The Culture Show

The Culture Show is back for a new series, full of vim and vigour. The sweetness and light of Lauren Laverne is balanced by the curmudgeonly Mark Kermode with a back-up team of eminently likeable experts who are smart but not smartarse.

The new Tuesday time slot is much better and there’s an extended version on Fridays for those too cultured to be out at the pub. Another good thing is broadcasts from London and Glasgow on alternate weeks – good news for those of us outside the capital as there’s a chance we could actually get to see some of this fabulous stuff. This week’s episode had a typically eclectic mix with conductor Gustavo Dudamel, don’t-know-it-all Karl Pilkington, music from Richard Hawley and Elbow and a great feature on Scottish land art which explained what those pink sheep on the M8 are all about.