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Poster for Arena

1975 | 1 seasons | 90 min | Documentary

Sunday Safe Betearly rating

Why it’s a Sunday Safe Bet

It was critically acclaimed, though it had a short run with a modest audience and little lasting buzz. A safe bet when you want something reliable.

Based on critics, audiences, awards, box office and buzz. Details below.

Is it for you?

Who'll love it
Made for the curious.
The mood
Eye-opening.
The pace
1 season: a few weeks of evenings, hour-long episodes, about 1038 hours in all.
What might put you off
Made in 1975: an older pace and style.

Arena is a British television documentary series, made and broadcast by the BBC. Voted by leading TV executives in Broadcast as one of the top 50 most influential programmes of all time, it has run since 1 October 1975 with over five hundred episodes made, directed by the likes of Martin Scorsese, Alan Yentob, Roly Keating, Frederick Baker, Volker Schlondorff and Vikram Jayanti. Arena's subjects are a roll-call of the world's best known cultural figures from the 20th and 21st centuries, from singers Bob Dylan and Amy Winehouse to academics Edward Said and Eric Hobsbawm, from writers Jean Genet and V S Naipaul to artists Francis Bacon and Louise Bourgeois. The current series editor is Anthony Wall.

How it earned its rating

  • CriticsStrong

    Critically acclaimed

  • AudiencesNot counted

    Not measured yet: not enough ratings

  • AwardsNot counted

    No major awards or nominations

  • Reach & staying powerBelow par

    Ran for 1 season and reached a small audience so far; still draws a steady audience long after release

  • Buzz & cultural impactBelow par

    About 16K people sought it out in the past year

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