The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

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British poetry series for BBC Four

09.09.08

BBC Four is to broadcast a six-week series dedicated to poems important to British culture. The series, which will be shown next year, has the working title of "Lines in the Landscape - Six Poetic Journeys around the UK". Each programme will tell the story of a poem, how it works and the nature and reach of its influence. The presenter will be poet and writer Owen Sheers.

Sheers has chosen six poems that have become part of the way the British landscape is viewed, from Upon Westminster Bridge by Wordsworth to Matthew Arnold's Dover Beach. He will discuss the poems with other poets, and meet local people to find out what the chosen poem means to them.

He said: "I'm thrilled to be working with BBC Four on such an exciting and innovative project which fulfils my long-held desire to explore the relationship between poetry and landscape on screen."

Producer Fiona Morris said: "Owen is a writer who feels passionately about the power of the British landscape to affect and define British culture."

The other poems being featured will be revealed at a later date.

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