Arena - Season 47 / Year 2021

Docudrama that explores the life and creative output of Coventry born-Delia Derbyshire – electronic musician, sound pioneer and female outsider in postwar Britain. From 1962 until 1973, she worked at the BBC's Radiophonic workshop, where she created the iconic Doctor Who theme tune, which remained uncredited in her lifetime. 

Delia Derbyshire introduced avant-garde electronic sound to a whole generation through the medium of a children's teatime television show. Sound was both a refuge for Delia and a haunting manifestation of something darker. Delia was three years old during the Coventry blitz listening to the electronic sounds of the air-raid sirens against a backdrop of her devastated hometown. Delia describes the sound of the ‘all-clear' and air-raid sirens as her first experience of electronic music. 

Docudrama that explores the life and creative output of Coventry born-Delia Derbyshire – electronic musician, sound pioneer and female outsider in postwar Britain. From 1962 until 1973, she worked at the BBC's Radiophonic workshop, where she created the iconic Doctor Who theme tune, which remained uncredited in her lifetime. 

Delia Derbyshire introduced avant-garde electronic sound to a whole generation through the medium of a children's teatime television show. Sound was both a refuge for Delia and a haunting manifestation of something darker. Delia was three years old during the Coventry blitz listening to the electronic sounds of the air-raid sirens against a backdrop of her devastated hometown. Delia describes the sound of the ‘all-clear' and air-raid sirens as her first experience of electronic music. 

British-Nigerian poet and activist Femi Nylander travels to West Africa to discover the modern-day impact on its people of atrocities that took place over a century ago.

An examination of the work and the legend of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, originally broadcast in 2003 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of his death.

How a US lifer survived long-term solitary confinement through a remarkable pen-pal friendship and the making of beautiful little paintings from M&M's.

An investigation into the extraordinary life and work of B. Catling, an eye-popping insight into the late-flourishing career of a maverick artist, teacher and performer.

An Arena documentary about the life and work of video art pioneers Steina and Woody Vasulka, which reveals the profound effect they had on the American avant-garde.