Dr Mark Kermode

Dr Mark Kermode (BA English Language and Literature 1985, PhD 1991) – Distinguished Film Critic, Presenter, The Culture Show, BBC 2

Dr Kermode is probably the UK’s best known and well respected film critic. He currently reviews and debates new film releases every Friday with Simon Mayo on BBC Radio 5 Live. He co-presents The Culture Show on BBC Two and is a familiar face on arts shows such as Newsnight Review. He has written extensively on film for publications including The Independent, The Guardian, New Statesman, Vox and Empire magazine.

Born in Barnet, North London, in 1963, Dr Kermode began working as a journalist while still an English undergraduate at The University of Manchester in the early 1980s, reviewing films and music for Manchester’s City Life magazine. He stayed in Manchester to pursue a PhD in modern English and American horror fiction, which he gained in 1991, before moving to London to write for publications such as Time Out and the NME.

It was while at Time Out that Dr Kermode got his first break in broadcasting. LBC Radio was seeking a film reviewer. Dr Kermode volunteered and his passionate, opinionated and knowledgeable style was an instant success. He was subsequently invited to become the film reviewer for BBC Radio 1. From there it was short jump to BBC Radio 5 Live, first with Mark Radcliffe and then with Simon Mayo. On television, Mark co-presents the BBC Two arts programme The Culture Show and contributes to The Film Review on the BBC News channel.

Dr Kermode is not only a distinguished film critic. He has written and presented several television documentaries and authored a number of books on film. In 2004 he jointly curated a ‘history of the horror film season’ at the National Film Theatre in London, with his wife Linda, professor of film studies at the University of Southampton. His autobiography, It’s Only a Movie: Reel Life Adventures of a Film Obsessive, was published in 2010.