The South Bank Show

Did You Know?

• The theme music is taken from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Variations, based on Paganini's 24th Caprice.
• The brand image is an animated version of Michelangelo's Hand of God giving life to Adam from the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

History

The South Bank Show first aired on 14 January 1978, taking over from the arts programme Aquarius, which had been broadcast since 1970. Its presenter, Melvyn Bragg, was already a familiar face from his work on BBC arts shows like Monitor and The Lively Arts. The initial episode featured subjects such as Germaine Greer, Gerald Scarfe, and Paul McCartney. From the start, the programme aimed to blend high art with popular culture, and it has consistently focused on 20th and 21st century art. It holds the record as the longest-running arts programme on UK television. For most of its run, London Weekend Television produced it for the ITV network. In May 2009, ITV announced the show would end. While early reports claimed Bragg was retiring, he later clarified that he chose to leave only after the network cancelled the programme, which he considered a mistake. The final ITV episode aired on 28 December 2009, featuring the Royal Shakespeare Company. Bragg then announced a series of ten South Bank Show Revisited episodes for early 2010, following the last South Bank Show Awards in January 2010. The ITV series' production archive, including unaired footage, is kept at the University of Leeds. In July 2010, Bragg purchased the rights to the brand and first access to the archives. Sky Arts revived the show with a new series starting 27 May 2012. From 2012 to 2023, most series have contained only four to six episodes.

Parodies

From series 3–4, the comedy series Dead Ringers parodied The South Bank Show in sketches called South Bank, a cross between the 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 Bragg presenting a feature on fictional folk singers. Harry Enfield's TV film Norbert Smith - a Life is a parody edition of the show. The second series of Extras referenced a fictional episode focused on Dick and Dom. Private Eye parodied Bragg's name, and Spitting Image accentuated his nasal accent; episodes often ended with a send-up of Bragg, including one advising viewers to switch off their televisions. Benny Hill parodied Bragg in a 1978 episode as Melvyn Dragg, with the show called "The South Blank Show."