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The South Bank Show

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The South Bank Show
GenreArts
Presented byMelvyn Bragg (1978–2023)
Opening themeVariation on Paganini's "24th Caprice" by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series45
No. of episodes805 (+ 3 specials)
Production
Running time60mins (inc. adverts)
Production companyLWT
Original release
NetworkITV
Release14 January 1978 (1978-01-14) –
30 May 2010 (2010-05-30)
NetworkSky Arts
Release27 May 2012 (2012-05-27) –
29 August 2023 (2023-08-29)

The South Bank Show is a British television arts magazine series originally produced by London Weekend Television and broadcast on ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new version of the series began 27 May 2012 on Sky Arts.[1] Conceived, written, and presented by former BBC arts broadcaster Melvyn Bragg, the show aims to bring both high art and popular culture to a mass audience. In 2023, the series came to an end when it was announced that Bragg would be leaving the series after 45 years.[2][3]

History

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ITV (1978–2010)

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The programme was a replacement for Aquarius, the arts series which had been running since 1970. Presenter Melvyn Bragg was already well known for his arts broadcasting on BBC television, notably Monitor and BBC Two's The Lively Arts. It first aired on 14 January 1978, covering many subjects, including 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 20th and 21st centuries.

For much of its life, the show was produced by London Weekend Television (LWT) for the ITV network.

In May 2009, ITV announced that the show was to come to an end. Although it was originally reported that the show was ending due to Bragg's retirement,[4] Bragg later made it clear that he decided to leave after they ended the show, and thought ending it was a mistake; according to him, "they've killed the show, so I thought, I'll go as well."[5][6]

On Monday 28 December 2009 the final ITV edition of The South Bank Show was broadcast, featuring The Royal Shakespeare Company as its subject. Melvyn Bragg announced on this programme that, after ITV's last South Bank Show Awards in January 2010, there would be a series of ten The South Bank Show Revisited programmes transmitted in early 2010, featuring updates on previous South Bank Show subjects.

The production archive for the ITV series, including unaired footage, is housed at the University of Leeds.[7]

ITV had 33 series with 743 episodes, from 1978 until 2010.

Sky Arts (2012–present)

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In July 2010, it was revealed that Bragg had bought the rights to the brand and had first right of access to The South Bank Show archives.[8] Sky Arts broadcasts South Bank Show archive editions and hosted the South Bank Sky Arts Awards on 25 Jan 2011, presented by Melvyn Bragg, accompanied by a new arrangement of The South Bank Show theme.

Sky Arts revived The South Bank Show with a new series starting 27 May 2012.[1]

Since 2012 most series only have around 4–6 episodes.[9][10]

Theme music and visuals

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

The 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.

Subjects

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There have been many subjects of the show,[11] including:

1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s

Directors

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Directors who have made editions of the programme include:

Podcast

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From 18 September 2006, ITV released podcast of the interviews from the show, including extra material not included in the broadcast editions.[14]

Awards

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The programme has been awarded more than 110 awards (including 12 BAFTAs, 5 Prix Italia and 4 RTS Awards). Pat Gavin's animated title sequences have won two BAFTAs.

Parodies

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The comedy series Dead Ringers often parodied 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. As Spitting Image was often aired immediately before The South Bank Show, episodes would often end with a send-up of Bragg, most notably in one episode having him advise viewers to switch off their televisions to avoid watching it.

Benny Hill once parodied Bragg in a 1978 episode of The Benny Hill Show as Melvyn Dragg. The name of the show was also parodied, and it was called "The South Blank Show."

Transmission

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Series Episodes Broadcast date Network
First aired Last aired
1 24 14 January 1978 (1978-01-14) 22 July 1978 (1978-07-22) ITV
2 24 26 November 1978 (1978-11-26) 24 June 1979 (1979-06-24)
3 19 2 December 1979 (1979-12-02) 6 July 1980 (1980-07-06)
4 26 9 November 1980 (1980-11-09) 28 June 1981 (1981-06-28)
5 27 1 November 1981 (1981-11-01) 30 May 1982 (1982-05-30)
6 26 17 October 1982 (1982-10-17) 12 June 1983 (1983-06-12)
7 23 16 October 1983 (1983-10-16) 24 June 1984 (1984-06-24)
8 26 7 October 1984 (1984-10-07) 16 June 1985 (1985-06-16)
9 24 6 October 1985 (1985-10-06) 4 May 1986 (1986-05-04)
10 26 5 October 1986 (1986-10-05) 19 April 1987 (1987-04-19)
11 25 4 October 1987 (1987-10-04) 24 April 1988 (1988-04-24)
12 24 25 September 1988 (1988-09-25) 24 March 1989 (1989-03-24)
13 25 17 September 1989 (1989-09-17) 22 April 1990 (1990-04-22)
14 23 2 September 1990 (1990-09-02) 29 March 1991 (1991-03-29)
15 25 15 September 1991 (1991-09-15) 14 June 1992 (1992-06-14)
16 25 4 October 1992 (1992-10-04) 22 August 1993 (1993-08-22)
17 26 12 September 1993 (1993-09-12) 29 May 1994 (1994-05-29)
18 22 18 September 1994 (1994-09-18) 25 June 1995 (1995-06-25)
19 20 10 September 1995 (1995-09-10) 28 July 1996 (1996-07-28)
20 21 15 September 1996 (1996-09-15) 20 July 1997 (1997-07-20)
21 22 5 October 1997 (1997-10-05) 30 August 1998 (1998-08-30)
22 16 8 November 1998 (1998-11-08) 4 April 1999 (1999-04-04)
23 21 26 September 1999 (1999-09-26) 2 July 2000 (2000-07-02)
24 25 1 October 2000 (2000-10-01) 19 August 2001 (2001-08-19)
25 19 7 October 2001 (2001-10-07) 4 August 2002 (2002-08-04)
26 26 13 October 2002 (2002-10-13) 21 September 2003 (2003-09-21)
27 13 19 October 2003 (2003-10-19) 27 June 2004 (2004-06-27)
28 22 22 August 2004 (2004-08-22) 15 May 2005 (2005-05-15)
29 19 7 August 2005 (2005-08-07) 11 June 2006 (2006-06-11)
30 25 10 September 2006 (2006-09-10) 29 July 2007 (2007-07-29)
31 19 2 September 2007 (2007-09-02) 13 July 2008 (2008-07-13)
32 15 13 September 2008 (2008-09-13) 24 May 2009 (2009-05-24)
33 21 14 September 2009 (2009-09-14) 30 May 2010 (2010-05-30)
34 4 28 May 2012 (2012-05-28) 18 June 2012 (2012-06-18) Sky Arts
35 6 18 April 2013 (2013-04-18) 23 May 2013 (2013-05-23)
36 6 22 May 2014 (2014-05-22) 26 June 2014 (2014-06-26)
37 6 24 February 2015 (2015-02-24) 15 July 2015 (2015-07-15)
38 6 10 June 2016 (2016-06-10) 20 July 2016 (2016-07-20)
39 6 17 July 2017 (2017-07-17) 27 August 2017 (2017-08-27)
40 6 7 November 2018 (2018-11-07) 12 December 2018 (2018-12-12)
41 4 5 May 2019 (2019-05-05) 6 August 2019 (2019-08-06)
42 4 20 November 2020 (2020-11-20) 20 December 2020 (2020-12-20)
43 4 24 June 2021 (2021-06-24) 15 July 2021 (2021-07-15)
44 4 13 July 2022 (2022-07-13) 3 August 2022 (2022-08-03)
45 5 5 July 2023 (2023-07-05) 29 August 2023 (2023-08-29)
Specials
Special Broadcast date Network
British Comedy Special 14 November 1994 (1994-11-14) ITV
30th Anniversary Special 14 January 2018 (2018-01-14) Sky Arts
Vincent and Theo 30 September 2019 (2019-09-30)

References

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  1. ^ a b "Sherlock and Twenty Twelve up for South Bank Awards". RadioTimes.
  2. ^ Walker, Amy (20 August 2023). "Melvyn Bragg to step down from South Bank Show after 45 years". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  3. ^ Rees, Jasper (29 August 2023). "Farewell to The South Bank Show, a titan of the British arts". The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 October 2024.(subscription required)
  4. ^ "ITV to axe The South Bank Show when Melvyn Bragg retires next year", The Guardian (London), 6 May 2009
  5. ^ Chitra Ramaswamy (9 November 2009). "Interview: Melvyn Bragg - Man out of time". The Scotsman. Retrieved 9 November 2009. 'It did [shock me] a bit, especially from [ITV chairman] Michael [Grade],' says Bragg before steeling himself. 'I think it's a mistake. But there you go. These things happen. You move on.'
  6. ^ See also Bragg's book of reminiscences, The South Bank Show: Final Cut. Hodder, 2010. ISBN 978-1-4447-0552-2
  7. ^ "South Bank Show Production Archive", University of Leeds, 18 November 2020
  8. ^ Brown, Maggie (19 July 2010). "Lord Bragg takes South Bank Show to Sky Arts". The Guardian. London.
  9. ^ "The South Bank Show". Sky Group. 2020. Archived from the original on 14 January 2023. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  10. ^ "Six Outstanding Women Top the Line-Up for South Bank Show 2018". www.skygroup.sky. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  11. ^ "The South Bank Show (a Subjects & Air Dates Guide)". epguides.com. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  12. ^ "Drama & Soaps". The ITV Hub.
  13. ^ "South Bank Show[01/04/78]". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 5 August 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  14. ^ "The South Bank Show Podcast RSS". itv.com. Archived from the original on 27 January 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
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