Culture, thinks Melvyn Bragg, is not a bonus feature of reality: it actually is life itself. Or – as the veteran broadcaster puts it in his new Sky Arts documentary – art “isn’t the cherry on the cake; it’s the cake”. To this end, the 84-year-old interviews a series of modern greats, including Tracey Emin, Lenny Henry, Armando Iannucci and Antony Gormley, about their careers and the crucial role art has played in their lives. Bragg also has a story of his own: after having a nervous breakdown at the age of 13, it was “heavy reading” – ie consuming challenging books – that led to his recovery.
As a premise for a programme, it feels rather general, slightly indulgent and a bit extraneous. Bragg – who made his name as the host of the seminal arts programme The South Bank Show – is preaching to the choir here; anyone tuning in to Sky Arts presumably already subscribes to this worldview. Suitably, the chats featured tend to be gratingly self-satisfied. Although I suppose everyone involved does have good reason to be extremely pleased with themselves: they have all winkled fame, fortune and acclaim from the pursuit of their artistic passions.
