Mary Beard is to return to TV screens with a “singular exploration of the role of nakedness” in society.

The University of Cambridge classics professor and broadcaster has been commissioned by BBC Two to present a two-part series entitled The Nude Uncovered, which will follow her journey exploring the history of naked human bodies in art and how they impacted perceptions of beauty and gender politics.

“Mary will take in a huge range of images; reinterpreting star artworks like Manet’s Olympia and Michelangelo’s David while shining a light on the hidden corners of image making,” the channel said, promising the programme – due to air in 2019 – would challenge attitudes to nudity and nakedness.

“Mary will go beyond these extremes, reflecting on the changing history of the way people have looked at and understood the naked human form and uncovering the forces that have kept the naked human form in the frame of art for thousands of years.”

Earlier this year, Beard was awarded a damehood in the Queen’s birthday honours, capping off a year which also saw her co-host the BBC’s Civilisations series.

BBC Two also announced that it had commissioned a five-part documentary series on the Iraq war by director James Bluemel, which it hopes will be a definitive account of the conflict told by those who were involved on all sides.

Comedian Romesh Ranganathan will join the channel for a topical weekly show called The Ranganation, which looks looking at the news agenda with the help of a panel of guests including his mother.

The shows are among many announced at this year’s Edinburgh television festival where production companies, channels and streaming services show off their forthcoming programming.

Netflix announced a new series of shows as it pushes into general entertainment programming, including cooking show The Final Table, in which 12 teams of two chefs from around the world will cook the national dishes of nine different countries before being judged by celebrity chefs.

There will also be gameshow Flinch, hosted by comedians Desiree Burch, Lloyd Griffith and Seann Walsh, plus a show in which magician Drummond Money-Coutts recreates stunts that killed historic magicians.

Following the success of Amazon Prime’s behind-the-scenes documentary on Manchester City’s Premier League-winning season, Netflix will be releasing a documentary in December following the story of Sunderland football club as the team tumble into the third tier of English football.