Classicist and broadcaster Professor Mary Beard explores a broad range of thought-provoking and sometimes controversial works of art that tackle unsettling subjects – works that have been fought over, removed from view or simply 'forbidden'.

Classicist and broadcaster Professor Mary Beard explores a broad range of thought-provoking and sometimes controversial works of art that tackle unsettling subjects – works that have been fought over, removed from view or simply 'forbidden'. She delves into the questions of what, why and how art gets forbidden, who gets to decide and how that has changed over time.

Ch1. Vile Bodies
Mary explores some of the challenging ways that artists have shown the human body. She begins with the Romans, heading to the British Museum to discuss a statue of the god Pan having sex with a she-goat, and from there moves through art from the Renaissance to the present day that portrays sex, death, violence and beyond.

Mary meets renowned portraitist Daphne Todd as well as contemporary artists Tracey Emin and Martin Creed to discuss works they've produced which feature usually private bodily acts or experiences that, for some, have seemed to go too far. She asks why art which depicts some of those actions common to us all can be so disturbing - and what confronting these works might tell us about being human.

Ch2. To See or Not to See?
Mary unpacks the complex subject of art and ideology, considering a range of very different works that have challenged the political and social status quo, expressing opinions and attitudes that many have wanted to silence - and even erase.

She examines artwork ranging from the etchings of Otto Dix, banned by the Nazis, to the paintings of artist and gay activist Derek Jarman and the now famous (or infamous) statue of Edmund Colston. She considers the challenges of the representation of religious images from England to West Africa, examines how art has been weaponised to serve political ends, and asks what the best way might be to engage with a nation's 'offensive' history.