Arena (TV series)

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For the American television series of the same name, see Arena (G4 TV series).

Arena
Format	Documentary
Created by	Alan Yentob
Production
Producer(s)	BBC
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC Two/BBC Four
Original airing	1 October 1975

Arena is a British television documentary series, which has run in occasional seasons on BBC Two, and latterly BBC Four, since 1975, debuting on Wednesday 1 October that year. It was conceived by the producer Alan Yentob, who also did on-camera presenting and interviewing work for the programme.

It covers all manner of subjects, from profiles of notable people such as Dennis Potter to the Ford Cortina car.

1 Overview
2 References
3 Notes
4 External links

[edit] Overview

On occasion, Arena has presented theme nights examining a single subject in various ways, including an "Animals Night" (16 December 1989), "Food Night" (15 December 1990), "Cuba Night" (2 January 1999) "Bus Night" (10 December 2005) and the ambitious "Radio Night", simulcast on BBC Two and BBC Radio 4 on 18 December 1993 and linked by Peter Cook and Josie Lawrence as the voices of television and radio respectively.

In 1988, Arena itself was the subject of an edition titled "Ten Green Bottles" (a reference to its iconic title sequence, which depicts a floating green bottle with a neon sign inside).

In a 2000 poll of industry professionals conducted by the British Film Institute to find the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes, Arena was placed 95th.

In 2002 a Eurovision Song Contest Special Arena was broadcast showing the run up to the 2002 contest in Tallinn, Estonia. The show interviewed Tanel Padar and Dave Benton, the 2001 winners as well as participants in the 2002 Estonian National Final, Eurolaul plus many others.

In 2005, Martin Scorsese's film documentary on Bob Dylan, No Direction Home, was co-produced by Arena and shown as a part of that series in the UK, airing in two parts on 26 and 27 September.

The programme's evocative theme music is "Another Green World" by Brian Eno.

The programme now appears mainly as irregular specials, and usually on BBC Four. The most recent episode is "Ken Dodd: Happiness," shown on BBC Two on Christmas Eve 2007.^[1]