Lucy Worsley

Delving into the intimate history of old homes and buildings is Worsley’s prime passion and her BBC Four series and book If Walls Could Talk pretty much sums it up. During her years of research, she has uncovered the fact that bedrooms used to be semi-public places before the Victorians decreed them to be a place of sleeping and canoodling, while bathrooms only became separate rooms late into the Victorian era.
13 Aug, 5pm, £10 (£8).

Bettany Hughes

While Lucy Worsley is into old buildings, Hughes has made many docs about her chosen area, ancient history. The Moors, the Spartans and Helen of Troy have been the people she has fascinated us with on TV.
13 Aug, 3.30pm, £10 (£8).

Alexei Sayle

It seems a very long time since ‘Hello John Got a New Motor?’ and his way-over-the-top ravings as the unhinged landlord Bolowski in The Young Ones. And that’s because it is. Nowadays he is a highly respected short-story writer and novelist who has written an engrossing autobiography entitled Stalin Ate My Homework. The title alone is near-genius.
13 Aug, 8pm, £10 (£8).

Kirsty Wark

The esteemed broadcaster asks the questions in two major events. First up is an interview with short story writer and memoirist Tobias Wolff while near the end of the month, she shares a stage with Ingrid Betancourt, the presidential candidate who was held captive by Colombian guerrilla forces for six long years.
14 Aug, 3pm; 29 Aug, 4.30pm, £10 (£8).

Peter Taylor

Former teacher Taylor has developed a reputation for hard-hitting and compelling journalism ever since joining ITV’s This Week back in 1967. While his work on Northern Ireland made him a familiar face on the small screen, he has been busy investigating Islamist extremism for the last decade.
16 Aug, 10.30am, £10 (£8).