Movies: Bbc Arena

Based on the true story of Valerie Solanas who was a 1960s radical preaching hatred toward men in her "Scum" manifesto. She wrote a screenplay for a film that she wanted Andy Warhol to produce, but he continued to ignore her. So she shot him. This is...

An exploration into the history of Shakespeare's plays, from the silent era to the modern day featuring archive interviews with movie directors including Laurence Olivier, Orson Welles, Franco Zeffirelli, Kenneth Branagh and more....

A group of gay friends try to live with dignity and self-respect while events build to the opening battle in the major gay rights movement....

A ski run in Italy, a supermarket manager in Luton, a sandwich bar in London EC2, Arena opens the bonnet of the Ford Cortina, Britain's most popular, most stolen, and most misunderstood car. 'Dagenham dustbin'? 'Poor man's Rolls-Royce'? In the year ...

Follows the waves of literary, political, and cultural history as charted by the The New York Review of Books, America’s leading journal of ideas for over 50 years. Provocative, idiosyncratic and incendiary, the film weaves rarely seen archival mater...

Phil Spector is a pioneer of American music, a legendary producer to John Lennon and Tina Turner, and, as of April 13th 2009, a convicted murderer. Yet the Spector who appears in Vikram Jayanti's documentary is not the severe, outlandishly coiffed de...

Two-part Arena special celebrating the life and distinguished career of one of Britain's best-loved public figures. Lord Attenborough's film CV as actor stretches from Brighton Rock to Jurassic Park, while as director he has been responsible for Oh! ...

Inspired by the book of the same name, film-maker James Marsh relays a tale of tragedy, murder and mayhem that erupted behind the respectable facade Black River Falls, Wisconsin in the 19th century....

A remarkable guided tour through the culinary world of Elvis Presley, in his later years famed as much for his appetite as for his music. The King's passion for food is recounted by close friends, relatives and personal cooks who share the recipes th...

Documentary on the life of Brian Epstein, the man who brought The Beatles to fame. A Documentary examining the turbulent life and career of Beatles manager Brian Epstein. Gay when homosexuality was illegal, a gambler, shopkeeper and failed actor, he...

An affectionate portrait of San Francisco, and of the man whose Tales of the City have inspired thousands to go there. Maupin relates a life story more bizarre than his fictional characters(including a meeting with Nixon), while local eccentrics and ...

In June 2009, a group Britain's leading actors gathered for one night only to perform a celebration of the work of Harold Pinter at the National Theatre, directed by Ian Rickson. The team who made the acclaimed Harold Pinter documentaries for BBC's ...

Writer and Director Mike Leigh discusses the techniques used to create his plays....

Documentary on the fascination of jukeboxes and their owners. Made by Arena....

This British documentary is more than an analysis of John Lennon's song "Imagine" and its ramifications for the world we live in, it's a tentative documentary on John (and Yoko)'s art and songs' influence on a lot of people in all parts of the world ...

Born in 1914, Dylan Thomas was an unruly and undisciplined child who was interested only in English at school and was determined from childhood to become a poet. Little did he know that he would eventually become world-renowned. The film unravels the...

Launched 30 years ago, Loaded magazine epitomised the 90s in its irreverence and appetite for hedonism. But how did it stand up to pressure to put more 'sexy babes' on the cover?...

A profile of British painter, Francis Bacon....

In May 2024, Alan Bennett turned 90. This film celebrates the life and long career of one of Britain's best-loved playwrights. Part frank reflection on the ageing process, part remembrance of the joys of youth, Alan is aided by the films he has writt...

Documentary about the life of Frankie Howerd, with help from friends and colleagues and including highlights from his TV and film career....