As the Victoria and Albert Museum prepares to open its striking new 'outpost' in Dundee,
Mary Beard discusses iconic architecture and the role of cultural buildings in changing the fortunes of our towns and cities. Tonight's panel of guests are Dundee-born writer
A.L. Kennedy, architecture critic
Hugh Pearman and political commentator and comedian
Ayesha Hazarika. Mary and her panel of guests debate whether Glasgow School of Art should be rebuilt after it was destroyed by fire, whatever the cost, as
Muriel Gray has said or should buildings that are gone be allowed to remain gone? There have been various suggestions as to what should be done with another building gutted in a devastating fire, Grenfell Tower in London, how should it be memorialised and how can local people be included in those plans? Mary takes a trip to the seaside to discover how the hostile initial reactions of local people in Margate to the Turner Contemporary have been reversed since it opened in 2011. Like many coastal resort towns around the UK, Margate had been in decline for a number of years and was one of the most deprived areas along the south coast - but the opening of the Turner Contemporary has not only brought visitors back to the town but has also seen new businesses open. Mary speaks to local people about the benefits Margate has reaped from this new cultural building on the seafront. Finally, to celebrate
Wolf Alice winning the Mercury Music Prize we see footage of them performing on the very first edition of
Front Row (2017).
—Mark_a_Wood <markawood@hotmail.co.uk>