Pain

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the causes and our mechanisms of coping with pain.

• 30 mins

Genetic Determinism

Melvyn Bragg explores the part genes play in our personalities.

• 30 mins

Maths and Storytelling

Melvyn Bragg examines whether it is possible to apply mathematical logic to literature.

• 30 mins

Utopia

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss why we are as enthralled as ever by the idea of a Utopia.

• 30 mins

The Nation State

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss whether it is appropriate to think of the UK as a nation.

• 30 mins

The Individual

Melvyn Bragg explores the concept of the individual from the Renaissance to today.

• 30 mins

Atrocity in the 20th Century

Melvyn Bragg examines the widespread and chilling inhumanity of the 20th century.

• 30 mins

Education

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history and the modern purpose of education.

• 30 mins

The Novel

Melvyn Bragg and guests consider the development and the future of the novel.

• 30 mins

Progress

Melvyn Bragg examines whether mankind has made as much moral as material progress.

• 30 mins

Consciousness

Melvyn Bragg examines why ideas about consciousness preoccupy philosophers and scientists.

• 30 mins

Tragedy

Melvyn Bragg examines whether the ancient genre of tragedy has a place in our own time.

• 30 mins

Childhood

Melvyn Bragg looks at how perceptions of childhood have changed over the last 100 years.

• 30 mins

Medical Ethics

Melvyn Bragg examines the technological advances and ethics of modern medicine.

• 30 mins

Prayer

Melvyn Bragg examines the purpose and effects of prayer.

• 30 mins

Time

Melvyn Bragg examines the history of mankind’s attempt to understand the nature of time.

• 30 mins

Climate Change

Melvyn Bragg examines predictions and solutions for global warming and rising sea levels.

• 30 mins

Information Technology

Melvyn Bragg explores the social and economic consequences of the information revolution.

• 30 mins

Masculinity in Literature

Melvyn Bragg investigates the changing ideals of masculinity in 20th century literature.

• 30 mins

Economic Rights

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the relationship between democracy and capitalism.

• 30 mins

Republicanism

Melvyn Bragg examines how English republicanism has developed from Cromwell to today.

• 30 mins

Goethe and the Science of the Enlightenment

Melvyn Bragg assesses the scientific legacy of the 18th century German poet Goethe.

• 30 mins

Reading

The history of the politics, practice and process of reading.

• 30 mins

Grand Unified Theory

The 20th century pursuit in physics for the ultimate theory of everything.

• 30 mins

Metamorphosis

Melvyn Bragg explores the enduring appeal of the Roman poet Ovid’s work Metamorphoses.

• 30 mins

The Age of Doubt

Melvyn Bragg examines the spread of religious doubt over the last three centuries.

• 30 mins

Lenin

Melvyn Bragg investigates what drove the Soviet leader Lenin, and enabled his successes.

• 30 mins

Materialism and the Consumer

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the development and future of material culture.

• 30 mins

History and Understanding the Past

Melvyn Bragg examines whether we can ever predict the future by understanding the past.

• 30 mins

The Natural Order

Melvyn Bragg examines the science of taxonomy; the classification of the natural world.

• 45 mins