At its peak in the early 20th century, Britain's empire was the largest in the history of the world, greater even than that of ancient Rome. It embraced more than a fourth of the world's population and affected the course of Western civilization in ways almost too numerous to imagine.

Arts Documentary hosted by David Starkey, published by Channel 4 in 2010 - English narration. Modern Art has made us who we are and it has certainly made Janet Street Porter who she is. Beginning in the stifling 1950s, Janet revisits her teenage years to show how modern art has been at the forefront of social and cultural changes, which define Britain today, from Patrick Heron through Francis Bacon, David Hockney, Peter Blake, Joe Tilson, Richard Hamilton, Gilbert and George, and the Sex Pistols, to Damien Hirst and the Sensation generation of British artists. Janet speaks to Hirst, Tracey Emin and Grayson Perry about how art has seeped into the very heart of British culture.

Arts Documentary hosted by David Starkey, published by Channel 4 in 2010 - English narration. Former war reporter Jon Snow presents a timely reminder of how British artists have expressed and defined our response to the horror of war and, in the process, have triggered a debate about the role of art in British life.As the grandson of a First World War general, it s a story with a personal resonance for Jon. A hundred years ago, artists were the first to challenge the view that war was all about victory and glory. Jon, a keen amateur artist himself, traces this legacy from the artists of the First World War - Richard Nevinson, Paul Nash, Stanley Spencer - right up to the work of contemporary artists such as John Keane, Jeremy Deller and Steve McQueen.

The turbulent civil wars of the early seventeenth century would culminate in two events unique to British history; the public execution of a king and the creation of a republic. Schama tells of the brutal war that tore the country in half and created a new Britain - divided by politics and religion and dominated by the first truly modern army, fighting for ideology, not individual leaders.

Documentary which takes an eclectic group, including artists, critics and academics, into the countryside to look at how we have depicted our landscape in art, discovering how the genre carried British painting to its highest eminence and won a place in the nation s heart. From Flemish beginnings in the court of Charles I to the digital thumbstrokes of David Hockney s iPad, the paintings reveal as much about the nation s past as they do the patrons and artists who created them. Famous names sit alongside lesser-known works, covering everything from the refined sensibilities of 18th-century Classicism to the abstract forms of the war-torn 20th century, with a bit of love, loss, rivalry and rioting thrown in. Contributions come from a cast as diverse as the works themselves, including filmmaker Nic Roeg, historian Dan Snow and novelist Will Self.