Arena

A thoughtful, unhurried cultural portrait that rewards curiosity, letting artists and thinkers talk at their own pace.

Created by

Adam Low, Ashtar Al Khirsan

Genres

Documentary

Starring

Tony Benn, James Brown, Gail Porter

Overview

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.

How it feels

Earnest, melancholic and satirical. Measured and needs your attention.

About

Art, music, identity, celebrity

Content

Mild sexual content and language. No violence or gore.

Note

Written by AI, so it can be wrong. Full breakdown

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