Playlists

This playlist brings together seven courses on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The first four look at Romeo and Juliet directly, while the other three provide historical, literary and cultural context.

The playlist brings together twelve courses on Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes, perfect for those studying the 'Greek Theatre' option for OCR A Level Classical Civilization.

This playlist brings together seven courses on Romantic Poetry. The first course explores Romanticism in depth through twelve lectures. The remaining six courses focus on the works of several Romantic poets of note (Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, B...

This playlist covers the history of China from the First Opium War (1839-42) to the handover of Hong Kong in 1997.

This playlist covers the history of Germany from the Battle of Waterloo (1815) to the Reunification of Germany in 1990.

In this course, the novelist Anthony Cartwright (UWE, winner of the Betty Trask Award for his 2004 novel, The Afterglow) introduces some techniques for improving creative writing, both descriptive and narrative. In the first two modules, we think ...

This Playlist brings together five courses on non-core political ideas.

This Playlist brings together seven courses on the UK Government. Ideal for those taking Edexcel A Level Politics (9PL0).

In this course, Professor Natasha Lindstaedt (University of Essex) explores some key areas of global governance. In the first module, we are introduced to the key concepts of Realism and Liberalism, detailing their different attitudes towards conf...

This Playlist brings together two courses on Epistemology; the theory of knowledge. The first looks at the Philosophy of John Locke in detail, whilst the second covers three aspects of knowledge and belief.

This playlist brings together two courses on Descartes and Mind-Body Dualism. Perfect for those studying the 'Metaphysics of Mind' option for AQA A Level Philosophy.

This Playlist brings together multiple courses on the topic of Marxist Sociology. Covering Marxist approaches to religion, education and more.

This Playlist brings together multiple courses looking at gender and feminism in Sociology.

In this course, Professor Rafal Soborski (Richmond, The American International University in London) explores key debates around the concept and characteristics of globalisation. In the first lecture, we consider some notable ways in which globali...

This Playlist brings together multiple courses looking at various sociological research methods. Perfect for those studying AQA Sociology '3.2 Research Methods'.

This Playlist brings together multiple courses on the US Supreme Court, US presidency, US politics. Perfect for those studying the 'Government and Politics of the USA' option at A Level.

In this course, Professor John Lennard explores John Ford’s 17th-century tragedy, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore. The course begins by thinking about john Ford himself, about whom we know very little, and his literary output, before moving on to explore ...

This playlist brings together six courses on Chaucer's Merchant's Tale. The first two look at the Merchant's Tale directly, while the other four provide historical, literary and cultural context.

This playlist brings together seven courses on Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The first three look at Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde directly, while the other four provide historical, literary and cultural context.

The playlist brings together twelve courses on Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, and Virgil's Aeneid, perfect for those studying the 'World of the Hero' option for OCR A Level Classical Civilization.

This playlist brings together sixteen courses on the Tudors, covering the reigns of all five Tudor monarchs: Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I.

The playlist brings together twelve courses on the fall of the Roman Republic, perfect for those studying the 'Politics of the Late Republic' option for OCR A Level Classical Civilization.

This playlist brings together ten courses that cover the history of Russia in the 20th century, from the 1905 Revolution to the Prague Spring of 1968.

The playlist brings together five courses on how the ancient Greeks thought about the gods, including oracles, hero cult, and the concept of polis religion, perfect for those studying the 'Greek Religion' option for OCR A Level Classical Civilizat...

The playlist brings together five courses on the history of Athenian democracy, perfect for those studying the 'Democracy and the Athenians' option for OCR A Level Classical Civilization.

This playlist brings together six courses on Shakespeare's Macbeth. The first three provide a detailed analysis of individual scenes and key themes in the play, while the other three look at the broader contexts of the supernatural in literature a...

This playlist brings together seven courses on Shakespeare's Othello. The first few look at Othello directly, while the others provide historical, literary and cultural context.

This playlist includes four courses on Bram Stoker's Dracula. The first two explore the novel directly, while the other two look at the context of Gothic writing and the supernatural in literature more broadly.

This playlist brings together five courses on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The first two deal with the novella directly, while the other three explore genre of Gothic writing and the Romantic period in literature more broadly.

In this course, Dr Rosie Wyles (University of Kent) explores Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus. In the first module, we think about where Sophocles chooses to start the story and how it proceeds, compared to other versions of the myth. After that, we th...

This Playlist brings together multiple courses on the topic of Families and Households in Sociology. Perfect for those studying A Level Sociology.

This Playlist brings together multiple courses exploring Charles Dickens' 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol.

This playlist covers a range of key issues and debates in Psychology, including the nature-nurture debate, individual versus situational factors in behaviour, and the role of cross-cultural psychological research.

How to perform good psychology research, from developing your initial idea to publishing your results.

This playlist brings together thirteen courses that explore the history of civil rights in the United States, from the development of the transatlantic slave trade in the late fifteenth century to the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s.

This playlist brings together several courses on topics in developmental psychology, including attachment, cognitive development, theory of mind and autism.

This playlist brings together a large number of courses on American History into one single collection. This playlist aims to give viewers a comprehensive history of the United States of America, from before European settlement well into the 21st ...

"To be, or not to be, that is the question." Find out the answer to that question and many more with our Hamlet playlist. Featuring forty-two lectures across four courses, this playlist explores the play act-by-act and scene-by-scene, as well as e...

This playlist brings together six courses on Webster's The Duchess of Malfi. The first three focus on the play directly, while the remaining three look at the broader literary, historical and cultural contexts of Jacobean tragedy.

This playlist brings together four courses on Shakespeare's King Lear. The first three look at the play directly, while the last provides historical, literary and cultural context.

This playlist is comprised of topics from the Sports and Exercise psychology course from the OCR specification.

This playlist brings together seven courses on Victorian poetry. The first two provide a general introduction to the poetry of the Victorian period and how to read and analyse it. The next four courses focus on the work of several Victorian poets ...

The playlist brings together five courses on love and relationships in the ancient world, including courses on Sappho, Plato, and Seneca, perfect for those studying the 'Love and Relationships' option for OCR A Level Classical Civilization.

The playlist brings together three courses on the public image of Augustus, including his political career, his building works in the city of Rome, and his self-presentation on his coinage, perfect for those studying the 'Imperial Image' option fo...

This playlist brings together several courses on topics in health and clinical psychology, including anxiety, depression, OCD, schizophrenia, eating behaviour and stress.

This playlist brings together several courses on topics in social psychology, including obedience, conformity, prejudice, helping and help-seeking and the social cure.

This playlist brings together several courses on topics in biological psychology, including the brain, the nervous system and the endocrine system and aggression.

This playlist brings together several courses on the psychology of crime and criminal justice, including forensic psychology, criminal psychology and witness memory.

This playlist brings together three courses on topics in Metaphysics of God.

This playlist brings together several courses on topics in moral philosophy, including utilitarianism, virtue ethics, meta-ethics, and Kantian deontological ethics.

This Playlist brings together eleven courses on UK Politics. Covering political parties, electoral systems, voting behaviour and the media this Playlist is ideal for those studying 'Political Participation' for Component 1: UK Politics Edexcel A L...

This Playlist brings together four courses on UK Core Political Ideas. Perfect for those studying Core Political Ideas for Component 1: UK Politics Edexcel A Level Politics 9PL0/01.

This Playlist brings together sixteen courses on everything from Galenism to the creation of Antibiotics and the NHS. Perfect for those studying the 'Medicine Through Time' option for GCSE History.

This Playlist brings together multiple courses on the topic of Crime and Deviance explored in A-Level Sociology.

This Playlist brings together multiple courses on the topic of Globalisation and Development in Sociology.

This Playlist brings together five courses exploring religion and religious beliefs. Perfect for those studying the 'Religion, belief and faith' option for Component 03: Debates in contemporary society OCR Sociology - H180, H580.

This playlist brings together course for the GCSE Crime and Punishment option.

From the multi-store model to eye-witness testimony; put your brain to the test with this series of courses on remembering, forgetting, and everything in between.

This playlist pulls together content relating to the the superpower struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union from 1945 to 1991.

In this set of courses, we focus on the first four Crusades, starting with from Pope Urban II's declaration of the First Crusade at the Council fo Clermont (1095) and ending with the crusaders' sack of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade (1204).

Relationships; real, virtual, and even parasocial.

What is sex and gender? How and why are they different, and why does it matter?

Why do we eat what we eat? A comprehensive tour of good eating behaviours, problematic eating behaviours, and the origins and consequences of both.

Aggression research; from its deeply problematic roots to the modern nature-nurture debate.

How we interact with and respond to our natural and built environment.

This Playlist brings together three courses covering the rise, expansion and eventual decline of the Mongol Empire.

In this course, Dr Regine May (University of Leeds) explores the story of Cupid and Psyche in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses. In the first module, we think about the literary and historical context of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses, before turning in the second...

In this course, Professor Mark Greengrass (University of Sheffield) explores the French Wars of Religion. In the first module, we consider whether the Wars of Religion are a period or a problem, thinking in particular about the key characteristics...

In this course, Dr Alfie Bown (University of Manchester) explores Dickens’ 1854 novel, Hard Times. As we move through the course, we think about the philosophy of Utilitarianism (thinking in particular about Mr. Gradgrind), about class (thinking i...

This course provides close reading and analysis of Aristophanes’ Frogs, focusing on the prescribed material for the OCR A-Level in Classical Greek. All passages are presented in the original Greek with a facing English translation, while commentar...

In this course, Dr Henriette van der Blom (University of Birmingham) explores the politics of the Late Republic through one of its central figures: Marcus Tullius Cicero. We begin by providing a broad introduction to Cicero's life and career as we...

In this course, Dr Matt Ivory (Cardiff University) introduces genetic variation, covering topics 3.12-3.16, 3.19 and 3.20 in the Pearson Edexcel GCSE Biology (9-1) Specification. We begin by: (i) explaining why there are differences in the inherit...

In this course, Dr Lucy Jones (University of Nottingham) explores language use through the lens of gender and sexuality. In the first module, we outline some of the traditional approaches to the question of why men and women use language different...

War has always been a feature of human history. It is reviled as one of the great evils of which we are capable as a species, but often also commemorated and recounted as honourable and just. War raises many difficult moral questions, and this sam...

In this course, Professor Andrew Gibson (Royal Holloway, London) explores Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. We begin by thinking about Beckett’s life, tracing his development as a man and a writer up to the outbreak of the Second World War in 19...

In this course, Professor Grace Ioppolo (University of Reading) explores Arthur Miller’s masterpiece, ‘Death of a Salesman’. We begin by thinking about the historical context in which the play was written, focusing in particular on the development...

In this course, Dr Mark Garnett (University of Lancaster) introduces the core political idea of conservatism. We begin in the first module by thinking about the origins of conservatism in Edmund Burke’s reaction to the French Revolution. In the se...

In this course, Professor Jon Mee (University of York) explores the life and poetry of the great Romantic poet, John Keats. We begin by looking at Keats’ background, including his family, early education, and his career, before exploring Keats’ le...

In this course, Dr Adam Stock (York St John University) explores George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. The first four modules cover historical and literary context, including the genre of the novel, the life and career of George Orwell himself, an...

In this course, Dr Rosie Wyles (University of Kent) provides a critical study of three plays of Aristophanes – The Acharnians (425 BC), The Knights (424 BC) and Peace (421 BC) – in their theatrical, religious, social, and political context. In par...

In this course we look at several aspects of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. In the first six sections, we focus on Romanticism and what it means to call Heathcliff a Romantic hero. In second six sections, we focus on individual themes in the no...

In this course, Professor Matthew Stibbe (Sheffield Hallam University) explores Weimar Germany through twelve key questions: (1) Was Weimar Germany doomed to fail from the start?; (2) Why did Weimar fail in the early 1930s?; (3) How much of a prob...

In this course, we explore the history of the Gothic novel, beginning with Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto, and finishing with the literature (and films) of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries that have been influenced by the Gothic, i...

In this course, Professor Marion Turner (University of Oxford) explores The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale, part of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. We begin by thinking about the portrait of the Wife of Bath in the General Prologue of the Canterbury...

In this course, Professor Llewelyn Morgan (University of Oxford) explores Book 6 of Virgil’s Aeneid. It will be particularly useful for those reading Book 6 of the Aeneid as their verse set text for OCR Latin GCSE (J282). In the first lecture, we ...

In this course, Dr Keith Carabine (University of Kent) explores Joseph Conrad's 1899 novella, Heart of Darkness. The course begins by thinking about Conrad's own experiences in Africa, as recorded in his 'Personal Record' (1912) and 'Geography and...

In this course, Dr William Blazek (Liverpool Hope University) explores F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby. We being by thinking about the concept of the American Dream, focusing in particular on how some of the major characters in ...

In this course, Professor John Morrill (University of Cambridge) explores the politics and religion of Tudor England through ten key questions: (1) To what extent was religion in England changed significantly during the reign of Henry VIII?; (2) W...

In this course, Dr Iain Law (University of Birmingham) thinks about utilitarianism, one of the three major normative ethical theories alongside Kantian deontological ethics and virtue ethics. In the first module, we introduce the concept of a mora...

In this course, Professor Catharine Edwards (Birkbeck, University of London) provides an introduction to Seneca the Younger and his Epistulae Morales. We begin by providing a broad introduction to Seneca's life, career, and literary output, before...

In this course, Professor Judy Barringer (University of Edinburgh) explores Greek art, focusing in particular on vase-painting and sculpture from the seventh to the early fifth century BC. We begin by thinking about black-figure pottery, focusing ...

This playlist brings together materials on the first four emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty: Augustus, Tiberius, Gaius and Claudius.

In this course, Dr Ellen O'Gorman (University of Bristol) explores Tacitus' Histories, focusing in particular on Book 1. We begin by providing a broader introduction to the Histories, thinking about the scope of the work, as well as how the first ...

In this course, Professor Iwan Morgan (University College, London) explores the presidency of Ronald Reagan (1981-89). In the first module, we think about Reagan's handling of the economy, focusing in particular on the shift away from the economic...

In this course, Dr Marcella Sutcliffe (University of Cambridge) explores Italy's unification movement, starting with Napoleon’s invasion of Italy in the late 1790s, and ending with the unification of Italy in 1861. As we move through the course, w...

In this course, Dr Keith Williams (University) explores H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. We begin by thinking about the concept of ‘Mars fever’, focusing in particular on the reasons behind the resurgent interest in the planet in the late 19th ...

In this course, Professor Stephen Rachman (Michigan State University) looks at the outbreak of cholera in 19th century England, focusing in particular on the involvement of John Snow. In the first module, we take a look at Snow’s career, specifica...

In this course Dr Sean Sutherland (University of Westminster) explores discourse analysis. In the first lecture, we provide an introduction to the terms discourse and discourse analysis. In the second lecture, we think about different types of dis...

In this course, Dr Jonathan Willis (University of Birmingham) explores the Henrician Reformation. We begin by thinking about the 'health' of the church in late Medieval England, focusing in particular on the concept of lay piety. After that, we tu...

In this course, Henriette van der Blom (University of Glasgow) explores Cicero's speech 'De Imperio Cn Pompeii', delivered in 66 BC. The course begins with an introduction to oratory in Rome, including the different kinds of speeches that an orato...

In this course, Professor Annabelle Mooney (University of Roehampton) explores the relationship between language in power. In the first module, we explore the concept of speech acts and Jakobson's six functions of language. After that, we introduc...

In this course, we explore several aspects of Homer’s Iliad. The course begins with a consideration of one of the most fundamental questions asked of the Homeric epics – the so-called Homeric Question – which asks whether the Iliad was the work of...

In this course, Professor Llewelyn Morgan (University of Oxford) explores Virgil's Aeneid. In the first module, we think about the theme of the city in the poem, focusing in particular on the centrality of the city of Carthage, the use of both ca...

In this course, Professor Dave Andress (University of Portsmouth) considers eight key questions related to the French Revolution of 1789-99: (1) Did Louis XVI ever try to make the Constitutional Monarchy work? (2) To what extent did the National A...

In this course, Dr Lisa Pine (London South Bank University) explores several aspects of Nazi Germany. In the first module, we think about the rise of Nazism from the foundation of the DAP (later the NSDAP) in 1919 to Hitler's appointment as Chance...

In this course, Professor Marie Mulvey-Roberts (University of the West of England) explores Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber. We begin by providing an introduction to Carter herself, focusing in particular on the range of her literary output and...

In this course, we discuss four key themes in Homer's Odyssey. In the first module, we concentrate on the concept of oral poetry - the idea that the Odyssey was not originally written down, but passed orally from generation to generation - and the...

In this course, Professor Judith Mossman (University of Nottingham) explores Euripides’ Medea, a play which depicts a marital breakdown so severe that it leads to one woman taking revenge on her husband by killing their two children. As we move th...

In this course, Professor Keith Hanley (University of Lancaster) explores the poetry of the great Romantic poet, William Wordsworth. In the first module, we think about Romanticism, the Romantic movement, and some of the leading themes of that per...

In this course, Dr Ross Wilson (University of Cambridge) explores the poetry of Christina Rossetti. Having begun with a summary of Rossetti’s critical reception, both in her own lifetime and then after her death, we then explore Rossetti’s poetry ...

In this course, Professor Mark White (Queen Mary, University of London) explores the life, political career and presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson through five key questions: (1) How did Johnson rise to power?; (2) Why did Johnson go to war in Vietna...

In this course, Dr Llewelyn Morgan (University of Oxford) explores the poetry of the Roman poet Catullus. In particular, we think about Catullus as a poet who combined the innovative and subversive with the traditional and conservative.

In this course, Dr Páraic Finnerty (University of Portsmouth) explores the poetry Emily Dickinson. In the first module, we think about the figure of the poet herself, exploring some of the reasons why Dickinson refused to play the role of the publ...

In this course, Dr Christie Carson (Royal Holloway, London) explores Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. We begin in the first module by thinking of the play's status as a comedy: is it enough for the play to end with a marriage for us to consider i...

In this course, Dr Sylvia Jaworska (University of Reading) provides an introduction to analysing media texts. In the first lecture, we think about what we mean when we talk about ‘media’, including the idea that a ‘medium’ is something that we use...