Bettany Hughes considers changing ideas about character at an ancient Greek palace, in a library, at a political think-tank, in a centre of neuroscience and in a prison kitchen.

This surprising and invigorating history of the most influential ideas in the story of civilisation, has been described as 'a double espresso shot of philosophy, history, science and the arts'. Award-winning historian and broadcaster Bettany Hughes begins each programme with the first, extant evidence of a single word-idea in Ancient Greek culture and travels both forwards and backwards in time, investigating how these ideas have been moulded by history, and how they've shaped us.

In this programme Bettany explores character with experts from the humanities and sciences, people who see these big philosophical ideas playing out in their own lives including archaeologist Michael Cosmopoulos, writer and historian Hannah Dawson, classicist Paul Cartledge and neuroscientist Patrick Haggard. Bettany travels to a major new archaeological excavation Greece to see where these ideas were born and then explores the street markets, churches, offices and homes where they continue to morph and influence our daily lives, including the Fellows' Library At Clare college in Cambridge, The Adam Smith Institute in Westminster and the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London.

Other ideas in this series are harmony, narcissism, technology and hubris. Ideas examined previously include idea, desire, agony, fame, justice, wisdom, comedy, liberty, peace, hospitality, virtue, psyche, charisma, irony and nemesis.

Readings: Sean Baker

Series Producer: Dixi Stewart. Show less