BBC2’s poetry night chugs along nicely

Channel goes back to its roots with poetic train journey

Well, will it keep the Bake Off audience tuned in after Jo Brand’s spin-off cake show? Or even win over a few X Factor fans from ITV? Probably not, but BBC2 took its much-heralded first step to reclaim its cultural territory with a themed poetry night to mark National Poetry Day on Saturday.

Part of a plan for the channel to represent the arts at a higher-brow – but more audible – pitch, the evening officially began at 9pm with a salute to WH Auden’s 80-year-old film Night Mail, a celebrated poetic paean to the train service that took the post up north through the dark. This time, a succession of contemporary poets were invited to board a Virgin Pendolino (a name crying out for versification) and write fresh lines in response to the passengers making a morning journey with them from Euston to Glasgow.