TL;DR: Melvyn Bragg is retiring. I guess this is interesting for some fans here. Shout-out to @astroalex who's partner[1] made their own archive https://shelby.cool/melvyn/ - it allows you to search the list of episodes by interest (which isn't easy on the BBC site). <3

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35074386

Weirdly I was just about to post how amazing this link is, but clicking through the link I posted pretty much the same response two years ago.

It’s like I’ve been attacked by aliens with mind rubbers.

That’s a lot of work, but I can imagine it was a pleasure, or just an itch that had to be scratched.