The South Bank Show was a 60 minute British documentary series on ITV whose aim was to bring high art of the 20th and 21st century to a wide audience. Most episodes featured a celebrity guest who was either involved in the episode's subject matter or had an interest in the art being discussed. Pop culture art such as musical performers and movies were often the topic of the evening.
South Bank Show Cast:
Melvyn Bragg .................... Host
South Bank Show Video:
Check out this episode of the South Bank Show about the James Bond Phenomenon with guests Daniel Craig and Sean Connery!
Episodes List With Original Air Dates
The First Season
Paul McCartney / Surrealist exhibition (1/14/1978)
Paganini Superstar (1/21/1978)
Roy Minton (1/28/1978)
David Hockney (2/4/1978)
Dennis Potter (2/11/1978)
John Peel/Jane Glover (2/18/1978)
Arabian Days (Edna O'Brien)/ Quentin Crisp (2/25/1978)
Jacques Loussier (3/4/1978)
Ken Dodd (3/11/1978)
Georges Simenon (3/18/1978)
Horowitz at the White House (3/25/1978)
Carl Perkins / Morgan horses (4/1/1978)
Carry On with Paul Morissey (Carry On ... films)(4/8/1978)
Search for Shaw (4/15/1978)
Harold Pinter (4/22/1978)
Satyajit Ray / John Williams / Ralph McTell (4/30/1978)
Portrait of a Conductor: Herbert Von Karajan (5/6/1978)
Freddie Young (5/13/1978)
Frank Auerbach (5/20/1978)
Mayerling Ballet (6/17/1978)
John Osborne on Wardle's book on Devine/Pearl (Radio Play)(7/1/1978)
Ingmar Bergman at 60 (7/8/1978)
Hullabaloo over George and Bonnie's Pictures - Part 1 (7/15/1978)
Hullabaloo over George and Bonnie's Pictures - Part 2 (7/22/1978)
The Second Season
Tom Stoppard (11/26/1978)
Grace Under Pressure (Anthony Burgess on Hemingway)(12/3/1978)
Woody Allen (12/10/1978)
Anatomy of an Opera: Jonathan Miller's Figaro (12/17/1978)
Rhythm of Resistance (South African music)(1/14/1979)
Harmony of the Spheres (Neil Ardley)(1/21/1979)
Circus Clowns/Schubert recital by Richter (1/28/1979)
Royal Shakespeare Company on tour (2/4/1979)
Brimstone & Treacle (Dennis Potter)/ John McLaughlin, a Musical Journey (2/11/1979)
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith / Edward Gorey / Gunter Grass (2/18/1979)
Michael Cimino / Alan Bennett, Stephen Frears (2/25/1979)
Gordon Williams, Alan Sharp, Eddie Boyd (3/4/1979)
Derek Boshier / Ingrid Bergman, Ingmar Bergman (3/11/1979)
Neil Simon (3/18/1979)
Beryl Cook / Cloud Nine rehearsals (3/25/1979)
Graham Sutherland (4/1/1979)
Darryl Way / Howard Brenton (4/22/1979)
The Europeans (film)/ Joseph Heller (4/29/1979)
Asian Arts festival (5/6/1979)
Billy Connolly (5/13/1979)
Jessye Norman (5/20/1979)
Rough Trade (record label)/ Allen Jones (5/27/1979)
Scum (film)/ Keith Jarrett (6/17/1979)
Michael Tippett (90 min.)(6/24/1979)
The Third Season
Francis Ford Coppola (12/2/1979)
Royal Shakespeare Company masterclass - Part 1 (12/9/1979)
Royal Shakespeare Company masterclass - Part 2 (12/16/1979)
Talking Heads (12/23/1979)
Love and the Ice-Cream Vendor (2/17/1980)
Fay Weldon / Richard Hogart on Northern Ireland in drama (2/24/1980)
Merce Cunningham (3/2/1980)
Elegies for the Deaths of Three Spanish Poets (3/9/1980)
A Time There was ... (Benjamin Britten)(4/6/1980)
The Greene Adaptations (Graham Greene films)(4/13/1980)
Salsa (Puerto Rican music)(4/27/1980)
The Worlds of Edward Bond (5/4/1980)
Yehudi Menuhin and Stephane Grappelli / Kinglsey Amis (5/11/1980)
new British rock films / The Tin Drum (film)(5/18/1980)
Roman Polanski (5/25/1980)
Tom Wolfe (6/1/1980)
Andrew Wyeth (6/8/1980)
Angus Wilson (6/29/1980)
Jane Austen (film)(7/6/1980)
The Fourth Season
Arthur Miller (11/9/1980)
William Golding (11/16/1980)
Akira Kurosawa (11/23/1980)
Stravinsky's The Firebird (11/30/1980)
No Need to Lie (12/7/1980)
The Passion (National Theatre's updating of medieval plays)(12/14/1980)
Toni Morrison (1/18/1981)
The Trespasser (film)(1/25/1981)
Don Juan in Hell (2/8/1981)
poetry workshop (2/15/1981)
Martin Scorsese (2/22/1981)
Elizabeth Taylor / John Hubbard (3/1/1981)
Bob Fosse (3/8/1981)
Robert Redford / Martin Amis (3/15/1981)
Verity Bargate / Howard Hodgkin (3/29/1981)
At the Haunted End of the Day: the Life of Sir William Walton (4/19/1981)
Gore Vidal (4/26/1981)
The Roots of the Tree (Ermanno Olmi)(5/3/1981)
Colin Welland (5/10/1981)
Christopher Logue / Phillip King (5/17/1981)
Lulu's Last Act (Berg opera)(5/24/1981)
Dame Ninette De Valois / David Hockney on Picasso (5/31/1981)
Clive James / Craig Raine (6/7/1981)
Soviet Art (6/14/1981)
Rhythm and Blues (The Blues Band, Dr. Feelgood, Nine Below Zero, Paul Jones)(6/21/1981)
Music for a City: Venice (6/28/1981)
The Fifth Season
The French Lieutenant's Woman (11/1/1981)
Elvis Costello (11/8/1981)
Old Glory: the Journey and the Book (11/15/1981)
Ian McKellan / Ian McEwan (11/22/1981)
Brian Moore / Patrick Caulfield (11/29/1981)
A Talent to Vex: John Osborne (12/6/1981)
Mama Lu Parks (1/17/1982)
Bernard D'Ascoli / Theatre of the 8th Day (1/24/1982)
Milos Forman (1/31/1982)
Germaine Greer (2/7/1982)
Pauline Kael / George Steiner's The Portage to San Cristobal of AH (2/14/1982)
Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller (2/21/1982)
Blacck Theatre Cooperative / Laurie Anderson (2/28/1982)
Guys and Dolls (at the National Theatre)(3/7/1982)
Richard Alston's Bellezza Flash (3/14/1982)
Peter Maxwell-Davies (3/21/1982)
Saul Bellow (3/28/1982)
Indian wallpainting (4/4/1982)
Stravinski - Part 1 (4/9/1982)
Stravinski - Part 2 (4/10/1982)
Julian Lloyd-Webber (4/18/1982)
Miles Davis / Robert Nye (4/25/1982)
Caught in the Act (Pillar to Post at Wormwood Scrubs)(5/2/1982)
Joseph Papp / James Galway (5/9/1982)
Werner Herzog (5/16/1982)
Why Don't I Love Opera Anymore (by Stephen Oliver)(5/23/1982)
Phillip Larkin (5/30/1982)
The Sixth Season
Laurence Olivier, a Life - Part 1 (10/17/1982)
Laurence Olivier, a Life - Part 2 (10/24/1982)
Peter Gabriel (10/31/1982)
Bruce Chatwin (11/7/1982)
Patricia Highsmith (11/14/1982)
Steven Spielberg (11/21/1982)
Gospel at Colonus (11/28/1982)
Simone De Beauvoir (1/9/1983)
Barry Flannigan / Seamus Heaney (1/23/1983)
David Hare (1/30/1983)
Agnes De Mille (2/6/1983)
Handel's Semele (by the Royal Opera House)(2/13/1983)
Sam Fuller (2/20/1983)
Local Hero (film)(2/27/1983)
R.K. Narayan (3/13/1983)
Ivo Pogorelich (3/20/1983)
John Le Carré (3/27/1983)
Choirs and Places Where They Sing (4/3/1983)
William Trevor (4/24/1983)
Gene Hackman (5/1/1983)
Keith Waterhouse (5/8/1983)
Robert Lowell / Benjamin Britten's Quartettino (5/15/1983)
Cowboy Art (5/22/1983)
Jiri Kylian (5/29/1983)
Producing Don Giovanni (6/5/1983)
Ken Russell's View of The Planets (6/12/1983)
The Seventh Season
Piper's Way (10/16/1983)
Yuri Lyubimov (10/23/1983)
Peter Brook (10/30/1983)
Jack Lemmon (11/6/1983)
David Hockney (11/13/1983)
Lillian Gish/Glen Baxter (11/27/1983)
Alberto Moravia (12/4/1983)
Ian Hamilton Finlay/Lord Gowrie (12/11/1983)
Barry Tuckwell: Master of the Horn (2/19/1984)
Trevor Griffiths (2/26/1984)
Weather Report (3/11/1984)
Claudio Arrau (3/18/1984)
Kathy Acker (4/1/1984)
Ralph Vaughan Williams (4/8/1984)
Sir Ernst Gombrich (4/15/1984)
Michael Frayn (4/29/1984)
Ed McBain (5/6/1984)
David Bintley: New Ballet at Sadler's Wells (5/13/1984)
Stephen Sondheim (5/20/1984)
Elisabeth Vellacott / DeCocoa, Hot Chocolate (5/27/1984)
adaptation of Ivy Compton Burnett's Elders and Betters (6/3/1984)
Kipling (one-man play with Alec McGowen)(6/10/1984)
Anthony Caro (6/24/1984)
The Eighth Season
Alan Bennett (10/7/1984)
McCartney's Broad Street (10/14/1984)
The Forming of the Phoenix (Phoenix Dance Company)(10/21/1984)
Paolo and Vittorio Taviani (10/28/1984)
Norman Nicholson (11/4/1984)
Joseph Heller (11/11/1984)
Mstislav Rostropovich (11/18/1984)
Max Wall (11/25/1984)
Malcolm McLaren (12/2/1984)
Alan Bleasdale (1/13/1985)
Anthony Burgess on D.H. Lawrence (1/20/1985)
Electronic Music (1/27/1985)
Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex (2/3/1985)
Marc Chagall (2/10/1985)
David Lean: a Life in Film (2/17/1985)
Simon Rattle / finale of Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony (2/24/1985)
Little Richard (3/3/1985)
George Malcolm on Scarlatti (3/10/1985)
Silent Partners: Second Stride Dance Company (3/17/1985)
David Mamet (3/24/1985)
Michael Crawford/Billy Bragg (3/31/1985)
Olivier Messiaen: The Music of Faith (4/5/1985)
The Cotton Club (night club)(5/26/1985)
Prez (jazz opera about Lester Young)(6/2/1985)
Francis Bacon (6/9/1985)
George Steiner on Vienna at the turn of the century (6/16/1985)
The Ninth Season
Sir Alec Guinness (10/6/1985)
Peter Ackroyd's Hawksmoor (10/13/1985)
Ian McKellen, Diary of a Year (10/20/1985)
Theatre of Comedy workshop (10/27/1985)
Pete Townshend: After the Fire (11/3/1985)
Sir Stephen Spender (11/10/1985)
Marguerite Duras (11/17/1985)
Karole Armitage (11/24/1985)
Peter Shaffer (12/1/1985)
John Cleese (1/12/1986)
Vladimir Ashkenazy (1/19/1986)
Paul Schrader (1/26/1986)
Purcell's Dido and Aenaes (2/2/1986)
Patrick Heron (2/9/1986)
Blue Note Records (2/16/1986)
Michala Petri (2/23/1986)
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (3/2/1986)
Absolute Beginners (film)(3/9/1986)
Arthur Boyd (3/23/1986)
Hal Prince: Rethinking the Musical (4/6/1986)
British Soap Operas (4/13/1986)
Hull Truck Theatre Company (4/20/1986)
Velvet Underground (4/27/1986)
Al Jolson (5/4/1986)
The Tenth Season
John Mortimer (10/5/1986)
Itzhak Perlman (10/12/1986)
Roald Dahl: Fe-Fi-Fo-fum (10/19/1986)
Michael Powell (10/26/1986)
Truman Capote (11/2/1986)
Fay Godwin (11/9/1986)
The Andrew Lloyd-Webber Story (11/15/1986)
Agatha Christie, How Did She Do It? (11/23/1986)
The Dream is Over (Christopher Bruce ballet on John Lennon)(11/30/1986)
Arts Review '86 (12/14/1986)
Anthony Hopkins / David Hare (1/11/1987)
Philip Glass (1/18/1987)
Alvin Ailey Dance Theater (1/25/1987)
Anthony Green: RA, a Love Story (2/1/1987)
birth of Frankenstein and Dracula (2/8/1987)
Thomas Allen (2/15/1987)
The Wooster Group (2/22/1987)
The London Underground in art (3/1/1987)
V.S. Naipaul (3/8/1987)
Barbara Dickson (3/15/1987)
Penguin Cafe Orchestra (3/22/1987)
Turner at the Tate (3/29/1987)
George V. Higgins (4/5/1987)
Peter York lecture (4/12/1987)
The Aida File: The Making of the Opera - Part 1 (4/18/1987)
The Aida File: Aida Performance - Part 2 (4/19/1987)
The Eleventh Season
Maria Callas (10/4/1987)
Toni Morrison (10/11/1987)
The Smiths (10/18/1987)
Andy Warhol (10/25/1987)
Frank Rich / Suzanne Vega (11/1/1987)
Sir Terence Conran (11/8/1987)
Gore Vidal (11/15/1987)
African music / Russian theatre (11/22/1987)
Sir George Solti (11/29/1987)
Eric Clapton (12/6/1987)
Arts Review '87 (12/20/1987)
The Last Emperor (1988 film)(1/17/1988)
Australian Aboriginies (1/24/1988)
Boogie Woogie Music (1/31/1988)
The Golden Age of Television (2/14/1988)
George Barker (2/21/1988)
Jackson Pollack (2/28/1988)
Lenny Henry (3/6/1988)
Peter Dickinson (3/13/1988)
A Day on The Grand Canal with the Emperor of China (3/20/1988)
Nicuragua: Poets as Politicans (3/27/1988)
Ken Russell's ABC of British Music (4/2/1988)
Paul Bowles (4/10/1988)
Doris Lessing (4/17/1988)
Sir Peter Hall's last National Theatre production (4/24/1988)
The Twelfth Season
The Art of Walt Disney (9/25/1988)
Bernard Shaw (10/2/1988)
Under Milk Wood (10/9/1988)
Toulouse-Lautrec (10/16/1988)
David Puttnam (10/23/1988)
David Hockney (10/30/1988)
Two Women in Three Dimensions (Wendy Taylor, Nicola Hicks)(11/13/1988)