Front Row

Benicio Del Toro talks about playing a business tycoon in Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme. This aesthetically stylised film, by the director who also made The Royal Tenenbaums and The Grand Budapest Hotel, is reviewed by Tom and critics Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Rachel Cooke. They also give their verdict on Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, the 8th and final film in the franchise, and discuss fictional portrayals of food as Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle is published.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Harry Graham

Frontwoman of Garbage, Shirley Manson talks about the band's latest album Let All That We Imagine Be The Light, which is inspired by contemporary events including the killing of George Floyd in Los Angeles, but which presents an optimistic perspective on a dystopian world. We hear from the winner of the International Booker Prize, which was announced at a ceremony last night. And Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller talks about how he has curated joyful and exuberant events in towns and cities around the UK - Derry-Londonderry, Dundee, Llandudno and Plymouth - to celebrate the bicentenary of the National Gallery.

Musician Rhiannon Giddens on returning to her North Carolina roots after working with Beyoncé. As a huge retrospective of the work of the artist Helen Chadwick opens at The Hepworth Wakefield, art critic Louisa Buck and the exhibition's curator, Laura Smith, discuss why Chadwick should be viewed as the godmother for a golden generation of British contemporary artists, and another chance to hear Daniel Swift, author of The Dream Factory: London's First Playhouse and the Making of William Shakespeare, investigate an important piece of theatre history.Presenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu

25 years after Joanne Harris introduced readers to the soothing delights of Chocolat, she's released her new book Vianne. It's the prequel that explains how her heroine found her way into the world of high end French confectionery. A new exhibition at the British Museum sheds light on the provenance of popular images of the Hindu god Ganesha, the Buddha and Jain enlightened teachers. We talk to curator Sushma Jansari about Ancient India: living traditions, alongside expert in Indian ritual art, Professor Partha Mitter.The 2025 Cannes Film Festival is well underway. We get the latest from Daily Telegraph Critic, Robbie Collin.Rumours abound about the planned axing of the Government Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. Alison Cole, head of the Cultural Policy Unit think tank, tells us what this could mean for the arts.Presenter Samira Ahmed. Producer Harry Graham

David Benedict and Viv Groskop review Stephen Sondheim's final musical, Here We Are, a surreal story of brunch and existential dread; French film about about grassroots music, The Marching Band and Daniel Kehlmann's new novel, The Director, about a real life German filmmaker navigating the Third Reich.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Simon Richardson

Colin Bulfield, Executive Producer of the new film Ocean With Attenborough, talks about working with the celebrated broadcaster and filmmaker Sir David Attenborough on his latest project, an exploration of the vital importance of healthy oceans to our planet which is in cinemas around the country now. Current exhibitions at V&A Dundee and the British Library in London shed light on the history and future of garden design. Curator James Wylie and academic and author Becca Voelcker discuss how gardens reflect society, how they have influenced other fields such as art and philosophy, and what gardens might look like in 50 years time. And librettist Emma Jenkins and composer Toby Hession talk about how their new operetta for Scottish Opera and the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, A Matter of Misconduct!, which is inspired by political scandals, the No.9 Downing Street press briefing room and classic British comedy from Hancock's Half Hour to The Thick of It. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

Novelist Elif Shafak, artist and writer Edmund de Waal and Professor Rachel Bowlby join Samira to discuss the centenary of Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway. As the Semi Finals of Eurovision start tonight in Basel, Switzerland, Paddy O'Connell talks about this year's contest. Four hundred leading British Artists such as Paul McCartney and Kate Bush have been giving their support to a campaign to try and stop tech films being able to use their work for AI training. Film director and peer Baroness Beeban Kidron talks about leading a successful amendment to this Data bill in the House of Lords. Morcheeba's Skye Edwards and Ross Godfrey are celebrating 30 years in the music business with new album Escape the Chaos. Formed in 1995 the band, who have been called trip hop pioneers, have had 3 top ten albums and gained global success. They perform, for the first time, an acoustic version of Call For Love from their forthcoming album. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Claire Bartleet

Suzanne Vega has just released her first album of all-new material for nearly a decade. "Flying With Angels" continues her folk-influenced sound and introduces influences of soul as well as a song in tribute to Bob Dylan's "I Want You". She performs in the studio with guitarist Gerry Leonard.Sean Combs aka P Diddy is on trial in New York, charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. We look at the first day's proceedingsAnd there's a unique community-led production of Bertolt Brecht's play Mother Courage and her Children, taking place in Horden, County Durham. The cast combines a unique combination of newly trained-up actors drawn from the surrounding area and established South African actors. We speak to drector Mark Dornford-May and first time professional actor, Julie Ainsell.Presenter Samira Ahmed

Authors Matt Cain and Eimear McBride join Tom Sutcliffe to review a new remake of Ang Lee's 1993 classic The Wedding Banquet. They also discuss Isabel Allende's new novel My Name is Emilia del Valle and the play The Brightening Air, on at the Old Vic theatre in London. And the National Gallery is having a re-hang, we speak to Head of the Curatorial Department, Christine Riding.

Acclaimed German journalist and film producer Sandra Maischberger talks about her new documentary about Leni Riefenstahl, which re-examines the life and career of the filmmaker and Nazi propagandist who was one of the most controversial women of the 20th century. Art historian and curator Sandy Nairne, a member of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee, and journalist and broadcaster Nancy Durrant discuss digital designs by teams shortlisted to create the permanent memorial to Queen Elizabeth in St James's Park in London. And Ivor Novello Award-winning musician Martin Green talks about his debut musical for the National Theatre of Scotland, Keli, a story of creativity, music and community which marks 40 years since the Miners' Strikes. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

In the wake of President Trump's proposed film tariffs, Jake Kanter, International Investigations Editor at Deadline, discusses what the impact could be for the British film industry.Last week Moorcroft became the latest heritage ceramic company to close its doors in Stoke-On-Trent. Emma Bridgewater, founder of the eponymous ceramics company, and Alasdair Brooks from Re-Form Heritage, discuss the decline of pottery in The Potteries.A new genre-bending production of Hamlet created in collaboration with Thom Yorke from Radiohead has just opened at Factory International in Manchester. Co-directors Christine Jones and Steven Hoggett discuss their vision for Hamlet Hail to the Thief. When it opened in 2000, The Lowry in Salford was one of the many beneficiaries of cultural infrastructure funding from the Millennium Commission. Twenty five years on, its CEO, Julia Fawcett, joins Front Row to discuss the significance of this national funding programme.David Hockney and Vincent van Gogh have had the immersive art treatment. Now the National Portrait Gallery is using this approach for its collection in a new exhibition, Stories Brought To Life, that has just opened in MediaCity, Salford Quays. Art critic Laura Robertson gives her thoughts.Presenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu

To mark the 80th anniversary this week, we explore British culture around VE Day in 1945, reflecting on the music, books, films and theatre that defined the moment and the complex emotional landscape that followed the war's end. Songwriter and pianist Kate Garner joins us at the piano.Guests: Michael Billington, theatre critic; Ian Christie, film historian; Kevin Le Gendre, music journalist and broadcaster; Lara Feigel, Professor of Modern Literature, King's College London; Kate Garner, singer and songwriterPresenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Simon Richardson

Critic Kate Maltby and Beatles author Ian Leslie join Tom Sutcliffe to discuss two documentaries about John Lennon remaking his life in New York - Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade and One to One: John & Yoko. They also discuss Tina Fey's new series The Four Seasons, based on the 1981 film of the same name, which explores the relationships of three longstanding couples who holiday together. And we'll be reviewing a new musical version of The Great Gatsby, fresh in from Broadway. Plus writer Louise Dean, the founder of The Novelry, a creative writing school, talks about her organisation's new literary writing competition.Producer: Claire Bartleet Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe

Jeff Pope on his new series Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, the innocent man who was killed by police on a London tube in 2005, which launches tonight on Disney+. James VI of Scotland & I of England is the subject of a major exhibition at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh. We're joined by the historical writers Lucy Hughes Hallett and Steven Veerapen. And performance art in a new film The Extraordinary Miss Flower, a musical portrait of a mysterious woman, who left behind a suitcase of letters, from lovers and friends, starring the Icelandic artist, Emiliana Torrini . We'll be speaking to the directors Iain Forsyth and Jane PollardPresenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Maire Devine

In 1975, at the height of their fame, British band Slade made a feature film, Slade in Flame. The film was a critical and commercial failure at the time, but has built up a cult following over the years. Now it's being re-released in cinemas and on DVD. Frontman Noddy Holder and film director Richard Loncraine spoke to Samira Ahmed in studio.With a new English translation of Simone de Beauvoir's novel The Image of Her and a stage adaptation of her semi-autobiographical The Inseperables, Lauren Elkin and Grace Joy Howarth discuss the enduring legacy of the French feminist icon.Plus Irish actor Stephen Rae talks about his career working with Samuel Beckett, his hit film The Crying Game, and his current production of Krapp's Last Tape

Mark Rosenblatt on Giant, his Olivier award-winning play starring John Lithgow as Roald Dahl.As Universal Studios announce plans for a major new theme park in Bedfordshire, what does this mean for the UK entertainment industry? Samira is joined by entertainment journalist Ella Baskerville and Gareth Smy from Framestore to discuss its signficance and the kinds of rides it's likely to contain. German director Natja Brunckhorst on her comedy film Two to One, about an East German heist set in the days leading up to German Reunification, starring Sandra Huller. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Oliver Jones

Journalist Siân Pattenden & critic Stephanie Merritt join Tom to discuss Self Esteem's third album A Complicated Woman, which features collaborations with Nadine Shah and Moonchild Sanelly. Ahead of the release, Self Esteem AKA Rebecca Lucy Taylor showcased the album by staging a five-night theatrical presentation at London's Duke of York theatre. Tom and guests also talk about the Belgian film Julie Keeps Quiet, where a star player at a top tennis school deals with the aftermath of her coach being suspended. And they review the RSC's Stratford-upon-Avon contemporary production of Much Ado about Nothing which is set in the world of elite football. Plus, presenter Tom Service talks about the line up for the 2025 BBC Proms.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet

As the journals of the American writer Joan Didion (based on conversations with her psychiatrist) are published, writer and journalist Rachel Cooke and Alan Taylor, editor of actor Alan Rickman's diaries, discuss the challenges, responsibilities and ethics of posthumously publishing the diaries of great writers, artists and actors. Acclaimed German pianist Pianist Igor Levit talks about his own challenge - that of performing Erik Satie's pioneering piece Vexations, in a performance at the Multitudes arts festival at London's Southbank Centre. The performance is directed by leading performance artist Marina Abramovic and is expected to last approximately 15 hours, as Levit repeats Satie's one-page score 840 times. And how should great women be memorialised? Cultural critic Stephen Bayley and author and activist Sara Sheridan discuss what a memorial to Queen Elizabeth II might look like, and why, in comparison to their male counterparts, so few women have grand memorials in our towns and cities. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

Jamaica's former poet laureate, Lorna Goodison, on setting Dante's Inferno on the island of her birth; Journalist Joanna Moorhead on Pope Francis' relationship with the arts; Poet and librettist Michael Symmons Roberts on writing a form-breaking book to re-examine French composer Olivier Messiaen's form-breaking masterwork - Quartet for the End of Time; and going in search of an important piece of theatre history with Daniel Swift, author of The Dream Factory: London's First Playhouse and the Making of William Shakespeare.Presenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Mr. Turner director Mike Leigh, art historian Charlotte Mullins and senior curator at Tate Amy Concannon join Tom Sutcliffe to celebrate the life and work of JMW Turner, as we approach the 250th anniversary of his birth. Also in this edition, David Hockney on Turner's skill as an artist, Alvaro Barrington talks about his continuing influence on artists today, and Tom goes to the conservation studio at Tate Britain to see what's being done to protect Turner's bequest and look after his fragile and damaged works.Producer: Claire Bartleet Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe

Alex Garland's latest film Warfare, which is co-directed by US military veteran Ray Mendoza turns back the clock back nearly twenty years to reconstruct a real-life surveillance mission in Iraq. Film critic Tim Robey and journalist Zing Tsjeng give their verdict on the analysis of the theatre of war, which unfolds in real time. They've also been to see Shanghai Dolls at London's Kiln Theatre - which spans six decades of Chinese history, focusing on the life of an actress who was to personify the terrifying face of the cultural revolution, Madame Mao. Literary critic Boyd Tonkin reflects on the legacy of Nobel prize-winning Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa who has died at the age of 89. Samira and her guests have also been reading Katie Kitamura's new book Audition, about an actress who agrees to have dinner with a young man who seems fixated on her, and includes a 'sliding doors' alternative reality. And as the actress Cate Blanchett announces her intention to retire, Radio 4 listeners have a chance to hear her star in her first major radio drama The Fever, in which she plays a privileged woman who travels to a war-torn country and reflects on her comfortable life amidst the poverty of others. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Paula McGrath

American documentary photographer and President of the Magnum Foundation Susan Meiselas speaks about her fifty-year career, as she receives the Outstanding Contribution to Photography award at the Sony World Photography Awards 2025, and as her work goes on display at Somerset House in London.We hear how President Trump's economic tariffs are affecting specialist manufacturers of musical instruments here in the UK. Author and screenwriter Ewan Morrison, whose previous books have explored cults and pandemics, talks about his latest novel For Emma, a concept thriller set in the world of artificial intelligence and brain computer interfaces. And In Holy Week Antoni Gaudi - nicknamed " god's architect" - has been confirmed by the Pope as on the path to sainthood even though his most famous work, Barcelona's Sagrada Familia Basilica remains unfinished. Art historian and reverend Dr Aila Lepeen, who's associate rector at St James Church in London's Piccadilly, assesses cultural figures who've become saints. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

US director Ryan Coogler on his supernatural horror film Sinners. Anne Sebba discusses her new book, The Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz, about the orchestra formed in 1943 among the female prisoners at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. And as a new report looking at so-called book banning in the United States is published, we talked to author Ellen Hopkins, American Libraries Association president, Cindy Hohl, and Neal McCluskey, director of libertarian thinktank The Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Simon Richardson

Director and Screenwriter PJ Hogan, creator of the 1994 comedy Muriel's wedding, speaks to Samira Ahmed about the new musical adaptation of his film. With lead actors leaving, and ratings down, there are questions about the future of Doctor Who. Author John Higgs, and entertainment writer Caroline Frost, talk about the past, present and future of the world famous Time Lord. And Anthony Horowitz talks about turning 70, and the release of his new book, Marble Hall Murders.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Harry Graham

Classics professor Edith Hall and writer Lawrence Norfolk join Tom to review The Return, a retelling of the end of Homer's Odyssey, where the hero Odysseus returns to his kingdom decades after the battle of Troy to find his wife Queen Penelope fending off suitors out to take his throne. The film stars Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche talk to Tom about being reunited on screen for the first time since The English Patient.Tom and guests also review Holy Cow, an award winning film about youth, agriculture, and the comté cheese-making competition, in the Jura region of south-east France. Plus time-looping novel The Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle. Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, Book I is the first of a planned septology, which was originally self-published in Denmark. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet

Singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman talks about the re-release of her eponymous debut album after 35 years, about how those songs of oppression and aspiration, written so long ago, speak to us today, and about going from almost unknown to world famous in one performance.We ask two directors of productions of The Crucible (by Scottish Ballet, and at Shakespeare's Globe) why there is an Arthur Miller moment in theatres this spring. And journalist Kate Mossman talks about her book about rock royalty, Men of a Certain Age, which includes interviews with Jon Bon Jovi, Roger Taylor and Gene Simmons. Presenter: Kate Molleson Producer: Mark Crossan

Kym Marsh on stepping into the iconic role of Beverly in theatre classic Abigail's Party as the play opens at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.Film critic Hannah Strong and George Pundek, co-host of the Pulp Kitchen film podcast, on why so many of the big film franchises are facing difficulties.Severance creator Dan Erickson on making a television hit with his debut project.Novelist Max Porter, who is chair of the judges for this year's International Booker Prize, on the books that have made the shortlist: On the Calculation of Volume One by Solvej Balle, translated by Barbara J Haveland Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix, translated by Helen Stevenson Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami, translated by Asa Yoneda Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico, translated by Sophie Hughes Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, translated by Deepa Bhasthi A Leopard-Skin Hat by Anne Serre, translated by Mark HutchinsonPresenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Theatre director Robert Icke's production of Oedipus won best revival and a best actress award for Lesley Manville at last night's Olivier Awards - but his new play Manhunt is now demanding his attention at the Royal Court Theatre in London. The drama focuses on the story of Raoul Moat who attacked his ex-girlfriend and killed her new boyfriend before a stand-off with armed police which ended in his suicide. Samira talks to Robert Icke and to Samuel Edward-Cook who plays Moat. The Edwardian era - from Queen Victoria's death to the start of the First World War - is the subject of a new exhibition at the King's Gallery in London. Samira is joined by its curator Kathryn Jones from the Royal Collection Trust and by the historian and Alwyn Turner, author of Little Englanders: Britain in the Edwardian Era.The Swinging Sixties bring to mind films like Michael Caine's Alfie and the social realist dramas like Up The Junction. But A Touch of Love, released in 1969 and now getting a fresh outing on DVD, offers up an unusual female perspective on the era of free love. Margaret Drabble adapted her own novel the Millstone for the film which starred Sandy Dennis - alongside a young Ian McKellen in his first screen role. We hear from its director Waris Hussein - who also directed the first episodes of Dr Who.

Nancy Durrant and Jason Solomons join Tom to review: The new offering from Guy Ritchie, Mobland, with familiar themes of drug gangs and violence and starring Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren, Tom Hardy, amongst others. Giuseppe Penone's Thoughts in the Roots exhibition which is in and outside the Serpentine gallery, expanding on the significance of trees as a recurring motif in his work. The Most Precious of Cargoes, a new animation film which depicts some of the horrors of the Holocaust. And Tom talks to Jorge M. Perez and Darlene Perez about their philanthropic gift to Tate Modern. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Corinna Jones

Tilda Swinton talks about her role in Joshua Oppenheimer's post-apocalyptic musical film The End, and about her intention to take a break from acting, Actor and artistic director of the new Welsh National Theatre Michael Sheen, and screenwriter Russell T Davies reveal plans for the company's first season. Plus we discuss the influence of schoolmaster Philip Burton on the legendary actor Richard Burton, as a new book, and a film starring Toby Jones, explore the impact of the teacher on Burton's life. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

Charlie Brooker talks about the return of his wildly popular tech and sci-fi dystopian drama Black Mirror. This new six-part series includes Paul Giamatti as a man using AI to reconnect to a lost love who has died, Emma Corrin as a digitally recreated 40s screen star and, for the first time, follow-up episodes of two of the show's most popular episodes: Bandersnatch and USS Callister.The Design Council is 80 and is celebrateing with a new book, Eight Decades of British Design. The Chief Executive of the Design Council, Minnie Moll, and Thomas Heatherwick, the designer famous for, among many projects, the cauldron for the Olympic flame at the games in London, reflect on the impact of design on our lives here in the past, now, and in the future.The Women of Llanrumney sounds as if it might be the new Gavin and Stacey, but this Llanrumney was a sugar plantation in Jamaica, the setting for Azuka Oforka's first play which examines the links of Wales with slavery, its brutality, the role of slave revolts in bringing about abolition and, looking at the lives of three women, two enslaved and one enslaver, discusses the nature of freedom. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Julian May

Front Row looks at freedom of expression in the arts. From rows about cancel culture to allegations of censorship and the charge that the arts has become 'woke', we explore what is happening. Samira is joined by art curator, Ekow Eshun, novelist Philip Hensher, poet and author of Hounded, Jenny Lindsay and theatre critic Kate Maltby, who sits on the board of the campaign group Index On Censorship. We hear from David Austin, British Board of Film Classification Chief Exec, about how sex and violence are classified for modern audiences. And Shakespeares Globe Artistic Director Michelle Terry discusses her production of Richard III, which ignited a row over casting. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Timothy Prosser

For our review programme Tom Sutcliffe is joined by critics Dorian Lynskey and Briony Hanson. They are looking at: New comedy series The Studio, set in Hollywood and starring Seth Rogan and Catherine O'Hara. Delusions of Grandeur, Grayson Perry's new exhibition where he selects items from the Wallace Collection, adds 40 new works and a new alter ego. And the film La Cocina, which gives an insight into the drama of a bustling New York Times Square restaurant kitchen where the largely illegal immigrant workers are serving up to 3000 covers a day. Plus an assessment of Netflix's most viewed limited series ever, Adolescence.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet

Peter Capaldi talks about his latest album – Sweet Illusions – a nod to the thriving 80s music scene in Glasgow where Peter made his musical debut fronting The Dreamboys. Through the Shortbread Tin is a new National Theatre of Scotland production about the supposed third century Scottish bard Ossian. Its writer – poet Martin O'Connor – and director Lu Kemp, share their exploration of one of the greatest literary hoaxes of all timeShould Brian Friel be known as short story writer, as much as a playwright? A decade after his death, a new edition of his stories has been published, many of which would inspire his plays such as Faith Healer, Dancing at Lughnasa and his breakthrough Philadelphia, Here I Come! Discussing the often overlooked work of the "Irish Chekhov" is a fellow master of the short story Louise Kennedy, and Dr Kelly Matthews, author of Brian Friel: Beginnings. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Caitlin Sneddon

The actor and director Peter Mullan talks about taking on the role of Bill Shankly in the new theatre production in Liverpool, Red or Dead, about the much-loved Liverpool football club manager. In April 1925 the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, a seven-month exhibition of contemporary design, opened in Paris. Arts Décoratifs' was soon shortened to Art Deco, and a movement was born. A century later Art Deco is being celebrated in the UK with events in Liverpool and in Glasgow an exhibition and a book about Art Deco in Scotland. It's author, Professor Bruce Peter, and Dr Rachael Unsworth, who leads tours in Leeds that look at art deco buildings in the city, join Nick Ahad to discuss Art Deco and its legacy. A decade ago, the comedian Tom Walker created the character of the roving news reporter Jonathan Pie, and his creation became an internet sensation, with the New York Times among his many fans. When he brought Jonathan Pie to Radio 4 with the radio phone-in comedy, Call Jonathan Pie, the critics were universal in their praise and it quickly became a podcast hit. As Call Jonathan Pie returns for a second series, Tom discusses creating a show that merges the personal and the political.And to mark the first week of Spring, musician and broadcaster Tom McKinney, who will be taking on the Radio 3 Breakfast Show, asks for us to listen properly to the music of birdsong.Presenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Bryan Ferry discusses his latest album, Loose Talk and reflects on his long career in music. Disney's new live action version of Snow White has just opened and has attracted criticism from those who felt it departed too far from the original film. Film critics Larushka Ivan Zadeh and Al Horner explore why Disney's reinterpretation of its own canon has become so controversial. The Windham Campbell Prize gives away over a million pounds, shared between eight writers across fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama. Previous British winners have included the poet Zaffar Kunial. Samira is joined by two of this year's winners, playwright, Matilda Ibini and poet, Anthony V Capildeo, to discuss the impact of the prize. Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves changed cinema forever when the world's first animated film hit screens in 1937. Now the House of Mouse has just released a big budget live action remake of the beloved original that is arriving under a cloud of controversy. Larushka Iven-Zadeh, the Times films critic, and Al Horner, a Telegraph writer and host of the Script Apart podcast, joins to discuss.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Ruth Watts

Critics Hanna Flint and Boyd Hilton join Tom Sutcliffe to discuss Clueless, a new musical based on the 1995 film staring Alicia Silverstone. They also discuss Flow, Oscar-winning, dialogue-free, animated film based around the story of a cat who must find safety after its home is devastated by a flood. Plus Robert de Niro playing two gangsters in the Mafia drama The Alto Knights. Plus, ahead of World Poetry Day, we talk to Seán Hewitt whose second collection Rapture's Road has today been shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Paula McGrath

French auteur Francois Ozon, whose previous films include 8 Women, Swimming Pool and Potiche, talks about his latest, When Autumn Falls, a bittersweet story of age, youth and breaking the rules, set in a picturesque Burgundy village. As the centenary of his birth approaches, leading pianist Tamara Stefanovich and musicologist Jonathan Cross discuss the legacy and reputation of the iconoclastic composer and conductor Pierre Boulez. The outgoing director of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society Shona McCarthy talks about what she has achieved in her role, about the state of the Festivals sector in Edinburgh, and about the challenges facing her successor. Presenter: Kate Molleson Producer: Mark Crossan

Sculptor Antony Gormley and Professor of French literature, Catriona Seth discuss Victor Hugo's visual art with Tom Sutcliffe. Victor Hugo was a 19th century cultural colossus, known for monumental works such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables as well as his poems, plays and political writings. It's not so well known that throughout his career Hugo drew with pen and ink - the same tools he wrote with - creating some 4,000 pictures. The Royal Academy has gathered together about 70 of these in its exhibition 'Astonishing Things: The Drawings of Victor Hugo'. Julian Barnes, one of our greatest living novelists, talks about his latest nonfiction book Changing My Mind. A series of essays published today by Notting Hill Editions, it ponders moments in his life when he's reconsidered long-held views, from memories and politics to words and the writing of EM Forster.Bestselling author Emma Donoghue is known for her novel Room. She talks about mixing in real life characters to her latest work of fiction The Paris Express, which was inspired by seeing a surreal photograph of a nineteenth century French railway disaster.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet

Front Row's artist in residence, acclaimed Icelandic pianist Vikingur Olafsson, reflects on five years since lockdown, and we have another listen to his Front Row lockdown performance of Bach's Goldberg Variations.How were the arts affected when the country locked down five years ago? Matthew Hemley of The Stage and Louisa Buck of the Art Newspaper discuss how the covid crisis impacted theatres, galleries and artists. And the Tom Gates series children's writer Liz Pichon joins us to talk about her latest work for younger readers. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Corinna Jones

Samira Ahmed and guest critics - the novelist and anthropologist Tahmima Anam and Ben Luke from the Art Newspaper - give their verdict on the week's cultural releases. They've been to see Cate Blanchett in Anton Chekhov's play The Seagull at the Barbican Centre. The classic drama still features characters from Russian nobility – but it's given a modern-day treatment including VR headsets and quad bikes. They have also watched Sister Midnight, a film about a young bride called Uma who joins her husband in Mumbai but struggles to adapt to her new life and connect with the man she knew as a childhood friend. She wanders the streets, drawn to the moon and becomes an accidental outlaw.Also under consideration are portraits in an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery by Edvard Munch – an artist best known for his painting The Scream. Plus we pay tribute to Five Star's Stedman Pearson who's died at the age of 60.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Claire Bartleet

Songwriter and musician Edwyn Collins performs live from his latest album, Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation, a series of 11 optimistic and defiant tracks released two decades on from two devastating cerebral haemorrhages. American novelist Torrey Peters, whose book Detransition, Baby became a bestseller and was nominated for the Women's Prize for Fiction, talks about her new book Stag Dance, a collection of four novellas which examines trans life past, present and future. And as exhibitions around the world celebrate the centenary of Scottish poet, writer, visual artist and gardener Ian Hamilton Finlay, poet Alan Spence and the founder of Jupiter Artland sculpture park outside Edinburgh discuss his life and legacy. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan