Category: 91Èȱ¬ FOUR; Factual & Arts TV
Date: 09.11.2005
Printable version
Mark Lawson is to become a much more regular face on 91Èȱ¬ FOUR, fronting a major new interview series, the channel announced today.
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Mark, who has presented a number of talk programmes on the channel in recent months - including interviews with Michael Palin, Sir David Attenborough, Madeleine Albright, Lord Bill Deedes and Sir Tim Berners-Lee - will host a regular peaktime interview programme, starting in early 2006.
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The interviews will form the centrepiece of themed evenings of archive programmes that reflect the nature of the interviewees' work.
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Janice Hadlow, Controller of 91Èȱ¬ FOUR, said: "I'm delighted that Mark is going to become a more regular face on 91Èȱ¬ FOUR.
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"He has a great interviewing style and I look forward to seeing him in action very soon."
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Mark added: "I have been a keen viewer of 91Èȱ¬ FOUR since it started and, as a presenter, have been pleased by the opportunity in the last two years to do long, detailed interviews, which has always been one of my favourite forms of broadcasting.
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"The invitation to conduct regular, lengthy interviews with big cultural figures was too good a chance to turn down."
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Mark will continue to present 91Èȱ¬ Radio 4's Front Row but will step down from 91Èȱ¬ TWO's Newsnight Review in the new year to free up time to concentrate on his 91Èȱ¬ FOUR commitment.
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Kirsty Wark will continue to be Newsnight Review's main presenter, and will be joined by Newsnight's Political Editor Martha Kearney, along with other regular guest presenters.
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Roly Keating, Controller of 91Èȱ¬ TWO, said: "Mark has done a great job chairing both Late Review and Newsnight Review over the last 10 years and we're hugely grateful to him for the role he has played in making arts discussion such an established part of the 91Èȱ¬ TWO mix.
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"The chance to have his own regular interview programme on 91Èȱ¬ FOUR is a fantastic opportunity and we wish him the best of luck in his new role."
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Mark Lawson was educated at St Columba's College, St Albans and University College, London where he took a degree in English.
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He has been a freelance contributor to numerous publications since 1984 and a Guardian columnist since 1995.
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In the mid-Nineties he presented The Late Show on 91Èȱ¬ TWO and has presented The Late Review (now Newsnight Review) since 1994.
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He has presented Front Row since 1998.
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He has twice been voted TV critic of the Year and has won numerous awards for arts journalism.
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CB/EN
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