Dance’s casting in the three-part series was revealed during the BBC’s announcement of its upcoming arts and culture programming for television and radio, at a special event in London on Wednesday night.
The series Renaissance: The Blood and The Beauty is a co-production with PBS and explores a time of violence and political power that produced some of the greatest works of art in the Western world.
Michelangelo, or Michelangelo Buonarroti, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the Renaissance, who had a significant impact on the development of Western art.
Additionally, new films are being planned as part of the BBC’s Arena documentary series, covering topics ranging from the life of opera singer Maria Callas to a portrait of Roger Moore, the actor who played 007. There will also be a new segment in the documentary In My Own Words, which explores cultural figures in the UK, including writer Hanif Kureishi and artist Alison Lapper.
Other highlights include a film celebrating the 90th birthday of legendary playwright Alan Bennett, and another film marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, coinciding with Holocaust Memorial Day.