BBC Four is going to air Cab Night, featuring a specially commissioned documentary from Arena, which explores the soul of the London cabbie. It's a small peeve, but I'd like to take this chance to point out that the rest of Britain has taxi drivers too and that London cabbies are not the only people who drive for a living with a story to tell. Anyway, now I've got that out of the way, let's look at what Cab Night will entail.

The Arena: Cab Driver show forms the centrepiece of Cab Night. Presented by Robert Elms, the evening features shows from the BBC's comedy, drama and news archive. The run will be a culmination of Arena's London Transport Trilogy on BBC Four which celebrates transport in London. The season includes another chance to see the hugely popular Arena films Underground and Little Platform, Big Stage about the iconic Routemaster bus.

Cab Driver rounds the trilogy off and takes it into the unremarked and solitary world of the London cab driver. Now, in fairness, those are the words of the BBC press release... I don't think 'unremarked' is a word anyone would use if they'd been in a London taxi for more than 5 minutes.

The press release continues "Unsurpassed in the world's taxi pecking order, London cabbies carry a photographic memory of the city's layout (following years on the notoriously gruelling Knowledge) and drive the most iconic cab in the world. Yet they are the most maligned characters on our city's streets." Again, I reckon New York taxi drivers would have something to say about that ("you talkin' to me?). By eavesdropping on the cabman's shelter in Russell Square and exploring the stories of five extraordinary cabbies, whose experience spans 70 years, Arena: Cab Driver unearths what lies beneath the fascia of the London cab driver.

Among the characters Arena discovers are Roy Perkins (91) who took his first fare in 1938 and served out his wartime as a London cabbie; Len Fox (first fare: 1974) who after 20 years on the job, found himself, against his better judgement, in a group therapy session just off the M1, recounting his hatred for the nine million Londoners he served; and Harry Harris (first fare: 1988) who after a cashed-up, champagne-fuelled 80s driving his cab, went travelling round the world, only to return to a major recession in London.

Anthony Wall, Arena series editor says: "It's incredibly satisfying to complete the transport trilogy for Arena. We take transport for granted, but as these films reveal, it's so much more than how we get from A to B." Arena's London Transport Trilogy will be broadcast on BBC Four on Saturday 12, 19 and 26 July 2008 (running order TBC).