike Milligan.

Radio Night: The Seven Ages of Radio 6: The Old Man.

Dec 18, 1993

Radio Night: The Spot FX Man

Dec 18, 1993

Harold Listings, a frustrated radio technician, takes revenge.

Radio Night: The Seven Ages of Radio 7: Senility.

Dec 18, 1993

Radio Night: It's Life, Jim

Dec 18, 1993

Nasa scientists are using giant radio antennae to pick up communications from ET.

Radio Night: The Time Signal

Dec 18, 1993

Dr Carl Dolmetsch finds out why the pips changed pitch.

Radio Night: The Two Voyages of Donald Crowhurst

Dec 18, 1993

The tragic story of the lone yachtsman and his radio.

Radio Night: The Shipping Forecast

Dec 19, 1993

Live on TV for the first time, Fisher, German Bight, Dogger.

The Next Voice You Hear

Dec 19, 1993

Concluding BBC2's Arena Radio Night, a film drama starring James Whitmore, Nancy Davis (later Reagan). Joe and Mary Smith are shaken one night when they hear what seems to be the

In Search of Oz

Jan 29, 1994

An exploration of the phenomenal popularity of L Frank Baum 's famous children's story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written in 1900. About 20 film versions of the story have been ma

Who Is Vladimir Pozner?

Feb 5, 1994

In the 1980s Vladimir Pozner , once dubbed "Ivan the Telegenic", became the second most celebrated communist in the west. Carrying Gorbachev's message to western television screens

The Dark Side of Black

Feb 12, 1994

The new stars of ragga and gangster rap - Shabba Ranks, Ice Cube, Public Enemy, Buju Banton - have become as notorious as they are successful. They command huge audiences and recor

The Ring - a South London Tale

Feb 26, 1994

For centuries, bare-knuckle boxing has been going on behind closed doors. Nigel Finch's unusual film investigates this illegal activity by following one hopeful as he prepares for

Glitterbug

Mar 5, 1994

During the 1970s and 1980s Derekjarman kept a Super-8 film diary, chronicling the cultural high life and low life of London. The footage ranges from William Burroughs reading aloud

Theatre without Actors

Mar 12, 1994

In 1960 an American film called Primary changed the notion of what a documentary could be, using techniques never before seen on TV. It was made by Robert Drew , whose role in the

Kalashnikov

Mar 19, 1994

Seventy million Kalashnikov (or AK-47) guns are scattered across the world. It was the Russians' Cold War weapon and is still the first choice of terrorists, guerrillas and mercena

Trouble Man - the Last Years of Marvin Gaye

Mar 26, 1994

On 1 April 1984 former Motown star Marvin Gaye provoked his father once too often, and was shot dead in his bedroom. It was the tragic finale to an extraordinary series of events i

Relics Introduction

Mar 31, 1994

The idea that power exists in the remains of heroes and the things they leave behind is the focus of an Arena trilogy broadcast this weekend and introduced by this programme. Relig

Relics: Einstein's Brain

Apr 1, 1994

"Move Albert Einstein ," declares Japanese professor Kenji Sugimoto at the start of a bizarre journey in search of the great one's missing brain. Sugimoto would not look out of pla

Relics: Curse of the Firebeetle

Apr 2, 1994

A film drama set against civil war in Peru. When Ortiz, a professional graverobber, stumbles across the huge golden disc of the ancient sun god Atahualpa lost for years, he sets of

Relics: The Grave Case of Charlie Chaplin

Apr 3, 1994

In 1978 Charlie Chaplin 's coffin was stolen from his grave in Vevey, Switzerland, and a large ransom was demanded of his widow Oona. This fictional film inspired by those events f

Philip K Dick - a Day In the Afterlife

Apr 9, 1994

The author of the stories behind Blade Runner and Total Recall grew up in California at a time when an agricultural idyll was fast being replaced by motorways, shopping stores and

Voices from the Island

Apr 23, 1994

Robben Island is South Africa's Alcatraz. For three decades Nelson Mandela , Walter Sisulu and hundreds of other political prisoners were held in its maximum security prison for op

Cindy Sherman - Nobody's Here but Me

Apr 24, 1994

Using herself as the model, American artist Cindy Sherman has produced hundreds of photographs exploring the use of female stereotypes. Most recently she has addressed the theme of

Bahia of all the Saints

May 7, 1994

Brazil's major slave-trading port for nearly three centuries, Bahia has a black population of over 80 per cent which maintains the legacy of African tradition at every level of dai

Sandra Bernhard - Confession of a Pretty Lady

May 20, 1994

Sandra Bernhard 's outrageous one-woman show deals with many normally taboo subjects and controversy runs through her personal life: she was once Madonna's lover and is a lesbian p

Louise Bourgeois

Aug 6, 1994

This Arena special profiles sculptor Louise Bourgeois, who has suddenly become fashionable at the age of 84, and has been chosen to represent America at the Venice Biennale, the wo

The Peter Sellers Story 1

Feb 11, 1995

Arena returns with a three-part special, presenting a film portrait of one of the world's great comic actors, incorporating home movies, film clips and interviews.

The Peter Sellers Story: 2: Jack to Jacques

Feb 18, 1995

The second of a three-part film portrait of one of the world's great comic actors.

The Peter Sellers Story: 3: I Am Not a Funny Man

Feb 25, 1995

The last of a three-part film portrait of one of the world's great comic actors. Tonight's film begins in 1964, with Sellers at the peak of his success. Dr Strangelove and The Pin

Punk and the Pistols

Aug 20, 1995

In August 1975, the face of British rock music was fundamentally changed: the Sex Pistols were formed. A host of colourful characters, including the Damned's Captain Sensible, Rich

The Burger and the King

Jan 1, 1996

The passion fans had for his music was matched only by the passion Elvis Presley had for his food. This documentary records his inexhaustible appetite for fast foods, the team he h

Stories My Country Told Me

Jul 14, 1996

What is a nation? From Corsica to Kashmir, from Quebec to Bosnia, violent separatist movements are fighting to form their own nation states. This edition of Arena explores the fabr

Tony Bennett's New York

Dec 22, 1996

At 70 years of age, singer Tony Bennett has been dubbed the King of Cool by the MTV-watching generation. Arena reveals the man behind the silky voice as Tony Bennett - civil rights

Caesar's Writers

Dec 24, 1996

The legendary Sid Caesar was one of America's favourite TV stars in the fifties. His writing team, which include Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner and Neil Simon, was probably the first ever

There's No Such Thing as a Small Head of State

Jan 2, 1997

On 22 October 1995, for the first time, all the world's leaders gathered together in the United Nations in New York to have their photograph taken for the beginning of the UN's 50t

Dear Antonioni

Jan 18, 1997

A portrait of the Italian film-maker Michelangelo Antonioni , who has directed such films as L'Awentura, which follows immediately, LaNotte and Zabriskie Point. The work of the dir

Busby, Stein and Shankly - the Football Men: Underground

Mar 28, 1997

Sports writer Hugh Mcllvanney presents the first of a trilogy of programmes for the Easter weekend about three great football managers; Matt Busby. Jock Stein and Bill Shankly. To

Busby, Stein and Shankly - the Football Men: Football is the Faith

Mar 29, 1997

Hugh Mcllvanney presents the second in a trilogy of programmes about three great football managers; Matt Busby , Jock Stein and Bill Shankly. Tonight's film focuses on 1945-60, th

Busby, Stein and Shankly - the Football Men: The Price of Glory

Mar 30, 1997

Concluding the three-part series presented by sports writer Hugh Mcllvanney about three great football managers; Matt Busby, Jock Stein and Bill Shankly. This film charts the incre

The Banana

Dec 24, 1997

Tonight's programme considers musa sapientum, the fruit of the wise. The Velvet Underground's John Cale tells the story behind Andy Warhol's famous LP cover, Auberon Waugh and John

Cigars - out of the Humidor

Dec 25, 1997

In 1962, before John F Kennedy signed the embargo banning the importation of cigars into America from Cuba, the President ordered 1,200 Havana cigars, according to Pierre Salinger,

The Noel Coward Trilogy: The Boy Actor

Apr 11, 1998

The first of a three-part profile of the writer, composer and actor covers Coward's meteoric rise from suburban south London to the world's highest-paid author by the time he was 3

The Noel Coward Trilogy: Captain Coward

Apr 12, 1998

The second of three programmes celebrating the life and career of Noel Coward focuses on the journey through the Far East which inspired his most famous song, Mad Dogs and Englishm

The Noel Coward Trilogy: Sail Away

Apr 13, 1998

Concluding the three-part Easter special with a look at the last 30 years of Noel Coward's life. His post-war eclipse as a dramatist gave way to a new career as a highly successful

Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century

May 15, 1998

Arena explores the rise of the legendary crooner Frank Sinatra from his early family background to overwhelming showbusiness success. Interviews with friends, family and associates

The Brian Epstein Story: The Sun Will Shine Tomorrow

May 25, 1998

The first of a two-part documentary telling the story of Brian Epstein. Gay when homosexuality was illegal, a gambler, shopkeeper and failed actor, he was also the pop king with th

The Brian Epstein Story: Tomorrow Never Knows

Dec 26, 1998

Concluding the two-part profile of the pop manager who brought global success to the Beatles. By the mid-sixties, the group's fame meant Epstein had little time to devote to the o

Cuba Night: the 40-Year Face-off

Jan 2, 1999

Cuba Night: Eisenhower, Kennedy and Khrushchev: How It All Began

Jan 2, 1999

Newsreel footage from 1962, when Fidel Castro's arrangement with then-Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev to install nuclear-weapon sites triggered off the Cuban missile crisis.

Cuba Night: A Diamond in the Rough

Jan 2, 1999

Cuba's baseball prowess has been long estabished. Fidel Castro himself was once scouted by a US team, and in 1992 Cuba surpassed even the Americans to win the first Olympic basebal

Cuba Night: LBJ, Nixon and Brezhnev: the Middle Years

Jan 2, 1999

Cuba's place in world politics, from mid-sixties to mid-eighties.

Cuba Night: The Simpsons: The Trouble with Trillions

Jan 2, 1999

Homer swaps jobs with Fidel Castro, who goes to work at the nuclear power plant in Springfield.

Cuba Night: Reagan and Gorbachev: Castro, Cuba and the Fall of Communism

Jan 2, 1999

The effects of the demise of the dominant political ethos in the east.

Cuba Night: Who Owns Che? The Importance of Not Being Ernesto

Jan 2, 1999

Since his death in 1967, the face of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara has stared down from posters and banners around the world, the most reproduced image since the Mona Lisa. This

Cuba Night: The Clinton Years: Cuba Today and Tomorrow

Jan 2, 1999

Cuba's relations with the United States in recent times.

Salman Rushdie and the Ground beneath His Feet

Apr 22, 1999

In Salman Rushdie 's new novel The Ground beneath Her Feet. singer Vina Aspara is caught up in an earthquake on Valentine's Day 1989, and never seen again. On that day Rushdie's ow

Looking for the Iron Curtain

Nov 7, 1999

The Iron Curtain ran north to south through Europe and divided the world for 50 years. American writer and broadcaster Reggie Nadelson joins former Soviet Union spin doctor Vladimi

Casanova

Dec 20, 1999

The legendary 18th-century lover has been immortalised in books, films and on television, but are these fictionalised accounts historically accurate? Novelist Josephine Hart inves

Blondes - Jayne Mansfield

Dec 24, 1999

In 1957, Jayne Mansfield was riding high as the most photographed woman in the world. Yet, ten years later, she was reduced to stripping in seedy nightclubs to finance a serious al

Blondes - Diana Dors

Dec 26, 1999

This second blonde-bombshell profile focuses on Britain's home-grown prototype, Diana Dors. The Rada-trained actress emerged as a sex symbol in the fifties through a run of low-bud

Blondes - Anita Ekberg

Dec 27, 1999

Perhaps best remembered as the shapely blonde who waded into the Trevi Fountain in La Dolce Vita, fifties sex symbol Anita Ekberg became a Hollywood icon and a cult figure in Europ

The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Money

Jan 2, 2000

Actor Dennis Hopper plays the eccentric host to this guide to the world of commercial creativity. The programme analyses advertising's true place in modern-day, media-obsessed popu

The Veil

May 20, 2000

More and more young Muslim women today are wearing the veil, saying that it frees rather than oppresses them. This one-off Arena explores how a simple piece of cloth has endured in

Wisconsin Death Trip

Jul 2, 2000

An edition in the occasional arts documentary strand. Wisconsin Death Trip. Inspired by a book of the same name, film-maker James Marsh tells the haunting tale of murder, madness a

Clint Eastwood: Out of the West

Dec 24, 2000

The first of a two-part Christmas special profiling the Hollywood actor and director Clint Eastwood. Eastwood recalls his tough childhood, and looks back at his early career, from

Clint Eastwood: American Film-maker

Dec 25, 2000

Concluding the two-part profile of the life and work of Hollywood actor and director Clint Eastwood. The story continues with Eastwood's directorial debut, as he completed Play Mi

James Ellroy's Feast of Death

May 6, 2001

The art strand Arena returns with a new seven-part series. Best known for such novels as LA Confidential, The Black Dahlia, and the autobiographical work My Dark Places, crime wri

And the Winner Is ...

May 13, 2001

There is seemingly no endeavour for which there is not an award, from Preacher of the Year to Streetsweeper of the Year. Arena asks what lies at the heart of our fascination with a

Budd Schulberg - a Contender

May 19, 2001

Eighty-six-year-old novelist Budd Schulberg talks to old friend Hugh McIlvanney about his life and his long and varied career - including his screenplay for the multiple Oscar-winn

The Source

May 28, 2001

Tonight's film dramatises the story behind the leading artists who personified the Beat Generation, which saw its roots in the meeting of Allen Ginsberg , Jack Kerouac and William

Salgado - the Spectre of Hope

May 30, 2001

During the past 30 years the photographic work of Brazilian-born Sebastiao Salgado has helped to bring conditions of famine and poverty to international attention.

Stalin - the Red God

May 31, 2001

Joseph Stalin is seen outside his native land as one of history's most deplorable tyrants, but throughout the former Soviet states a cult of Stalin still exists. This film document

According to Beryl

Oct 6, 2001

A one-off film in which author Beryl Bainbridge chronicles the extraordinary relationship during the 18th century between Samuel Johnson and Hester Thrale, the wife of rich London

Night of Entertainers: Sykes and a Day

Dec 26, 2001

Writer, performer and director, the late Eric Sykes was the renaissance man of British comedy. This episode of Arena opens the doors of the room that was his creative home for fort

Night of Entertainers: Drake's Progress

Dec 25, 2001

Charlie Drake is perhaps best known as the "little man" taking on the world in such films as 'The Cracksman' and television series like 'The Worker'. Drake himself had much to over

Night of Entertainers: The 1812 Overture in E Flat Major Opus 49

Dec 25, 2001

The sketch, first shown in 1967, that took the Golden Rose at Montreux. Drake plays the conductor and all of the musicians in an orchestra.

Night of Entertainers: Max Bygraves - I Wanna Tell You a Story

Dec 25, 2001

Since a 1951 breakthrough appearance on the long-running radio series 'Educating Archie', Bygraves has proved a hit with the British public, whether he performs as an actor, a come

The Private Dirk Bogarde: Part 1

Dec 26, 2001

In 1986, Dirk Bogarde burnt most of his personal papers at his home in southern France. However, 12 cans of home movies, shot mostly by Bogarde's long-term partner Anthony Forwood,

The Private Dirk Bogarde: Part 2

Dec 26, 2001

The second of Arena's two-part film about Bogarde plots his progress to the forefront of European cinema in films such as Joseph Losey's 'The Servant' and Luchino Visconti's 'Death

Estonia Dreams of Eurovision

May 18, 2002

As the 2001 winner, the Baltic state of Estonia, prepares to host this year's Eurovision Song Contest, this documentary explores the dramas, dreams, and dilemmas of what many see a

Kurosawa: Part One

Jun 15, 2002

First in a two-part profile of Japanese film-maker Akira Kurosawa, looking at his childhood, early career and emergence as a major director during the American occupation. Kurosawa

Kurosawa: Part Two

Jun 22, 2002

Concluding the profile of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. International acclaim followed masterpieces like the influential 'Seven Samurai', but success at home was elusive. Unab

The Peter Sellers Story: As He Filmed It

Aug 24, 2002

Arena revisits its 1995 BAFTA-nominated Sellers trilogy, this time using only film shot by the late comic, who died in July 1980. Sellers is seen at home, on set, on holiday and in

Harold Pinter: 1: The Room

Oct 26, 2002

This edition chronicles Pinter's East End childhood, his work as an actor, the critical appraisal of his work, and his passion for cricket. The film looks at the various rooms in w

Harold Pinter: 2: Celebration

Oct 26, 2002

This programme focuses on the relationship between the public and private aspects of Pinter's life and work. The film includes footage from two Pinter stage productions - 'One For

One for the Road

Oct 26, 2002

Harold Pinter takes the lead role in the Gate Theatre, Dublin's production of his play, produced by Michael Colgan and directed by Robin Lefevre. In an unnamed police state, Nicola

Politics and Pinter

Oct 30, 2002

A 70th birthday tribute to Harold Pinter in three parts. The first section acknowledges Pinter's involvement in highlighting political injustices and puts his writing in its politi

The Room

Nov 5, 2002

An anxious recluse deals with the pressures of the outside world. A play by Harold Pinter, filmed in New York's Almeida Theatre in 2001

Radio Ha! Meet the Dead Ringers

Dec 26, 2002

In a world of mimicry and satire, do the Dead Ringers team know who they really are? Meet Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Mark Perry, Kevin Connelly and Phil Cornwell, whose impressions o

Radio Ha! It's Time for Just a Minute

Dec 26, 2002

Not many can talk for a minute without hesitation, repetition or deviation - but, for 35 years, Just a Minute panellists have done just that. Paul Merton, Clement Freud, Linda Smit

I Am from Nowhere

Jan 14, 2003

The story of Mikova, the remote Slovakian village where the family of icon Andy Warhol came from.

The Real Jane Austen

Jun 12, 2003

Gillian Kearney plays the author in an Arena docudrama. With Anna Chancellor.

The Many Lives of Richard Attenborough: Part One

Aug 24, 2003

As he becomes an octogenarian, a two-part Arena special celebrates the life and distinguished career of one of Britain's best-loved public figures. Lord Attenborough's film CV as a

The Many Lives of Richard Attenborough: Part Two

Aug 25, 2003

The conclusion to this two-part profile, which accompanies the Attenborough at 80 season of films this week, looks at Attenborough's career as Britain's most distinguished film dir

Imagine Imagine

Sep 20, 2003

The huge and enduring popularity of John Lennon 's song, Imagine, is examined in this documentary. Yoko Ono , who is now acknowledged as the co-author of the song, is filmed as sh

Dylan Thomas - from Grave to Cradle

Nov 22, 2003

In the 50th year since his tragic death, author and broadcaster Nigel Williams examines the work and legend of one of the most famous poets of the 20th century-Dylan Thomas. Born i

Buffalo Bill's Wild West: How the Myth Was Made

Dec 19, 2003

Buffalo Bill was instrumental in transforming the Wild West into the caricatured setting portrayed in countless films and novels. Using archive footage, this part-dramatised docume

Alec Guinness, a Secret Man

Dec 29, 2003

The acting career of Alec Guinness spanned more than five decades. Although readily identifiable in character, the real man avoided the trappings of fame, preferring a secluded lif

Pavarotti - the Last Tenor

May 29, 2004

For 40 years, Luciano Pavarotti has been hailed as one of the greatest tenors of all time, an artist fit to rank alongside the great Caruso. As his career reaches its climax, this

Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus

Jul 9, 2004

Country singer Jim White takes a road trip through the rural white American South in in an Arena documentary. Driving through a terrain of truck stops and churches, he finds a com

Shadowing the Third Man

Oct 2, 2004

Examining the battles between the film's producers, and the demands of star Orson Welles.

Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball?

Dec 9, 2004

A documentary chronicling the series of Amnesty International fundraising concerts, which brought together a wealth of comedy talent and paved the way for future events such as Com

Painting the Clouds - a Portrait of Dennis Potter

Dec 25, 2004

The Potter at the BBC strand marking the 10th anniversary of his death starts with this feature-length profile. It charts his childhood, time at Oxford, bid for parliament and rise

Dennis Potter: It's In the Songs! It's In the Songs!

Jan 2, 2005

How the playwright used popular songs as a powerful dramatic device and to express the depth of his characters in Pennies from Heaven and The Singing Detective.

Potter on Television

Jan 9, 2005

A portrait of the late playwright, featuring extracts from his work - read by Keith Barron - and interviews with Potter himself.

Hank Williams - Honky Tonk Blues

Feb 5, 2005

From Elvis to Norah Jones , Hank Williams 's songs have been recorded more often than those of any other country music writer. Dirt-poor and rail-thin, he blazed out of Alabama in

Calling Hedy Lamarr

Feb 12, 2005

Cited as being the most beautiful star in the Hollywood firmament during the 1930s and 40s, Hedy Lamarr's talents as an accomplished physicist who also engaged in perfecting radar

Francis Bacon's Arena

Mar 19, 2005

Haunting and ferocious, Francis Bacon's paintings made an indelible impression on art history. His life - as outrageous as his work - is recalled by Arena in the only documentary e

Arena at 30

Sep 3, 2005

Bob Dylan, Jean Genet, Orson Welles and Francis Bacon are among the subjects in a look back at memorable editions of the past 30 years. With film makers Alan Yentob, Anthony Wall a

Bob Dylan: No Direction Home: Part 1

Sep 26, 2005

Director Martin Scorsese enlists the help of Dylan himself, Joan Baez , film-maker DA Pennebaker , Greenwich Village folk icon Dave Von Ronk , and beat poet Allen Ginsberg , for an

Bob Dylan: No Direction Home: Part 2

Sep 27, 2005

Martin Scorsese delicately balances Dylan's internal world with signpost images from the external as he follows the newsworthy phenomenon of a 23-year-old star laden with expectati

Dylan in the Madhouse

Sep 28, 2005

Surprisingly, Bob Dylan first came to the attention of the British public through his role in a 1963 BBC TV play, The Madhouse on Castle Street. The tape was later wiped and has si

The Princess and Panorama

Nov 8, 2005

An incredible 22.8 million viewers were agog as Diana, Princess of Wales spoke candidly of her marriage into the royal family. Ten years on, the secrecy and tensions behind this se

Routemasters! The Double Decker Bus Conductors

Dec 10, 2005

Documentary celebrating one of London's great characters, the bus conductor. The film tells the stories of five extraordinary conductors from five decades of London's history (orig

Galton and Simpson

Dec 25, 2005

Hancock's Half-Hour and Steptoe and Son - two persuasive reasons for making Ray Galton and Alan Simpson pre-eminent among Britain's postwar comedy writers. In their first full-leng

Pete Doherty

Nov 12, 2006

A one-off documentary following six months in the life of Libertines and Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty - the musician who currently throws the British tabloid press into a fre

Saints

Dec 17, 2006

The phenomenon of sanctity is examined in a documentary asking what makes a saint, comparing the Catholic Church's well-known practices with those of Hinduism and Buddhism.

The Archers

Jan 1, 2007

Marking its 56th year on the air, Arena examines the enduring appeal of Radio 4's rural soap, which began in 1951 as a public service programme to help Britain's farmers get back o

The Underground

Mar 18, 2007

Documentary about the Tube, the world's oldest underground system, with its own unwritten rules of behaviour and protocol, and used by three million passengers every day.

Bob Marley - Exodus 77

Jun 3, 2007

The year 1977 was a crucial one in the life of reggae superstar Bob Marley. After an attempt on his life in his home that he was lucky to survive, he was forced to move from Jamaic

Encountering Bergman

Jul 13, 2007

Examining the life and work of film director Ingmar Bergman , through people who know and have spoken to him, including Melvyn Bragg and Marie Nyrerod , producer of Bergman and Far

Bergman and Faro Island

Jul 13, 2007

In his remote home at the seashore on Sweden's Faro Island, Ingmar Bergman talks about the childhood that shaped him.

Bergman and the Cinema

Jul 14, 2007

Ingmar Bergman examines his cinema career, which began when his first script was filmed in 1944. He is also joined by journalist and director Marie Nyrerod to look at his private a

Flames of Passion: the Other Side of British Cinema

Sep 2, 2007

Britain's postwar cinema was not well looked upon by many critics. The melodramas, crime films and horror shockers were almost all derided by contemporary critics. Unearthing a wea

The Original Archers

Oct 4, 2007

The earliest surviving episode in the BBC archives of The Archers, originally broadcast 11th March 1952, is repeated here in its entirety along with archive film of the period.

Tribute Bands - into the Limelight

Oct 6, 2007

Affectionate documentary that goes behind the scenes of the Limelight Club in Crewe, where for ten years tribute acts to the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and Phil Lynott have

Tribute Bands - Live at the Limelight

Oct 6, 2007

Live performances by tribute bands such as Limehouse Lizzy, Are You Experienced, The Jamm and ABCD, at Crewe's Limelight Club.

Dylan's Folk - the Pure, the Bad and the Holy

Oct 14, 2007

A look at the Newport folk festival and the American folk revival of the 60s, which encompassed old time mountain music, blues and gospel.

The Other Side of the Mirror - Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival

Oct 14, 2007

Murray Lerner's documentary features Bob Dylan's performances at the Newport folk festival between 1963 and 1965 - the time when Dylan changed the music of the world.

Dylan in the Madhouse

Oct 14, 2007

Arena goes in search of the Bob Dylan starring 1962 BBC drama Madhouse on Castle Street, wiped in 1968.

Ken Dodd's Happiness

Dec 24, 2007

A tribute to the Liverpudlian comedian, who turned 80 last month. Here, he discusses his 50-year career and the influences on his comedy style. Featuring film clips of his early pe

The Strange Luck of V.S. Naipaul

Apr 10, 2008

Profile of the Nobel Prize-winning British writer, VS Naipaul. Filmed in Wiltshire, India and his native Trinidad, he remains as incisive, forthright and controversial as ever.

Cab Driver

Jul 26, 2008

Documentary which gets to the heart of that much-maligned and stereotyped character, the London cabbie, using archive footage, music and film, as well as the drivers themselves.

The Hunt for Moby-Dick

Sep 20, 2008

Writer Philip Hoare embarks on an epic journey to investigate humankind's ongoing fascination with the whale. He travels from Southampton to the whaling ports of America, before co

Whale Night: The Whale in the Museum

Sep 21, 2008

BBC4's Whale Night begins with an insight into the the construction of the Blue Whale exhibit at the Natural History Museum.

Whale Night: Philip Hoare's Guide to Whales: Episode 1: Baleen

Sep 21, 2008

Author and whale-watcher Philip Hoare takes us into the world of baleen whales, the largest animals ever to have lived and the order including blue, fin and humpback whales.

Whale Night: Philip Hoare's Guide to Whales: Episode 2: Toothed

Sep 21, 2008

Author and whale-watcher Philip Hoare takes us into the world of toothed whales, from the plight of the captive killer whale to the fate of the stranded London whale.

Whale Night: Philip Hoare's Guide to Whales: Episode 3: Arctic

Sep 21, 2008

Philip Hoare follows the historical trail of the whale hunters to the frozen seas of the North Pole, where he finds the bowhead, the white beluga and the tusked narwhal.

The Agony and Ecstasy of Phil Spector

Oct 25, 2008

Legendary, reclusive and controversial, Phil Spector changed the face of pop with his reverbladen "wall of sound" production techniques, working with artists including the Ronettes

Paul Scofield

Dec 24, 2008

A host of theatrical greats pay tribute to the accomplished actor, who died in March this year aged 86. Featuring extracts from some of his most famous roles, including Sir Thomas

Tony Bennett: the Music Never Ends

Feb 14, 2009

Crooner Tony Bennett reflects on his life with his friend and jazz enthusiast Clint Eastwood. Bennett traces his musical lineage, highlighted by concert footage.

Cool

Apr 3, 2009

Archive film shows how American jazz culture spread across the world in the 1940s and 50s, representing a movement that started in the clubs of New York and LA.

TS Eliot

Jun 6, 2009

The Poetry Season continues with this in-depth look at the life of one of the 20th century's most important literary figures. As well as uncovering the many sides of the Nobel Priz

Harold Pinter Night: The Birthday Party

Jul 26, 2009

A performance of his critically acclaimed 1958 play about a man tormented by two mysterious strangers.

Brian Eno - Another Green World

Jan 22, 2010

Brian Eno, former Roxy Music keyboardist and a pioneer in ambient music, engages with fellow minds in conversations on science, art, systems analysis, producing and cybernetics.

Harold Pinter - A Celebration

Jan 24, 2010

In June 2009, a group Britain's leading actors gathered for one night only to perform a celebration of the work of Harold Pinter at the National Theatre, directed by Ian Rickson.

Johnny Mercer - The Dream's on Me

Apr 4, 2010

Documentary telling the story and examining the legacy of Johnny Mercer, one of America's greatest songwriters and a man at the heart of the Great American Songbook.

Dave Brubeck - In His Own Sweet Way

Dec 3, 2010

Profile of the influential jazz pianist Dave Brubeck as he approaches his 90th birthday, who had one of the biggest popular hits in jazz history with Take Five.

Rolf Harris Paints His Dream

Dec 29, 2010

Arena enlists supermodels Lily Cole and Lizzy Jagger and actresses Dervla Kirwan and Emer Kenny to help Rolf Harris achieve a painting ambition.

Produced by George Martin

Apr 25, 2011

Profile of record producer Sir George Martin, with his wife Judy, son Giles, Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and Michael Palin among the many contributors.

George Harrison: Living in the Material World: Part 1

Nov 12, 2011

Martin Scorsese's portrait of George Harrison, which traces his life from his beginnings in Liverpool to becoming a world-famous musician, philanthropist and filmmaker.

George Harrison: Living in the Material World: Part 2

Nov 13, 2011

Martin Scorsese's portrait of George Harrison looks at his post-Beatles days as a member of the Travelling Wilburys and a solo artist, as well as his non-musical ventures.

Dickens on Film

Jan 10, 2012

An exploration of Charles Dickens's contribution to the history of film and television, using archive footage of classic and less familiar adaptations from 1898 to the present day.

Sonny Rollins: Beyond the Notes

Feb 17, 2012

Documentary about the great saxophonist Sonny Rollins, built around his 80th birthday concert, where he is joined by the likes of Roy Haynes, Jim Hall and Ornette Coleman.

Sonny Rollins '74: Rescued!

Feb 17, 2012

Newly-discovered film footage of tenor sax legend Sonny Rollins at Ronnie Scott's in 1974, with a band featuring guitarist Yoshiaki Masuo and soprano saxophone player Rufus Harley.

The Dreams of William Golding

Mar 17, 2012

An insight into the private obsessions and insecurities of the author of Lord of the Flies. With contributions from his daughter and son and bestselling author Stephen King

Jonathan Miller

Mar 31, 2012

Documentary exploring the life of Sir Jonathan Miller CBE, theatre and opera director, humorist and television presenter. With contributors including Kevin Spacey and Eric Idle.

Amy Winehouse - The Day She Came to Dingle

Jul 23, 2012

Documentary telling the story of the day Amy Winehouse recorded a stunning acoustic performance in a church in the small Irish fishing village of Dingle in 2006.

The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour: Episode 1: Magical Mystery Tour Revisited

Oct 6, 2012

The making of The Beatles' controversial 1967 film, featuring previously unseen archive footage.

The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour: Episode 2: 'The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour

Oct 6, 2012

Fully restored and with a remixed soundtrack, 'The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour comes out of the shadows and onto the screen.

Screen Goddesses

Dec 22, 2012

Documentary about the early female movie stars: Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe - immortal goddesses made by Hollywood to reign over the silver screen.

Sister Wendy and the Art of the Gospel

Dec 25, 2012

Documentary telling the personal story of Sister Wendy Beckett, who travelled the world telling the story of Christian art and painting in the 1990s, quickly becoming a star.

aka Norman Parkinson

Apr 21, 2013

To mark the centenary of his birth, Arena examines the glamorous life and exceptionally long career of pioneering photographer and eccentric English gentleman, Norman Parkinson.

Arena: The National Theatre: Part One - The Dream

Oct 24, 2013

First of two documentaries celebrating the National Theatre's 50th anniversary, with contributions from artistic directors, playwrights and stars such as Dame Joan Plowright.

Arena: The National Theatre: Part Two - War and Peace

Oct 31, 2013

Peter Hall, Richard Eyre, Trevor Nunn and Nicholas Hytner talk about running the new National Theatre from its opening in 1976 to the fulfilment of Olivier's original dream.

Whatever Happened to Spitting Image?

Mar 20, 2014

Documentary telling the story of the genesis of the satirical puppet show Spitting Image, with contributions from caricaturists Peter Fluck and Roger Law and producer John Lloyd.

The National Theatre: Learning Zone

Apr 2, 2014

Made specially for schools, this version of Arena examines the history and purpose of the National Theatre as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.

The 50 Year Argument - The New York Review of Books

Jun 29, 2014

Martin Scorsese's documentary film charting literary, political and cultural history as per the New York Review of Books, America's leading journal of ideas since 1963.

Nicolas Roeg - It's About Time

Jun 26, 2015

Profile of Nicolas Roeg, examining his personal vision of cinema as evidenced in his films, including Don't Look Now, Performance, Walkabout and The Man Who Fell to Earth.

Night and Day

Nov 22, 2015

To celebrate Arena's 40th anniversary, a new film made entirely from its own archive, evoking the one experience common to all - the 24-hour cycle from dawn to dusk to dawn again.

Loretta Lynn - Still a Mountain Girl

Mar 18, 2016

With contributions from her family and fellow musicians, now in her early eighties and still going strong, country music singer-songwriter Loretta Lynn looks back at her life.

All the World's a Screen - Shakespeare on Film

Apr 24, 2016

Documentary exploring the rich, global history of Shakespeare in the cinema, with a treasure trove of film extracts and archival interviews with their creators.

1966 - 50 Years Ago Today

Jul 24, 2016

Documentary marking the year pop music and popular culture ripped up the rule book, as restless experimentation and the search for new forms of expression took hold.

The Roundhouse - The People's Palace

Oct 23, 2016

The tragicomic rollercoaster story of a unique venue, the Roundhouse in north London, which has hosted virtually every big name in rock and alternative theatre since 1966.

Alone with Chrissie Hynde

Feb 10, 2017

Arena spends the summer with supercool self-confessed rock chick, Chrissie Hynde. Featuring a glorious live performance at one of London's most intimate venues.

American Epic: Episode 1: The Big Bang

May 21, 2017

Series telling the stories of the pioneers of American roots music. The 1920s saw record companies travel rural America to record the music of ordinary people.

American Epic: Episode 2: Blood and Soil

May 28, 2017

Series telling the stories of the pioneers of American roots music. The second episode explores gospel, the songs of the coal mines and the Mississippi Delta blues.

Kirsty Young: 75 Years of Desert Island Discs

May 29, 2017

As Desert Island Discs reaches 75, today's custodian of the island, Kirsty Young, introduces the 1982 Bafta-winning Arena classic.

American Epic: Episode 3: Out of the Many, the One

Jun 4, 2017

The story of the pioneers of American roots music explores Hawaiian music, Cajun music and Mississippi John Hurt's blues.

American Epic: Episode 4: The Sessions

Jun 9, 2017

Today's music superstars use a lovingly reassembled old machine to record in the same way that their early predecessors did - with no edits, no overdubs and no retakes.

Stanley and his Daughters

Feb 4, 2018

Exploring the relationship of artist Stanley Spencer's daughters, Unity and Shirin, as they try to understand and reclaim their father and investigate their family's archaeology.

Bob Dylan – Trouble No More

Mar 30, 2018

A Bob Dylan performance of songs expressing his new-found Christianity in the late 70s, enhanced by a series of sermons between the songs, written by the actor Michael Shannon.

Nothing Like a Dame

Jun 2, 2018

A chance to hang out with Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Joan Plowright and enjoy sparkling conversation spliced with a raft of astonishing archive.

Make Me Up!

Nov 4, 2018

Multimedia artist Rachel Maclean takes a satirical look at the contradictory pressures faced by women today.

Unstoppable: Sean Scully and the Art of Everything

Apr 6, 2019

A year in the life of abstract artist Sean Scully, one of the world's wealthiest painters. Little known at home but a superstar abroad, Sean flies around the world to open 15 major

That Summer

Jul 7, 2019

A long-lost film of the creative community formed by Peter Beard, Jackie Kennedy's sister Lee Radziwill and her relatives, the Beales of Grey Gardens, in 1970s New York.

Cindy Sherman #untitled

Jul 28, 2019

A rare insight into the work of Cindy Sherman, one of the world's leading, and most elusive, contemporary artists.

Kusama: Infinity

Sep 1, 2019

Documentary profiling Japanese contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama whose work, including her much-visited Infinity Mirror Room installations, defies classification.

Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin

Sep 21, 2019

When legendary writer and adventurer Bruce Chatwin was dying of Aids, his friend and collaborator Werner Herzog made a final visit to say farewell.

Bergman: A Year in the Life

Sep 22, 2019

Documentary that exposes a darker, less well-known side of film director Ingmar Bergman, focusing on the landmark year of 1957, which saw Bergman direct two films and four plays.

The $50 Million Art Swindle

Sep 23, 2019

This feature-length documentary for Arena by acclaimed director Vanessa Engle tells the remarkable story of a charlatan art dealer who swindled over $50 million from the art establ

A British Guide to the End of the World

Nov 4, 2019

Haunting film about Britain and the nuclear age, from the first bomb tests to our potentially futile preparations for attack during the Cold War.

Everything Is Connected - George Eliot's Life

Nov 10, 2019

Contemporary artist Gillian Wearing celebrates the legacy of Victorian novelist George Eliot in an experimental film made up of a diverse cast of people.

Seamus Heaney and the Music of What Happens

Dec 30, 2019

Born into a farming family in rural Northern Ireland, Seamus Heaney became the finest poet of his generation and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995 - but his career al

Hilary Mantel: Return to Wolf Hall

Mar 7, 2020

Made across six months in the run-up to publication of 'The Mirror and the Light', the final book in Hilary Mantel’s Booker-winning Tudor trilogy on the life of Thomas Cromwell, th

The Changin’ Times of Ike White

May 18, 2020

In 1974, Ike White recorded an album while serving life for murder. The album became his ticket to freedom. But, just as he was on the cusp of stardom, Ike disappeared.

I Am Not Your Negro

Jun 20, 2020

Through the words of James Baldwin, this film touches on the lives and assassinations of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr and Medgar Evers.

Keith Haring: Street Art Boy

Jul 4, 2020

The definitive story of international art sensation Keith Haring, told using previously unheard interviews. Haring blazed a trail through the art scene of 80s New York and revoluti

Fela Kuti: Father of Afrobeat

Nov 21, 2020

xclusive testimony reveals the multifaceted man behind the maverick performer Fela Kuti, who created a sound for a continent - Afrobeat.

My Father and Me

Mar 21, 2021

For decades among the foremost names in documentary, Nick Broomfield has often implicated himself in the film-making process with honesty and candour. Yet never has he made a movie

Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and the Legendary Tapes

May 16, 2021

Docudrama portrait of Delia Derbyshire, the electronic sound pioneer behind the Doctor Who theme tune, exploring the idea that this extraordinary composer herself lived outside of

African Apocalypse

May 22, 2021

British-Nigerian poet and activist Femi Nylander travels to West Africa to discover the modern-day impact on its people of atrocities that took place over a century ago.

Dark Matter: A History of the Afrofuture

May 29, 2021

An exploration – from Jean-Michel Basquiat to Grace Jones – of how black artists use the sci-fi genre to examine black history and imagine new, alternative futures.

Painted with My Hair

Oct 31, 2021

How a US lifer survived long-term solitary confinement through a remarkable pen-pal friendship and the making of beautiful little paintings from M&M's.

B. Catling: Where Does It All Come From?

Nov 21, 2021

An investigation into the extraordinary life and work of B. Catling, an eye-popping insight into the late-flourishing career of a maverick artist, teacher and performer.

The Vasulka Effect

Nov 28, 2021

An Arena documentary about the life and work of video art pioneers Steina and Woody Vasulka, which reveals the profound effect they had on the American avant-garde.

The Most Beautiful Boy in the World

Feb 13, 2022

Documentary that follows Björn Andrésen, the boy catapulted to fame when Luchino Visconti chose him to play Tadzio in his screen adaptation of Thomas Mann's Death in Venice.

River

Jul 25, 2022

River takes its audience on a journey through space and time spanning six continents, showing rivers on a scale and from perspectives never seen before.

James Joyce’s Ulysses

Sep 7, 2022

A hundred years after its publication, this film reveals the tawdry, shocking, poetic, uplifting and gloriously kaleidoscopic humanity of James Joyce’s masterpiece, Ulysses.

T.S. Eliot: Into the Waste Land

Oct 22, 2022

2022 marks the centenary of one of the defining poems of the 20th century, 'The Waste Land'. TS Eliot's groundbreaking work first exploded into the world on 15 October 1922 and has

Kanaval: A People's History of Haiti in Six Chapters

Nov 27, 2022

A visually arresting feature documentary, set in the present but which tells the rich story of Haiti’s past, that follows a number of carnival performers in the lead-up to, and dur

Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll

Apr 22, 2023

he life and career of the pioneering musician, a black artist who grew up in the segregated American South and broke down barriers and took 1950s America by storm. The Beatles and

The Mysterious Mr Lagerfeld

Apr 26, 2023

With unique access to Karl Lagerfeld’s inner circle - many having never spoken publicly before - and his beloved cat, this film opens up the extraordinary world of the man known as

The Stones and Brian Jones

May 15, 2023

A look at the relationships and rivalries within The Rolling Stones in their formative years, as well as the creative musical genius of Brian Jones, key to the success of the band.

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

Jun 4, 2023

A profile of artist and activist Nan Goldin, using slideshows, interviews, photography and rare footage to tell the story of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountab

Coco Chanel Unbuttoned

Sep 15, 2023

Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel transformed women's fashion, a truly revolutionary designer whose influence is still evident today. Her designs called into question the role of women, sex

Being Kae Tempest

Nov 29, 2023

Poet, rapper, playwright and recording artist Kae Tempest is one of the most viscerally exciting artists working in Britain today. They are the youngest ever recipient of the prest

Caroline Aherne: Queen of Comedy

Dec 25, 2023

A celebration of the unique life and talent of Caroline Aherne, featuring unseen photographs and contributions from a cast of her lifelong friends, including Steve Coogan, Jon Thom

Mad About the Boy: The Noel Coward Story

Dec 26, 2023

The story of Noel Coward, the most prolific writer, director and entertainer of the 20th century, told in his own words.

Maria Callas: The Final Act

Dec 29, 2024

In this new film from Arena, a cast of musical experts and admirers uncover the truth about the Maria Callas myth and the gift of her extraordinary voice.

Alan Bennett 90 Years On

Dec 13, 2024

In May 2024, Alan Bennett turned 90. This film celebrates the life and long career of one of Britain's best-loved playwrights. Part frank reflection on the ageing process, part rem

Loaded: Lads, Mags and Mayhem

Dec 14, 2024

Launched 30 years ago, Loaded magazine epitomised the 90s in its irreverence and appetite for hedonism. But how did it stand up to pressure to put more 'sexy babes' on the cover?

From Roger Moore with Love

Dec 15, 2024

Friends, family and co-stars take part in this revealing and entertaining look at British icon Roger Moore and his rise to global fame. With rare home-movie footage.

Steven McRae: Dancing Back to the Light

Dec 16, 2024

At the peak of his career, acclaimed ballet dancer Steven McRae severely damages his Achilles tendon. This is the story of his rehabilitation and the days leading up to his triumph

My Brain: After the Rupture

Dec 17, 2024

The incredible story of broadcaster, journalist, musician and author Clemency Burton-Hill's recovery following a devastating brain haemorrhage in early 2020.

McCartney: The Hunt for the Lost Bass

Dec 18, 2024

The disappearance of McCartney’s original Höfner bass over 50 years ago is one of rock ‘n’ roll’s great mysteries. This is the story of the iconic instrument and the quest to find