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 2, Episode 1 - Ludwig van Beethoven
Further details
Mark Steel turns up the volume on Beethoven with his tribute to a man who was the nearest eighteenth-century Vienna got to not only Jimi Hendrix, but also Captain Sensible. Unflinchingly exposing Ludwig's anger management issues and his dependence on Ceefax's 888 subtitle service, Mark Steel sets Beethoven in his revolutionary context and reveals the quirks of his character the history books gloss over.
Taking in the revolutionary nature of the Freemasons, Haydn's contractual similarity to Prince, Beethoven's unusual fondness for semi-hemidemisemiquavers and his love-hate relationship with Napoleon, The Mark Steel Lectures once again combines unique reconstructions with inventive graphics to bring Beethoven right up to the minute.
Broadcast details
- Date
- Friday 5th November 2004
- Time
- 11pm
- Channel
- BBC Four
- Length
- 30 minutes
Cast & crew
| Mark Steel | Host / Presenter |
| Martin Hyder | Ensemble Actor |
| Mark Steel | Writer |
| Pete Sinclair | Writer (Additional Material) |
| James Serafinowicz (as James Sezchuan) | Writer (Additional Material) |
| Michael Cumming | Director |
| Jon Rolph | Producer |
| Emma De'Ath | Executive Producer |
| Graham Smith | Executive Producer |
| Jon Plowman | Executive Producer |
| Jon Blow | Editor |
| Geoff Slack | Costume Designer |
| Sarah Burrows | Make-up Designer |
| Richard Lewis | Composer |