The South Bank Show 2022: Sky release date - and interviewees including Helen Mirren and Frank Skinner

The South Bank Show is a British television arts series originally broadcast on ITV from 1978-2010.

In 2012, Sky picked up the series and it was given a new format and is broadcast on Sky Arts.

Melvyn Bragg, a Labour peer, broadcaster and presenter has fronted the show since it started on ITV and has continued to do so for the Sky version.

The show is designed to bring both high art and popular culture to a wide audience.

In each episode, Bragg interviews a major figure who has been influential in an area of the British arts scene.

Who are the interviewees?

Frank Skinner

The first interviewee of the new series, Skinner is an actor, comedian, presenter and writer who has contributed much to the arts in Britain.

He is likely best known for presenting the comedy show Fantasy Football League with David Baddiel from 1994-2004.

Skinner and Baddiel collaborated several times in their careers, working together on the talk show Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned in the early 2000s, and releasing the timeless football song Three Lions with the The Lightning Seeds in 1996.

Independently, Skinner hosted The Frank Skinner Show from 1995-2005, and Room 101 from 2012-2018.

In 2015 he took part in the first season of the celebrity challenge show Taskmaster, coming joint second with Romesh Ranganathan behind Josh Widdicome.

Helen Mirren

Award-winning actress Helen Mirren will also join Bragg to discuss her career in the film industry.

Mirren is the only performer to have won a Triple Crown of Acting in both the UK and the US - this means she has won an Oscar, Bafta, Tony, Laurence Olivier, Emmy, and Bafta TV award.

She began acting on the stage in the 1960s, joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1965.

Her breakthrough film role came as Victoria in the gangster film The Long Good Friday and she has since appeared in many popular films.

Her film credits include Hitchcock, Trumbo, RED, Gosford Park, and appearances in several instalments of the Fast and Furious franchise as Queenie.

But it was in her role as Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen that Mirren won her first and, to date, only Oscar. She also won a Bafta for the role.

Carlos Acosta

Acosta is a Cuban-British retired ballet director and retired dancer - he was born in Havana in 1973 and grew up in poverty.

Acosta’s father sent him to dancing training to teach him discipline and because he would be guaranteed a free lunch every day at the school.

Acosta was a member of the National Ballet of Cuba from 1992-93 and was involved in productions including Swan Lake, Don Quixote, and Giselle.

He joined London’s Royal Ballet in 1998, and in 2020 he became Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Over his career, Acosta has won several awards for dancing including the Osimodanza Prize and the Prix Benois de la Danse. In 2014 he awarded a CBE for services to ballet.

When is The South Bank Show on TV?

The South Bank Show will begin airing on Sky Arts on Wednesday 20 July at 10pm. Future episodes will air at the same time weekly.