The South Bank Show: the beginning
What I wanted to do was to run an all-arts programme. And do it in a way that reflected my interests and those of a group of people that I could gather around me.
Launching the first series
The first two to three seasons of The South Bank Show were such hard work, I didn't do anything else. I didn't do any radio, I did scarcely any journalism, and my books suffered at the time - because I didn't have the time for them.
This is a big show to get on the air - it's a big operation. I hope it looks easy now, but it's a bit like a swan: on top of the water looking very calm, but paddling like hell underneath!
We’ve got an immensely talented team on the show, and we’ve had a very good run with freelance filmmakers: James Ivory and Ismail Merchant did three films for me, then Ken Loach, Ken Russell, Tony Palmer and Derek Bailey.
Keeping the show fresh
The South Bank Show renews itself every season. It's great that artists who were influenced by watching the show when they were young are now participating in it. For example, we've recently made a programme on Tracey Emin and it started with her saying that when she was ten she used to watch The South Bank Show, hoping that one day she'd be on it!
Similarly, during last year's profile on Blur, Damon Albarn said that he saw Morrissey on the show, and that something Morrissey said about popular music being a dying art (and The Smiths being the last great pop band) challenged Damon to start writing music and prove him wrong.
The one interview that got away
I wish that I could have had a proper interview with Graham Greene. He ducked and dodged me. I saw an interview that he did do once to promote a series of his short stories, but it didn't work very well because he insisted on sitting in the half dark as I remember. I'm drawn to writers, maybe because as an author I'm sympathetic to them. I also regret that I never interviewed Samuel Beckett for The South Bank Show.
Melvyn’s favourite moments
There are so many good moments – it’s incredibly difficult to pick out any favourites. For example, everyone loved the programme on Francis Bacon, because we both got really drunk! Actually despite that entertaining aspect of it he said a lot of very good stuff. I'm glad that he and I both had the guts to keep it in.
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