In this feature documentary, Melvyn Bragg, drawing on a career spanning more than sixty years, makes a rousing case for why the arts matter, not just in his life, but in the lives of everyone in the nation.
The country’s preeminent arts broadcaster, who stepped down from hosting The South Bank Show in 2023, explores both his own early years in the Cumbrian town of Wigton, and the lives of those he speaks to here.
Interviewees include artists Tracey Emin and Antony Gormley, the actors Maxine Peake and Lenny Henry, the poet Lemn Sissay, the filmmaker and comedian Armando Iannucci, and the musician Sheku Kanneh-Mason. Culminating in a passionate rallying cry, delivered in the House of Lords in 2024, this film is Melvyn’s urgent call to arms to defend the arts in their time of need.
