Dispiriting lack of faith from Beeb

LISTENING to Radio 4, I happened to catch the historian Mary Beard boasting that her arts review show Front Row Late would be ‘zooming up to the Glasgow International Fair’.

This was an arresting bit of geography, especially since Front Row Late is already supposed to be in Glasgow.

It is a BBC Scotland production, but staffed and shot in London, making Front Row Late as Scottish as a Scotch egg.

I complained about this dishonesty during the first series but had hoped the new runs, with a new time slot and a new presenter, might also develop a new mindset. That mindset seems to be that of a wary maiden aunt, bravely holding her nose before diving into Liverpool, Mold and Glasgow for an afternoon’s filming. The show’s series producer, editor and studio remain London-based, and three weeks on I have yet to hear a Scottish voice on its panel. Front Row Late has all sorts of problems. Poor Mary is clearly dying to be a contributor rather than serve as a disorganised moderator of other people’s views, and everyone discusses art as if it’s made of glass, instead of having the kind of enjoyable rammies normal people have on their way home from a film or play.

On top of this, Front Row’s lack of faith in Scotland’s ability to author a weekly art show is not just dispiriting, it’s myopic.

Janice Forsyth, pictured, and the daily Afternoon Show team sustain two hours of engaging, wide-ranging chat on Radio Scotland – and that’s significantly more arts and entertainment hours in a week than Radio 4 can manage.