Arena

Arena is a British television documentary series, made and broadcast by the BBC. Voted by leading TV executives in Broadcast as one of the top 50 most influential programmes of all time, it has run since 1 October 1975 with over five hundred episodes made, directed by the likes of Martin Scorsese, Alan Yentob, Roly Keating, Frederick Baker, Volker Schlondorff and Vikram Jayanti. Arena's subjects are a roll-call of the world's best known cultural figures from the 20th and 21st centuries, from singers Bob Dylan and Amy Winehouse to academics Edward Said and Eric Hobsbawm, from writers Jean Genet and V S Naipaul to artists Francis Bacon and Louise Bourgeois. The current series editor is Anthony Wall.

Documentary

Arena

Documentary

Created By
First Aired on: Oct 01, 1975
Popularity: 84.2549: 7 votes
Networks: (GB)
(GB)
Status: Returning Series: In Production

Seasons & episodes

Total 1 seasons, 297 episodes

Season 1

Aired 50 years ago

687 Episodes

Episode 1Theatre min
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 The Rake's Progress.
Episode 2Art and Design min
George Melly looks at how they sold the 70's and a report on the opening of the Space Studios.
Episode 3Theatre min
An interview with Howard Barker, author of 'Stripwell', and an extract from same; commentary by Kenneth Tynan; and an investigation of 'Birds of Paradise'.
Episode 4Art and Design min
Cartoonist Mel Caiman on the New Yorker magazine and its artists, Richard Hamilton at the Serpentine Gallery, and a new documentary exhibition from Jarrow.
Episode 5Theatre90 min
Peter Hall talks about the history and new South Band location of the National Theater, where he is artistic director.