Treasures of Ancient Egypt, episode 2, BBC Four, review The Telegraph's Alastair Sooke needed no such gimmickry to persuade us of the merits of Egyptian art in Treasures of Ancient Egypt (BBC Four). In the second episode of this three-part series, he continued to tell the story of the civilisation from the perspective of an art lover rather than a historian or archaeologist, by examining 30 of its best works of sculpture, painting and architecture. Sooke was like the gentleman explorer, sporting a Panama throughout, whether navigating Egyptian rivers, striding across the sand or using it to point out some reliefs in a museum. His willingness to admit to conjecture and his use of anachronistic language drew us into the cultural debate. Segments in which today's craftsmen helped him recreate these treasures - from Middle Kingdom jewellery to glass - emphasised the sheer skill of the artists of Ancient Egypt. Each artefact was studied for its own merits, and then used to illuminate an aspect of the kingdom's culture, or to pose a puzzling question. At Queen Hatshepsut's temple on the banks of the Nile at Luxor, Sooke alighted on a crude carving of the Queen having sex with Senmut, an official, to demonstrate how vulnerable her gender made her to cruel gossip about powerful men in her court. Another of the treasures, however, proved she was as susceptible to chutzpah as the male rulers of the kingdom. Her "gargantuan" obelisk, sheathed in gold leaf, was remarkable, as was the narcissism of its inscription: "People who will see my monument years later... will speak of what I have made." IN PICTURES: The British Museum's new Ancient Egyptian gallery In the British Museum, Sooke talked us through 11 intricately designed wall paintings, before asking us to ponder how a middle-ranking accountant - Nebamun - persuaded "antiquity's Michelangelo" to paint them for his tomb. Sooke may not have wanted to make yet another film about the pharaohs, but the tales behind these well-chosen treasures did shed rare light on daily life in Egypt's heyday.