The Russian doll, that iconic, and rather kitsch, piece of classic folk art, expresses a profound vision of Russian life. The political ones, offering a sly joke about the continuity of a country that also prides itself on revolutionary change, are almost all men, yet women have played their part in Russian history too.

In the second in the series, Vanora Bennett profiles the life of Stalin's wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva, born in 1901 to provincial revolutionaries in the Tsarist Russian south.

Producer Mark Rickards. Show less