The South Bank Show
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The South Bank Show | |
 Series Titles (2006 version) |
|
| Format | Arts |
|---|---|
| Presented by | Melvyn Bragg |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | LWT |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV |
| Original run | 14 January 1978 – 2010 |
The South Bank Show is a television arts magazine show, made by London Weekend Television, presented by Melvyn Bragg, broadcast on ITV and seen in over 60 countries worldwide — including Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Sweden and the USA. Its stated aim is to bring both high art with popular culture to a mass audience.
On 6 May 2009 ITV announced that the show is to come to an end following Bragg's retirement in 2010.[1]
Contents |
[edit] History
The programme first aired on 14 January 1978, with topics on Germaine Greer, Gerald Scarfe and Paul McCartney. It is the longest continuously running arts programme on UK television.
From the beginning the series' intent was to mix high art and popular culture. This has remained, and the programme has always focused predominantly on art of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
[edit] Awards
The programme has been awarded more than 110 awards (including 12 BAFTAs, 5 Prix Italia and 4 RTS Awards). Even Pat Gavin's animated title sequences have won 2 BAFTAs.
[edit] Subjects
There have been many subjects of the show, including:
[edit] Directors
Sir David Lean once said, "The best directors in Britain are working on The South Bank Show." Directors who have made editions of the programme include:
- Sebastian Doggart
- Kim Evans
- Andy Harries
- Mary Harron
- James Ivory
- Tony Knox
- Ken Loach
- Jeremy Marre
- Tony Palmer
- Ken Russell
[edit] Theme music and visuals
The famous theme music is taken from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Variations composed in 1977 for his brother, the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber. This is based on the theme from Paganini's "24th Caprice". The brand image of the programme is an animated version of a detail from Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling painting, specifically the image of the Hand of God giving life to Adam. It shows the two hands meeting, generating a lightning bolt.
[edit] Parody
The comedy series Dead Ringers often parodies The South Bank Show. It does this in a series of sketches called South Bank, a cross between The South Bank Show and the American cartoon South Park, set in the South Bank of London. In these sketches, Melvyn Bragg is Stan Marsh, Alan Yentob is Kyle Broflovski, Mark Lawson is Eric Cartman and Kenneth Branagh is Kenny McCormick.
A sketch in The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer featured Vic Reeves as Melvyn Bragg (with felt-tip marks on his face) presenting a feature on fictional folk singers Mulligan and O'Hare. Reeves' depicts Bragg as an unlikely A-Team obsessive.
Harry Enfield's TV film Norbert Smith - a Life is a parody edition of The South Bank Show.
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's second series of Extras featured a reference to a fictional episode of The South Bank Show focused on madcap children's television presenters Dick and Dom.
Private Eye tends to parody Melvyn Bragg's name, and Spitting Image would rather accentuate his nasal accent.
[edit] Podcast
From 18 September 2006, ITV have begun releasing a podcast of the interviews from the show, including extra material that isn't broadcast. There are plans to release past interviews as part of the podcast as well.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ "ITV to axe The South Bank Show when Melvyn Bragg retires next year", The Guardian, 6 May 2009
- ^ "The South Bank Show - Podcasts". itv.com. http://www.itv.com/entertainment/chatandtalent/southbankshow/podcast. Retrieved on 2007-09-07.
[edit] External links
- The South Bank Show at itv.com
- Complete list of subjects from epguides.com
- The South Bank Show at the Internet Movie Database
- Variations performance by Julian Lloyd Webber and Colosseum II
