In this episode, we find out about the first staging of Seán O'Casey's play The Plough and The Stars 100 years ago and why it provoked such furious debate and even riots. Our panel features: Dr Ciara Murphy, Lecturer in Drama at TU Dublin and Vice President of the Irish Society of Theatre Research; Mairéad Delaney, Archivist at the Abbey Theatre Archive; Dr Bess Rowen, assistant professor of theatre and a theatre theorist and historian at Villanova University, Pennsylvania, and an expert on Seán O’Casey’s work and the 1926 riot; and Prof Nicholas Grene, Fellow Emeritus in English Literature at Trinity College Dublin.

In this episode, we're finding out about the making of Ancient Egypt - the makers, materials, and remarkable innovations of one of the most iconic civilisations in human history. Featuring Helen Strudwick, Lead Curator of the Made In Ancient Egypt exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Prof Joyce Tyldesley, Professor of Egyptology at the University of Manchester; and Salima Ikram, Distinguished University Professor in Egyptology at the American University in Cairo.

10 years on from David Bowie's death, we reflect on the life and music of one of the most influential cultural figures of our age, and assess his remarkable legacy. Our panel is Prof Eoin Devereux, Co-Director for the Centre for The Study of Popular Music and Popular Culture at the University of Limerick, Dr Leah Kardos, Senior Lecturer in Music at Kingston University London, and Harriet Reed, Assistant Curator in the Theatre and Performance Department at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and part of the curatorial team behind The David Bowie Centre at the V&A East Storehouse, a permanent home for Bowie's archive.

In this episode, we're going back to 1066 as we debate the Norman Conquest and what it meant for England and indeed Ireland.

Featuring: · Prof Judith Green, Professor Emeritus at the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh; Prof Clare Downham, Professor of Medieval History at the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool and author of ‘Medieval Ireland AD400-1500’; Professor Tom Licence, Professor of Medieval History and Literature, University of East Anglia; Prof Seán Duffy, Professor of Medieval Irish and Insular History at Trinity College Dublin; and Prof David Bates, Emeritus Professor in Medieval History at the University of East Anglia, and author of ‘The Normans and Empire’ and ‘William the Conqueror’.

In this episode: The History of the DPP with UCD's Niamh Howlin; Siege in Ireland, 1641-53, by Pádraig Lenihan; and Irish Food History: A Companion, with Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire and Dorothy Cashman.

Marking the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen, we'll discuss her life and legacy. Featuring: Lizzie Dunford, director of the Jane Austen House museum, John Mullan, author of the book What Matters in Jane Austen?, and Janet Todd of the University of Cambridge.

Featuring: Dáithí O'Ceallaigh, former Irish diplomat who served as Irish Ambassador in London, involved in framing and operating the agreement; Eoin O’Malley, Associate Professor in Political Science at the School of Law and Government, Dublin City University and author of ‘Charlie Vs Garret: The rivalry that shaped modern Ireland’; and Daniel Mulhall, former Irish diplomat and a former Ambassador of Ireland to the UK and the US.

In this episode: 'Mitchell - Father of the Spitfire' by Paul Beaver; 'Wolfpack' by Roger Moorhouse; and 'Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants' War' by Lyndal Roper.

In this episode, we look at the life, legacy and ideas of one of the most influential philosophers in human history, Plato, as we get to the heart of how we debate with each other. Featuring: Mary Margaret McCabe, Professor of Ancient Philosophy Emerita, King’s College London; Catherine Rowett, Emeritus Professor, School of Politics, Philosophy and Area Studies at the University of East Anglia; Dr David Horan, Irish Centre for Platonic Studies at Trinity College Dublin; and Prof Angie Hobbs, Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy Emerita at the University of Sheffield.

Featuring: 'The First King of England: Æthelstan and the Birth of a Kingdom' by David Woodman, Professor and Fellow in History at Robinson College, University of Cambridge; 'Queer Georgians', by historian Dr Anthony Delaney; 'Ireland: Mapping The Island', with Joe Brady, co-author; and Changing Ireland at the National Museum of Ireland, with Dónal Maguire, Keeper of Art & Industry collections, and Sandra Heise, Curator of Historical Collections.