South Bank Show II - Sky Arts to re-version The South Bank Show Archive over five years
From the first episode with Paul McCartney to the famous Francis Bacon pub crawl, the most important archive of 20th century culture joins new episodes of the show on Sky Arts
TX tbc
Sky Arts will bring re-worked classic episodes of The South Bank Show, the most high profile arts documentary series in the world to the channel in 2013, alongside brand new episodes of the programme. Presented, edited and written by Melvyn Bragg, The South Bank Show has, over thirty years, made one of the most significant contribution to arts broadcasting in living memory, profiling the world’s most renowned performers, artists, actors, writers and musicians.
As part of a new agreement with ITV, where The South Bank Show was produced for over 30 years, this new series will dip into the 750-plus titles in the archive and re-version 30 episodes a year. It will feature new interviews as well as new links and comments from Melvyn Bragg. The South Bank Show II archive will also be available to Sky customers On Demand.
The South Bank Show launched in 1978 with Paul McCartney as the opening subject. The show has famously sought to bring both audiences a mix of popular culture as well as ‘high’ culture. As Melvyn Bragg put it: “I started with McCartney partly because of his great talent, partly to make a point. I wanted The South Bank Show to reflect my own life and that of the team around me; to stretch the then accepted boundaries and challenge the accepted hierarchies of the arts; to include pop music as well as classical music, television drama as well as theatre drama and high definition performers in comedy as well as in Opera. The idea that popular arts were shallow by definition and the traditional arts were profound was dead, I thought, and I wanted to prove it.”
Over the course of thirty three years this attitude has characterised The South Bank Show and who it focused on, featuring artists from Sir Laurence Olivier, to k.d lang; Norman Mailer to Pavarotti; The Smiths to David Hockney, David Lean, Nureyev and Harold Pinter.
Since arriving on Sky Arts in 2012, the South Bank Show has been as contemporaneous as ever, covering everything from the world of Grime with Dizzee Rascal and Wiley; to contemporary ballet, following Tamaro Rojo in her first months as Artistic Director of the English National Ballet. The show has also profiled Tim Minchin, Alison Balsom, Pat Barker, David Hare, Nicola Benedetti, Nicholas Hytner and Alfie Boe.
The South Bank Show II archive series will join The South Bank Show itself and The South Bank Sky Arts Awards on Sky Arts. These awards are now in their 16th year. Honouring the best of the Arts across the UK, the awards are completely unique in their celebration of all genres and facets of the arts. The regard in which they are held is reflected in the quality and prominence of attendees; with everyone from Seamus Heaney to Ronnie Wood, J.K Rowling, to Judi Dench, Bryn Terfel to Victoria Wood. Even Kate Bush made a rare public appearance in 2012 to accept the award for best pop album from Sir Tom Jones. The South Bank Sky Arts Awards are now in their third year on Sky Arts.
Melvyn Bragg comments:“It’s great to be part of Sky Arts enthusiastic commitment to Arts programmes. This is a major leap forward for us on The South Bank Show and with luck just the beginning of wider ranging possibilities. We hope not only to enrich Arts coverage but to broaden and change its television landscape over the next few years.”
James Hunt, director of Sky Arts, adds: “It was a real coup for us to work with Melvyn on the awards and the new shows; but with the South Bank Show II archive, we’ll build the richest and most easily accessible arts documentary archive in the world. We’ve got big ambitions for what we do with the show.”
Luke Bradley-Jones, director of TV products, Skycomments: “We’re very excited about this deal as we know how important our On Demand service is to our customers.”
The five year deal between Sky Arts and Directors Cut Productions (who will produce the shows) builds on Sky’s pledge to invest £600m in original content by 2014.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
Manisha Ferdinand Head of Sky Arts and Sky Movies PR, Sky Press Office
T: 0207 032 2842
E:
NOTES TO EDITOR
About Sky
Sky is the UK and Ireland’s leading home entertainment and communications company. Around 40% of all homes have a direct relationship with Sky through its range of TV, broadband and home telephony services.
Sky is the UK’s biggest investor in television content, investing more than £2.3 billion a year in channels such as Sky 1, Sky Atlantic, Sky Living, Sky Arts, Sky Sports, Sky Movies and Sky News. Around two-thirds of Sky’s content spend is invested in the UK and Sky is the fastest-growing source of investment in original British programmes. More than 30 million people watch Sky content each week.
Alongside its commitment to offering customers a greater choice of quality content, Sky is a leading innovator. Customers enjoy total control and flexibility over their favourite TV through Sky+, watch TV on the move through Sky Go, and enjoy the best quality TV experience at home through High Definition and 3D.
Sky distributes its content broadly over several platforms, including satellite, cable, IPTV, mobile and WiFi. NOW TV, Sky’s second consumer brand, builds on the company’s leadership in internet TV. Sky is also the UK's fastest-growing home communications company and favourite ‘triple-play’ provider of TV, broadband and home phone.
Sky believes in making a wider contribution to the communities in which it operates by taking positive action on the environment, supporting grassroots sports and increasing access to, and participation in, the arts. Sky employs 23,000 people, has annual revenues of £6.8 billion and is estimated to support a £5.4 billion contribution to UK GDP. Sky is listed on the London Stock Exchange (BSY). www.sky.com/corporate
