The Review Show Explained

Alt Name:Late Review (1994–2000)
Review (2000–01)
Newsnight Review (2001–09)
Runtime:55 minutes
Starring:Mark Lawson (1994–2005)
Kirsty Wark (2002–2014)
Martha Kearney (2006–2014)
Location:Studio C, BBC Pacific Quay, Glasgow
Channel:BBC Two (1994–2013)
BBC Four (2013–2014)
BBC World News (2013–2014)
Country:United Kingdom
Language:English
Related:Newsnight

The Review Show is a British discussion programme dedicated to the arts which ran, under several titles, from 1994 to 2014. The programme featured a panel of guests who reviewed developments in the world of the arts and culture.

History

The Review Show began as Late Review in 1994, a strand within The Late Show, an arts magazine which followed the current affairs programme Newsnight, airing on Thursday nights. On 19 March 2000, it moved to a peak time Sunday evening slot within the Art Zone strand, and the title shortened to Review, before moving to Friday nights from 23 February 2001 where the review show was appended to Newsnight, and renamed Newsnight Review.[1]

Newsnight Review was a consumer survey of the week's artistic and cultural highlights which appeared on Friday evening's edition of Newsnight. The programme featured a chair and a panel of three invited guests who would review a selection of books, plays, films and exhibitions. Mark Lawson was the programme's original main presenter from 2001 to December 2005, having previously presented the Late Review and The Late Show strands. Other presenters included Kirsty Wark, Martha Kearney, Tom Sutcliffe, John Wilson, Natalie Haynes, Tim Marlow, Kwame Kwei-Armah and Hardeep Singh Kohli. Regular reviewers included Allison Pearson, Mark Kermode, Tom Paulin, Tony Parsons, Ekow Eshun and Germaine Greer.[2]

As part of the BBC's commitment to moving programmes out of London, it was announced in 2009 that Newsnight Review would end and be replaced by The Review Show, produced from Glasgow. The final edition of Newsnight Review was aired with an hour-long special with a review of the year on 18 December 2009.[3] [4] The Review Show was launched on 22 January 2010, with the same producer as Newsnight Review, and following the same format of a chair and a panel of guests (normally three) reviewing the arts, and still presented by Kirsty Wark and Martha Kearney.

As of March 2013 The Review Show was moved to BBC Four and reduced to a monthly, rather than weekly, broadcast. The duration of each episode was increased to an hour.[5]

The final episode of the show was aired on 30 March 2014.[6]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Newsnight gets arts slot . Newsnight Review . BBC . 29 November 2000 . 14 April 2012.
  2. Web site: BBC axes Review Show in week Tony Hall pledges commitment to the arts. Jason. Deans. 27 March 2014. The Guardian.
  3. Web site: A decade of Newsnight Review . Newsnight Review . BBC . 18 January 2010 . 5 February 2010.
  4. Web site: Friday 18 December: The year in Review . Newsnight Review . BBC . 17 December 2009 . 5 February 2010.
  5. Web site: Crompton . Sarah . The Review Show: does culture matter less than cookery? . The Telegraph. 3 March 2013 . 8 March 2013.
  6. News: Deans. Jason. BBC axes Review Show in week Tony Hall pledges commitment to the arts. The Guardian. 27 March 2014 . 30 March 2014.