ITV1's first podcast will be Melvyn Bragg's South Bank Show, the broadcaster announced today.

Starting today (Monday), both audio and video versions of the show will be available for free download on ITV's website.

"This is a bold move forward for the South Bank Show," said Bragg. "The podcasts for Radio 4’s In Our Time have proved to be successful, showing that the public are keen on this new method of broadcasting. This exclusive online facility will give us the potential to unlock our archive interviews from David Lean, Francis Bacon, Jack Lemmon, Eric Clapton, Seamus Heaney, Harold Pinter, Norman Mailer, Arthur Miller, Billy Connolly, Martin Amis, David Hockney, Stephen Spielberg and literally hundreds more. Fingers crossed."