The South Bank Show

Season 11

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The South Bank Show is a television arts magazine show that was produced by ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new series began on Sky Arts from 27 May 2012. Presented by Melvyn Bragg, the show aims to bring both high art and popular culture to a mass audience.

Where to Watch Season 11

24 Episodes

  • Maria Callas
    E1
    Maria Callas
  • Toni Morrison
    E2
    Toni Morrison
  • The Smiths
    E3
    The SmithsThis documentary on The Smiths was filmed just days before the band went their separate ways in 1987. Contains interviews of Morrissey, Marr, Joyce and Rourke, as well as Linder, Shaun Duggan, Jo O'Keefe, John Peel, Nick Kent, Sandie Shaw and Viv Nicholson.
  • Andy Warhol
    E4
    Andy Warhol
  • Frank Rich / Suzanne Vega
    E5
    Frank Rich / Suzanne Vega
  • Sir Terence Conran
    E6
    Sir Terence Conran
  • Gore Vidal
    E7
    Gore Vidal
  • African music / Russian theatre
    E8
    African music / Russian theatre
  • Sir George Solti
    E9
    Sir George Solti
  • Eric Clapton
    E10
    Eric Clapton
  • Arts Review '87
    E11
    Arts Review '87
  • The Last Emperor (1988 film)
    E12
    The Last Emperor (1988 film)
  • Australian Aboriginies
    E13
    Australian Aboriginies
  • Boogie Woogie Music
    E14
    Boogie Woogie Music
  • The Golden Age of Television
    E15
    The Golden Age of TelevisionA lecture about television given at the British Film Institute.
  • George Barker
    E16
    George Barker
  • Jackson Pollack
    E17
    Jackson PollackThe modern artist is working with space and time, expressing his feelings rather than illustrating [them]. - Jackson Pollock With the advent of the camera, the artist was emasculated, robbed of his purpose. A glorious and historic professional alliance was threatening its end: the painter and his patron. Elaborate portraits of the nobility, their estates and possessions where no longer necessary. The artist might have suffered at first, but was suddenly, irrevocably free from the rules that bound them to render life exactly as it appeared. It is impossible to separate the art of Jackson Pollock from the man in his place and time. In the first half of the 20th century, the world was at war, the markets crashed, psychoanalysis was all the rage: the world had entered the Modern era. Matisse and Picasso reigned over a pantheon of European deities who were breaking every rule and convention in their wake. On the heels of these Fauvists, Cubists and Surrealists, American artists had to go further, paint larger, live wilder. Finding it impossible to catch up and keep up, these artists chose a reckless path of existential abandon, not just breaking the rules but ignoring them completely. Good or bad, lasting or transient—history will write the end of their story from its objective perspective. This program tells us that Pollock was born in Wyoming and early on visited Native American tribes to study their symbols and techniques. Picasso was already using African imagery; Pollock moved to New York and followed with his own brand of primitive abstracts. Personally, I think this is his best work. But it was an echo of the master, so he moved on. The scale of his paintings was inspired by the famous Mexican muralists—Orozco, Rivera, and Siqueiros—as was his use of more fluid, industrial-grade paints. How or when he struck upon his idea of "drip" or "pour" painting is not discussed. From a radio interview in 1951, we hear Pollock in his own voice describing his
  • Lenny Henry
    E18
    Lenny Henry
  • Peter Dickinson
    E19
    Peter Dickinson
  • A Day on The Grand Canal with the Emperor of China
    E20
    A Day on The Grand Canal with the Emperor of China
  • Nicuragua: Poets as Politicans
    E21
    Nicuragua: Poets as Politicans
  • Ken Russell's ABC of British Music
    E22
    Ken Russell's ABC of British Music
  • Doris Lessing
    E24
    Doris Lessing
  • Sir Peter Hall's last National Theatre production
    E25
    Sir Peter Hall's last National Theatre production

Cast of Season 11

  • Melvyn BraggSelf - Presenter / Writer
  • Gerald FoxProducer
  • David ThomasProducer

 

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