Ivy escapes | Thirteen

1: An English-speaking World | The Story of English

Robert Macneil on how English is being adopted by the world as the most important language to learn, he traces the use of...

1: Doing What Comes Naturally | Born Talking: A Personal Inquiry into Language

A personal enquiry into language, with Jonathan Miller. From infancy, language growth is aston...

1: The Golden Age | The Mother Tongue

First of 3 documentaries tracing the history of the Scots tongue from its origins through to its heyday as the language of court, lite...

2: A Very Corrupt Dialect | The Mother Tongue

Billy KAY examines the roots of prejudice against Lowland Scots from the 1700s onwards in interviews with academics and native ...

2: Broken English | Born Talking: A Personal Inquiry into Language

When the brain is damaged through accident or injury, language can go tragically wrong. Meeting and talkin...

2: The Mother Tongue | The Story of English

Robert Macneil presents the second programme in this series tracing the history of the English language from its roots to present...

3: A Muse of Fire | The Story of English

This programme centres on the English of Shakespeare and the King James Bible and its spread into the New World via Elizabethan expl...

3: Lending a Hand | Born Talking: A Personal Inquiry into Language

The sign language of deaf people is as complex as any spoken language and reveals something essential abou...

3: Pan Loaf and Patter | The Mother Tongue

The final programme in the series in which Billy KAY traces the development of the Scots language.

3: Reverend Kate Bottley | Winter Walks

Walking along the banks of the River Cover and exploring the historic ruins of Wensleydale, the Rev Kate Bottley speaks frankly about...

4: In a Manner of Speaking | Born Talking: A Personal Inquiry into Language

Jonathan Miller explores the elements that make language more than just strings of words - such a...

4: The Guid Scots Tongue | The Story of English

In fourth of the series Robert Macneil looks at the development of Lowlands Scots and its spread to Ireland and America. He a...

5: Black on White | The Story of English

This programme looks at the influence of African-American's on world English and traces language from West Africa to plantations of ...

6: Pioneers! O Pioneers! | The Story of English

This programme traces development of American English from the War of Independence to World War 1. It looks at influence of I...

6: Robert Burns | Great Britons (1990)

The fourth documentary in a series on Robert Burns, narrated by David Daiches.

7: The Muvver Tongue | The Story of English

(Contains Adult Content) Robert Macneil explores the origins of the Cockney dialect and the influence of the ''flash talk'' of th...

8: The Loaded Weapon | The Story of English

Robert Macneil explores troubled story of Irish-English in North and South Ireland Gaelic speaking Irish through famine, conflict...

9: The Empire Strikes Back | The Story of English

Film looks at former British colonies Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone, Barbados, Jamaica and India as well as the language o...

A Trampwoman's Tragedy | Poetry Book

Dame Judy Dench reads Thomas Hardy's poem, A Trampwoman's Tragedy.

Churchill's Wartime Speeches | Speeches That Shook the World

Simon Armitage examines the speeches of one of Britain's best known orators.