Mary Beard: what is new BBC show Forbidden Art about, who is the classicist and why is she famous?

Mary Beard’s Forbidden Art is a two-part documentary airing on BBC Two, which centres around thought-provoking and controversial works of art that were shocking at the time.

But who is Dame Mary Beard and why is she famous??

Who is Dame Mary Beard? 

Dame Mary Beard is an English Scholar who specialises in Ancient Roman civilisation and since 2004, has been a professor of classics at the University of Cambridge.

She is also the classics editor of The Times Literary Supplement and writes a regular blog called "A Don’s Life".

Due to her media appearances and sometimes controversial statements, she has been dubbed as "Britain’s best-known classicist".

In December 2010, Beard presented BBC Two documentary Pompeii: Life and Death in a Roman Town,  which was aimed to show what life was like for residents before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE.

Two years later, Beard also presented Meet the Romans with Mary Beard, a documentary about how people lived in Rome, "the world’s first global metropolis".

The next few years saw Beard’s popularity grow as she presented more documentaries on ancient history, such as Caligula with Mary Beard (2013), Pompeii: New Secrets Revealed with Mary Beard (2016) and Julius Caesar Revealed in 2018.

In 2020, Beard presented a topical arts series called Inside Culture, a four series programme delving into how the art we consume reflects the times we live in.

Beard is a passionate advocate for education and has started a scholarship worth £80,000 to support two disadvantaged students’ classical studies at Cambridge as her "retirement present".

Beard has been married to classicist and art historian Robin Cormack since 1985. Together they have two children, Zoe, who is an anthropologist and historian, and Raphael, an author, editor and translator.

What is Forbidden Art about? 

Forbidden Art is an hour-long, two-part series exploring art that challenges, questions, shocks and appalls.

Beard will examine these controversial works, asking why certain pieces have been forbidden, who gets to decide, and how our perceptions have changed over time.

In the first episode, called Vile Bodies, Beard will investigate some of the ways in which artists have portrayed the human body, beginning with the Romans in the British Museum.

From there, Beard will move through art into the Renaissance to modern art and how it depicts sex, death, violence and more.

She will also meet with artists such as portrait artist Daphne Todd and contemporary artists Tracey Emin and Martin Creed to discuss the controversial works they have produced, with some tackling subjects such as death and how that has become just as taboo as sex.

Throughout the series, Beard will be asking why some common actions can be considered so disturbing.

Mary Beard’s Forbidden Art airs on 3 February and 10 February on BBC Two at 9 pm.A message from the editor:

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