The South Bank Show: Tim Minchin

Series 34, episode one
Another series of ‘The South Bank Show’ and first, the good news. Melvin Bragg and his barnet are finally at peace. Bragg has washed his hands of responsibility; now, his hair just does its own thing and is all the better for it. ‘TSBS’ still has a familiar set of flaws however, even if they’re pretty minor ones. This profile of Tim Minchin is perfectly satisfactory for what it is.

There are live performance clips, lengthy interview segments and a few insights into his childhood and career path. But there’s no sense of the inner Minchin – Bragg’s too amiable a presence to search too vigorously and Minchin doesn’t offer much up. So essentially, this feels like a likeable but eminently missable puff-piece: a chat between two men who know which side their bread is buttered.