Charles Dance Set to Play Michelangelo in New Renaissance Series as BBC Sets Arts, Culture Slate

K.J. Yossman
·3-min read

Charles Dance is set to play Italian artist Michaelangelo in new BBC docu-drama “Renaissance: The Blood and The Beauty.”

Dance’s casting in the three-part series came as the BBC unveiled its arts and culture slate across television and radio at a dedicated event in London on Wednesday evening. “Renaissance: The Blood and The Beauty” is a co-commission with PBS exploring an era of violence and power politics that produced some of the Western world’s greatest works of art.

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Other highlights on the slate include Simon Schama’s take on the culture wars in “The History of Us,” the return of archaeological series “Civilisations” with a new iteration tentatively titled “Civilisations: Rise and Fall,” and a docu-drama about Jane Austen to mark the 250th anniversary of her birth next year. “Jane Austen: Rise of a Genius” will include interviews with writers, actors, and biographers.

A series of new films as part of the BBC’s documentary film strand Arena are also planned, about subjects ranging from opera singer Maria Callas to 007 Roger Moore, as well as the new documentary strand In My Own Words, which explores the U.K.’s leading cultural figures from writer Hanif Kureishi to artist Alison Lapper. There will also be a film about legendary playwright Alan Bennett in honor of his 90th birthday and another film to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz to coincide with Holocaust Memorial Day.

Rob Rinder and Rylan Clark have been recommissioned with a new series exploring India inspired by E M Forster’s novel while in a third season of “The Read” a new group of actors will read some of their favorite classical literature, including “Bad Sisters” star Anne-Marie Duff reading Charles Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol.”

“Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar” is a new series exploring the life of the legendary actor while Stephen Fry, Richard E Grant and Adjoa Andoh are all taking part in a new series on Mozart.

A range of classical music and dance programming is also planned across the BBC’s television and radio networks. A line-up of cultural and arts programming was also unveiled for the BBC’s radio services, ranging from current affairs to pop music.

“I want to celebrate the richness of our arts offer on the BBC,” said the BBC’s director general Tim Davie, who co-hosted the event at London’s Royal Academy of Arts with the broadcaster’s content chief Charlotte Moore. “The wealth of arts and culture content available every day on the BBC, across radio, TV, and online, is unrivalled. As is the BBC’s role as the U.K.’s cultural partner, and most ambitious creator of original arts programming.”

“I want to push back, frankly, on any sense that the BBC’s commitment to arts and culture has diminished. Or the idea we sometimes hear that we don’t care as much as we used to. The arts remain utterly central to the BBC’s mission. We want to send out a strong signal, that arts and culture matter, they matter for everyone, and they matter even more when times are tough.”

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