SHOW OF HANDS FRONTMAN KNIGHTLEY TO APPEAR ON MAJOR NEW BBC TV SERIES

Show of Hands’ inspired frontman and BBC award-winning songwriter Steve Knightley is to appear in a major new BBC 2 TV series starting next week.

Devon-based Knightley, who won the 2010 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Best Original Song title for his topical Arrogance Ignorance and Greed and who recently sold out the Royal Albert Hall for the fourth time with multi-instrumental bandmate Phil Beer, will be seen and heard in the new eight-part landmark series entitled The Great British Story.

Presented by historian Michael Wood, the series starts on Friday, May 25 at 9pmand will chart Britain’s chequered past from the perspective of ordinary people and local communities –from Viking invasions and the Norman Conquests through to the Industrial Revolution and two World Wars.

Made for the BBC by independent production company Maya Vision, it will include footage of Show of Hands playing Knightley’s anthemic song of Cornish miners Cousin Jack, as performed on May 15 at the Daphne du Maurier Festival in Fowey, Cornwall.

Director Rebecca Dobbs says: “We wanted Steve to contribute to our series as he has such a broad understanding of the British people’s history and wanted him to use songs of the period to help tell the story. He’s got a wonderful voice that would enhance any programme.”

Web links: www.showofhands.co.uk  – www.facebook.com/steveknightley                         www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00r12j3