Melvyn Bragg

Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, CH, HonFRS, FRSL, FBA (born 6 October 1939), is an English broadcaster, author and parliamentarian. He is best known for his work with ITV as editor and presenter of The South Bank Show (1978–2010), and for the BBC Radio 4 documentary series In Our Time. Earlier in his career, Bragg worked for the BBC in various roles including presenter, a connection that resumed in 1988 when he began to host Start the Week on Radio 4. After his ennoblement in 1998, he switched to presenting the new In Our Time, an academic discussion radio programme, which has run to over 900 broadcast editions and is a popular podcast. He was Chancellor of the University of Leeds from 1999 until 2017. Description above from the Wikipedia article Melvyn Bragg, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Works

The South Bank Show

The South Bank Show is a television arts magazine show 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.

Release Date1978-01-14

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Charactersd Self - Presenter

Episode Count750

Vote Count7

Melvyn Bragg's Travels In Written Britain

Melvyn Bragg travels through the British Isles exploring a rich tradition of literature. Whilst taking in the work of established writers both old and new, Melvyn uncovers a never-before seen body of writing by ordinary people, living on the land and writing about their experiences.

Release Date2008-04-06

DepartmentCreator

JobCreator

Charactersd

Episode Count[ 4 ]

The Tall Guy

An American actor in England tries to find love and work.

Release Date1989-02-01

Charactersd Himself

Vote Count79

Roy Lichtenstein

In this documentary Roy Lichtenstein is interviewed and discusses his life and art work, what influenced him, where his ideas came from, how his art adapted and how and why it changed over time. He discusses the Pop Art movement, a bit, mostly how he was one of a number of artists making art that was then called Pop Art. Also interesting is Lichtenstein tells what different art critics have said about different phases of his art and he shares his personal reactions to their statements. Additionally some footage of people criticizing and discussing his artwork is included, almost in a “he said, she said” manner which makes the viewer think about how sometimes what others say about an artist’s work may be a bit off or just wrong. Contrary to what non-artists may think, artists do usually have a reason or an inspiration behind what they create. Lucky for us this documentary allows us into the brilliant mind of Roy Lichtenstein.

Release Date1991-01-02

Charactersd Himself

Vote Count4

R.E.M.

A documentary on the band

Release Date2002-05-09

Charactersd Presenter

Vote Count1

Ingmar Bergman at 60

Documentary about the Swedish film director, produced for the UK television program "The South Bank."

Release Date1978-07-08

DepartmentEditing

JobEditor

Charactersd Host

Ermanno Olmi: The Roots of the Tree

Documentary about Italian film director Ermanno Olmi, with emphasis on "The Tree of Wooden Clogs".

Release Date1981-05-03

DepartmentEditing

JobEditor

Charactersd Presenter

David Hockney: In Normandy

The celebrated British artist discusses his life and work with Melvyn Bragg in his Normandy studio, revealing his influences, inspirations and plans to keep on painting.

Release Date2023-08-28

Charactersd self

Laurence Olivier: a life

A multi-award winning biography covering the life and career of legendary screen and stage actor/director Laurence Olivier.

Release Date1982-10-24

DepartmentEditing

JobEditor

Charactersd Self (Interviewer )

Vote Count1

Norbert Smith: A Life

A mockumentary charting the life and career of the fictitious British actor Sir Norbert Smith.

Release Date1989-11-03

Charactersd Interviewer

Vote Count2

2nd House

Topical arts magazine introduced by Melvyn Bragg.

Release Date1973-10-06

Charactersd Himself - Presenter

Episode Count33

Vote Count2

Emir Kusturica

A profile of the controversial Yugoslavian director.

Release Date2000-03-12

Charactersd Himself (Presenter)

The Most Dangerous Man in Tudor England

Melvyn Bragg explores the dramatic story of William Tyndale and his mission to translate the Bible into English, which made him a threat to the authority of the church and state.

Release Date2013-06-06

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Charactersd Himself - Presenter

Vote Count1

Bernard and the Genie

Bernard Bottle, a mild mannered art buyer, is fired by his greedy boss, abandoned by his girlfriend and discovers a genie in an old bottle. The genie immediately embraces the modern world and helps Bernard on the side.

Release Date1991-11-23

Charactersd Himself

Vote Count29

Whose Doctor Who

Melvyn Bragg presents this 1977 documentary about Doctor Who from BBC2's 'The Lively Arts' strand, featuring extensive behind-the-scenes coverage of the making of The Talons of Weng-Chiang and looking back at the history of the programme and its psychological impact on the viewers, particularly children.

Release Date1977-04-03

Charactersd Presenter

Vote Count1

An Interview with Dennis Potter

Dennis Potter a television dramatist talks about his work, politics and his fears for both.

Release Date1994-11-19

Charactersd Interviewer

John Steinbeck: Voice of America

Melvyn Bragg travels from Oklahoma to California to examine the enduring legacy of the Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck.

Release Date2011-11-22

Charactersd Host/Narrator

Portrait or Bust

Alan Bennett's personal overview of art, filmed in the atmospheric location of a Leeds art gallery.

Release Date1994-04-04

Charactersd Himself (uncredited)

David Lean: A Life in Film

A documentary video that profiles the life of David Lean, the director of Doctor Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia.

Release Date1985-01-01

Charactersd Narrator

Vote Count1

Outbreak 1939: When War Broke Out

In a programme broadcast 70 years to the day after the outbreak of WWII, people who were alive at the time speak of their memories.

Charactersd Narrator

Bernardo Bertolucci and the Making of 'The Last Emperor'

Documentary about the making of the film first presented on the British television series "The South Bank Show".

Release Date1988-01-17

Charactersd Presenter

J.M.W. Turner: Turner at the Tate

The works of Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), one of the best known English Romantic artists, still play a leading role in the art market to this day. Since 1987 the majority of his pictures have been exhibited at the Clore Gallery, a separate building of Tate Britain. Daniel Wiles visits the gallery to explore the life and works of this eccentric artist, and also talks to countless experts and artists in an attempt to establish what it is about William Turner’s pictures that still fascinates so many people.

Release Date1987-01-01

Charactersd Presenter

Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher

Spoof documentary looking at the life of Normal Stanley Fletcher, the star of 1970s sitcom Porridge played by Ronnie Barker. Featuring fictional footage and interviews with the character's family, friends and associates, the film documents Fletcher's chequered career.

Release Date2003-12-29

Charactersd Himself

Vote Count1

An Artist's Story

An Artist's Story concerns the confrontation of ideas between Anton, a young landscape painter, and Lydia, a young aristocratic girl who devotes her life to good works.

Release Date1974-02-02

Charactersd Himself - Presenter

Countertenors

An LWT South Bank Show, presented by Melvyn Bragg, exploring the phenomenon of countertenor singing. With its unique, soaring beauty, the high male voice is today enjoying a huge resurgence in popularity. Heirs to the celebrated castrati of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, today's countertenors produce their voices by wholly natural means. In this programme international stars Michael Chance, Andreas Scholl and James Bowman, as well as popstar Jimmy Somerville, shed light on the appeal of the male falsetto. Meanwhile, experts such as Michael White place today's countertenors in their historical context. What emerges is a compelling portrayal of an unmistakable vocal style, rooted in church and operatic tradition, yet completely up-to-date, resonating louder today than at any time in the last two hundred years.

Release Date1999-12-19

Charactersd Presenter

Cinema of Fire: Iranian Cinema

A profile of the Iranian film industry

Release Date2002-06-30

Charactersd Himself (Presenter)

Great Performances

The best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.

Release Date1971-01-28

Charactersd Self

Episode Count1

Vote Count21

Have I Got News for You

Hilarious, totally-irreverent, near-slanderous political quiz show, based mainly on news stories from the last week or so, that leaves no party, personality or action unscathed in pursuit of laughs.

Release Date1990-09-28

Charactersd Self

Episode Count1

Vote Count76

An Audience with...

An Audience with... is a British entertainment television show produced by London Weekend Television, in which a host, usually a singer or comedian, performs for an invited audience of celebrity guests, interspersed with questions from the audience, in a light hearted revue/tribute style.

Release Date1978-01-08

Charactersd Self

Episode Count2

Vote Count3

The Alan Titchmarsh Show

The Alan Titchmarsh Show is a British daytime chat show presented by Alan Titchmarsh. It was first broadcast on ITV on 3 September 2007 and currently airs on weekday afternoons. The show's main focus is the "Best of British" theme with many of the shows' segments focusing on fashion, health, nature, cookery and animals.

Release Date2007-09-03

Charactersd Self

Episode Count1

Vote Count3

Art Matters

Join Melvyn Bragg for an insightful journey into why “Art Matters,” With a career spanning over 60 years, Bragg passionately advocates for the importance of the arts as he reflects on his early experiences and engages with influential figures from the artistic world.

Release Date2024-07-24

Charactersd Self

Vote Count1

Muse of Fire

Funny, passionate, exciting, and smart: ‘Muse Of Fire’ will change the way you feel about Shakespeare forever. This unique feature documentary follows two actors, Giles Terera and Dan Poole, as they travel the world to find out everything they can about tackling the greatest writer of them all. Together they have directed and produced an inspiring film that aims to demystify and illuminate Shakespeare’s work for everyone: from actors, directors and students of all disciplines, right through to the? man on the street? Denmark with Jude Law, Baz Luhrmann in Hollywood, Prison in Berlin, and on the street with Mark Rylance. Think Shakespeare is boring? Think again!

Release Date2013-09-26

Charactersd Self

Vote Count2

The Modern World: Ten Great Writers

This documentary series uses drama and commentary to shed light on the lives and works of Joseph Conrad, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, T. S. Eliot, Henrik Ibsen, James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann, Luigi Pirandello, Marcel Proust and Virginia Woolf.

Release Date1988-01-10

Charactersd Self

Episode Count1

David Hockney: A Celebration

An intimate portrait of David Hockney, featuring interviews with the artist - one of Britain's most beloved painters - in London and Normandy, and exclusive new footage of a master at work.

Release Date2023-08-28

Charactersd Self

Believe Nothing

Believe Nothing is a British ITV sitcom starring Rik Mayall as Quadruple Professor Adonis Cnut, the cleverest man in Britain, and Oxford's leading moral philosopher. He is paid huge amounts of money for his views consulted by the government but he's bored and wants adventure so he joins the shadowy organization The Council which controls everything going on in the world. Starring alongside Mayall is Michael Maloney as Brian Albumen, Cnut's faithful servant, and Emily Bruni as Dr. Hannah Awkward who becomes professor of pedantics. The series was written by Maurice Gran and Laurence Marks, who give a twist to many of today's global issues. Although much hyped by ITV, who were hoping to repeat the success of Gran and Marks' previous project with Mayall, the successful The New Statesman, the series failed to catch on, and was dropped after one series.

Release Date2002-07-14

Charactersd Self

Episode Count1

Vote Count8

David Hockney: In London

Filmed in his London studio, David Hockney sits down with Melvyn Bragg to discuss his remarkable life and career, illustrated by a wide range of his vibrant and joyous artworks.

Release Date2023-08-29

Charactersd Self

Hockney at the Tate

To mark his fiftieth birthday in 1988, London's Tate Gallery staged a major retrospective of his work. Melvyn Bragg joined David Hockney for an exclusive private view of the exhibition and they were filmed discussing pictures from all stages of Hockney's remarkable career.

Release Date1988-10-30

Charactersd Self

Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach

A surprisingly candid behind-the-scenes account of the career of Ken Loach, one of Britain’s most celebrated and controversial filmmakers, as he prepares to release his final major film I, Daniel Blake.

Release Date2016-06-30

Charactersd Self - Editor and Presenter, South Bank Show

Vote Count18

The Who: The Kids Are Alright

Through concert performances and interviews, this film offers us a comprehensive look at the British pioneer rock group, The Who. It captures their zany craziness and outrageous antics from the initial formation of the group in 1964 to 1978. It notably features the band's last performance with long-term drummer Keith Moon, filmed at Shepperton Studios in May 1978, three months before his death.

Release Date1979-06-15

Charactersd Self

Vote Count41

The Beatles: The Making of Sgt. Pepper

This was an official documentary shown on television featuring George Martin taking us through the album tracks and Paul, George and Ringo giving us their memories of the sessions. The Making Of Sgt. Pepper was transmitted in the UK on ITV on 14th June 1992 and featured separate interviews with Paul (filmed on 9th April 1992), George (12th April) and Ringo (19th April). The show also features George Martin playing some unreleased Sgt. Pepper's recordings directly off the original studio 4-track master tapes.

Release Date1992-06-14

Charactersd Self - Presenter

Vote Count6

Sweet William

William is a dashing and eccentric Scotsman whose charms rapidly overwhelm the sweet and naïve Ann, but she nearly as quickly begins to comprehend that her new beau is anything but a one-woman man. In addition to his two ex-wives, with whom he remains remarkably close, William exhibits a disturbing attraction for nearly any female who crosses his path -- Ann's friends among them.

Release Date1980-04-11

Charactersd Self

Vote Count3

Afro-Cuban All-Stars at the Salon of Dreams

This documentary, shot entirely on location in Havana, includes many band members' insights into this revival, and features performance footage of an All-Stars' concert at the city's Salon of Dreams.

Release Date1998-07-19

Charactersd Self

Vote Count1

Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage

A study of Tennessee Williams's life and work as a whole, ranging from his youth in Mississippi and in St. Louis to success and acclaim, followed by the final difficult years. Includes some of the most celebrated scenes from film adaptations of Williams' work, among them extracts of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951),Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Night of the Iguana, The (1964), and Suddenly, Last Summer (1993) (TV). Contains footage of Williams being interviewed, including conversations with David Frost, 'Edward R. Murrow (I)', and Melvyn Bragg, as well as reminiscences from people who knew and worked with him, among them Edward Albee, Gore Vidal, and his lifelong friend, Lady Maria St. Just. Features readings from Elia Kazan's Notebook by Kim Hunter.

Release Date1994-12-19

Charactersd Self

Vivienne Westwood

Profile of fashion designer, Vivienne Westwood.

Release Date1990-04-08

Charactersd Self

In from the Cold? A Portrait of Richard Burton

Tony Palmer's award-winning feature-length documentary profile of Richard Burton.

Release Date1988-09-20

Charactersd Self

Vote Count2

Keppel Road: The Life and Music of the Bee Gees

This documentary traces the lives of Gibb brothers and takes a look through their memories, creating some of the greatest hits in the world as the Bee Gees. Including interviews, archive footage, and new versions of classic songs - all recorded in the lead up to the release of their 'Still Waters' album in 1997.

Release Date1997-01-13

Charactersd Self

Vote Count2

The Mystery Of Mary Magdalene

Melvyn Bragg sets out to unravel the many questions surrounding one of the Bible's most enigmatic and controversial figures: Mary Magdalene.

Release Date2013-06-05

Charactersd Self

Isadora

A biography of the dancer Isadora Duncan, the 1920s dancer who forever changed people's ideas of ballet. Her nude, semi-nude, and pro-Soviet dance projects as well as her attitudes on free love, debt, dress, and lifestyle shocked the public of her time.

Release Date1968-09-14

DepartmentWriting

JobAdaptation

Vote Count36

The Music Lovers

Composer, conductor and teacher Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky struggles against his homosexual tendencies by marrying, but unfortunately, he chooses wacky nymphomaniac Nina, whom he is unable to satisfy.

Release Date1971-02-12

DepartmentWriting

JobScreenplay

Vote Count52

Jesus Christ Superstar

As played out by a theatre troupe, the last days of Jesus Christ are depicted from the perspective of Judas Iscariot, his betrayer. As Jesus' following increases, Judas begins to worry that Jesus is falling for his own hype, forgetting the principles of his teachings and growing too close to the prostitute Mary Magdalene.

Release Date1973-08-15

DepartmentWriting

JobScreenplay

Vote Count594

Play Dirty

During World War II in North Africa, a group of British commandos disguised as Italian soldiers must travel behind enemy lines and destroy a vital Nazi oil depot.

Release Date1969-01-02

DepartmentWriting

JobScreenplay

Vote Count51

Always on Sunday

Always On Sunday is a bio-pic on Le (Henri) Douanier Rousseau, a French naive painter.

Release Date1965-06-28

DepartmentWriting

JobScenario Writer

Vote Count5

The Debussy Film

An actor is playing Claude Debussy in a film about the composer's life, and finds himself identifying with his subject very closely.

Release Date1965-05-18

DepartmentWriting

JobScenario Writer

Vote Count11

Freddie Mercury: A Kind of Magic

Last week Freddie Mercury would have celebrated his 60th birthday. To mark the occasion, celebrity fans Robbie Williams, McFly and Mike Myers talk about what they think made him so special. Photographs, home video footage and rarely heard interviews with the man himself are featured and some of Freddie's close friends and family reveal the man behind the magic.

Release Date2006-09-12

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Vote Count3

Orion

The world is coming to an end, and the last survivors board a space-ship ready to leave the doomed planet Earth in search of a new world.

Release Date1977-12-26

DepartmentWriting

JobBook

Familiar Spirits

Interview with Italian film director Federico Fellini.

Release Date1966-01-06

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

David Hockney: Joiner Photographs

David Hockney is unquestionably one of the most passionate and versatile experimental artists on the contemporary scene. In the late 1970s the British artist developed a pioneering concept which also changed his perspective on painting – his “joiners”. In this film, the artist himself talks about this photographic approach, a kind of Cubism-inspired photocollage which explores the space-time continuum. Hockney allows the viewer to share in the creative “joiner” process and leads us step by step into the universe of his artistic creativity.

Release Date1983-07-05

DepartmentEditing

JobEditor

A Time to Dance

A fifty something English Banker falls for and has an affair with a teenage Irish waif from the wrong side of the tracks causing him grief at work and at home.

Release Date1992-01-12

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count3

Vote Count3

JB: A Portrait of Sir John Barbirolli

Interviews with and performance footage of conductor Sir John Barbirolli.

Release Date1965-03-11

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Johnny and the Dead

Not many people can see the dead (not many would want to). 12-year-old Johnny Maxwell can. And he's got bad news: the council want to sell the cemetery as a building site. But the dead have learnt a thing or two from Johnny. They're not going to take it lying down... especially since it's Halloween tomorrow.

Release Date1995-04-04

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Episode Count4

Vote Count1

Clouds of Glory

Dramatization by Melvyn Bragg and Ken Russell of the lives of the poets Wordsworth and Coleridge.

Release Date1978-07-09

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count2

Vote Count1

Naked Making Lunch

A 1992 documentary about the making of Naked Lunch.

Release Date1992-12-29

DepartmentCrew

JobPresenter

Vote Count8

Toulouse-Lautrec

Scenes from Huston's "Moulin Rouge," archive footage of the original locations, a Lautrec exhibition at London's "Royal Academy" and interviews with artists, critics and collectors provide insights into the artist's life.

Release Date1988-10-16

DepartmentCrew

JobPresenter

Annie Leibovitz 1993 Phaidon Documentary

Produced in 1993, this documentary depicts the development of Annie Leibovitz's career as a celebrity photographer.

Release Date1993-01-01

DepartmentEditing

JobEditor

Sweeney Todd: Scenes from the Making of a Musical

Opening with the first day of rehearsals of the London production of "Sweeney Todd", this ninety-minute documentary focuses on the rehearsal process with the musical's director, composer and actors.

Release Date1980-07-26

DepartmentEditing

JobEditor

Vote Count1

Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures

This lighthearted romp through Royal India presents a world of Maharajas, palaces, imperiled art objects, and the foreign collectors who will stop at nothing to possess them. Peggy Ashcroft and Larry Pine star as two rapacious art collectors who come to the decaying Art Deco palace of a young Maharaja (Victor Banerjee) to examine a legendary collection of Indian miniature paintings. While vying with each other to get the pictures away from the royal couple—nicknamed Georgie and Bonnie as children by their Scottish governess—they must also divine the true motives of the Indian curator of the collection (Saeed Jaffrey), who, in league with the Maharaja’s beautiful sister (Aparna Sen), may be working against them. Amidst the backdrop of lavish tourist entertainments, Christmas parties, fireworks, and even an English ghost, a desperate game of palace intrigue will determine the ultimate resting place of the priceless paintings.

Release Date1978-09-01

DepartmentEditing

JobEditor

Vote Count5

No Angel: A Life of Marlene Dietrich

Biography of Marlene Dietrich using interviews, film clips and rare footage of the actress, including her own home movies.

Release Date1996-07-24

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count1

Ken Russell's ABC of British Music

An irreverent survey of British Music.

Release Date1988-02-04

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Vote Count1

It All Started with a Mouse: The Disney Story

The story of Walt Disney and the company he built.

Release Date1989-10-14

DepartmentEditing

JobEditor

Bill Viola: The Road to St. Paul's

Gerald Fox’s film documents Bill Viola and his wife and close collaborator Kira Perov’s odyssey to create two permanent video installations for London’s St Paul’s Cathedral, Martyrs and Mary, the first art commissions of their kind to be installed in Britain’s most famous religious space.

Release Date2017-11-08

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Vote Count3

The Garden Party

Release Date1998-07-11

Episode Count1

Plunder

Emma Freud invites celebrity guests to unlock the film and video vaults.

Release Date1990-03-05

Episode Count1

The Adventure of English

The history of the English language presented by Melvyn Bragg; from its modest beginnings around 500 AD as a minor Germanic dialect to its rise as a global language.

Release Date2003-11-06

Episode Count8

Vote Count4

Reel History of Britain

Reel History of Britain is a 20 part series being shown on BBC Two, presented by Melvyn Bragg and about the history of modern Britain; through the eyes of people who were there. It was shown from 5–30 September 2011. The programme is a social history documentary, charting the course of the twentieth century through archive film, plus interviews and recollections of key events that have taken place in the last one-hundred years, since the advent of moving film. In each episode, Bragg goes to a different place in the UK and shows people film in a 1950s Ministry of Technology mobile cinema, then gauges their reactions and captures them on film.

Release Date2011-09-05

Episode Count20

Vote Count1

Norbert Smith – a Life

Norbert Smith – a Life is a spoof TV documentary film charting the life and career of the fictitious British actor Sir Norbert Smith. It stars Harry Enfield in the title role. It was written by Harry Enfield and Geoffrey Perkins and directed by Geoff Posner. It was made by Hat Trick Productions for Channel 4 and was first broadcast on 3 November 1989. The film is presented as if it were an edition of the ITV arts programme The South Bank Show, and features Melvyn Bragg, the presenter of the real South Bank Show, playing himself as the interviewer visiting Sir Norbert at his home, and encouraging him to reminisce about his past career. The humour arises from the fact that although Sir Norbert is acclaimed as one of Britain’s “Knights of the Theatre”, in the mould of a Laurence Olivier or John Gielgud, actually none of his contemporaries has anything particularly good to say about him, and he appears to have had limited success in landing good film roles. Interviewed now in his old age, he is demented, and has confused memories about his past. The main point of the film, however, is the parodying of various 20th century film genres, through interspersed clips that feature Enfield as Sir Norbert in a variety of film roles.

Episode Count1

Vote Count1

Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon revolutionised figurative painting in the 20th century. The English painter unmasked his subjects in a provocative and ruthless manner. Deformed bodies, grimacing faces and the materiality of colour make us aware of brutality and sexuality, existential abysses and the fears of existence. Author Melvyn Bragg accompanies the painter throughout his day. This begins in his London atelier, leads us on to his favourite pub and ends up in gambling club in Soho.

Release Date1985-06-08

Vote Count3