The Forum

It was at the Moscow Art Theatre from the 1890’s onwards that Stanislavsky developed an innovative acting system that demanded actors really inhabit the role they are playing. This then inspired Method acting, which originated in the United States, and whose disciples range from Marlon Brando to Marilyn Monroe to the majority of big stars around the world today - some of whom have taken the system to an alarming extreme. This programme explores Stanislavsky's life and legacy, and also asks if his work has a role outside the theatre. Joining Bridget Kendall are Maria Shevtsova, Professor of Drama at Goldsmiths University of London, the Russian theatre historian Dr Arkady Ostrovsky, and the actor and director Bella Merlin.

Photo: Anton Chekhov, in the centre of the picture, reading his play 'The Seagull' with theatre director Stanislavsky on Chekhov's right. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The extraordinary life and prophetic inventions of the Serbian-American engineer Nikola Tesla. Bridget Kendall and guests discuss not just Tesla's key contributions to the design of modern electrical appliances and systems but also his dream of a worldwide system of free wireless electricity, his ambitious scheme to build huge towers to make it happen and why in 1917 his plans and the first tower at Wardenclyffe near New York City came crashing down.

Bridget is joined by Jasmina Vujic, Professor of Nuclear Engineering at Berkeley, University of California, and a Vice President of the Tesla Memorial Society of New York; Jane Alcorn, the President of the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe; and Michael Krause, a historian, writer and director of the documentary All About Tesla.

Photo: A Tesla Coil in action. The man in the photo is wearing a specially designed ferroalloy metal suit which keeps him safe while the high voltage crackles from him.(Getty Images)

Adam Smith, a moral philosopher and economist, was born in Scotland, the son of a customs officer. In 1776 he published a book called 'An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations’. Smith basically argued against the over regulation of commerce and said if people were set free to better themselves, it would produce economic prosperity for all. To discuss his work and legacy are Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Intellectual History Vivienne Brown, the UK Labour Party peer and economist Lord Meghnad Jagdishchandra Desai, Professor of History Fania Oz-Salzberger and Emeritus Professor of Political Theory Christopher Berry.

Photo: An illustration of Adam Smith, circa 1765. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

From Chicago to Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur to Dubai, the towering modern skyscraper has become a global icon. Touching the clouds worldwide and shaping our cities’ skylines, these bold structures have long captured the imagination and stirred debate. But where did the story start?

In this programme, Bridget Kendall and guests look to America to explore the foundations of some of the world’s very first skyscrapers. Discussing cities such as Chicago and New York, and landmarks such as The Empire State and Seagram buildings, they discuss the factors that prompted such places and the people who built them to look to the skies. Plus, they ask what these early towers share with the dizzying structures that overshadow them today.

With expert guests Carol Willis, Thomas Leslie and Benjamin Flowers.

Photo: A construction worker sits on a girder above the New York streets. (Helmut Kretz/Keystone/Getty Images)

How did we get from not having any reliable way of predicting the weather just 150 years ago, to today's accurate, tailor-made forecasts for places as small as a village? Bridget Kendall and guests trace the history of meteorology, from its first steps as an aid to quicker trans-Atlantic shipping to the latest methods which can help anticipate weather events as short-lived as a tornado.

Bridget is joined by Kristine Harper, a former US Navy forecaster and now a history professor at Florida State University; Peter Gibbs who started out as a meteorologist with the British Antarctic Survey and the UK's Met Office before becoming one of the best known weather forecasters on BBC radio and television; and Peter Moore, a writer and historian with a particular interest in weather discoveries of the 19th century.

Photo: A hurricane is seen from the International Space Station. (Scott Kelly/NASA via Getty Images)

Five-hundred years ago, in a remote part of Germany, a little known friar called Martin Luther set in train a series of events that led to the permanent splintering of Western Christianity. It changed the political and social landscape in a way that still resonates today all over the world. The Forum comes from Trinity Hall, part of Cambridge University in the UK, with historian professor Ulinka Rublack, professor of English Literature Brian Cummings, professor of Theology Alec Ryrie and the Reverend Daniel Jeyaraj. The British actor Simon Russell Beale reads from Luther's writings and members of the Cambridge University Choir of Gonville and Caius College perform Lutheran hymns.

(Photo: A Statue of Martin Luther in Eisenach, Germany. Credit: Getty Images)

Bridget Kendall and guests examine the story of Detroit. Founded in 1701 by a French man named Cadillac, this American city became famous in the twentieth century for its automobile industry, the music of Motown, and the great unrest seen on the city’s streets in the summer of 1967. In this programme, Bridget and guests discuss the city’s changing fortunes and its fascinating history, from the role played by some residents in the ‘Underground Railroad’ of the nineteenth century, to its recent experience of bankruptcy. Bridget is joined by Herb Boyd, Stephen Henderson, Thomas Sugrue and Anna Clark. Also featuring Tiya Miles and Carleton Gholz.

(Image Credit: STAFF/AFP/Getty Images)

They are familiar figures in folklore and popular culture, swashbuckling across the silver screen, snarling on stage as pantomime villains or committing daring deeds in childhood literary classics. But who were the real life pirates of the Caribbean and how much of what we think we know about them is based on fact? Rajan Datar is joined by maritime historian David Cordingly, academic and author Margarette Lincoln and author Laura Sook Duncombe who has written about pirate women.

Image:Black Beard

From East to West, Rumi is one of the most universally respected poets of all time. A 13th Century Islamic scholar, his encounter with a wandering dervish transformed him into a globally celebrated mystic and poet of love who has crossed borders of time, faith, language and geography.

Rajan Datar discusses his life, work and legacy with scholars Fatemeh Keshavarz and Omid Safi, and biographer Brad Gooch.

(Photo: Pray Mount Nemrut, Commagene. Credit: Getty Images/tugbahasbal)

Bridget Kendall and guests explore the history of the guitar which stretches back over several thousand years. From early instruments made of tortoise shells the guitar emerged as one of the great cultural crossover instruments, encompassing folk traditions around the world, classical music and spine-tingling rock riffs. With guitar master John Williams, composer and guitar expert Professor Stephen Goss, Turkish guitarist Cenk Erdogan and French guitar maker Celine Camerlynck.

(Photo: Boy with home made guitar. Credit: Daniel Hayduk/AFP/Getty Images)