Vanessa Redgrave delivers a monologue from Stonehenge in the first episode of Dame Mary Beard’s new topical arts series.

The veteran actress, 83, performs Cleopatra’s speech from Shakespeare’s Antony And Cleopatra in her first visit to the Wiltshire historical site.

Dame Mary’s Lockdown Culture show is relaunching with the new title of Inside Culture and will air on BBC Two from Thursday.

Vanessa Redgrave at Stonehenge (BBC/PA)

The first episode will also feature conceptual artist Jeremy Deller, who created an inflatable replica of Stonehenge that toured the UK, talking about the stones’ significance to British cultural history.

Broadcaster and historian Dame Mary, 65, will also speak to comedian Russell Kane and actress Sheila Atim in her garden to explore which cultural forms have thrived and which have suffered in this time.

A second episode on October 2 will explore the influence of arts prizes, through interviews with Golden Globe winner and Succession star Brian Cox among others.

British Book Awards
Bernardine Evaristo (Hamish Hamilton/PA)

Helen Cammock, who was part of the group who shared the Turner Prize in 2019, and author Bernardine Evaristo, who shared the Booker Prize the same year, discuss the future of awards.

The episode will end with the National Youth Dance Company who, after their residency tour was halted by lockdown, are dancing at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London in a specially composed and choreographed show.

Inside Culture with Dame Mary Beard begins on BBC Two on Thursday at 7.30pm.