The South Bank Show is everything television can be at its best. Many people must agree – the first episode having aired in 1978 the programme is now older than I am.
Each episode starts with Michelangelo’s hand of God touching Adam’s, the resultant spark generating an electrical charge. And it’s an image that perfectly encapsulates the programme’s mission – to capture and examine the creative energy of a wide range of artists, writers and performers.
Watching the sparks fly is the shows host of 40 plus years Melvyn Bragg. A uniquely skilled presenter and interviewer, Bragg has been the voice of the Arts across both radio and television since the inception of this flagship show – so quick and sensitive and open to drawing out the very best from his guests. As such, he has always been the voice of England for me.
The South Bank Show’s philosophy was to champion the democratisation of the Arts, using television, that most democratic of mediums, to bring artists into people’s homes – the wide variety of profiles breaking down barriers between so called ‘high’ and ‘low’ art. A pop group such as ‘The Beetles’ is afforded as much respect as an opera singer. The televisual screenwriter Dennis Potter can metaphorically rub shoulders with the great theatrical playwrights, incidentally providing one of the most moving and memorable episodes just a few weeks before his death.
Another of the shows most memorable episodes featured one of England’s greatest painters Francis Bacon. As Bragg and Bacon pour yet another glass their seemingly drunken ramblings perfectly capture Bacon’s rackety life, drifting from bar to bar, only anchored by his exceptional artistic genius.
