Inside Cinema

The scarlet seductress. The crimson temptress. The woman in red. We’re not talking about any random dame who happens to be wearing a red frock. We’re talking about a deliberately traffic-stopping distraction-technique in female form, who, despite the difficulties of displaying her signature colour in black-and-white, has been a fixture of film culture since the dawn of cinema.

The astronaut’s spacesuit has been a repository for the imagination for a century of cinema - long before we actually launched into orbit. How has the space voyager’s suit been presented and dreamt up by the movie industry over the years?

Celebrating the big-screen collaborations of writer-director Nora Ephron and actress rom-com queen Meg Ryan: When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless In Seattle and You've Got Mail.

During the turbulent era of Vietnam and Watergate, documentary and fiction films fiercely questioned the status quo. But how close did American cinema come to pin-pointing the troubling truths behind the 'silent majority'? Is there a reason so many of the most radical among them are forgotten now?

Doll's houses are metaphorical spaces of sanitised control, but they can be as unsettling as they are comforting. Why are we at once drawn to and repelled by these miniature worlds?

How director Tim Burton and production designer Anton Furst created Batman's moody metropolis in a Buckinghamshire backlot, raised the bar for practical filmmaking craft and set the standard for the ensuing three decades of superhero cinema.

In 1999, no one saw M Night Shyamalan's chilling drama The Sixth Sense and its shocking narrative curveballs coming. Here's how an unknown filmmaker delivered an unexpected horror hit and redefined the twist ending forever.

A peek behind the makeup as we find out what makes cinematic clowns so scary.

What does the size of an action star's biceps say about cinema and society at large? From silent cinema's athletic matinee idols to the ultra-buff super-hunks of the 21st Century, Inside Cinema examines how masculinity on the big screen reflects both pride and prejudice.

Bringing a new meaning to the phrase 'maneater', it's time to sink our teeth into a literal femme fatale: the female cannibal in film. Join us for a finger-licking look at how characters in films such as the ahead-of-its-time high-school horror Jennifer's Body, feverish French horror Raw and Claire Denis's dark drama Trouble Every Day explore female bodies, sensuality and desire.

One giant leap for dad... How the unknowable reaches of space are often the perfect location for examinations of the bonds of parenthood, from intergalactic space operas such as Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy to the hard sci-fi of Interstellar and Contact.

How a sound effect conquered cinema, appearing in hundreds of films from the 1950s to now. Lend us your ears, as Inside Cinema listens out for the ultimate movie in-joke, the Wilhelm Scream, in countless beloved classics, from the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises to the likes of Toy Story, Reservoir Dogs and Beauty and the Beast.

Lights, camera, drag queens - Trixie Mattel's guide to drag on film, from the fiercest, most sickening looks in golden-era cinema to divine cult hits and runway-ready modern classics, we're serving movie eleganza extravaganza. Category is: silver screen glamour realness, and girl, you better work.

Tearing up cinema for 60 years: youngsters on motorbikes, scooters and bicycles. Take a ride with Inside Cinema and the big-screen bikers who kickstarted a cultural revolution - from Marlon Brando's leather-jacketed Wild One to the parka-clad mods of Quadrophenia and beyond.

Robin Baker, Head Curator BFI National Archive & BFI Musicals Programmer, explores how three films from 1933 revolutionised the movie musical and brought sex and spectacle to the big screen: 42nd Street, Footlight Parade and Gold Diggers of 1933, all choreographed by the pioneering and highly influential filmmaker Busby Berkeley.

Cosy up with Inside Cinema as we unravel one of cinema's most pointedly-used garments: the humble jumper. Its purpose is simple: keeping our hero warm in cold weather, often to cosily endearing effect. But there's more to these narrative threads than that. From Mark Darcy's reindeer jumper to the Dude's dirty cardigan, we unpick what a man's knitwear on screen says about his masculinity and his power.

Who dies in a house like this? Join us for a guided tour of the home of your nightmares, a killer crib crafted by master filmmakers who know how best to chill us to the bone. Home is where the fear is, after all.

Are the villains of the Disney universe the real heroes we need? Inside Cinema turns rogue and celebrates the fabulous, scene-stealing, surprisingly sympathetic baddies found in Disney classics such as The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Sleeping Beauty.

Why are some of the most nightmare-inducing movies actually intended for children? Cower behind the sofa with Inside Cinema as we dig into cinema's most terrifying family films, showing how beloved kids classics from Watership Down and Pinocchio to Spirited Away and The NeverEnding Story play on very adult fears.

How the trend of "youthification" is conquering Hollywood, from Ang Lee de-aging Will Smith in Gemini Man to Martin Scorsese getting out the magic paintbrush to make Joe Pesci, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro several decades younger in The Irishman. Inside Cinema explores how the age of the actor has been tweaked over the years, from hiring a younger lookalike for flashbacks - Moneyball, for example - to using the performer's son (Ice Cube's son O'Shea Jackson Jr. in Straight Outta Compton) to the more recent Marvel CGI chicanery in Iron Man 3, with Robert Downey Jr, and Guardians Of The Galaxy 2, with Kurt Russell.

Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple invariably know what they're doing, but the comically inept Inspector Clouseau-like sleuth is one of the mystery movie's tried-and-tested conventions. A look at how comic relief helps to offset the grisliness of murder, but also how the detective's seeming ineptitude - sometimes a deceptive act - encourages the viewer to play along and figure out the solution first.

Nikki Bedi takes Inside Cinema on a tour along the cutting-edge of socially-conscious Indian cinema, highlighting how big stars are lending their wattage to films tackling important issues, from the feminist wrestling drama Dangal to the taboo-breaking sanitary-product blockbuster, Pad Man.

Inside Cinema rifles through the robes, capes and costumes of a galaxy far, far away to explore what can be learned from a character's chosen get-up. From Darth Vader's fearsome duds to Queen Amidala's flashy frocks, the fashion is strong with this one...

Inside Cinema presents the perfect companion to our purr-fect companions: a history of felines on film that shows there's more to moggies in movies than witchcraft and villainy; rescuing our furry friends from the undeserved reputation that they are only seen in the laps of evil-doers and malcontents, and exploring how their inscrutable, aloof nature also resonates with the loners of cinema.

Inside Cinema explores how - and why - the best Christmas movies are far from heart-warming. From The Grinch to Bad Santa, It’s a Wonderful Life to Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, this festive trip to the cinema is guaranteed to bring an icy tear to your cheek.