Free Thinking

This evening Free Thinking is devoted to one of the pinnacles of Victorian England – Anthony Trollope’s massive novel The Way We Live Now. To examine the book and its social and historical context Philip is joined by Jerry White, Simon Heffer, Kathryn Hughes and Jonathan Myerson. .

With the publication of the widest survey of sexual behaviour since the Kinsey Report, Matthew Sweet picks apart the data with its author, David Spiegelhalter, and New Generation Thinker, Fern Riddell, author of The Victorian Guide to Sex. Nick Broomfield discusses his latest documentary, Tales of the Grim Sleeper, about a serial killer in LA which exposes the deep divide still evident in America today. Plus, Queen Mary's Matt Rubery on the fascinating history of the audio book.

Patricia Duncker talks to Anne McElvoy about her new novel which imagines George Eliot's relationship with her German publishers, Max and Wolfgang Duncker. Adrienne Mayor discusses the strength of women with Professor Melvin Konner. As an exhibition featuring empty Sansovino frames opens at The National Gallery in London, Anne speaks to Head of Frames Peter Schade about their history and Dame Harriet Walter and Guy Paul discuss collaborating on stage as a real life couple ahead of appearing in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.

In this programme about private and public art, Philip Dodd talks to Nicholas Penny, the outgoing Director of the National Gallery and Budi Tek, global art collector and private museum owner.

As Ridley Scott's science fiction extravaganza, Blade Runner is re-released, Matthew Sweet is joined by the critics Roger Luckhurst and Sarah Churchwell, and by the philosopher Max de Gaynesford, to discuss its enduring significance. And Matthew talks to Eric Jarosinski, a writer who claims he found his creative voice on twitter under the name @NeinQuarterly, and to linguist and medievalist Kate Wiles, and book historian Sjoerd Levelt, about the parallels between the tweets of today and the marginalia of Medieval readers.

Philip Dodd continues his exploration of the culture wars by investigating the tension between cosmopolitanism and the nation state and how this is playing out in Europe. He speaks to Dr Ayça Çubukçu from the LSE, writer Agata Pyzik, Phillip Blond from think-tank ResPublica and Dr Andrew Dowling from the University of Cardiff.

Philip Dodd talks to one of the icons of what used to be called the counter-culture, Peggy Seeger. Her voice and career are emblematic of a life lived against the establishment grain.

In the first of three programmes exploring fractures and faultlines in contemporary society, Philip Dodd and guests discuss the tension between secularism and religion. With philosopher and atheist Daniel Dennett, sociologist of religion Linda Woodhead, and the writer and 'futurist' thinker Ziauddin Sardar.

Anne McElvoy hears from young people involved in the BBC's School Report Day. School children who have come to north-east England from other countries describe what home means. Writer Bidisha and sociologist David Ralph discuss how migrants and refugees construct a sense of home. Also, ahead of a new exhibition, British Museum curator Ian Jenkins and classicist Edith Hall discuss ideas of beauty in ancient Greece and how the body was portrayed.

Does the discipline of Sociology still have a role to play in the 21st century?To examine where we are at with Sociology in 2015, Philip Dodd is joined by three leading practitioners, the LSE's Richard Sennett, Frank Furedi from the University of Kent, and Monika Krause at Goldsmiths, as well as the journalist and author, Peter Oborne.