POP GOES THE MUSEUM. BBC4, Monday, September 16, 9-9.40pm
The BBC Architecture Week season includes the tale of the National Centre for Popular Music, a Sheffield museum which cost pound;15 million of lottery money and closed six months after opening, in March 1999. Often compared to the Millennium Dome, the NCPM epitomised an age which preferred style over content. It was intended as a “celebration” of music, a “fun place to go to”, in a “landmark building” (designed by the architect who created the Dome’s Body Zone). Consultants and focus groups proliferated, but no one knew what the place was for. The minimal exhibition had to rely on school parties, so the interactive exhibits quickly broke down - and no more Arts Council money was available to repair them.