Blackmail and Shame

Mark Ravenhill on staging the play on which Hitchcock based Blackmail.

• 44 mins

The Stasi poetry circle, Nazi schools and German culture

How an East German creative writing class fought the cold war - was their poetry any good?

• 44 mins

Vikings

From the Victorian craze to modern takes on Norse myths, Netflix and archaeological finds.

• 44 mins

John Maynard Keynes

From HM Treasury to Versailles and Bloomsbury: a look at the life and legacy of JM Keynes.

• 44 mins

After Dark Festival: Equinox

Finding meaning in the moment when the length of day and night is equal.

• 44 mins

Dark Places

A poet, crime writer, theologian and marine biologist explore darkness.

• 44 mins

Enter the Dragon and Bruce Lee

Matthew Sweet watches the 1973 martial arts film made before Bruce Lee's death aged 32.

• 44 mins

Leopoldo Torre Nilsson's Hand in the Trap

Confronting the man who jilted you is the plot of this 1960s Argentine expressionist film

• 44 mins

New Generation Thinkers 2022

Laurence Scott introduces the ten academics chosen to share their research on radio.

• 44 mins

Bridgerton and Georgian Entertainment

Shahidha Bari with Ian Kelly, Hannah Greig, Sophie Coulombeau, Brianna Kirkland-Robertson.

• 44 mins

China: World Politics, Ink Art and Insomnia

Kevin Rudd talks about avoiding catastrophic conflict between China and the USA.

• 44 mins

Grief

Matthew Sweet and guests look at the role of ritual, laments and how we express grief.

• 44 mins

Ships and History

Artist Hew Locke plus historians Sarah Caputo, Jake Subryan Richards and Tom Nancollas.

• 44 mins

Housework

Gender, class and domestic tasks. Matthew pulls on his rubber gloves and gets stuck in.

• 44 mins

Preserving our heritage

From knitting patterns to greetings cards: Naomi Paxton looks at a series of UK archives

• 44 mins

Shakespeare, history, pathology and dissonant sound

Shahidha Bari on a new staging of Shakespeare's Henry VI. Why is Warwick a key figure?

• 44 mins

Teaching and Inspiration

Novelist Julian Barnes, historian Daisy Hay and New Generation Thinker Louise Creechan.

• 44 mins

Speaking Welsh

Catherine Fletcher explores the relationship between Cymru and Cymraeg - Wales and Welsh.

• 44 mins

Rainer Maria Rilke

Anne McElvoy discusses the visionary poet with a composer and two literature experts.

• 44 mins

May Day Rituals

Matthew Sweet and guests explore ideas about community, collective action and May revels.

• 44 mins

Kawanabe Kyōsai and Yukio Mishima

Japanese cultural experimentation: painter Kyōsai 1831-1889 and writer Mishima 1925-1970.

• 44 mins

Windows

From Rear Window to stained glass, TB to paintings at Dulwich. Shahidha Bari hosts.

• 44 mins

Odessa Stories

Linda Grant and Boris Dralyuk discuss the writer Isaac Babel with Matthew Sweet.

• 44 mins

Mental Health

Anne McElvoy looks at ASMR, clean air, loneliness and a memoir exploring mental health.

• 44 mins

Soil

John Gallagher and guests dig deep into the significance of soil.

• 44 mins

Soho

Matthew Sweet is joined by Jingan Young, Benjamin Halligan and David McGillivray.

• 44 mins

Gandhi, Indian architecture

Rana Mitter looks at a new play at the National Theatre about the man who murdered Gandhi.

• 44 mins

Goddesses

Christopher Harding investigates the feminine divine with Ronald Hutton and others.

• 44 mins

Tattoos

Shahidha Bari traces the move from markings on convicts and aristos to today's body art.

• 44 mins

The Tudor Mind

Donne, Hamlet, mathematics and the Tudor portraits composed by Vaughan Williams.

• 44 mins