British film's Inception: Christopher Nolan explores British cinema history in new BBC documentary

Christopher Nolan’s next notable release may not actually be The Odyssey, an epic movie due in 2026, but a rather more humble BBC radio documentary.

As spotted by the good folks over at Film Stories, the BBC has added a listing for a new documentary series hosted by Christopher Nolan and cultural historian Sir Christopher Frayling.

Rather than making some punny piece of wordplay about the hosts both being called Christopher, this 4-part series is called Hollywood and the Adland Five.

All four episodes will be broadcast next week, beginning at 19:15pm on Monday August 25th. The following episodes will then air one a day at the same time, through to Thursday August 28th.

“The UK's most prominent director Sir Christopher Nolan and the leading cultural historian Sir Christopher Frayling celebrate one of the biggest and boldest eras in movie history,” reads the show’s mini-blurb.

The opening episode is called Transforming Ads, Transforming Movies and — as the show’s cover image gives away — one of the key figures to be discussed is Tony Scott. The director of Top Gun, True Romance, Man on Fire and more, Scott started off making commercials with his brother Ridley Scott before becoming a directing giant in his own right.

From small to silver screen

While the show’s description doesn’t give this away, we imagine the series will also see Nolan and Frayling dig into the careers of Alan Parker, Adrian Lyne and Hugh Hudson. They all honed their movie-directing skills as part of Ridley Scott Associates in the late 1960s, before going on to direct all-timer classic films.

As per the BBC schedules, these episodes are 30 minutes long a piece, and sound like a must-listen for any fan of British cinema.

It’s unlikely Nolan would have needed to carve out too much time researching these figures, who no doubt inspired his own career. He’s busy making The Odyssey, which reportedly wrapped up filming earlier this month, having begun in February 2025. Shooting locations for the epic include Greece, Morocco, Scotland and Sicily.

The Odyssey is expected to be comfortably the most expensive film Nolan has made to date, and will be the first major multiplex movie to be shot entirely using IMAX cameras.

Meanwhile, the director’s most divisive film to date, Tenet, has also just landed on BBC iPlayer. Maybe it's time to see if it makes more sense upon a rewatch.

• Best Christopher Nolan movies, ranked: from The Following to Tenet