Cold War in Full Swing - Louis Armstrong in the GDR

Kevin Le Gendre discovers how Louis Armstrong came to play jazz in communist East Germany.

• 44 mins

Everybody Likes Music, Don't They?

To many, music is indispensible. But what if it has no place in your life?

• 44 mins

Judy Punches Up

Punch and Judy - unexpected feminist icons?

• 14 mins

Al-Andalus: the Legacy

Andrew Hussey journeys through Spain in search of the legacy of Al-Andalus.

• 44 mins

Moral Machinery: The Invention of Mental Healthcare

How one individual led a revolution in care for the mentally ill.

• 14 mins

Plot 5779: Unearthing Elizabeth Siddall

Actor Lily Cole plays Elizabeth Siddall who climbs out of her grave to tell her own story.

• 44 mins

The Hidden Reservoir

Carlo Gebler on the role of the arts in healing and reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

• 44 mins

Power Plays

How theatre challenged the East German government - but was swept aside as communism fell.

• 44 mins

Poles Apart

The unknown tale of Cold War communist Poland's unlikely love affair with electronic music

• 44 mins

A Racist Music

Challenging the legacy of composer and racist ideologue John Powell (1882-1963).

• 44 mins

Rewiring Raymond Scott

Ken Hollings assesses the legacy of American electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott.

• 44 mins

New Generation Thinkers: Glitter and Villainy

Glitter and Villainy: Camp performance and dressing to kill.

• 14 mins

Gentileschi's Revenge

Painter Caroline Walker explores the life of Italian artist Artemisia Gentileschi.

• 44 mins

The Emergency - Creative freedom in wartime Dublin

Regan Hutchins tells the story of bohemian Dublin in World War II.

• 44 mins

The Lonely Death of Stanley Bate

Simon Heffer explores the tragic life of Stanley Bate, enigma of English music.

• 44 mins

Shades of Black: The Art and Genius of Archibald Motley Jr

How the artist Archibald Motley Jr captured the politics of skin tone in Jazz Age Chicago.

• 44 mins

In Search of Arabic Classical Music

Kate Molleson travels to Cairo to discover a lost aural music tradition.

• 44 mins

The East Speaks Back

Jerry Brotton celebrates the world of Ottoman traveller Evliya Celebi.

• 44 mins

Queen of Technicolor

Maureen O'Hara's journey from Dublin's suburbs to star of Hollywood's golden age.

• 44 mins

New Generation Thinkers: The Air that I Breathe

New Generation Thinker Alun Withey reflects on our desire for clean air.

• 14 mins

Literary Pursuits

Charles Dickens: Great Expectations

Sarah Dillon reveals a tale of money and passion behind Dickens's Great Expectations.

• 45 mins

Literary Pursuits

Jean Rhys: Wide Sargasso Sea

Sarah Dillon explores the arduous composition of Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea.

• 45 mins

Literary Pursuits

Jane Austen's Persuasion

Sarah Dillon discovers how Jane Austen's last completed novel, Persuasion, was written.

• 45 mins

Literary Pursuits

James Joyce's Dubliners

Sarah Dillon recounts James Joyce's epic struggle to publish his first book, Dubliners.

• 45 mins

Literary Pursuits

Literary Pursuits: EM Forster's Maurice

Exploring the long journey to publication of EM Forster's gay love story, Maurice.

• 44 mins

Literary Pursuits

Literary Pursuits - RL Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde

Sarah Dillon finds out the story behind the writing of RL Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde.

• 44 mins

Literary Pursuits

Les Miserables

The story behind the writing of Victor Hugo's book is one of adultery, intrigue and exile.

• 44 mins

Literary Pursuits

Truman Capote: In Cold Blood

How a murder in Kansas prompted Truman Capote to write In Cold Blood.

• 44 mins

New Generation Thinkers: The Endless Demise of the High Street

Dr Jade Halbert ponders the veracity of the long-running warnings of high street demise.

• 14 mins

Wordsworth - Poet of the People

Jenny Uglow sets Wordsworth, the nature poet, in contrast to the economist Adam Smith.

• 44 mins