Throughout the history of cinema, nuns have been a recurring source of inspiration for film-makers: from The Sound of Music to Sister Act. Today we’re looking at The Nun’s Story (1959), in which Audrey Hepburn plays a nun: from initiation in a 1920s Belgian convent, to missionary life in the Congo, ending with her involvement in the resistance to Nazi Germany.

But what can The Nun’s Story tell us about life in and outside of the convent? In this episode we ask special guest Dr Bridget Harrison, expert in cultural representations of nuns, to answer this question.