The South Bank Show

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The South Bank Show
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 – Present

The South Bank Show is an award-winning 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 and popular culture to a mass audience.

1 History
2 Awards
3 Subjects
4 Directors
5 Theme music and visuals
6 Parody
7 Podcast
8 References
9 External links

[edit] History

It first aired on 14 January 1978, with a show about Germaine Greer, Gerald Scarfe and Paul McCartney. It is now the longest continuously running arts programme on UK television, and the third longest-running series of any kind on ITV (after Coronation Street and Emmerdale).

From the beginning the series intention was to mix so-called high art with popular culture. This has remained, and the programme has always focused predominantly on art of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

[edit] Awards

It has been awarded more than 110 awards (including 12 BAFTAs, 6 Emmys, 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:

Paul McCartney in 1978
Ken Dodd in 1978
Francis Ford Coppola in 1979
Arthur Miller in 1980
Sir Laurence Olivier in 1982
Gene Hackman in 1983
Oscar Peterson in 1984
Sir Alec Guinness in 1985
Francis Bacon in 1985
John Cleese in 1986
Eric Clapton in 1987
The Smiths in 1987
Robert Redford in 1989
Pet Shop Boys in 1990
Anthony Hopkins in 1992
Elaine Paige in 1996
Sir John Mills in 1996
Bee Gees in 1997
Blur in 1999
Juan Diego Florez in 2000
Ewan McGregor in 2003
Sir Malcolm Arnold in 2004
Dusty Springfield in 2006
Jarvis Cocker in 2007
Victoria Wood in 2007
June Whitfield in 2007
Annie Lennox in 2007
Eric Clapton in 2007
The Nutcracker (ballet) in 2007
Nick Park in 2007
Liza Minnelli in 2008

[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:

[edit] Theme music and visuals

The iconic image of the Hand of God giving life to Adam, used since the series' inception.

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.

Harry Enfield's TV film Norbert Smith - a Life is a parody edition of the South Bank Show.

[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.^[1]