Should everyone, or at least every sovereign professional, read Machiavelli’s notorious book, The Prince?

From the BBC’s Imagine series, this programme explores the history and contemporary impact of Nicolo Machiavelli’s most famous book.

It includes interviews with leading academics and authors, including: Robert Greene (The 48 Rules of Power), George RR Martin (Game of Thrones) and Michael Dobbs (author of the original House of Cards and Chief of Staff of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Party).

Other contributors include Colonel Tim Collins (with the sand-filled copy he carried in Iraq War), Alastair Campbell and Jonathan Powell.

A particular highlight is a suitably menacing Peter Capaldi reading extracts from The Prince.

Worth an hour of your time, if you have an interest in the man and the book we occasionally quote.