With unique access, this documentary illuminates the inner workings of the Royal Academy of Arts and reveals how it embraces the challenge of balancing tradition and innovation. Show more

Imagine meets those involved with the stage production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and discovers how it has transformed the public's perception of autism. Show more

Alan Yentob joins South African artist William Kentridge as he prepares an epic frieze along the banks of the River Tiber in Rome. Show more

A portrait of Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney. Six years after his death, his family recalls the experiences that inspired his finest poems. Show more

Adam Low returns to the poet and his work 35 years after his BBC film The Auden Landscape, to reveal how Auden's poetry helps us to understand the tumultuous 21st century. Show more

Documentary about the great British painter Francis Bacon, a man whose life was every bit as colourful and outrageous as his art. Contributors include Bacon's sister Ianthe. Show more

Writer Philip Hoare confronts our fascination with the ocean's mystery animal, the whale. He visits the whaling ports of New England and draws a parallel with the war on terror. Show more

First of two documentaries celebrating the National Theatre's 50th anniversary, with contributions from artistic directors, playwrights and stars such as Dame Joan Plowright. Show more

Peter Hall, Richard Eyre, Trevor Nunn and Nicholas Hytner talk about running the new National Theatre from its opening in 1976 to the fulfilment of Olivier's original dream. Show more

An unprecedented insight into the mysterious life of one of the 20th century's greatest poets, featuring the previously unseen personal archives of his widow, Valerie Eliot. Show more

With unique access, this documentary illuminates the inner workings of the Royal Academy of Arts and reveals how it embraces the challenge of balancing tradition and innovation. Show more

Alan Yentob joins South African artist William Kentridge as he prepares an epic frieze along the banks of the river Tiber in Rome. Show more

A look at the work of South African artist William Kentridge who first became well known for making hand-drawn animations set in the urban-industrial landscape of Johannesburg. Show more

A look at the hand-drawn animations of South African artist William Kentridge. Felix in Exile (1994) reflects the civil unrest in South Africa at the end of Apartheid. Show more

Documentary that sets Paul Gauguin's artistic achievement against his sexual relationships with young girls in the Pacific and his role in 19th-century French colonialism. Show more

Documentary inspired by Alan Bennett's acerbic and often hilarious diaries and filmed over a year in the writer's life. Show more

An insight into the private obsessions and insecurities of the author of Lord of the Flies. With contributions from his daughter and son and bestselling author Stephen King. Show more

Performance artist Marina Abramovic invites Alan Yentob into her home, opens her archive, travels to her birthplace in Belgrade and talks about turning her life into art. Show more

A hundred years after its publication, this film reveals the tawdry, shocking, poetic, uplifting and gloriously kaleidoscopic humanity of James Joyce’s masterpiece, Ulysses. Show more

A film profile of Belfast poet Michael Longley, offering insights into his work, friendships, working process, the places that have inspired him and his relationship with the natural world. Show more