2001

Gothic 4 Jan

Horace Walpole and then Anne Radcliffe appeared to have triggered an anti-enlightenment movement: the Gothic that swept in Coleridge, two Shelleys, Byron, the Brontes, Walter Scott and Dickens, innumerable painters and architects, and even designed the Palace of Westminster itself.
800 Literature, rhetoric and criticism
Mathematics and Platonism 11 Jan

Melvyn Bragg looks at the deep claims made for mathematics, the discipline some believe to be the soul and true key to the understanding of all life, from the petals on the sunflower to the pulse in our wrists.
510 Mathematics
The Enlightenment in Britain 18 Jan

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Enlightenment.
940 History of Europe
Science and Religion 25 Jan

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the areas of conflict and agreement between science and religion.
200 Religion

Imperial Science 1 Feb

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss what drove the British Empire, especially in Victoria’s century.
940 History of Europe
Humanism 8 Feb

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Humanism.
190 Modern Western Philosophy
The Restoration 15 Feb

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Restoration.
940 History of Europe
Quantum Gravity 22 Feb

Melvyn Bragg examines Quantum Gravity.
530 Physics

Money 1 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the power of Money.
330 Economics
Shakespeare’s Life 15 Mar

Melvyn Bragg examines what we know about the life of William Shakespeare.
820 English and Old English literatures
Fossils 22 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the significance of fossils.
560 Fossils and prehistoric life
The Philosophy of Love 29 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the philosophy of love.
120 Epistemology

The Roman Empire’s Collapse in the 5th century 5 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the causes of the fall of the Roman Empire.
930 History of the Ancient World
Black Holes 12 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Black Holes.
520 Astronomy
The Glorious Revolution 19 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the the Glorious Revolution.
940 History of Europe
Literary Modernism 26 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss literary modernism.
820 English and Old English literatures

The French Revolution’s Legacy 14 Jun

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the French Revolution.
940 History of Europe
The Sonnet 21 Jun

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Sonnet, the most enduring form in the poet’s armoury.
820 English and Old English literatures
Existentialism 28 Jun

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss existentialism.
100 Philosophy

The Earth’s Origins 5 Jul

Melvyn Bragg discusses the origin of the Earth.
500 Science
Dickens 12 Jul

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the achievements of the 19th century literary giant, Charles Dickens.
820 English and Old English literatures
Byzantium 19 Jul

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the culture, history and legacy of the eastern Byzantine Empire.
940 History of Europe

Democracy 18 Oct

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the origins of democracy.
320 Political science
Napoleon and Wellington 25 Oct

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the histories of Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington.
940 History of Europe

Confucius 1 Nov

Melvyn Bragg examines the philosophy of Confucius.
180 Ancient, medieval, and Eastern philosophy
The British Empire 8 Nov

Melvyn Bragg examines the British Empire.
900 History
Surrealism 15 Nov

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss surrealism.
700 Arts
Oceanography 22 Nov

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the science of Oceanography.
550 Earth sciences and geology
Third Crusade 29 Nov

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the highs and lows of the Third Crusade.
940 History of Europe

Oscar Wilde 6 Dec

Melvyn Bragg examines Oscar Wilde and the Aesthetes.
820 English and Old English literatures
Genetics 13 Dec

Melvyn Bragg looks at the development of the science of genetics.
570 Biology
Rome and European Civilization 20 Dec

Melvyn Bragg assesses the role Rome has played in European civilization.
930 History of the Ancient World
Food 27 Dec

Melvyn Bragg explores the history of food in Modern Europe.
640 Home and family management