He may write a lot of books but he is no Dickens. This was the summary of Melvyn Bragg by Bragg himself at a lunch to mark the launch of the second six-part series of the South Bank Show on Sky Arts at the Haymarket Hotel on Monday.
“This thing about me writing a lot of books is not true,” he said, refusing to reveal what his new novel, due to be published on May 9, is about. “Compared with Dickens I have written a menu.”
The new series of the South Bank Show starts on April 18 and will feature films based on arts luminaries ranging from playwright David Hare, dancer Tamara Rojo, singer Alfie Boe and comedian and songwriter Tim Minchin. Hare hasn’t been involved in a profile film about himself for 30 years — and that was also a South Bank Show but for its old broadcaster ITV, noted Bragg. “He is doing his next one with us so either we did something very wrong or very right,” says Bragg.
