Inside Culture

Mary Beard is joined by the Oscar-winning actor and screenwriter Emma Thompson to talk tears. Together, they dissect some of Emma's most famous on-screen weeps and explore the role that crying plays both in art and in real life. Mary also receives a lesson from Emma in how to turn on the waterworks herself.

In Cardiff, artist Casper White reveals how two apparently different portrayals of crying – sacred paintings and selfies on TikTok - have come together to inspire his latest set of portraits, while classical musician and composer Alexis Ffrench plays a track from his new album, which explores feelings of grief. To make sense of all this sadness, Mary will discuss the history and cultural importance of crying with historian Thomas Dixon and comedian and podcaster Cariad Lloyd.

Shahidha Bari teams up with artists, poets, comics and musicians to investigate the role that the arts can play in exploring and processing the most challenging crisis of our times: the threat to our planet from catastrophic climate change.

Shahidha meets Antony Gormley at his Norfolk studio to find out how his work has engaged with the climate crisis and to discuss how the global art industry can lower its carbon footprint. She also visits poet and performer Kae Tempest to talk about the importance of resilience and the ways in which music and poetry can help us to process life's pressures.

From Toronto, The Weather Station's Tamara Lindeman shares a special performance of a track from her recent album, which explores the emotional fallout from the damage we've inflicted on the natural world. Finally, to debate what happens when art meets science, Shahidha gets together with writer and curator Ekow Eshun and comedian and environmental economist Matt Winning.

In the final episode of the series, Mary Beard brings her trademark wit and probing curiosity to an interview with a very special guest - the British-Turkish novelist Elif Shafak, whose experiences of migration and exile have informed many of her books - including her latest, The Island of Missing Trees.

Mary asks the Booker-nominated writer about her life and career, and together they reflect on the art and culture of the moment - exploring themes from belonging and identity to equality and freedom of speech. They also share their thoughts about polarisation on social media and staying sane in an age of division.