Stories in Colour
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Ranking history
About the show
Latest episodes
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Pink is for girls, blue is for boys
July 8, 2026 · 58 minHave you ever wondered whether pink really is for girls and blue for boys? In our final episode of series two, Beks is joined by Dr Vien Cheung, Associate Professor at the University of Leeds, and National Gallery Educator Ed Dickenson to…
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The hunt for the blackest black
July 1, 2026 · 36 minToday we're on a hunt with artists through time, searching for the blackest black. We’re after the deepest blacks, the most accurate blacks and the most atmospheric blacks. Beks is joined by artist Stuart Semple to help answer questions…
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Rediscovering history’s women colour theorists
June 24, 2026 · 50 minYou might have heard of men like Isaac Newton or Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, but who were the pioneering women writing on colour theory? To answer that question, we’re joined by cultural historian Alexandra Loske and The Colour Club…
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Decoding paintings through colour
June 17, 2026 · 46 minHow do the colours artists choose – and the ways each of us experience them – help us find a story? Join Beks and author Chloë Ashby as they take a closer look at how to ‘read’ colour in some of the National Gallery’s most iconic…
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The mauve measles: when purple went viral
June 10, 2026 · 51 minA teenage chemist’s accidental discovery didn’t just revolutionise colour history – it sparked a viral Victorian colour craze! Cultural historian Kassia St Clair joins Beks to uncover the story of mauveine – the world’s first synthetic…
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Deadly chemical cousins: oranges and yellows
June 3, 2026 · 42 minWhat makes two volcano-born pigments so dangerous? Hint: they weren’t scorching hot when artists used them. Orpiment and realgar both contain arsenic, a foe we’ve previously faced on ‘Stories in Colour’. From volcanoes to ancient…
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A blue more expensive than gold − ultramarine
May 27, 2026 · 52 minTravel with us beyond the sea to look at ultramarine, a pigment that was once even more precious than gold. In this episode, writer Victoria Finlay joins Beks for a discussion on how researching ultramarine took her to Afghanistan. She…
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What is synaesthesia? Can you hear colour?
May 20, 2026 · 53 minWelcome back to a new series of 'Stories in Colour'. To kick off, we’re tackling one of the topics we received the most questions about − synaesthesia. Join Beks and this week’s guests, composer Dr Deborah Pritchard and leading expert on…