Access all arias
BBC to screen uncut Springer opera
The BBC is to broadcast Jerry Springer: The Opera in its entirety in the new year.
Filming of the West End show is part of a deal that will also see creators Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas create six half-hour operas for BBC2.
Franny Moyle, head of arts commissioning at the BBC, said this was part of a move to bring arts coverage up to date.
She said: "We've been after Jerry Springer for quite a long time because it felt so fresh and modern, cheeky and witty. We're delighted we can capture that.
“But I'm particularly concerned that we develop stuff that's bespoke to television - informed by classical tradition, but reinventing it in television's own terms. The BBC hopes the series will introduce a new generation of viewers to opera.”
One idea the composer and comic are reportedly mulling is a operetta based on the cut and thrust of Question Time.
The TV arm of Avalon, which co-produced the opera, is to make the series and oversee the filming of the expletive-riben stage show, which stars David Soul in the title role.
Lee and Thomas are now working on a new opera - The Ha-Ha Hole - based around a night out at a London comedy club. It is to be staged in Germany, and sung in German.Published: 18 Nov 2004
