Mary Beard looks at some of the most famous nudes in art, from the Venus de Medici to Michelangelo's David, and argues controversy is nothing new.

Mary Beard looks at some of the most famous nudes in art, from the Venus de Medici to Michelangelo's David, and argues controversy is nothing new.

In this 2x60' series, Prof. Mary Beard turns her quizzical eye on the most enduring subject in all of art: the Nude human figure. It seems paradoxical but also inevitable that in a ‘clothed’ society like ours we should have made and collected so many images of naked bodies now and in the past. Mary sets out to explore why and, although it’s a simple question, the answers she’ll uncover are far more complex and intriguing than we might at first imagine. Across the two episodes, Mary will take in a huge range of images; reinterpreting star artworks like Manet’s Olympia and Michelangelo’s David while shining a light on the hidden corners of image making. 　　Mary will also encounter artists and image-makers today and question our own attitudes to nudity and nakedness. For Mary, the nude figure is all too often taken for granted as a staple of art: some see it simply as an object of beauty, the wonder of the human form stripped to its essence, for others it is a fierce battleground of gender politics and power play. Mary will go beyond these extremes, reflecting on the changing history of the way people have looked at and understood the naked human form and uncovering the forces that have kept the naked human form in the frame of art for thousands of years.

In this 2x60' series, Prof. Mary Beard turns her quizzical eye on the most enduring subject in all of art: the Nude human figure. It seems paradoxical but also inevitable that in a ‘clothed’ society like ours we should have made and collected so many images of naked bodies now and in the past. Mary sets out to explore why and, although it’s a simple question, the answers she’ll uncover are far more complex and intriguing than we might at first imagine. Across the two episodes, Mary will take in a huge range of images; reinterpreting star artworks like Manet’s Olympia and Michelangelo’s David while shining a light on the hidden corners of image making. 　　Mary will also encounter artists and image-makers today and question our own attitudes to nudity and nakedness. For Mary, the nude figure is all too often taken for granted as a staple of art: some see it simply as an object of beauty, the wonder of the human form stripped to its essence, for others it is a fierce battleground of gender politics and power play. Mary will go beyond these extremes, reflecting on the changing history of the way people have looked at and understood the naked human form and uncovering the forces that have kept the naked human form in the frame of art for thousands of years.

Mary enters the glitzy world of awards and prizes. There are hundreds: not just for books and movies, but poetry, museums and gardens. How do they influence what art is created and what culture we consume? And has the pandemic helped us see beyond the glamour and red carpets and reassess what prizes are for? Mary talks to Emmy-nominated actor Brian Cox and Bernardine Evaristo, who last year shared the Booker Prize with Margaret Atwood. Written by BBC

Mary enters the glitzy world of awards and prizes. There are hundreds: not just for books and movies, but poetry, museums and gardens. How do they influence what art is created and what culture we consume? And has the pandemic helped us see beyond the glamour and red carpets and reassess what prizes are for? Mary talks to Emmy-nominated actor Brian Cox and Bernardine Evaristo, who last year shared the Booker Prize with Margaret Atwood. Written by BBC

Paris, 1978. In a male-dominated music industry, Ana uses new electronic machines to make herself heard, thus creating a new sound that is destined to mark the decades to come: the music of the future.

A king whose beard is long and beloved. An aspiring barber looking for acknowledgement. A kingdom unaware of the dark secret behind their ruler's lush beard.

Rachel, a concerned researcher, and her team have set out to sea to prove that the disappearance of a family and crew from a merchant ship was for reasons having to do with the supernatural. Her theory that those on the Mary Celeste vanished into a "rift" between dimensions proves true as the boat breaks down and her crew begins to vanish one by one.

THE SHADOW OF MARY POPPINS explores the complex and troubled life of the creator of Mary Poppins, Pamela Travers. The audience will be taken on a journey tracing the parallel lives of Travers and Mary Poppins from their origins through to their transformation from servant to seer. The enigma of Travers is finally revealed in this biography of the creator of one of the most popular characters in children's fiction and film.