SKY ARTS UNVEILS NEW SLATE OF PROGRAMMING

Phil Edgar-Jones, Executive Director of Original Unscripted: commented: "Arts TV is alive and kicking. We have a brilliant range of programmes coming down the line, whether that’s celebrating the greats in various fields from Edna O’Brien via Maggi Hambling to Pauline Black and the The Brontës. We are proud to be flying the flag for the best in British and Irish Arts.”

Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story

A portrait of one of the world’s most charismatic writers, Irish author Edna O’Brien, who died last month aged 93. In 1960, a young Edna O’Brien wrote a sexually frank debut novel, The Country Girls, and became a literary sensation.

This new film explores Edna’s identity as one of her generation’s most controversial women, as she undertakes her final camera interview and describes what it is to know there is little time left.

My Week With…

Uncover the day-to-day lives of the world’s most extraordinary women artists in My Week With…  In this brand new series, Sky Arts sends art expert Kate Bryan to spend a week with some of the most iconic and disruptive women artists. With up to half the footage captured by Kate on an iPhone, these films are intimate, candid, and refreshingly real. 

Pauline Black: A 2-Tone Story

Pauline Black is the living embodiment of the 2-Tone music movement and a woman who has made her mark on society. She helped shift British society towards diversity with a whole new ethos of anti-racism, sexism and gender politics that we still strive towards today.

Anita Rani – The Brontës: Sisters of Disruption (w/t)

Anita Rani presents this exploration of the Bronte sisters and their enduring influence, tracking the impact Anne, Charlotte and Emily have had on millions of readers across the centuries.

Partly autobiographical, this new programme traces Anita’s relationship with the Brontes as she heads back to her hometown of Bradford, recalling her first encounter with them at school and her experience of growing up with the stunning landscape of Haworth and the moors on her doorstep. Anita also meets fellow Bronte fans and literary experts to discuss how and why these sisters became ground-breaking ‘literary disruptors’ whose work still feels relevant and influential today.

Bill Bailey’s Master Crafters: The Next Generation 

Bill Bailey is back for another series celebrating traditional crafts. This third series of Master Crafters will delve into four more heritage crafts which are in danger of being lost if the next generation do not take them up; Blacksmithing, Letter Press Printing, Mosaics and stone carving. 

All Sky Arts shows are available on Freeview and are commissioned by Phil Edgar-Jones, Executive Director of Original Unscripted, for Cecile Frot-Coutaz, Chief Content Officer for Sky.