Catch up TV
Series 4: 1. Why We Laugh
Mary Beard asks why we laugh and explores what laughter can tell us about ourselves, our relationships and the world we live in.\n\nMary visits the artist Maggi Hambling in her Suffolk studio to find out why laughter has inspired so much of her work and asks what it’s like trying to capture such a lively and chaotic expression on canvas. In Peterborough, she catches up with comedy icon and writer David Baddiel, who is on the road with his new stand-up tour. They explore the many meanings of laughter, from friendship and joy to cruelty and transgression.\n\nMary is also joined by neuroscientist Prof Sophie Scott and comedians Shaparak Khorsandi and Deborah Frances-White to ask what happens when we laugh. Is it universal? And should we all be taking laughter more seriously?
Source: BBC 2
Most recent episodes of Inside Culture with Mary Beard
Inside Culture With Mary Beard
Series 4: 2. When Mary Met Hillary Clinton
In this very special episode of Inside Culture, Mary Beard meets former US Secretary of State, First Lady, senator and presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.\n\nIn a wid ...
17-09-2024
BBC 2
Inside Culture With Mary Beard
Series 1: Episode 3
This week, Mary is inhabiting the worlds of architecture and fashion to analyse how we live now, during a pandemic. With Eddie Izzard, Shahida Bari and Ayesha Hazarika, she disc ...
23-08-2023
BBC 2
Inside Culture With Mary Beard
Series 5: Episode 5
In the final episode of the series, Mary Beard brings her trademark wit and probing curiosity to an interview with a very special guest - British-Turkish novelist Elif Shafak, w ...
04-04-2022
BBC 2
Inside Culture With Mary Beard
Series 5: 4. Can Art Save The Planet?
Shahidha Bari teams up with artists, poets, comics and musicians to investigate the role that the arts can play in exploring and processing the most challenging crisis of our ti ...
28-03-2022
BBC 2
Inside Culture With Mary Beard
Series 5: 3. The Art Of Crying
Mary Beard is joined by the Oscar-winning actor and screenwriter Emma Thompson to talk tears. Together, they dissect some of Emma’s most famous on-screen weeps and explore ...
21-03-2022
BBC 2
Inside Culture With Mary Beard
Series 5: 2. Back To The 90s
Whether it’s in fashion and music or on our TV and cinema screens, the 90s are well and truly back. Shahidha Bari takes a look at the reasons why. She meets up with Ian Br ...
14-03-2022
BBC 2
Inside Culture With Mary Beard
Series 5: 1. Women On Top
Mary Beard explores how thousands of years of stories and images stereotyping women have shaped our thinking and what this means for women who are in positions of power today.\n ...
09-03-2022
BBC 2
Inside Culture With Mary Beard
Series 4: 5. Down Under
Mary Beard investigates the ongoing history of creative connection and cultural exchange between Britain and Australia and asks what that relationship looks like today.\n\nMary ...
09-11-2021
BBC 2
Inside Culture With Mary Beard
Series 4: 4. How We Read
Shahidha Bari takes the reins for this episode of Inside Culture, which celebrates the joy of books and asks whether the way we read is changing.\n\nIn Leicester, Shahidha drops ...
01-11-2021
BBC 2
Inside Culture With Mary Beard
Series 4: 3. Back To School
Mary Beard asks why we are drawn to literature, theatre, TV and film that take us ‘back to school’.\n\nMary meets ex-teacher and best-selling author Philip Pullman t ...
25-10-2021
BBC 2
Most popular episodes of Inside Culture with Mary Beard
Inside Culture With Mary Beard
Series 1: Episode 4
Playing her part in BBC Arts #MuseumPassion season, Mary examines what the future holds for museums post-lockdown, venturing out of her study to the British Museum. On her first ...
01-11-2020
BBC 2
Inside Culture With Mary Beard
Series 2: 5. Other Worlds
Mary Beard focuses on other worlds, by talking to cultural creatives who make them for our exploration and delight. Mary talks to Booker Prize winner Marlon James about his Dark ...
08-03-2021
BBC 2
Inside Culture With Mary Beard
Series 1: Episode 1
With a new title, and a new regular slot, Mary Beard’s topical arts series (formerly Lockdown Culture) returns. This time, Mary is venturing out from her home study, and h ...
11-10-2020
BBC 2
Inside Culture With Mary Beard
Series 1: Episode 2
Mary enters the glitzy world of awards and prizes. There are hundreds: not just for books and movies, but poetry, museums and gardens. How do they influence what art is created ...
18-10-2020
BBC 2
Inside Culture With Mary Beard
Series 4: 5. Down Under
Mary Beard investigates the ongoing history of creative connection and cultural exchange between Britain and Australia and asks what that relationship looks like today.\n\nMary ...
09-11-2021
BBC 2
Inside Culture With Mary Beard
Series 3: Episode 5
In the final episode of the series, Mary Beard hands over the reins to cultural historian Shahidha Bari. She explores the importance of self-expression: from the clothes we wear ...
30-06-2021
BBC 2
Inside Culture With Mary Beard
Series 3: Episode 2
Mary Beard embraces finally being on the move - whilst acknowledging we are not going very far!\n\nWhat do we lose from arts and culture when we cannot travel? Mary meets James ...
09-06-2021
BBC 2
Inside Culture With Mary Beard
Series 3: Episode 1
Mary Beard kicks off the series by thinking about how we remember - not just as individuals, but as a society and a nation. As we emerge from a year of tragedy and uncertainty, ...
02-06-2021
BBC 2
Inside Culture With Mary Beard
Series 1: Episode 5
In a special programme to close the series, Mary is in the company of award-winning filmmaker and Turner Prize winning artist Steve McQueen. His films, including Hunger, Shame a ...
08-11-2020
BBC 2
Inside Culture With Mary Beard
Series 2: Episode 1
Mary Beard is back! Britain’s best known classicist is countering the pandemic with a rich feast of performance, conversation and debate.\n\nHot on the heels of the US pre ...
08-02-2021
BBC 2