The Velvet Underground's John Cale tells the story behind Andy Warhol's famous LP cover, Auberon Waugh and John Walters recall their first encounters...
The Banana
The Rolling Stones emerged in the summer of 1963 as the so-called "bad boys" antidote to the Beatles, a characterization that became one of the...
The Rolling Stones: 25x5 - The Continuing Adventures of The Rolling Stones
With the beginnings of Hollywood, the star system was born with an archetypal bad girl - the vampish Theda Bara - and the good girl - the blazingly...
Screen Goddesses
A journey to Berlin with rock musician Lene Lovich and Les Chappell.
Lene Lovich: Sleeping Beauty
Documentary exploration of Dirk Bogarde's private life and long-term affair with manager, Anthony Forwood, seen through home movies and excerpts from...
The Private Dirk Bogarde
This groundbreaking documentary unlocks the hidden psychology of J.M.W. Turner through his 37,000 private sketches, drawings, and watercolours...
Turner: The Secret Sketchbooks
One of the traditions peculiar to Europe is the annual Eurovision Song Contest, in which hopeful singers from across the continent - from Slovenia to...
Estonia Dreams of Eurovision!
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...
Imagine Imagine
Interview with director Louis Malle conducted by Wallace Shawn, produced for the BBC-TV programme "Arena".
My Dinner with Louis
Nelson Mandela and his fellow ex-prisoners recall their incarceration on South Africa's Robben Island. For three decades, the island housed not only...
Voices from the Island
Documentary on the fascination of jukeboxes and their owners. Made by Arena.
The Englishman and His Jukebox
A look at the roles in the rock world of John Peel and John Walters, his radio show producer, in championing new musical directions. Bands such as...
Today Carshalton Beeches... Tomorrow Croydon
A film portrait of the New Wave singer-songwriter Poly Styrene, which originally aired as part of the Arena series on BBC.
Who Is Poly Styrene?
A profile of Sir George Martin, Britain's most celebrated record producer, from his early days at EMI/Parlophone to his work with The Beatles.
Produced by George Martin
Arena cameras were on hand to film the return of Dire Straits from their triumphant 1980 Brothers in Arms world tour. The film features a superb...
Arena: Dire Straits
For three decades the Soviet Union's obsession with space stirred the soul of the nation like a secular religion - from the first space star Yuri...
The Last Soviet Citizen
From 2000, Primal Scream touring in support of XTRMNTR on the UK LIve programme.
Primal Scream: Live at The London Astoria
The story of Valerie Solanas, a '60s radical who preached misandry in her "SCUM" manifesto. She wrote a screenplay for a film that she wanted Andy...
I Shot Andy Warhol
A profile of British painter, Francis Bacon.
Bacon's Arena
Pre-Spitting Image fame, mighty politicians fell victim to the savage caricatures of Peter Fluck and Roger Law, better known as Luck and Flaw. The...
Luck and Flaw