Martin Sixsmith looks at the relationship between the Soviet Union and its writers, poets and composers from the Revolution through to the death of Stalin and beyond. He examines how the state sought to control artists like Anna Akhmatova, Marina Tsvetaeva, Osip Mandelstam, Boris Pasternak, Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich and how each responded to their own artistic responsibilities.

He also looks at the role of the regime's enforcers - individuals such as Tikhon Khrennikov, head of the Composer's Union and persecutor of Shostakovich - men who "sold out" their integrity for personal gain.

Featuring new interviews with Shostakovich's widow Irina, Pasternak's son Yevgeny, Prokofiev's son Sviatoslav and Stalin's appointee Tikhon Khrennikov.

A BBC Wales production