Arena

Latest Episodes

• Francis Bacon's Arena

  Profile of artist Francis Bacon, the scandalously decadent figure with a well-documented penchant for alcohol and addiction to roulette, whose paintings are among the most vivid and disturbing in art history. The creator of Screaming Popes and numerous images of apocalyptic horror, he was renowned as England's first rebel superstar by the 1950s. The film charts the committed relationships he held with six contrasting men, including the tragic tale of his lover George Dyer, who committed suicide on the eve of the artist's Paris retrospective in 1971. Featuring contributions from Bacon's sister Ianthe Knott, relatives of his lovers, critics and collectors, as well as archive footage of the man himself. Love Is the Devil, which brings Dyer's tragic story to life, can be seen later this evening

• Calling Hedy Lamarr

  Profile of actress Hedy Lamarr, once described as the most beautiful woman in films. She found fame and notoriety in her native Austria by performing a nude swimming scene, and was quickly snapped up by Hollywood moguls who made her an international star. Hedy's son John Loder searches for the truth behind his mother's public persona in a documentary which also reveals her lesser-known work as a top-flight physicist who spent most of World War Two helping to develop sophisticated anti-radar devices and technology which became the basis for billions of mobile phones

• Hank Williams - Honky Tonk Blues

  Profile of American country singer Hank Williams, who embodied the honky-tonk ethos with seductive lyrics about love and ruin. Blazing out of Alabama in the late 1940s, he was hailed a superstar by the age of 25, only to meet his untimely death just four years later. Family and friends offer an insight into the man who became one of the most powerfully iconic figures in US music