Seven artists, each with a strong regional identity, will reflect on England from a fresh perspective through a new national partnership between BBC English Regions and Arts Council England. ‘Made in England’ will be launched on 23 April, which is both St George’s Day and Shakespeare’s birthday.
It sets out to explore how the country inspires creativity, exploring responses to landscape and mixing the diverse with the traditional. Seven arts documentaries will be broadcast simultaneously to the BBC1 regions at 10.40pm on the launch date. Each is presented by an artist making a journey of discovery, away from his or her usual locality. Presenters include poet Ian McMillan, jazz musician Courtney Pine, artist Rolf Harris and photographer Harry Cory Wright, whose ‘Alders, River Wey, Surrey’ (pictured) comes from his major new series ‘Journey Through the British Isles’. A range of other new writing has been commissioned from authors including Beryl Bainbridge, Maggie Gee and Esther Freud. All seven documentaries and the new commissions will be available at w: http://www.bbc.co.uk/madeinengland