‘THERE'S JUST A GREAT SPARKLE THERE’

Before or after a storm, some calm is required. When The Big Issue dials into a Zoom call with Joan Bakewell and Stephen Mangan, they immediately start chatting like excited schoolchildren about the breaking news coming in about the Georgia Senate seats.

Bakewell: “You see the Democrats are likely to take Georgia?” Mangan: “Amazing. By the narrowest of margins again.”

Of course, hours later a mob of Trumped-up insurrectionists would storm the Capitol in what would become the most chaotic day in a chaotic age.

Which is why we need Landscape Artist of the Year in our lives. The biggest hit on recently free-to-air Sky Arts, the show has been boosted by a year of lockdown when we’ve sought solace in more leisurely pursuits, and ached for any glimpse of wide open spaces, be they painted, charcoaled, crocheted or otherwise.

Broadcast legend, Labour peer and past Big Issue guest-editor, Bakewell, 87, and the charming, affable Mangan, 52, present with easy camaraderie, turning them into TV’s oddest yet most endearing couple. We chat about the secret behind their onscreen and