The Mark Steel Lectures

The Mark Steel Lectures are a series of radio and television programmes. Written and delivered by Mark Steel, each scripted lecture presents arguments for the importance of a historical figure.

History

The lectures were originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4 over three series between 1999 and 2002. Many of the arguments were illustrated by miniature sketches. These sketches featured Mark Steel, Martin Hyder, Mel Hudson, Carla Mendonça, Femi Elufowoju Junior and Debbie Isitt. The first series was subtitled "A series of lectures about Englishmen who changed the course of history", with the remaining two changing this to "A series of lectures about people with a passion". The first series was produced by Phil Clark; the others by Lucy Armitage. The lecture on Ludwig van Beethoven was nominated for a Sony Radio Comedy Award.
The programme transferred to television in 2003, with an Open University series on BBC Four, which was later repeated on BBC Two. This variously featured:

Gerard Logan as Lord Byron
Martin Hyder as Isaac Newton, Sigmund Freud, Aristotle, Che Guevara, Oliver Cromwell, Ludwig van Beethoven and Charles Darwin
Ainsley Harriott as Robert Boyle
Linda Smith as Martha Freud
Emma Kennedy as Mary Shelley and Sylvia Pankhurst
Various celebrities, including Mark Lamarr, Bob Monkhouse and Paul Merton, as themselves.

Like the radio version, the television series was written by Mark Steel, and features a series of sketches, often setting historical events in the modern day, and making numerous pop culture references. This version saw Steel deliver his lectures on location, with different sections of each programme coming from locations relevant to that part of the story. Unlike the radio version, there were no audience sounds, which some critics suggested made the comedy sections feel out of place . The television series was directed by Michael Cumming, and produced by Jon Rolph. The executive producers were Emma De'Ath and Graham Smith.
The programme was nominated for a BAFTA award in 2004 for best television comedy. Although the radio series has been released on CD, there are no plans to release DVDs of the television series.

Radio episode list

Series 1 – Englishmen who changed the course of history

S01 E01 – Oliver Cromwell
S01 E02 – W. G. Grace
S01 E03 – Charlie Chaplin
S01 E04 – Thomas Paine

Series 2 – People with a passion

S02 E01 – Lord Byron
S02 E02 – Aristotle
S02 E03 – Leonardo da Vinci
S02 E04 – Che Guevara
S02 E05 – Billie Holiday
S02 E06 – Karl Marx

Series 3 – People with a passion

S03 E01 – Ludwig van Beethoven
S03 E02 – Hannibal
S03 E03 – Isaac Newton
S03 E04 – Mary Shelley
S03 E05 – Muhammad Ali
S03 E06 – Napoleon Bonaparte

Television episode list

Series 1

S01 E01 – Lord Byron
S01 E02 – Isaac Newton
S01 E03 – Sigmund Freud
S01 E04 – Aristotle
S01 E05 – Charles Darwin
S01 E06 – Karl Marx

Series 2

S02 E01 – Ludwig van Beethoven
S02 E02 – Leonardo da Vinci
S02 E03 – Mary Shelley
S02 E04 – Thomas Paine
S02 E05 – Sylvia Pankhurst
S02 E06 – Albert Einstein

Series 3

Audio releases

There are two CDs currently out, featuring episodes of the second radio series.

Volume 1: Leonardo da Vinci and Karl Marx
Volume 2: Aristotle, Lord Byron, Che Guevara and Billie Holiday