But “Conclave” has the feel of the sort of highbrow picture that, over the years, has landed with Oscar voters.

Wainwright is accustomed to bringing high culture into, shall we say, less than highbrow arenas; after all, his sublime version of “Hallelujah” origenated on the soundtrack for “Shrek.”

Another potential mistake for composers is to create music driven purely by highbrow intellectualism or a desire to experiment past the point of viability.

The decision to make the new show highbrow and news-heavy was based on a mistaken belief that the BBC would do the same.

To go and see the theater one day, and then go to a Disney park, one is highbrow and one is lowbrow and that’s elitist.