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All Seasons

Season 1

  • S01E01 The French Connection

    • 5

    Art historian Professor Paul Binski presents an examination of Britain's religious architecture and culture, focusing on the treasures of Winchester Cathedral, the Norman showpiece designed to rival the glories of St Peter's in Rome.

  • S01E02 Glorious Gothic

    • 5

    Paul Binski examines the art and architecture of two of Britain's most impressive 13th-century Gothic cathedrals - Lincoln, with its vast windows and elaborate carvings of smiling angels, and Wells in Somerset, which boasts a west front adorned with more than 300 medieval statues.

  • S01E03 Patrons and Saints

    • 5

    Cambridge art historian Paul Binski explores approaches to religious architecture, comparing Canterbury Cathedral's 12th-century stained-glass windows with those of York Minster, which were created only 100 years later, yet reflect a very different view of man's relationship with God.

  • S01E04 The Art of Damnation

    • 5

    Paul Binski examines pre-Reformation approaches to moral instruction, contrasting the humorous stone gargoyles of St Andrew's Church in Heckington, Lincolnshire, with the stark and sombre stained-glass windows found at St Mary's in the Gloucestershire town of Fairford.

  • S01E05 The Painted Churches

    • 5

    Paul Binski, Professor of the History of Medieval Art at Cambridge University, examines the Italianate frescoes at Chalgrove's 14th-century parish church in Oxfordshire. He then views more pre-Reformation treasures in Ranworth, Norfolk, where the church has a finely painted rood-screen and an altar dedicated to women.

  • S01E06 The World Turned Upside Down

    • 5

    Dr Paul Binski chronicles the development of religious architecture during the 16th and 17th centuries. He contrasts the ornate splendour of the chapel at King's College, Cambridge, with the simplicity of post-Reformation churches.

  • S01E07 The Wren City

    • 5

    Dr Paul Binski investigates places of worship designed by Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London in 1666. Assigned to rebuild 51 of the city's churches, he created a trademark open, auditorium-style feel to emphasise the shift from Catholic to Anglican dominance.

  • S01E08 New Money

    • 5

    Paul Binski chronicles the history of Britain's religious art, examining the legacies of two wealthy industrialists of the 17th and 18th centuries who demonstrated a flamboyant taste for kitsch in the baroque forms of churches in Great Witley, Worcestershire, and London's Little Stanmore.

  • S01E09 Paradise Regained

    • 5

    Cambridge academic Paul Binski continues his fact-finding journey through the history of religious art, visiting St Giles in Cheadle, Staffordshire, and the Free Church in Glasgow to see how Augustus Pugin and Alexander `Greek' Thomson, two notable Victorian architects, rejected the prevailing industrialism of their era and drew inspiration from the grandeur of the past.

  • S01E10 Romantic Illusions

    • 5

    Paul Binski, Professor of the History of Medieval Art at Cambridge University, visits Chelsea's Gothic-revival Holy Trinity Church designed by John Dando Sedding, and William Lethaby's thatched All Saints' Church in Brockhampton, Herefordshire, which boasts fittings by William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones of the Arts and Crafts movement.

  • S01E11 The High Churches

    • 5

    Paul Binski visits Brighton and Kilburn Park, north London, to explore two striking missionary churches that reflect the High Church style of architecture.

  • S01E12 Tomorrow's God

    • 5

    Paul Binski investigates the period after the Second World War, which saw the birth of a modern style of ecclesiastical architecture. He visits Coventry and Chichester cathedrals to highlight the contemporary designs.

  • S01E13 Battle of the Titans

    • 5

    Paul Binski visits Liverpool's two cathedrals, which lie at either end of Hope Street. Despite having been built within 60 years of each other they represent starkly contrasting styles, the Anglican edifice being a vast tribute to neo-Gothic design and its Catholic counterpart a typical example of 1960s modernism.

  • S01E14 Visions of God

    • 5

    Dr Paul Binski, head of art history at Cambridge University, examines icons and artefacts integral to the design of St Sophia's Greek Orthodox Cathedral in London's Regent's Park.

  • S01E15 Temples of Suburbia

    • 5

    Dr Paul Binski, Professor of the History of Medieval Art at Cambridge University, examines religious art, viewing Hindu and Jain works in Leicester and London.