Simon Schama’s Story of Us | Preview (BBC Two)

In these divided times, where do we find the threads that bind us together? Simon Schama goes in search of who we are now - and discovers the answers in our art and culture.

Today Britain seems more divided than ever. The so-called ‘culture wars’ have left British society fragmented and mistrustful. But, as renowned cultural historian Simon Schama argues in this major new 3-part series, arguments about feminism, gender, gay liberation, immigration, nationhood and identity are nothing new.

Through the work of pioneering artists, writers, musicians and poets, Simon explores how these tensions first surfaced - and asks, if culture is the arena for these arguments, can it also provide a common ground where our differences can be overcome?

Episode one, Who Are We Now? explores the art and culture that captured and drove the transformations of British society in the 20th century - from the optimism of the post-war Festival of Britain to the 1971 Festival of Light - a nationwide Christian protest against moral pollution.

And from Alan Sillitoe’s rebellious anti-hero Arthur Seaton in the groundbreaking 1960 film Saturday Night and Sunday Morning to the work of Pauline Boty - Britain’s first women pop artist of the 60s, who delivered a brand new kind of female agency.

To help understand how the arts have defined our identity in an age of bewildering change, Simon meets some of the artists, writers and performers who were at the forefront of new movements in society, including Jarvis Cocker, Ali Smith and Sir Cliff Richard and Frank Cottrell-Boyce.

Simon Schama’s Story of Us begins Wednesday 8th January on BBC Two.