Simon Heffer reflects on ITV's decision to axe the South Bank show when Melvyn Bragg retires over at the Telegraph blog
ITV will be to high culture what Poundland is to Chateau d'Yquem.
The show he says
opened doors to the curious and allowed them to peek inside. It was the more remarkable for doing so because, being on ITV, it might reach people not already bitten by the culture bug, but who had that spark of open-mindedness to allow themselves to be bitten. From next year, that opportunity will be lost.
But as channels have proliferated in the digital era the mainstream have moved away from the culture prefering to leave it to the niche operators
We seem to have lost the Victorian understanding of the benefits of opening up culture. If television channels that attract mass audiences do not put in their schedules the occasional opera, or interviews with great novelists, artists or playwrights, or programmes about great buildings, then of course these things will be considered elitist.
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