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Arena is a British television documentary series, made and broadcast by the BBC. Voted by leading TV executives in Broadcast as one of the top 50 most influential programmes of all time, it has run since 1 October 1975 with over five hundred episodes made, directed by the likes of Martin Scorsese, Alan Yentob, Roly Keating, Frederick Baker, Volker Schlondorff and Vikram Jayanti. Arena's subjects are a roll-call of the world's best known cultural figures from the 20th and 21st centuries, from singers Bob Dylan and Amy Winehouse to academics Edward Said and Eric Hobsbawm, from writers Jean Genet and V S Naipaul to artists Francis Bacon and Louise Bourgeois. The current series editor is Anthony Wall.
Seasons
Episode 1Latest episode
Loaded: Lads, Mags and Mayhem
1h 29m
In 1994, editor James Brown spotted an opportunity to create a general interest men's magazine in a world fixated on yuppies and the new man. With a team of bucky young hopefuls, they birthed Loaded, a magazine that went on to define the lad culture of the 90s. The magazine quickly became a cultural phenomenon, offering a blend of irreverent humour, gonzo journalism, celebrity interviews, sports and jaw-dropping images, tapping into the aspirations, interests and rebellious attitudes of young men, and capturing a hedonistic lifestyle characterised by excess, humour and indulgence. And the women’s equivalent, ‘ladettes’, were not far behind. But as they hurtled towards the end of the century, the realities of lad culture took hold, with drink, drugs and bravado rearing their ugly heads. Lads' mags were born, driving the pressure to compete with 'sexy babes' on the covers. The women who had felt empowered were now being asked to strip for the magazines.
