The Essay Episodes Available now

Roma Tearne—InterRail Postcards
2/5 Roma Tearne on InterRail travel and her interest in frontiers and national identity.

Adam Thorpe—InterRail Postcards
1/5 Adam Thorpe on the sense of arrival into adulthood which the InterRail pass signified.

Paper Money—It Talks
5/5 Dr Helen Wang discusses the development of paper money.

Standards—It Talks
3/5 Exploring the creation of the first international and cross-boundary standards for money.

Cows and Shells—It Talks
1/5 Keith Hart on the origins of money as part of an economy of living persons and things.

Kei Miller—Under the Influence, Under the Influence
5/5 Indian-born choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh reflects on the influences shaping her dances.

Tom Hunter—Under the Influence, Under the Influence
4/5 Photographer and artist Tom Hunter on the impact that Vermeer has had on his work.

Shobana Jeyasingh—Under the Influence, Under the Influence
3/5 Shobana Jeyasingh on how different dance traditions inform her choreography.

Emma Rice—Under the Influence, Under the Influence
2/5 Emma Rice reveals the influences that stamp her work as a theatre director.

Jon Boden—Under the Influence, Under the Influence
1/5 Jon Boden on the influence of apocalyptic science-fiction on him as a folk singer.