Warren Clarke narrates a look at London's world-famous red Routemaster buses which, although designed in the 1950s for a lifespan of just 17 years, was in use into the next century.

The first of a special three-part presentation in which American film director Billy Wilder discusses his career with German filmmaker Volker Schlondorff. From Marlene Dietrich to Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart to Gary Cooper, Wilder has directed the film industry's greatest legends. Normally a private man, tonight he reminisces about his early years in Hollywood with fellow emigres Fritz Lang and his mentor, Ernst Lubitsch (the programme's title is derived from a sign in Wilder's office which asks: "Lubitsch, how did you do it?"), and describes working with Dietrich on his emotional return to post-war Berlin

Second of three in-depth conversations with the film director and writer Billy Wilder. He recalls his memories of the great Hollywood stars: "Mae West walked out of the door all white gold and feathers. She looked like a locomotive." He talks about working with silent film star Gloria Swanson on 'Sunset Boulevard', the tensions of working with Humphrey Bogart, and the consummate artistry of Gary Cooper.

Last of a special three-part presentation in which American director Billy Wilder discusses his career. He remembers working with Marilyn Monroe on 'Some Like It Hot': "With Monroe life was a surprise - sometimes she knew eight pages of dialogue by heart, sometimes she had a total block." He discusses the craft of screenwriting, the problems of working with Raymond Chandler and Agatha Christie, and the creative pleasure of improvising with his lifelong collaborator, I.A.L. Diamond.

When pop artist Peter Blake confessed in a magazine article that his fantasy was to be the mysterious masked wrestler Kendo Nagasaki, who never speaks and never removes his mask, little did he know what the consequences would be. Poet and television producer Paul Yates, also fascinated by the persona of Nagasaki, read the article and proceeded to research the possibility of Blake painting Nagasaki's portrait as a centrepiece for a film which would also, he hoped, include an exclusive interview with Nagasaki himself. Does he exist outside the ring and, if so, who is he? Masters of the Canvas follows Yates's quest for the sitting, the interview and the man behind the myth.

A portrait of the controversial American film director, Oliver Stone, whose work often arouses the fiercest passions in both supporters and critics. In a revealing interview, Stone looks back on his life and work, reminiscing about his difficult childhood, the effect of his parents' divorce and his decision to travel to Vietnam, first as a teacher and then as a soldier. Featuring clips from his movies and film of him at work on scenes in 'JFK' - his latest film, about the assassination of President Kennedy.

On 14 February 1989, Salman Rushdie was sentenced to death by the Ayatollah Khomeini. Tonight, on the third anniversary of the fatwa, a gathering of international writers and artists re-asserts the surpassing value of freedom of expression.

In 1983, David Hampton was arrested for pretending to be the son of actor Sidney Poitier and conning his way into the homes of some of New York's most powerful and influential families. Seven years later this case became the inspiration for the critically acclaimed Broadway play 'Six Degrees of Separation'. Now, Hampton is using Richard Golub, one of New York's best-known lawyers, to sue the playwright and the play's producers for millions in a precedent-setting case to see if anyone retains the rights to their own life.

Dean Read was the biggest rock star the communist world had ever seen. Virtually unknown in his native America, the "Red Sinatra" was the first pop musician Mikhail Gorbachev ever heard. He sang 'My Yiddishe Momma' to Yasser Arafat in Palestine, performed for Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, and was awarded the Lenin Prize in recognition of the millions of records he had sold. In June 1986, he was found dead in a lake in East Berlin, the mysterious circumstances sparking rumours of a KGB plot, a CIA assassination, jealous husbands, or fascist revenge against his communist career. Reggie Nadelson, journalist and author, searches for the truth.

Ivan Rabuzin, the 71-year-old Croatian artist, says his paintings stand as accusations. "They show an image of earthly heaven and they are based on the real world in which I feel happy, in which I paint. But if that real world is being destroyed, then how can I make any links to the ideal, the earthly heaven?" While Rabuzin paints, other artists from the performing and visual arts have joined the fighting in more dramatic ways.

"I'll either be famous or infamous," declared the controversial German painter who died in 1969. His subjects range from tranquil landscapes to frenzied sex murders, from brutalised war criminals to religious allegories. In his lifetime he found little favour on either side of his divided country. He was hauled before the courts on charges of obscenity, and his paintings were burned by the Nazis as being degenerate, and yet he has more recently been hailed as the "last great German artist of our times". Arena examines the work of an artist who, in the new Germany, is seen as both an influential and unifying figure.

Refused entry to America from China in 1958 because of the embargo on "communist goods", the giant panda Chi-Chi came to London Zoo - a constant object of media attention and public adoration. Eight years later she was sent on a diplomatic mission to Moscow to mate with the Russian panda An-An, though this attempt to start a thaw of the Cold War failed on day one when she hit An-An. Among those recalling this bizarre tale of sex, spies and the media are Desmond Morris , Sir Denis Forman and Edward Heath, who remembers his own brush with pandas when he was prime minister.

'Tales of the City' first appeared in the 70s as a daily column in the 'San Francisco Chronicle'. Armistead Maupin's stories about life in San Francisco as seen through the eyes of a zany cast of characters had such a massive following that he adapted them into a series of six bestselling novels. Tonight's film examines Maupin's varied and controversial career, including his lifelong involvement in gay rights. It also discovers some of the people who provided the inspiration for his characters and visits the city's walkways and backwaters that are the setting for his novels.

A self-portrait of photographer and film maker Robert Frank. Often called the "eyes of the Beats", Frank's work spans 45 years - from his influential book of photographs 'The Americans' in the 1950s, to a controversial Rolling Stones documentary in 1972, and a recent photographic assignment in Beirut. For this new film, Frank took personal friends, actors and a film crew to Harlem to create a dramatised exploration of his idea that we all carry a gallery of people in our heads. He believes that a portrait of them is a portrait of the person who chooses to remember them.

Javier Mariscal is an artist who cannot be categorised - a designer who thinks a Camel cigarette packet has as much value as a Picasso. Phillipe Starck , the doyen of the design world, calls him "the Andy Warhol of Spain". Mariscal himself says, "I make cultural sandwiches for the brain." Always a controversial figure, he has come a long way from his early days peddling underground comics in the bars and streets of Barcelona. Since winning the design commission for the Olympic Games, he has attracted heavy criticism for his commercial exploitation of Cobi, the Olympic mascot. Tonight's film takes a look at the man and his diverse work - comics, animation, sculpture, furniture, interiors, paintings. Whatever the medium, Mariscal's message is invariably enigmatic, eclectic, and above all fun.

Three films which take a journey through the rich musical heritage of Argentina. The story begins just south of Buenos Aires in the Pampas. This is the land of the gaucho - the solitary hero on his horse, the symbol of Argentinian identity. Today the gaucho might seem to be more a figure of legend than reality, yet just a few miles from the Argentinian capital men and horses keep this tradition alive. With guitar and songs the gauchos continue to tell stories of their lives, their horses and their land.

Three films which take a journey through the rich musical heritage of Argentina. In the vast regions from the plains of the Pampas to the provinces of the north, three distinct styles of music and dance evolved: the zamba, the chacarera and the chamame. Their precise origins are lost, but they developed in the 19th century from pre-colonial dances and the instruments and music brought by the European settlers and their African slaves. These traditional styles are still the popular music of the whole of northern Argentina where some of the musicians are professional and some are workers who play at festivals and at the weekend, sometimes just for their own families.

Final of three films about the rich musical heritage of Argentina. The Calchaquies valleys in the Andes and the Humahuaca canyon form the most underdeveloped and remote region in Argentina, with traditions going back beyond the Inca conquest. The far north with its small mountain villages like Molinos and Cachi is more closely linked to Bolivia and Peru than to the rest of the country. The people of the mountains say their music can be described simply as the "man with the drum". Every year they celebrate a carnival devoted to the honour of Pacha Mama, the Goddess of the Earth.

Few activities in modern life can rival sport for creating excitement, passion and commitment. Arena takes a look at how the tensions and glories of sporting life are turned into prose by the sportswriter.

An Arena special focusing on Linda McCartney's photographic career, which she followed for thirty years. In the late 60s, Linda McCartney became court photographer to the royalty of rock, taking pictures of Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and the Beatles. In her first TV profile, she spoke about her life in photography, her life with husband Paul and coping with the press.