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Arena

Season 1 1975 - 1976
NR

  • 1975-10-01T20:00:00Z on BBC Two
  • 1h 30m
  • 1d 15h (26 episodes)
  • United Kingdom
  • English
  • Documentary
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.

26 episodes

Series Premiere

1975-10-01T20:00:00Z

1x01 Theatre

Series Premiere

1x01 Theatre

  • 1975-10-01T20:00:00Z1h 30m

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.

1975-10-08T20:00:00Z

1x02 Art and Design

1x02 Art and Design

  • 1975-10-08T20:00:00Z1h 30m

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

1975-10-15T20:00:00Z

1x03 Theatre

1x03 Theatre

  • 1975-10-15T20:00:00Z1h 30m

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

1975-10-22T20:00:00Z

1x04 Art and Design

1x04 Art and Design

  • 1975-10-22T20:00:00Z1h 30m

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

1975-10-29T21:00:00Z

1x05 Theatre

1x05 Theatre

  • 1975-10-29T21:00:00Z1h 30m

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

1975-11-05T21:00:00Z

1x06 Art and Design

1x06 Art and Design

  • 1975-11-05T21:00:00Z1h 30m

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 science fiction illustration.

1975-11-12T21:00:00Z

1x07 Theatre

1x07 Theatre

  • 1975-11-12T21:00:00Z1h 30m

Extract from a contemporary play and Kenneth Tynan opines.

1975-11-19T21:00:00Z

1x08 Art and Design

1x08 Art and Design

  • 1975-11-19T21:00:00Z1h 30m

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

1975-11-26T21:00:00Z

1x09 Theatre

1x09 Theatre

  • 1975-11-26T21:00:00Z1h 30m

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

1975-12-03T21:00:00Z

1x10 Art and Design

1x10 Art and Design

  • 1975-12-03T21:00:00Z1h 30m

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

1975-12-10T21:00:00Z

1x11 Theatre

1x11 Theatre

  • 1975-12-10T21:00:00Z1h 30m

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

1975-12-17T21:00:00Z

1x12 Art and Design

1x12 Art and Design

  • 1975-12-17T21:00:00Z1h 30m

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 Architectural Heritage Year.

1976-01-07T21:00:00Z

1x13 Theatre

1x13 Theatre

  • 1976-01-07T21:00:00Z1h 30m

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

1976-01-14T21:00:00Z

1x14 Art and Design

1x14 Art and Design

  • 1976-01-14T21:00:00Z1h 30m

1976-01-21T21:00:00Z

1x15 Theatre

1x15 Theatre

  • 1976-01-21T21:00:00Z1h 30m

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

1976-01-28T21:00:00Z

1x16 Art and Design

1x16 Art and Design

  • 1976-01-28T21:00:00Z1h 30m

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

1976-02-04T21:00:00Z

1x17 Theatre

1x17 Theatre

  • 1976-02-04T21:00:00Z1h 30m

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

1976-02-11T21:00:00Z

1x18 Art and Design

1x18 Art and Design

  • 1976-02-11T21:00:00Z1h 30m

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

1976-02-18T21:00:00Z

1x19 Theatre

1x19 Theatre

  • 1976-02-18T21:00:00Z1h 30m

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'.

1976-02-25T21:00:00Z

1x20 Art and Design

1x20 Art and Design

  • 1976-02-25T21:00:00Z1h 30m

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

1976-03-03T21:00:00Z

1x21 Theatre

1x21 Theatre

  • 1976-03-03T21:00:00Z1h 30m

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.

1976-03-10T21:00:00Z

1x22 Art and Design

1x22 Art and Design

  • 1976-03-10T21:00:00Z1h 30m

Arena presents the work of British and American video artists.

1976-03-17T21:00:00Z

1x23 Theatre

1x23 Theatre

  • 1976-03-17T21:00:00Z1h 30m

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.

1976-03-24T20:00:00Z

1x24 Art and Design

1x24 Art and Design

  • 1976-03-24T20:00:00Z1h 30m

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.

1x25 Theatre: Happy Birthday Royal Court

  • 1976-03-31T20:00:00Z1h 30m

Alumni of the Royal Court celebrate its 20th anniversary.

1x26 Art and Design: Art for Money's Sake?

  • 1976-04-07T20:00:00Z1h 30m

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

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