Liverpool's new and improved World Museum

Liverpool's newly revamped and renamed World Museum opens to the public after a �31 million cash boost.

(Please note this transcript of the panel's review is taken from the teletext subtitles that are generated live for Newsnight Review.)

MARK LAWSON:

The new World Museum in Liverpool opening in two weeks. The football team are doing OK. Will this make the semi-finals of the World Museum of the year?

JAMES BROWN:

It might drop out of the Champions League down to the UEFA spot. I was really impressed with the World Museum. I thought it was all going to be Beatles and Yellow Submarine, but I hold my hands up, ignoramus going in. When I went in, I thought I would like to nick quite a lot of the stuff. With most museums everything is really big and often you are rushed past things, but it was very well curated. When you got into the different cultures part, there were fantastic Eskimo sunglasses, a guy modelling them, a real Eskimo, looked just like Ian Brown. The samurai swords looked amazing. All he different versions of the Wicker man's outfit. It was fascinating, which surprised me. Also, the bughouse, where they have this interactive display, where they have this giant fly. Don't go in there on acid, but take your kids. It's fun.

LAWSON:

They are trying to combine two things here, presumably having studied the entertainment quite closely. They've got living creatures, the insects and the aquarium, and the dead objects in a museum. Does that mix work?

ROSIE BOYCOTT:

It's a very good mix. The fact there is a lot for your children to do and then take them on to the more serious stuff. They have made access for children everywhere. In the World Museum, you are going to be able to dress up in the costumes of the time. The Africa section is particularly good. You get this sense of the development of Liverpool. A lot of the collection came from one guy, who was an engineer on a very famous Liverpool line. They went particularly to the Gold Coast of Africa and brought things. Masses of the stuff was sent by the African chiefs to England. And like the thing we showed a little film of, of the strange suit, which was made out of cut-out Union Jacks which Africans had borrowed and turned into a suit. It's fascinating. You get a sense of the development of the city. If you go into the V & A or the big museums, quite honestly, I glaze at too many cases.

LAWSON:

Mark, �31 million, they are trying to make a museum work in the age of video games interactivity. That's the clear attempt. Do they bring that off?

MARK KERMODE:

I thought they did. We saw it at a state where it's not yet finished. It's a very welcoming space. Architecturally, it's an easy space to walk through. In the World Culture section, you get the impression, wow, the world is a huge, fascinating, wonderful place with all these different cultures. You can easily imagine taking kids and them being enthralled there. There is a lovely section with the Buddhist temple in. In the bughouse, there is fantastic hands-on stuff which the kids love. Also, it gives you a sense that there is wonder to be found in the tiny little things in the world and also in the great wider world. I can easily imagine spending four or five hours there. Because of the way it's designed, there is a central atrium, which you can stand in and see the different floors. You always know exactly where you are. I have a great problem about getting lost in museums, but it's easy to find your way around because of its design.

LAWSON:

I can testify because I took an actual child. James gave the game away. I said, "We will take you to Anfield, and then you have to go round this serious museum as well." I thought he'd trudge round but in fact he loved it. It's difficult to pull off. It's making it child-friendly without getting silly, but they have avoided that.

BOYCOTT:

I thought they did very well. I hope your son enjoyed the bit where you could pick up the elephant's teeth. And there was the fantastic skeleton of a hippopotamus head where you could put your hands inside its jaw and feel its power. That's wonderful for a child or an adult. And the whole microscopic thing of being able to see the bed bug with the blood in it, that was great.

LAWSON:

I feel the institutional museums inevitably can get a bit rambling and hard to follow. It feels absolutely controlled and coherent.

BOYCOTT:

They did it very well. What is intriguing is that they have still got 80% more not on display. What's wonderful is the shots you saw of the fire. Masses of it haven't been seen since that night. They managed to save a lot of it. There are a few things, like carved elephant tusks, where you can see the fire damage that happened before they rushed them off and got them to safety.

BROWN:

It felt very modern as well. It was very user-friendly, like the RAF Museum or the Science Museum in London. You could go in and pull drawers out, and suddenly you are in Silence of the Lambs, with butterflies everywhere.

KERMODE:

You get the sense there is loads of stuff on display, so you get a sense of the world's culture on display, but you don't get a sense of clutter. That is the great achievement. There is loads, but not too much. I think you could take a kid around that section as well as all the hands-on stuff and be transfixed.

LAWSON:

There is a pre-15th Century 120-day calendar, which is an extraordinary zig-zag design. Wonderful stuff.

BOYCOTT:

One thing though we didn't see, some of the films and some of the written material, they have since sent me a bit of it. There is a fantastic marriage between old stuff and technology, and all the different types of technology that you can use. The guides are incredibly well written out, plus the little films and the DVD. When you go into the Tibetan house, there is going to be a film of life there in the 50s. Riveting.

LAWSON:

General feeling is that Liverpool has a world-class World Museum. It opens on April 29th.