The Mark Steel Lectures
- TV factual / stand-up
- BBC Four
- 2002 - 2006
- 18 episodes (3 series)
Series telling the story of some of the world's greatest names, from Byron to Pankhurst, in an accessible, comic manner. Features Mark Steel and Martin Hyder.
Episode menu
Series 1, Episode 1 - Lord Byron
Further details
Mark Steel follows the glorious life of Lord Byron from his birth just off Oxford Street in London to his death in Greece thirty-six years later. We see Byron on the beach, Byron and his pet bear and Byron on Never Mind The Buzzcocks, as Mark traces an extraordinary, unpredictable and rude life in Nottinghamshire, London and Athens, from Byron's bedroom to his deathbed.
In Lord Byron, Mark finds echoes of other modern heroes - revolutionaries, adventurers and poets like Joe Strummer, Lech Walesa and David Beckham, and suggests convincingly that Byron would have enjoyed Last Of The Summer Wine.
Broadcast details
- Date
- Tuesday 7th October 2003
- Time
- 10pm
- Channel
- BBC Four
- Length
- 30 minutes
Cast & crew
| Mark Steel | Host / Presenter |
| Mark Lamarr | Self |
| Gerard Logan | Ensemble Actor |
| Ty | Ensemble Actor |
| Mark Steel | Writer |
| Pete Sinclair | Writer (Additional Material) |
| James Serafinowicz (as James Sezchuan) | Writer (Additional Material) |
| Phil Clarke | Script Editor |
| Michael Cumming | Director |
| Jon Rolph | Producer |
| Graham Smith | Executive Producer |
| Jon Blow | Editor |
| Claire Buckett (as Clare Buckett) | Make-up Designer |
Press
In their original radio incarnation, these lectures were only mildly annoying, but in transferring them to television, Steel has ignored the basic audiovisual axiom that less is more. Consequently, the eyes were positively bombarded with unfunny graphics and humour-free sight gags, but made it well-nigh impossible to concentrate on the estuary voice that was ranting ineluctably at the viewer (on second thoughts, perhaps that was a blessing in disguise).
Victor Lewis-Smith, Evening Standard, 8th October 2003