Free Thinking Episodes Episode guide
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Dystopian thinking
As Kay Dick's They opens at MIF, Matthew Sweet and guests trace the history of dystopias.
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Julian the Apostate
We examine Rome's last pagan ruler via Ibsen's drama to apostasy in contemporary politics.
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Boyhood to Manhood
Chris Harding with Luke Turner, Jeffrey Boakye and Lisa Sugiura discuss growing up now.
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Gut instinct
From gut feelings in your stomach to the language of disgust. Matthew Sweet hosts.
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Diva
As the V&A opens an exhibition about performers, Naomi Paxton discusses what makes a diva.
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The Sorrows of Young Werther
The book of the Sturm und Drang generation. Anne McElvoy explores the ideas behind it.
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The Kitchen: art, film, life
Sarah Kent, Marianne Hem Eriksen, Melanie Williams and Angela Hui join Matthew Sweet.
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Portraits
The NPG re-opens. A look at portraiture in art, photography, documentary and oral history.
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Ideas about health
Gavin Francis on Thomas Browne, Polly Morland on John Berger, Matt Smith on mental health
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Adam Smith
From the East India Company to Silicon Valley: the big ideas in his tercentennial year.
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Yellowface, AI and Asian stereotypes
Novelist R F Kuang, Dr Kerry McInerney, Ghislaine Boddington and MIT's Daron Acemoglu.
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Michel Piccoli
Matthew Sweet on the French actor who worked with Bu帽uel, Varda, Ferreri and Godard.
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Nature Memoirs
Rana Mitter looks at fens, flatlands, wild swimming and a little-changed Bulgarian valley.
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Europe
Ece Temelkuran, Ben Judah, Misha Glenny and Timothy Garton Ash with Rana Mitter at Hay.
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The Troubles in Northern Ireland
As an Imperial War Museum show opens, Anne McElvoy and guests discuss art and the Troubles
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Sneezing, smells and noses
From Montaigne on sneezing to losing the sense of smell and historians using their noses.
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Mermaids, Caribbean tales and copyright
Shahidha Bari looks at sea creatures and a Caribbean re-telling of The Little Mermaid.
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Linda Grant and Jewish history
John Gallagher looks at the Manchester Jewish Museum and talks to novelist Linda Grant.
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Essex
Looking beyond the stereotypes of the county that's often described as 'much maligned'.
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Rocky Horror and camp
Shahidha Bari is joined by Louise Creechan, Joan Passey and Paul Baker.
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Zimbabwean writing
NoViolet Bulawayo's We Need New Names on stage plus 'enfant terrible' Dambudzo Marechera.
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Agoraphobia
Writer Graham Caveney joins Matthew Sweet and guests.
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Mountaineering, Lizzie Le Blond, Sport and science
Rachel Hewitt has been researching pioneering Irish climber Mrs Aubrey Le Blond.
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Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe
Historian Hetta Howes, novelists Claire Gilbert and Victoria MacKenzie join Shahidha Bari.
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Sidney Poitier
Matthew Sweet and guests discuss the career of Bahamian-American actor Sidney Poitier.
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Kingship and ceremony
Anne McElvoy looks at royalty, pomp and glory in opera, ancient Persia and Tudor England.
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Sound, conflict and central heating
Matthew Sweet finds out how extreme temperatures changed Erland Cooper's music
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Lady Antonia Fraser
Rana Mitter talks to Antonia Fraser about the art of writing historical biography.
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Ireland's Hidden Histories and Secret Stories
With poet Majella Kelly, historian Jackie U铆 Chionna and memoirist Carmel McMahon.
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Queen Charlotte, fashion and music
Shahidha Bari and guests on a Royal Collection exhibition and the new Bridgerton spin-off.
