Arena 2008

Oooh Er, Missus! The Frankie Howerd Story (2008)

Documentary about the life of Frankie Howerd, with help from friends and colleagues and including highlights from his TV and film career.

Routemasters! The Double Decker Bus Conductors (2008)

Documentary celebrating one of London's great characters, the bus conductor. The film tells the stories of five extraordinary conductors from five decades of London's history, rich with period music and archive.

The Hunt for Moby Dick (2008)

Acclaimed writer Philip Hoare confronts our fascination with one of the most mysterious animals in the ocean, the whale. Travelling in the footsteps of Ishmael, the narrator of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, the great American novel, he visits the whaling ports of New England. New Bedford was once the richest city in the USA, and the island of Nantucket is where the whaling industry began. Hoare searches for the truth behind the story of Moby-Dick and draws an eerie parallel between Captain Ahab's crazed pursuit of the great white whale and today's war on terror. He enters a world haunted by a bloody and violent past, and, in the three mile-deep waters of the Atlantic, has his own encounter with the legendary sperm whale.

The Agony And Ecstasy Of Phil Spector (2008)

Arts documentary series. Interview with music producer Phil Spector, looking back over a 50-year career.

Paul Scofield (2008)

Arts documentary series. Leading theatrical greats, including Peter Brook, Vanessa Redgrave and John Hurt, pay tribute to the outstanding British actor Paul Scofield.