The South Bank Show Season 40, Episode 6: Why the Arts Matter

Tracey Ullman

In a new series of his arts show, Bragg features five inspiring women, starting with comedienne Tracey Ullman. The documentary looks at Ullman's role as one of the most important women in the history of British comedy.

Beverley Knight

Beverley Knight has sold over a million albums in the UK in a career spanning two decades and is widely considered to be one of the UK's most successful singers. Since her initial success in the 90s, Beverley has recently branched into musical theatre, with roles in productions such as Cats. and The Bodyguard, she has scored major hits with singles Made It Back, Greatest Day and Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda. Melvyn joins her working on new material with Guy Chambers and the upcoming hip-hop musical Sylvia at The Old Vic. This South Bank Show explores her experiences of racism growing up in Wolverhampton as the child of Windrush parents and her first steps in the music industry, inspired partly by a chance childhood meeting with 80s soul star Jaki Graham.

Danielle de Niese

Sonia Friedman

Sonia Friedman is a multi-award winning theatre producer who, in the past 20 years, has been unrivaled in her success of bringing new work to the West End with productions such as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, The Ferryman, and Jerusalem to name but a few. Born in London into an extraordinarily creative family, Sonia began working in the theatre in her teens. By her early 20s, she was already producing national tours and by the middle of the 90s she had broken into the West End. Melvyn follows Sonia from her sell-out production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in London to Broadway. They examine the shows that worked - and ones that didn't - as well as the risks of bringing new work to the West End.

Gail Rebuck

Gail Rebuck has been the most powerful woman in British publishing for three decades, holding the posts of Chief Executive and Chair of Random House UK for 22 years. A trailblazer for women in British publishing, she was not yet 30 when she was invited to become a founding director of Century Publishing. Noted not just for her commercial flair, she has also nurtured the careers of many authors as well as helping Random House UK (now Penguin Random House UK) to prosper in the new digital economy. Melvyn charts Gail's life and achievements while also considering the various revolutions which have taken place in the publishing world during her career, not least for women in the industry. The show also includes contributions from Nigella Lawson and Robert Harris.