News
Jonathan Powell explores the secret language of politicians. Read more
now playing
Read My Lips: Why Politicians Speak the Way They Do
Jonathan Powell explores the secret language of politicians.
Malled: 60 Years of Undercover Shopping
Will Self explores the appeal of the shopping mall.
A Brief History of Anger
American satirist Joe Queenan presents spats, tantrums and explosions from the archive.
ing Sue Townsend, Aged 68 ¾
Adrian Mole's creator, Sue Townsend, is ed by friends, family and in her own words
Lern Yerself Scouse
Paul Farley cooks a pot of Scouse as he explores the complex flavours of the Scouse accent
Epic Fail
Grace Dent presents a field guide to failure.
Who's Your Father, Referee?
Clive Anderson searches for a golden age of respect for the football referee.
Black Aquarius
The dawning of the age of Black Aquarius, the second great wave of pop occultism in the UK
The Entomology of Gregor Samsa
David Baddiel asks what kind of insect Gregor Samsa becomes in Kafka's The Metamorphosis.
The Choke
Brains behaving badly: how talented people are fooled into failing. With Matthew Syed.
Adventures in Alienation
Writer Amit Chaudhuri explores the idea of exile and modern, secular homelessness.
The Tokens and the Foundlings
The story of the UK's first children's charity, The Foundling Hospital.
The War Game Files
Whitehall files expose how the BBC and government connived to ban 1965 film The War Game.
Morning Everyone
Rory Bremner celebrates the life of cricketer and commentator Richie Benaud.
Bring Your Darlings Back To Life
What if the best anecdotes and stories had a programme to themselves?
A Brief History of Shame
American satirist Joe Queenan explores Shame.
Tomorrow's World, Today
Tomorrow's World presenter James Burke looks at the future the TV programme predicted.
Destroyer of Worlds
How Britain developed the world's first atomic bomb only to lose it to the Americans.
How to Make an Archive on 4
Alan Dein enters the strange world of instructional records.
Shhhhhhh
Lucy Powell offers a quiet celebration of the rich and various virtues of silence.
Cradle to Grave
The history of the NHS told through one hospital - the QEII in Welwyn Garden City.
Misunderstanding Japan
What impact have western media representations had on our view of Japan and its people?
Stadium Rock at 50
50 years after the Beatles played Shea Stadium, Kate Mossman plots a history of Arena rock
Dickie Attenborough: A Life in Film
Susan Marling celebrates Richard Attenborough’s legacy a year on from his death.
New Orleans: The Crescent and the Shadow
Harry Shearer lives in New Orleans. He looks back at the last ten years in the city.
The Power of Political Forgetting
What happens when a major past crisis slips from public memory? With David Aaronovitch.
MP for Penrith and the Border
Programme following a year in the life of Rory Stewart - an MP with an unusual profile.
From the Self to the Selfie
Lauren Laverne on the origins and effects of the obsession with selfies.
Kindertransport
How 10,000 unaccompanied children, mostly Jewish, escaped from Nazi Europe to Britain.
John Lennon: Verbatim
John Lennon's extraordinary life and career told in his own words.
Bernstein, My Mentor
Acclaimed conductor Marin Alsop re her mentor, the great Leonard Bernstein.