BBC’s Culture Show Celebrates 30 Years Of Viz

By John Freeman on 4 March 2009

It almost sounds like a headline that the staff of Viz made it up for their comic but BBC2’s Culture Show travelled to Gateshead for the Tuesday 3 March programme. While there, as well as taking in Yoko Ono’s exhibition at the Baltic, presenter Lauren Laverne nipped across the river to Newcastle Upon Tyne to talk to Viz co-creator Chris Donald and visited the title’s offices to talk to artists Simon Thorp and Graham Dury.

For those who missed it the programme is available on BBCi player for 7 days and can be downloaded and retained for 30 days. The Viz item is first in the running order and lasts about 10 minutes.

The Culture Show on BBCi Player is here.

The Viz website is here.

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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.