About this season
Documentary series which ranges widely over Britain's social and cultural history, its narrative-led storytelling offering a richly immersive and varied window onto the past.
Episodes (8)
1. How to Be a Good President
Aired 14 September 2008 • 60 min
Helped by contributors including Shirley Williams, Douglas Hurd and Simon Hoggart, journalist Jonathan Freedland attempts to define the qualities which make a great US president.
2. Between the Lines - Railways in Fiction and Film
Aired 9 October 2008 • 60 min
Novelist Andrew Martin presents a documentary examining how the train came to shape the work of writers and film-makers, from Wordsworth and Dickens to The Railway Children.
3. Last Days of Steam
Aired 16 October 2008 • 60 min
Documentary that tells the surprising story of how Britain entered a new age of steam railways after the Second World War and why it quickly came to an end.
4. How to Write a Mills and Boon
Aired 2 November 2008 • 60 min
To mark 100 years of romance publishers Mills and Boon, literary novelist Stella Duffy takes on the challenge of writing for them, a task that ends up being harder than it looks.
5. How to Solve a Cryptic Crossword
Aired 10 November 2008 • 60 min
Don Manley reveals the tricks that compilers use to bamboozle and entertain cryptic crossword solvers, while fans including Prunella Scales explain why they enjoy them.
6. The Comic Songbook
Aired 22 December 2008 • 60 min
Documentary which celebrates Britain's tradition of comic songs, from Noel Coward's Mad Dogs and Englishmen to Benny Hill's Ernie, and reveals the skill involved in creating them.
7. Fashion versus the BBC
Aired 22 January 2009 • 60 min
A team of fashion writers and commentators including Peter York, Colin McDowell, Ted Polhemus and Hilary Alexander looks at the relationship between British fashion and the BBC.
8. The North-South Divide
Aired 2 April 2009 • 60 min
Journalist John Harris travels around England to find out why the north-south divide is still an economic reality following the decline of industry, and if it can be closed.