Arena is a British television documentary series, made and broadcast by the BBC since 1 October 1975. Voted by TV executives in Broadcast magazine as one of the top 50 most influential programmes of all time, it has produced more than six hundred episodes directed by, among others, Frederick Baker, Jana Boková, Jonathan Demme, Nigel Finch, Mary Harron, Vikram Jayanti, Vivian Kubrick, Paul Lee, Adam Low, Bernard MacMahon, James Marsh, Leslie Megahey, Volker Schlondorff, Martin Scorsese, Julien Temple, Anthony Wall, Leslie Woodhead, and Alan Yentob.
History
The arts strand Arena was initially created in 1975Tise Vahimagi. (2003-12) "Burton, Humphrey (1931-)". BFI Screen Online. Retrieved 27 June 2013. by the BBC Head of Music & Arts at that time, Humphrey Burton, when he founded a magazine named Arena exploring art, design, filmmaking, and theatre. In 1977, under producer and director Leslie Megahey, the strand divided into Arena Theatre and Arena Art and Design, and Arena became less of a magazine and more a home for short, distinctive and stylish films about mainly British theatre and visual arts. In 1978, Megahey became editor of Omnibus and Alan Yentob, who had been supervising Arena Theatre, took over and the two themes were merged. The series, relaunched in January 1979 and renamed simply Arena, began to adopt a format of single subject essays. It earned great critical acclaim for its enthusiasm for the popular as well as the high arts. During Yentob's time as editor, Arena had six BAFTA nominations and three BAFTA awards.
A group of radical directors, notably Nigel Finch and Anthony Wall, gathered around Yentob and Arena, including Nigel Williams and Mary Dickinson. Hits from 1979 included Who Is Poly Styrene?, La Dame Aux Gladiolas, a portrait of Edna Everage, and most notably the groundbreaking My Way, an examination of the appeal of the song, by Finch and Wall. It was the first of their collaborations, which developed a new kind of arts film, taking an unlikely subject and building a poetic meditation on its various aspects - further examples include The Chelsea Hotel (1981), The Private Life of the Ford Cortina (1982), Desert Island Discs (1982). Other successes included Megahey's portrait of Orson Welles (1982), Williams's study of George Orwell (1982), Yentob's portrait of Mel Brooks (1981) and Wall's four-part documentary on Slim Gaillard (1989).
On Yentob's move to become Head of Music & Arts in 1985, Finch and Wall took over as joint editors of Arena until Finch's death in 1995. Following a period of uncertainty concerning the future of the arts strand, series editor Wall protected the series in a reshuffle of the BBC. Since then Arena has been transmitted outside the conventional weekly broadcast strand on BBC Two and latterly on BBC Four.
Under Wall and Finch, Arena developed the idea of the themed evening, beginning with Blues Night (1985), followed by Caribbean Nights (1986), Animal Night (1989), Food Night (1990), Texas Saturday Night (1991), Radio Night simulcast with BBC Radio 4 (1993) and Stories My Country Told Me (1995), a three-and-a-half-hour presentation on Nations and Nationalism. Since then Arena has won numerous awards with regular screenings at the BFI Southbank and has continued to cover the arts and culture at the highest level, with films on Bob Dylan, Harold Pinter, The National Theatre and Spitting Image.
Arena developed a substantial online presence featuring the Arena Hotel, a site that turns the 600-film Arena archive into a resource to build an online hotel for the stars. The Arena Hotel was nominated for a Focal International Award in 2013. Werner Herzog has praised the series as "the oasis in the sea of insanity that is television".
Wall retired in 2018, and the strand is now overseen by commissioning editor Mark Bell.
Branding The programme's theme music is taken from the title track of the 1975 album Another Green World by Brian Eno, himself the subject of a 2010 Arena film subtitled Another Green World.
The Arena opening titles were voted among the "Top 5 Most Influential Opening Titles in the History of Television" by Broadcast magazine in 2004.
Awards and nominations Arena has won a Primetime and International Emmys,International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (2013). "International Emmy Awards – Previous Winners 'Arts Programme . The International Emmy Awards. Retrieved 19 June 2013. a Grammy,The Recording Academy (2013). "GRAMMY.COM Past Winners Search – 'No Direction Home. GRAMMY.COM. Retrieved 19 June 2013. nine BAFTAs,British Academy of Film and Television Arts (2013). "BAFTA Awards Search – 'Arena. BAFTA. Retrieved 19 June 2013. six Royal Television Society Awards, a Peabody and the Prix Italia. Arena also won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Paris Is Burning (1990), the Best Performance Award for Lili Taylor's role in I Shot Andy Warhol (1996) at the Sundance Film Festival, and the SFFIF's Mel Novikoff Award.
Selected filmography Year Films Director 1975Theatre1978Art and Design: The JourneyNigel Finch Alan Yentob1979Now and Then - Anthony Green Nigel WilliamsMy Way Nigel FinchSix Days in SeptemberJudy Marle1980Rudies Come Back: The Rise and Rise of 2 ToneJeff PerksAndrea Dunbar and Victoria WoodMaking The Shining Vivian Kubrick1981Gary Glitter: Did You Miss Me?The Comic Strip Hero Anthony WallChelsea Hotel Nigel FinchEdward HopperCarol BellBrixton to Barbados Anthony Wall1982The Private Life of the Ford CortinaNigel FinchDesert Island DiscsAnthony WallThe Orson Welles Story Alan Yentob L. MegaheyMike Leigh: Making Plays1983Burroughs H. BrooknerBorges and I D. WheatleyBette Davis: A Basically Benevolent Volcano1984Billie Holiday: The Long Night of Lady DayJohn JeremySunset People Jana BokováBeat This: A Hip-Hop HistoryDick FontaineFrancis BaconAdam Low1985Old Kent Road M. DickinsonBlues Night: 1. Sonny Boy Williamson Sings Kevin LoaderBlues Night: 2. B. B. King SpeaksBlues Night: 3. Chicago BluesBlues Night: 4. Blind John DavisBlues Night: 5. Blues MedleyBlues Night: 6. Big Bill Blues Saint Genet Nigel Williams C. Chabot1986Tosca's KissLouise BrooksCharles Chabot Richard LeacockTango Mio Jana BokováHenry Moore Caribbean Nights: C. L. R. James' First Cricket XIC. Pattinson1987The Confessions of Robert Crumb M. DickinsonEvelyn Waugh Trilogy Adam LowStop Making Sense Jonathan Demme1988Kapuściński Adam Low1989The Other Graham Greene Nigel FinchTales from Barcelona Jana Boková Slim Gaillard's Civilisation (Episode 1) - "A Traveller's Tale" Anthony Wall Slim Gaillard's Civilisation (Episode 2) - "How High The Moon" Slim Gaillard's Civilisation (Episode 3) - "My Dinner With Dizzy" Slim Gaillard's Civilisation (Episode 4) - "Everything's OK in the UK"1990Paris is Burning J. Livingston Nigel FinchHavana Jana BokováAgatha Christie: An Unseen PortraitJames Marsh1991Miller Meets Mandela B. Marcus Nigel FinchKenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon Nigel FinchThe Human Face Nichola Bruce Michael Coulson1992Masters of the CanvasMary DickinsonAn Argentinian Journey Jana BokováArmistead Maupin is a Man I Dreamt Up1993Edward Said F Hanly T. MayThe Last Soviet Citizen Leslie Woodhead1994Kalashnikov Paul LeeBahía of all the Saints Jana BokováMarvin Gaye J. Marsh1995The Peter Sellers Story Part 1: Southsea to SheppertonPeter LydonThe Peter Sellers Story Part 2: Jack to JacquesThe Peter Sellers Story Part 3: I am Not a Funny ManPunk and the Pistols P. TickellStonewall Nigel Finch1996Stories My Country Told Me: The Meaning of Nationhood - Eric Hobsbawn and Slovakian Nationalism Frederick BakerStories My Country Told Me: The Meaning of Nationhood - Desmond Tutu and the Rainbow Nation T. MayStories My Country Told Me: The Meaning of Nationhood - Eqbal Ahmad on the Grand Trunk RoadStories My Country Told Me: The Meaning of Nationhood. Retrieved 26 April 2016. H. O. HazarethThe Burger & the King: The Life & Cuisine of Elvis Presley James MarshI Shot Andy Warhol M. HarronTony Bennett's New YorkLeslie Woodhead1997Busby, Stein and Shankly: The Football Men F. HanlyThe BananaKate Maynell1998Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the CenturyAlan LewensThe Brian Epstein Story: The Sun Will Shine TomorrowAnthony WallThe Brian Epstein Story: Tomorrow Never Knows 1999Cuba Night P. Esterson J. ShinnerSalman Rushdie M. DickinsonLooking for the Iron Curtain Anthony Wall 2000Wisconsin Death Trip James MarshClint Eastwood Anthony Wall B. Ricker 2001Salgado: Spectre of Hope P. CarlinMy Way 2002Kurosawa Adam LowHarold Pinter Season at the BBC Anthony Wall Nigel Williams Martin Rosenbaum2003The Many Lives of Richard AttenboroughImagine Imagine Frederick BakerDylan Thomas: Grave to Cradle Anthony Wall 2004Pavarotti: The Last Tenor Frank HanlyShadowing the Third Man Frederick BakerPainting the Clouds: A Portrait of Dennis Potter Martin Rosenbaum Nigel Williams2005Hank Williams: Honky Tonk BluesMorgan NevilleCalling Hedy Lamarr Georg MischBacon's Arena Adam LowNo Direction Home: Bob Dylan Martin ScorseseThe Princess and Panorama Samantha Peters 2006Pete Doherty Ashtar Alkhirsan 2007Underground Zimena PercivalBob Marley's Exodus '77 Anthony WallEncountering Bergman David ThompsonBergman and the Cinema Marie NyrerodKen Dodd's HappinessAshtar Al Khirsan 2008V.S. Naipaul: The Strange Luck Of... Adam LowPhil Spector Vikram Jayanti 2009T. S. Eliot Adam Low 2010Brian Eno: Another Green World Nicola RobertsHarold: A Celebration Anthony WallDave Brubeck: In His Own Sweet Way Bruce Ricker 2011Produced by George Martin Frank HanlyGeorge Harrison: Living in the Material World Martin Scorsese 2012Dickens On Film Anthony WallSonny Rollins: This is Who I Am Dick FontaineThe Dreams of William Golding Adam LowJonathan Miller David ThompsonAmy Winehouse: The Day She Came to Dingle Maurice LinnaneThe Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour Revisited Frank HanlyScreen Goddesses David ThompsonSister Wendy and the Art of the Gospels Randall Wright 2013 AKA Norman Parkinson Nicola Roberts The National Theatre Adam Low 2014 Whatever Happened to Spitting Image?Anthony Wall The 50 Year Argument: The New York Review of BooksMartin Scorsese David Tedeschi2015Night and Day2016All the Worlds a Screen: Shakespeare on Film2017The American Epic SessionsBernard MacMahonAmerican Epic 2018Nothing Like a Dame Dames Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright and Maggie Smith2019Bergman: A Year in the Life2021Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and the Legendary Tapes2022River2023The Mysterious Mr. LagerfieldThe Stones and Brian JonesCoco Chanel UnbuttonedBeing Kae TempestCaroline Aherne: Queen of Comedy2024Loaded: Lad's Mags and MayhemFrom Roger Moore With LoveMaria Callas: The Final Act2025Steven McRae: Dancing Back to the LightMy Brain: After the RuptureKim Novak's VertigoAlexandre O. Philippe2026McCartney: The Hunt for the Lost BassArthur Cary
See also Storyville, a similar documentary series by the BBC
Sources Vahimagi, Tise. British Television: An Illustrated Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press / British Film Institute, 1994. .
References
External links
Arena Hotel site at The Space