Picture of James Lovelock provided by the Science MuseumAnne McElvoy looks back at the life of the maverick scientist James Lovelock who pioneered the theory of Gaia, of a self-regulating Earth. Lovelock also looks to the future and the next evolution of Gaia which could lead to the extinction of human life, and a rise of Artificial Intelligence, but the writer and ecologist George Monbiot prefers his future world with wolves, wild boars and beavers living alongside humans. The UN's intergovernmental panel on climate change has warned to expect more volatile weather patterns, and the physicist Joanna Haigh explains how scientists from all disciplines are working together to measure the impact of solar activity on the Earth's climate.Producer: Katy Hickman.

Tom Sutcliffe looks back three hundred years to the Hanoverian succession to the British throne. The curator Lucy Worsley explains how the German Georges claimed the crown and how they kept it. The Georgian period is also the setting for Paula Byrne's biography of Dido Belle, the daughter of an aristocrat and a captured West Indian slave. Also on the programme, the MP Chris Bryant explores the history of Parliament and the movement of power from King to democracy. But what of today's Royals? The director Rupert Goold's latest production follows the coronation of Prince Charles to examine what it means to rule Britannia.Producer: Katy Hickman.

Tom Sutcliffe looks at both the reality of police life and its portrayal. The playwright Roy Williams's latest drama is set in a police station in Kingston, Jamaica, revealing a world of corruption and intrigue. TV writer Sam Bain, of Peep Show fame, talks about Babylon, a drama which take a wry look at modern policing. The former police officer Christian Plowman explains what life was like undercover, and the criminologist Jennifer Brown looks back at the history of policing in the UK. Producer: Katy Hickman.

Tom Sutcliffe talks to AL Kennedy about her latest collection of short stories of love and hurt. The poet Lavinia Greenlaw retells the tragic love story of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde. The philosopher Simon Blackburn unpicks the idea of self-love from the myth of Narcissus to today's tv hair adverts: 'because you're worth it', while the humorist David Sedaris uses his own life and loves as the focus of his writing. Producer: Katy Hickman.

Anne McElvoy explores the roads not taken with the historian Richard Evans. Counterfactual history began as an Enlightenment parlour game and has become a serious academic pursuit, but Evans argues against endless speculation as to what might have been. The final meeting between Lawrence of Arabia and Faisal I of Iraq was an anti-climax which belied their history. The biographers of these two leaders, Scott Anderson and the former Iraqi politician Ali Allawi, place these men at the centre of the making of the modern Middle East. The writer Malu Halasa offers an alternative view of the violent events in Syria as she curates a book of political posters, comic strips, blogs and plays.Producer: Katy Hickman.

Nobel prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman discusses decision-making. Michael Ignatieff explores moral choices in politics. Neurosurgeon Henry Marsh talks about the complexity of brain surgeries. Emotion clouding judgement is explored by writer Lisa Appignanesi through crimes of passion.

Tom Sutcliffe talks to Andrew Hussey about the often fraught relationship between France and its Arab ex-colonies, and how that plays out in the banlieues of Paris. The psychotherapist Gabrielle Rifkind recounts her experience of conflict resolution in the Middle East. While Rifkind emphases the need to understand what's happened in the past, the writer Ziauddin Sardar tries to imagine what the world would be like if we explored the future in a more systematic and scientific way.Producer: Katy Hickman.

Tom Sutcliffe talks to the historian Michael Wood about the spirit and adventure of the Vikings who travelled all over Europe and as far east as Central Asia. The Vikings sailed close to the coast whenever possible, David Barrie celebrates the invention of the sextant three hundred years ago which made open water navigation and exploration possible. The majority of foreign goods we buy are transported by sea and Rose George charts the murky world of today's international shipping. The mystery and danger of the sea is a recurrent theme in the latest crime novel from the Icelandic writer Yrsa Sigurdadottir.Producer: Katy Hickman.

Tom Sutcliffe discusses money with the American economist Charles Calomiris, who looks back at the history of financial disasters and argues that they're caused more by government failures, than individual bankers. The former head of the Financial Services Authority, Adair Turner, might agree on the need for structural changes, but famously said 'heads should roll' in the banking industry, and has damned much of the banks' trading activities as 'socially useless'. If there has been a moral vacuum at the heart of the banking industry, are there lessons to be learnt from Islamic banking? The financial advisor Harris Irfan believes it's a system that is more equitable and transparent. Seventy five years ago Steinbeck's great depression novel, Grapes of Wrath, was published and Maggie Gee explores its legacy and asks where the wrath is now?Producer: Katy Hickman.

Andrew Marr discusses the history of confession with the writer John Cornwell, from its origins in the early church to the current day. The psychotherapist Susie Orbach explores whether the confession, both secular and religious, provides psychological relief, and the presenter Vanessa Feltz celebrates its public manifestations, the talk show and radio phone in. The former high-flying Wall Street trader, Turney Duff, is looking for absolution, as he reveals his life of excess.Producer: Katy Hickman.