# arena (british tv series) ![[bbcarenatitles.png]] message in a bottle title sequence used by arena since 1975 genre: documentary created by: humphrey burton written by: various directed by: various opening theme: "another green world" by brian eno country of origin: united kingdom original language: english no. of episodes: over 600 production editors: mark bell (2018-present) - anthony wall (1985-2018) - anthony wall and nigel finch (1985-1995) - alan yentob (1979-1985) - leslie megahey (1977-1978) - various (1975-1977) running time: 60 minutes production company: bbc arts original release network: bbc two (1975-2011) bbc four (2003-present) release: 1 october 1975 - present 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 the arts strand arena was initially created in 1975 by the bbc head of music & arts at that time humphrey burton when ey 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 ir 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 bbc four 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 to name but a few 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 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 anthony wall edited arena since 1985. ey joined the series in 1978 and became one of its leading directors # awards and nominations arena has won a primetime and international emmys a grammy nine baftas 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 1979 now and then - anthony green nigel williams 1979 my way nigel finch 1980 making the shining vivian kubrick 1981 the comic strip hero anthony wall 1981 chelsea hotel nigel finch 1981 brixton to barbados anthony wall 1982 the orson welles story alan yentob l. megahey 1983 burroughs h. brookner 1983 borges and i d. wheatley 1985 old kent road m. dickinson 1985 saint genet nigel williams c. chabot 1986 c. l. r. james' first cricket xi c. pattinson 1987 the confessions of robert crumb m. dickinson 1987 evelyn waugh trilogy adam low 1987 stop making sense jonathan demme 1988 kapuściński adam low 1989 the other graham greene nigel finch 1989 slim gaillard's civilisation (episode 1) - "a traveller's tale" anthony wall 1989 slim gaillard's civilisation (episode 2) - "how high the moon" anthony wall 1989 slim gaillard's civilisation (episode 3) - "my dinner with dizzy" anthony wall 1989 slim gaillard's civilisation (episode 4) - "everything's ok in the uk" anthony wall 1990 paris is burning j. livingston nigel finch 1991 miller meets mandela b. marcus nigel finch 1991 kenneth anger's hollywood babylon nigel finch 1991 the human face nichola bruce michael coulson 1993 edward said f hanly t. may 1993 the last soviet citizen leslie woodhead 1994 kalashnikov paul lee 1994 marvin gaye j. marsh 1995 punk and the pistols p. tickell 1995 stonewall nigel finch 1996 stories my country told me: the meaning of nationhood - eric hobsbawn and slovakian nationalism frederick baker 1996 stories my country told me: the meaning of nationhood - desmond tutu and the rainbow nation t. may 1996 stories my country told me: the meaning of nationhood - eqbal ahmad on the grand trunk road h. o. hazareth 1996 the burger & the king: the life & cuisine of elvis presley james marsh 1996 i shot andy warhol m. harron 1997 the football men f. hanly 1999 cuba night p. esterson j. shinner 1999 salman rushdie m. dickinson 1999 looking for the iron curtain anthony wall 2000 wisconsin death trip james marsh 2000 clint eastwood anthony wall b. ricker 2001 salgado: spectre of hope p. carlin 2002 kurosawa adam low 2002 harold pinter season at the bbc anthony wall nigel williams martin rosenbaum 2003 imagine imagine frederick baker 2003 dylan thomas: grave to cradle anthony wall 2004 pavarotti: the last tenor frank hanly 2004 shadowing the third man frederick baker 2004 painting the clouds: a portrait of dennis potter martin rosenbaum nigel williams 2005 calling hedy lamarr georg misch 2005 bacon's arena adam low 2005 no direction home: bob dylan martin scorsese 2005 the princess and panorama samantha peters 2006 pete doherty ashtar alkhirsan 2007 underground zimena percival 2007 bob marley's exodus '77 anthony wall 2007 encountering bergman david thompson 2007 bergman and the cinema marie nyrerod 2007 ken dodd's happiness ashtar al khirsan 2008 v.s. naipaul: the strange luck of... adam low 2008 phil spector vikram jayanti 2009 t. s. eliot adam low 2010 brian eno: another green world nicola roberts 2010 harold: a celebration anthony wall 2010 dave brubeck: in ir own sweet way bruce ricker 2011 produced by george martin frank hanly 2011 george harrison: living in the material world martin scorsese 2012 dickens on film anthony wall 2012 sonny rollins: this is who i am dick fontaine 2012 the dreams of william golding adam low 2012 jonathan miller david thompson 2012 amy winehouse: the day they came to dingle maurice linnane 2012 the beatles' magical mystery tour revisited frank hanly 2012 screen goddesses david thompson 2012 sister wendy and the art of the gospels randall wright 2013 aka norman parkinson nicola roberts 2013 the national theatre adam low 2014 whatever happened to spitting image? anthony wall 2014 the 50 year argument: the new york review of books martin scorsese david tedeschi 2017 the american epic sessions bernard macmahon 2017 american epic bernard macmahon **+** storyville a similar documentary series by the bbc **+** vahimagi tise. british television: an illustrated guide. oxford: oxford university press / british film institute 1994 // republic of bob