As it returns for a new, eight-part run, the heritage series looks at buildings inspired by animals, starting an animal-themed mini-evening of history. Kirsty Wark sees how hunting has laid the foundations for a wealth of lavish architecture, while Lucinda Lambton looks for Britain's grandest animal monuments and Dan Cruickshank assesses an avant-garde builder's contribution to architecture through his work at London Zoo.

Behind their elegant Georgian facades, 18th-century cities were built on the profits of the sex industry, where prostitution was a sophisticated, lucrative and surprisingly respectable trade. Dan Cruickshank charts the rise to fame and fortune of two prostitutes, and sees how the obsession with sex extended to art, architecture and even landscape gardens.

Tonight's film celebrates the golden age of public transport - when railway stations were cathedrals, journeys were to be enjoyed not endured and inventors sought new and better ways of getting around. Kirsty Wark visits Newcastle's grand Victorian railway station and Derby's Art Deco bus depot, Joan Bakewell argues that people have forgotten the thrill of travel, while Dan Cruickshank investigates lost transport visions that were considered too advanced for their time.

Traditionally, architecture has been a profession dominated by men. But Joan Bakewell digs into the profession's history to identify the women who have helped shape the British landscape, from medieval prioresses to powerful aristocrats, and uncovers a wealth of innovative design.

Nelson is seen as the classic British hero, yet, as this film recalls, he also shocked polite society when, at the height of his fame, he began an adulterous affair with Lady Emma Hamilton.

Kirsty Wark asks why Britain has never embraced fountains as enthusiastically as the continent, plus a look at the hidden depths of Canova and the mysterious world of gargoyles.

Interiors can say more about how people lived than bricks and mortar. Kirsty Wark discovers a lost tradition of plasterwork in the West Country, Lucinda Lambton visits Islington to see the last surviving traditional wallpaper factory in London, which decorated Buckingham Palace, and Roger Bowdler celebrates the overlooked art form of wall paintings.

In the last of the series, Kirsty Wark follows vital repair work to the Wellington Arch in London, Philippa Gregory explores the lost garden of Hestercombe in Somerset - now being restored by a local farmer- and Dan Cruickshank finds out why a derelict colliery near Stoke is fast becoming the most challenging and expensive current conservation project in the country.