The South Bank Show

Sunday 18 May 2008 10:45pm - 11:45pm

Melvyn Bragg meets with Gore Vidal in Los Angeles, where he has recently returned to live to “do the Hollywood version of happiness”.

Gore Vidal is the last survivor of the great post-war generation of American novelists that included Norman Mailer, Joseph Heller and Saul Bellow. At 82, he is still one of the finest essayists on socio-political, sexual, historical and literary themes – a true literary radical and polymath.

This is a classic South Bank Show: Melvyn Bragg enjoys a wide and varied conversation, full of friendly banter, with a man famous for his wit and intellect. Gore Vidal is well known for his trenchant views about American politics and this South Bank Show is no exception. He describes President Bush as a “midget….who wants Armageddon to happen as quickly possible…….perpetual war for perpetual peace”.

Sunday 11 May 2008 10:50pm - 11:50pm

A South Bank Show on the writings of the beautiful game on Sunday 11 May.

The film centres round the novel The Damned United by David Peace, one of the most compelling portraits in British sporting literature. The novel follows the revered and feared football manager Brian Clough and Melvyn Bragg interviews David Peace at Elland Road, Leeds United’s ground, where the novel’s action takes place.

As a work of fiction, The Damned United was hailed as the most authentic and honest football book when it was published in 2006. Peace’s Clough emerges as a charismatic leader – the problem was that he was leading the wrong team.

The Damned United cannot be judged outside the context of David’s previous work - The West Riding Quartet was prompted by the Yorkshire Ripper and GB 84 is David’s version of the Miners Strike. Melvyn Bragg discusses his canon of work and the difference between faction and fiction.

Sunday 4 May 2008 10:55pm - 11:55pm

The South Bank Show‘s season continues with a profile of one of the most successful entertainers of the modern age, Liza Minnelli.

Melvyn Bragg interviews Liza Minnelli at the London Coliseum as she prepares for her forthcoming UK tour, with exclusive footage filmed in Florida of the show she will be bringing to Britain, as she performs some of her most iconic songs.

The South Bank Show looks at Liza’s relationship with her tormented mother, Judy Garland, and her fight to be recognised on her own terms - which eventually established her as one of the world's great show business icons.

After all her well publicised troubles with addictions and relationships, Liza has been receiving ecstatic reviews for her new show, which brings together some of her signature tunes (Maybe This Time, New York New York) and a special selection of songs devoted to and arranged by Liza's beloved godmother, Kay Thompson.

In its 30-year history, The South Bank show has profiled anyone who’s anyone in the arts.

Featured subjects include novelist Sarah Waters, whose books Tipping The Velvet, Fingersmith and Affinity (iTv1’s forthcoming drama) have been adapted for TV; David Peace on the film version of his book about legendary football manager Brian Clough, The Damned Utd; and celebrated entertainer Liza Minnelli, who’s seen performing on her world tour.

Melvyn Bragg talks with Gore Vidal, the distinguished 85-year-old essayist on socio-political, sexual, historical and literary themes; meets the unique Mike Skinner – whose music marks the soundtrack of urban youth – and his band The Streets; and follows film-maker and photographer Sam Taylor-Wood over the course of a year.

Melvyn Bragg explores The Art Of 1968: the role of writers, actors and musicians in the street battles that marked 1968 and looks at whether they helped to change western society and culture.

In March 1968, a huge demonstration protesting against the Vietnam War marched towards the American Embassy in London’s Grosvenor Square led by Vanessa Redgrave and Tariq Ali. Leo Burley‘s film also explores the art and music at the heart of the violent protests in Paris, Prague and Chicago in 1968.

Everywhere I hear the sound of marching, charging feet, boy
'Cause the summer's here and the time is right for fighting in the street, boy...
Street Fighting Man - The Rolling Stones (1968)

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know, we all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know, we all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Revolution - The Beatles (1968)

The current series of The South Bank Show continues on Sunday 9 March with a film following opera director David McVicar as he develops his new production of Richard Strauss’ Salome at Covent Garden, from conception through to opening night.

The rising star of the international opera circuit, David McVicar is one of those rare opera directors whose work is both spectacular and intellectually coherent. His recent productions of Faust, The Magic Flute, Rigoletto and Marriage of Figaro at Covent Garden have all caused a stir, both critically for their excellence and in the popular press for the flamboyance of their staging. His Giulio Cesare has been the hottest ticket at Glyndebourne for the past two years and his production of Turn Of The Screw at the English National Opera has just won The South Bank Show Award for Opera this year. McVicar’s productions have the reputation of always giving a new perspective to the composer’s work.

The South Bank Show captures the young Chinese pianist Lang Lang at the height of his powers. At 25 he has become the international figurehead for the extraordinary blossoming of classical music in China over the past thirty years. The film celebrates the crucial role Lang Lang has played in this unique cultural phenomenon and how he has become one of China's best known musical exports to the West.

Lang Lang (which translates as Brilliant Man) is the first Chinese pianist ever to be engaged by the Berlin Philharmonic and other major western orchestras. His reputation for astonishing showmanship, incredible technique and a poetic sensitivity has established him as on of the most outstanding pianists of the moment, and has earned him rock star status in his homeland

The South Bank Show - Tim Burton
Sunday 20 January 2008 10:40pm - 11:40pm on ITV1.

The new season of The South Bank Show starts on Sunday 20 January with a profile of Tim Burton, a modern-day visionary of cinema and a director who has created a delightfully nightmarish universe all of his own.

Melvyn Bragg joins Tim Burton at Pinewood Studios, as he makes his latest film - the Sondheim musical of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street.

The South Bank Show has exclusive interviews with the film’s stars Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter (also Tim’s partner), as well as Stephen Sondheim (composer of Sweeney Todd), and clips from the film.

The South Bank Show - The Nutcracker
Wednesday 26 December 2007 11:15pm - 12:15am on ITV1.

The South Bank Show pays homage to one of the world’s favourite fairy tales: The Nutcracker. Margy Kinmonth’s film examines this famous rites of passage story and asks what it is about Tchaikovsky’s ballet that has made it such an essential part of every child’s Christmas all over the world.

Why has this classic story of growing up, set to music and performed, inspired so many artists over the decades? Nutcracker wasn’t always a light and fluffy sweet-filled ballet for children. It started as one of Hoffman’s dark fairy tales, long before Tchaikovsky created the music for the famous ballet, now the archetypal child’s Christmas entertainment.

The South Bank Show examines the extraordinary careers of John Bird and John Fortune and looks at how they create their deadly brand of political humour.

John Bird and John Fortune pose an intriguing question: how does a comedy partnership forged in the Cambridge Footlights, honed in Peter Cook’s Establishment Club and on Not So Much A Programme, More A Way Of Life, still provide the cutting edge of political humour today in their radio and TV writing?

The South Bank Show examines their extraordinary careers and looks at how they create their deadly brand of political humour.

Quite apart from their radio and TV writing, which has spanned Spike Milligan and TW3, Robbie Coltrane and Have I Got News For You to Coup!, the various Policemens’ Balls and the Bremner, Bird and Fortune shows, they have individually had considerable acting careers. Onstage Bird has done Shakespeare with the RSC and Fortune a run in the West End in Art. Their television appearances include: Yes Minister, Hi-Di-Hi, Blue Remembered Hills, Morse, A Very Peculiar Practice, Absolute Power….