I’ve been telling everyone that will listen that I’ve got the best job in the world and I genuinely believe that. It’s an incredibly exciting time for the Arts in the UK at the moment – whether that’s the National Theatre pumping their content into cinemas or The Who celebrating their 50th years in Rock n Roll. Sky Arts run the gamut of the Arts and our mission in life is to bring this great content to more of our customers in the coming months and years. 

My plan for the channel going forward is based on the simple principle of brilliant people, doing brilliant things. Sky Arts should be the best of the best; it should be fun and it should be exciting. In short, it should be the home of #totalgenius.

With that in mind, we’ve put the finishing touches to a fantastic new line-up of programmes. There’ll be a different live performance taking place in a shop window every night in early December in The Christmas Window Live. You can head down to Westfield Stratford yourself to see the action in person – or tune in to Sky Arts 1 daily – where we’ll have the likes of Pixie Lott treating crowds to a festive sing-song.

We’ll also be introducing The Great Culture Quiz, where arts organisations go head-to-head to see who knows the most; bringing back a favourite comedian of mine, Adam Buxton for A Shed of…Christmas with Adam Buxton, and treating customers to a whole host of festive concerts: from the National Youth Jazz Orchestra’s Cool Yule to the John Wilson Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall. And for Christmas carol lovers – and, let’s face it, who isn’t? – we’ll be broadcasting a very special Carol Concert from the Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts featuring classical superstar Katherine Jenkins.

It’s not just about Christmas though. You might also have seen evidence of the return of our Portrait Artist of the Year series if you’ve visited the Osterley site – where there’s been easels displaying portraits of some of the famous sitters from the series and even our very own “artist in residence. We hope it inspires you to pick up a paintbrush and have a go yourselves… Who knows, you might be entering the competition yourself next year!

We’re also putting £3 million into a new initiative, Sky Arts Amplify, which will encourage arts organisations and production companies to pitch collaboratively for a slice of £1 million annually over the next three years to bring great TV ideas to the screen. And we’ll continue to invest in new talent in partnership with Sky Academy when applications for arts scholarships open on 11th November.

Plus – we’ve got the brilliant Psychobitches making a welcome return, and a fantastic new drama series starting later this month, which is already making waves in Denmark: The Legacy. If you consider yourself a fan of ‘nordic noir’ – or you’re open for something new – I can guarantee you’ll love this programme – I’m already hooked!