Season 8

2008-09-14 · 60m

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.

2008-10-09 · 60m

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.

2008-10-16 · 60m

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.

2008-11-02 · 60m

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.

2008-11-10 · 60m

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.

2008-12-22 · 60m

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.

2009-01-22 · 60m

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.

2009-04-02 · 60m

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.