Movies

A documentary featured on BBC's Arena series in 1983. The author discusses his life, his work and his thoughts and opinions.

A documentary about and an interview with Hollywood actress Bette Davis about her life and career from the late 1920s to the 1980s on stage and...

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,...

This 1980 Arena documentary profiles writer and performer Victoria Wood and teenage playwright Andrea Dunbar. Wood is seen, alongside Julie Walters,...

Drama documentary which takes the form of an up-dated version of Pygmalion. With a special music score by jazz group Working Week, with real...

Twenty-something virtuoso multi-instrumentalist, singer and arranger Jacob Collier has managed to outdo The Beatles by winning Grammy Awards for each...

1975 documentary about 11-year-old serial arsonist Michael 'Mini' Cooper, followed by Cooper and the film's director Franc Roddam in conversation...

This documentary looks at executive producer Philip Segal’s seven-year quest to return Doctor Who to the screen, from his initial contact with...

Alan Yentob profiles the stellar career of one of the great satirists of our age, Armando Iannucci, whose impressive body of work includes The Day...

This insightful biography tells the story of legendary singer/songwriter Yusuf Islam, previously known as Cat Stevens, as he celebrates his return to...

This acclaimed documentary depicts the sad life of the greatest of all jazz singers, Billie Holiday, a life engraved with personal tragedy and...

Ella Fitzgerald in performance at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. This second show confirms yet again all the superlatives which critics have lavished on...

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...

Recorded at Ronnie Scott's in London in 1974 and backed by the Tommy Flanagan Quartet, Ella Fitzgerald performs some of her most famous songs,...

A brief history of the Cuban capital of Havana, backed by a vibrant soundtrack of son cubano, salsa, jazz, rumba, mambo and hip hop. Drawing on...

Documentary portrait of the life of playwright Joe Orton, who was murdered by his lover Kenneth Halliwell in April 1967.

Crime writer Ian Rankin invites BBC to follow him as he writes his next novel, and as he ponders what to write about after retiring his most famous...

Mel Brooks appears on stage with Alan Yentob, the creative director for the BBC, at the Geffen Theatre in California to review his extensive career...

Journey with the musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic and their conductor Sir Simon Rattle on a breakneck concert tour of six metropolises across...

Alan Yentob meets Ray Davies, the creative powerhouse behind The Kinks and author of some of the best-loved songs of the 60s, who candidly discusses...