Benefits to you
Sky Arts broadcasts the very best of the Hay Festival on Sky Arts 1 HD channel 258 and Sky Arts 1, channel 256.
This year, we brought Sky Arts flagship show, The Book Show to Hay, broadcast from a specially constructed studio at the festival.
The Book Show at Hay
Sky Arts flagship show, The Book Show ended its series at Hay this year providing daily coverage of the festival. Presented by Mariella Frostrup, the show featured interviews with the biggest and best names at Hay, including Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry, best-selling authors Christopher Hitchens, Bill Bryson and Carlos Ruiz Zafon, comedians Rob Brydon and Jo Brand and Nobel Prize winner Nadine Gordimer.The Book Show aired daily throughout the festival on Sky Arts 1 HD.
Other programming / events this year included,
- The Sky News Election Debate with Adam Boulton broadcast a live post-election panel debate featuring Tessa Jowell MP, Duncan Hames MP, Michael Gove MP, Margot James MP, Tristam Hunt MP, Ed Vaizey MP, Lord Fowler, Guardian journalist John Harris and author Christopher Hitchens. Questions were taken from the audience.
- James Rhodes, The rising British piano sensation is rapidly winning a devoted and growing fan base with his trademark “stand-up” style delivery, sharing insightful anecdotes on the music and its composers. We filmed Rhodes unique performance at Hay with a live audience.
- We also recorded our first ever audience based Songbook with the Kelly Jones, the singer/songwriter of Stereophonics. It was a fantastic sold out event, presented by Bob Harriss with an audience of all ages and a breath-taking performance by Jones.
- Mark Billingham and David Morrissey Inside Sleepyhead, Billingham’s Tom Thorne series has been thrilling crime lovers for almost a decade and thorne will be a major TV drama on Sky1 HD this autumn with the adaptation of both sleepyhead and scaredy cat. Previewing clips from the films for the first time ever, author and star dissected the journey from page to screen, and discussed the differences between the book and the drama.
- Further highlights of Hay this year were filmed and broadcast daily on Sky Arts 1. The 20 hour long Hay sessions included talks by Ian McEwen, Quentin Blake, Roddy Doyle and Andrew Marr, the Buena Vista Social Club and folk sensation Laura Marling.
Online
In addition to broadcasting the best of the festival Sky Arts we kept you updated with all the activity online at http://thebookshow.skyarts.co.uk (opens in a new window), featuring videos, downloads of featured books, recommended reads and exclusive interviews with stars at the festival, not to mention a huge collection of photos from around the festival.
To find out more about Hay and how we support the festival visit: http://thebookshow.skyarts.co.uk (opens in a new window)
There was lots of twitter buzz around Sky Arts programming of Hay, including,
- crimeficreader Tonight’s Sky Arts The Book Show had Jo Brand as guest & she was excellent.
- burmasfinest Watching Quentin Blake do live illustrations at the Hay Festival. Well done Sky Arts HD.
- jamesmcc77 Watching Quentin Blake draw the BFG on Sky Arts. Sometimes TV can be very good.
- guardianhay RT @missjennybell About to watch Bill Bryson on sky arts 1. He could narrate a new series of bagpuss, his voice is wonderful #Hay