The Open Broadcasting Unit presents: The Mark Steel Lectures
Transmission: Tuesday 7th October, 2003 at 22:00 on BBC FOUR
(Repeated Thursday at 23:00, Saturday at 23:50)
Award-winning author, columnist and stand-up comic MARK STEEL makes his long-awaited television series debut with an adaptation of his funny and often controversial BBC Radio 4 series - The Mark Steel Lectures. Mixing historical lecture with stand-up comedy, he brings inimitable enthusiasm, humour and hunger for knowledge to BBC Four.
In the Open University series of five programmes, Mark delves into the lives and works of famous historical figures whose ideas and originality have shaped the world from 200 BC to the present day. But their private lives often contained secrets that would have been tabloid scandals and fodder for gossip columnists in the modern era. Amid the historical debate that surrounds these figures, Mark paints his own provocative picture of these men of genius, dedication, conviction, oddness and above all, passion.
It's passion which inspires Mark, and passion which attracts him to his subjects, who in this first series are (in transmission order) Lord Byron, Isaac Newton, Sigmund Freud, Aristotle and Charles Darwin. He reveals the hidden side of these legendary characters and comes to his own unique conclusions about their motivations, ambitions and distinctive contribution to the history of ideas. The series also stars Martin Hyder and Gerard Logan and features Ainsley Harriott, Mark Lamarr, Linda Smith & Bob Monkhouse.
Mark Steel is the award-winning author of Reasons to be Cheerful and the recently published Vive La Revolution. He has made four series of The Mark Steel Solution and The Mark Steel Lectures for BBC Radio 4 and has written regularly for various national newspapers and magazines. He is a well-known stand-up comedian, having performed on the comedy circuit since 1983. He has a major national tour running from September to 30th November.
The series aims to provoke curiosity and further interest in the subjects, and viewers will have an opportunity to continue the debate on www.open2.net The site will have in-depth essays written by experts on the famous figures featured in the series, and will host a forum for viewers to post questions to Open University academics. People will also be able to question Mark Steel about his career and life in comedy.
This month, ScreenFirst features the first Mark Steel Lecture on Lord Byron. All staff are welcome to join us in the Berrill Lecture Theatre on Wednesday 8th October from 1pm.
For more information, please contact Polly Frazer on:
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