Podcasts about producer ellie bury

Fi Glover presents friends, relatives and strangers in conversation. This week: childhood friends Iain and David share their experiences of losing their wives to cancer, six months apart; former footballers Leah and Dana discuss how the experience for female players has changed in the last 50 years; and solo mum Liv speaks to Carl, whose daughter has two mums and two dads. The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moments of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in this decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject David and Iain's conversation was produced with help from Maggie's Centre. Both Ana and Catriona used Maggie's when then they were ill, and the service has provided counselling for David and Iain following their wives' deaths. Producer: Ellie Bury

Kirsty Lang talks to Emmy Award-winning actor Brendan Gleeson about his role in new film Calvary; as it opens at London's Apollo theatre, writers Jack Thorne and John Ajvide Lindqvist discuss adapting vampire tale Let the Right One In for the stage; Mary Beard reveals the six shortlisted authors for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction and Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, Desmond Shawe-Taylor, discusses the new exhibition The First Georgians: Art & Monarchy 1714-1760, at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace. Producer: Ellie Bury.

With Kirsty Lang. Scarlett Johansson plays an alien wandering around Glasgow looking for human prey in Under The Skin, which was filmed without some of the cast realising they were in a movie or that they were talking to a Hollywood star. Novelist Toby Litt delivers his verdict on Jonathan Glazer's adaptation of Michael Farber's science fiction novel. On the day research from the University of Sheffield shows half the country picks up a book at least once a week for pleasure, and 45% prefer television, Front Row looks at the fast changing world of publicising books. Publishers are producing their own book programmes and podcasts, authors are appearing in online trailers and are increasingly responsible for promoting their own work. Kirsty finds out about the latest developments from Cathy Rentzenbrink from the Bookseller, Sara Lloyd from Pan Macmillan and author Toby Litt. Karen Joy Fowler's novel The Jane Austen Book Club spent 13 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was a successful Hollywood film. She talks to Kirsty about her latest book We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. It's the story of an American family - with a twist. Karen explains how she drew upon her psychologist father's work with rats and chimpanzees when writing the novel, and how important it is to learn good 'chimp manners' when visiting a chimp colony. After a successful on-air pilot, Douglas Henshall returns as a detective and single dad in Shetland, an adaptation of Ann Cleeves' series of crime novels about nefarious activities on the remote Scottish islands. Producer: Ellie Bury.

With Will Gompertz. Marc Almond and John Harle discuss their new collaboration, The Tyburn Tree, a collection of songs about Gothic London, whose subjects include the Highgate Vampire, Jack The Ripper and the Elizabethan mystic John Dee. 50 years ago the Liverpool Everyman theatre opened its doors to the public for the first time. 40 years ago, Willy Russell provided the theatre with his first big hit play and their first London transfer - John, Paul, George, Ringo... and Bert. As the Everyman re-opens after an extensive three-year building project, Willy Russell discusses the theatre's past. Gemma Bodinetz, Artistic Director of the Everyman and Playhouse theatres, and theatre writer Lyn Gardner discuss what the role of the theatre building should be in the 21st century. Gary Shteyngart, the Russian-born American author, whose books include The Russian Debutante's Handbook and Super Sad True Love Story, has recently released his memoir, Little Failure. Named after the nickname bestowed upon him by his mother, the book documents Gary's childhood in the Soviet Union, his move to America at the age of seven, and his life thereafter as a Russian Jewish immigrant and wannabe writer. Glastonbury was named Best Festival at last night's NME Awards and this morning Dolly Parton announced that she has been booked for this year. Emily Eavis explains how they choose their megastar line-ups and what she intends to do with the festival as she takes a more prominent role in its planning. Producer: Ellie Bury.

With John Wilson. Architects Richard Rogers and Norman Foster discuss their 50-year friendship in a rare interview together, and reveal which of each the other's buildings is their favourite, as the exhibition The Brits Who Built the Modern World opens at RIBA's new Architecture Gallery. In 1982 Simon Parkes paid just £1 to buy the former Astoria cinema in Brixton, south London. He turned it into the Brixton Academy and, over the next 14 years, put on gigs by the likes of The Clash, Bob Dylan and U2. On the publication of his memoir Live At The Brixton Academy, Simon Parkes gives John Wilson a tour of the historic venue. The US artist George Condo began his artistic career as an assistant to Andy Warhol but he has become renowned for his grotesque figures and portraits which feature misshapen limbs, asymmetrical eyes and terrifyingly toothy mouths, controversially notable in a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. More recently he has become widely known for a collaboration with Kanye West. Condo discusses his career and two new exhibitions of his work. Producer: Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Matthew McConaughey is Oscar nominated for his starring role in Dallas Buyers Club. He lost 47 lbs to play Ron Woodroof, a Texas electrician who became an unlikely AIDS activist after being diagnosed with HIV in the mid-1980s. He discusses the physical endurance of the part and his recent career renaissance. Nathan Filer, a registered mental health nurse, has won the Costa Book of the Year award with his debut novel The Shock of the Fall, a story about loss, guilt and mental illness. A surprise win, Filer beat the favourite Kate Atkinson with her novel Life after Life, and other award winning writers Lucy Hughes-Hallett for The Pike, an account of the life of Italian poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, and poet Michael Symmons Roberts for his collection Drysalter. Nathan Filer tells Mark about what the award will mean for his writing. In the week that Rory Kinnear won twice at the Critics Circle for best actor and most promising playwright, David Edgar muses on the long tradition of the actor/writer, from Shakespeare to Pinter. Grammy winning singer/songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter discusses her new album Songs from the Movie, a re-working of 10 of her songs, recorded with a full orchestra and 15 voice choir. She reveals what inspires her new songs and the emotional pain of revisiting old material. Producer: Ellie Bury.

With John Wilson. Joyce Carol Oates talks about her latest novel, Carthage, in which a teenage girl disappears having last been seen with her sister's ex-fiancé, an injured soldier recently back from Iraq. In a story told from various perspectives we watch what happens to a family destroyed by tragedy, and to a soldier who can't come to terms with what he's seen during combat. Writer William Burroughs, artist Andy Warhol and film-maker David Lynch are the subjects of a trio of exhibitions at The Photographers' Gallery in London. The shows set out to illustrate how their personal photographs influenced and informed the work for which they are better known. Art critic Charlotte Mullins gives her response. As a new interpretation of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers begins on BBC One, Stephen Armstrong considers the enduring appeal of the swashbuckling trio and how each generation has been reflected in new Musketeer adaptations. Visual effects expert Tim Webber has been Oscar-nominated for sending George Clooney and Sandra Bullock into space in the film Gravity. He reveals that - despite having designed virtual worlds for films including Avatar and Where The Wild Things Are - creating the illusion of zero gravity was the most challenging work of his career. Producer: Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. This year the shelf of great American authors unexpectedly lengthened when a novel called Stoner by John Williams, forgotten since its first appearance five decades ago, was republished to widespread acclaim. At the same time two neglected novels by Renata Adler received enthusiastic reviews when brought back into print after thirty years and two little known writers, 89 year old James Salter and 76 year old Edith Pearlman, were hailed as newly discovered geniuses. Salter, Pearlman and Adler reflect on literary resurrection and Julian Barnes and Ruth Rendell discuss the comeback of Stoner. Producer: Ellie Bury.

With Kirsty Lang. As Mary Poppins looks forward to its 50th birthday, and a film about the making of the movie, Saving Mr Banks, is tipped for Oscar success, Julie Andrews reflects on a career that has made her an icon for generations of children. She also discusses the emotional impact of no longer being able to sing, and reveals how she plans to entertain audiences on a 2014 tour. Presenter and Python Michael Palin talks to Kirsty about the life and work of painter Andrew Wyeth - the focus of his new television documentary - and explains why costume changes will be the hardest part of the Monty Python reunion tour. Robert Redford stars in All is Lost, a survival film about a man lost at sea, with almost no dialogue or supporting cast. Mark Eccleston delivers his verdict. George Clooney's forthcoming film, The Monuments Men, depicts a group of soldiers tasked with protecting art stolen by the Nazis during the Second World War. In light of this, Major Hugo Clarke of the International Blue Shield - an organisation promoting the protection of art and culture in war zones - John Curtis of the British Museum, and archaeologist Dr Lamia al-Gailani, discuss the importance of training the military to protect cultural heritage during conflict. Producer: Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Ron Burgundy returns in Anchorman 2. Will Ferrell's hirsute newsreader and his crack team of reporters make it to the big-time as they bring their unique brand of newsgathering to New York city. Mishal Husain discusses whether this sequel to the cult comedy has stayed classy. Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest musical examines the life and death of society osteopath Stephen Ward, a key figure in the 1963 Profumo scandal, who later committed suicide. Lloyd Webber explains the crucial role Front Row played in the musical coming to fruition and discusses his frustration at the secrecy surrounding the events of Ward's trial. It's the battle of the costume dramas this Christmas. From the BBC it's Death Comes to Pemberley, adapted from PD James's follow-up to Pride and Prejudice. Six years after the marriage of Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy, the couple are preparing for the annual ball at their magnificent Pemberley home, when the family's peace is shattered by a murder in the estate's woodlands. And from ITV, it's Downton Abbey where it's the summer season and as part of Rose's 'coming out' she is to be presented at Buckingham Palace. Rachel Cooke reviews both. Producer: Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Last night Jude Law took to the London stage as Henry V in Michael Grandage's final play in his current West End season. Law, who previously played Hamlet under Grandage's direction, performs a paired-down text in a simple stage setting. Rachel Cooke was at the first night last night and gives her response. As the Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls prepares to play a 'short but difficult' Schumann piano piece at a charity event this weekend, music critic Norman Lebrecht considers other politicians who have stepped up to the mic for a musical performance. David Steel, Bill Clinton, Condoleezza Rice and Silvio Berlusconi are just a few who've performed in public, but is it always a good idea? Atiq Rahimi talks about his film, The Patience Stone, adapted from his award-winning novel of the same name. A powerful tale of one woman's resolve to break free from silence and oppression, he reveals the influence behind the story, and discusses the difficulties of turning his novels into films. The "...Up" series of documentaries, revisiting the same diverse group of children every 7 years began in Britain in 1964, with the original children reaching 56 in the most recent series. The format has also been adopted all over the world and tonight ITV broadcasts the most recent South African version, with the participants now aged 28. Gabriel Tate reviews the programme. Producer: Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Blue Is The Warmest Colour won the top prize, the Palme D'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival, but was quickly mired in controversy when the actresses Lea Seydoux and Adele Exarchopolous complained about gruelling love scenes which took days to film. Subsequently, the director Abdellatif Kechiche said that the movie should not be released, as it had been sullied by accusations that it was a "horrible" shoot. Briony Hanson, a former programmer of the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival delivers her verdict. Last Tango in Halifax won the 2013 Bafta for Best Drama Series and went on to be broadcast in America to great acclaim. Series two begins tonight on BBC One and picks up where we left Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid's reunited childhood sweethearts. Writer Sally Wainwright discusses how she approached the follow-up. With news today that film producers are to make a sequel to the Christmas classic "It's a Wonderful Life", film critic Mark Eccleston explores some other surprising and unlikely film sequels. Writer Jez Butterworth and director Ian Rickson had one of the biggest critical hits of the last decade with their 2008 play Jerusalem. Now they have returned to the work which set light to their careers in 1995, Mojo. The new West End production of Mojo stars Rupert Grint, Brendan Coyle and Ben Whishaw as gangsters in 1950s Soho. Jez Butterworth and Ian Rickson discuss Mojo, Jerusalem and two decades of working together. Producer: Ellie Bury.

With John Wilson. Anita Lasker-Wallfisch survived Auschwitz by playing the cello in the Auschwitz Women's Orchestra. After the war she joined the English Chamber Orchestra and her son is the renowned cellist Raphael Wallfisch. On Sunday they both take part in a concert in Vienna marking the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht. Anita Lasker-Wallfisch's reflects on her time in the prison camp, described in her memoir Inherit the Truth, which is republished this week. Gary Barlow discusses why it has taken him 14 years to produce a new solo record, how it felt to be dropped from his record label after Take That split, and what he thinks of criticism of The X Factor. A new British Library exhibition, Georgians Revealed: Life, Style and the Making of Modern Britain makes the case that the Georgians were the architects of modern Britain, introducing many of the interests and pursuits that endure today. Historian Amanda Vickery reviews. Producer Ellie Bury.

Mark Lawson presents a special programme from Derry~Londonderry, UK City of Culture 2013. This year's Turner Prize for contemporary art is on show in Derry~Londonderry and features artists Tino Sehgal, Laure Prouvost, David Shrigley and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. David Shrigley and Laure Prouvost discuss their work and critic Philip Hensher delivers his verdict on the show. Derry-based writer Jennifer Johnston was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for her novel Shadows on Our Skin. Her Three Monologues, in response to The Troubles, are being performed as part of the City of Culture celebrations and her new novel A Sixpenny Song is published this month. She discusses the impact of the 2013 celebrations on the atmosphere in the city. Gerald Barry's comic opera The Importance of Being Earnest is being performed in Derry this week and then in Belfast, Cork and Dublin later in the year. He explains how he went about filleting Oscar Wilde's text and why Lady Bracknell was always going to be cast as a basso profondo. The inaugural City of Derry International Choral Festival is being hosted by local chamber choir Codetta. The festival's artistic director Dónal Doherty and soprano Laura Sheerin discuss how it feels to be taking part. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson.Two major exhibitions of portraits open this week. Elizabeth I and Her People, at the National Portrait Gallery, focuses on paintings of the queen and her courtiers, as well as merchants, soldiers, artists and writers, offering insight into the rise of the 'middling sort' or middle classes in late 16th Century England. The National Gallery's Facing the Modern has portraits from early 20th Century Vienna by Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt and lesser known female artists showing how the newly-rich industrialists used portraits to express their aspirations. Charlotte Mullins gives her verdict.on.Jennifer Saunders discusses her life and career, from being heckled at the Comedy Store with Dawn French in the 80s to worldwide success with Absolutely Fabulous. She also talks about her little-known foray into French movies, why the French and Saunders show is over and why she might finally make an Absolutely Fabulous film.Roddy Doyle's debut novel The Commitments was made into a hit film in 1991. Its latest incarnation as a stage musical received its premiere last night. Writer and critic Kate Mossman reviews the show.Producer Ellie Bury.

With Kirsty Lang. Atlantis is the new family drama from the BBC, aiming to fill the Saturday night slot vacated by Merlin and Doctor Who. The action takes place in the mythical city of Atlantis and features Mark Addy as Hercules and Juliet Stevenson as the Oracle. Natalie Haynes reviews. Michael Morpurgo is one of our best known and most prolific children's writers. On the eve of his 70th birthday and with a writing career spanning nearly 40 years, he has witnessed a huge shift in the profile of the children's writer, in part aided by the Children's Laureate award he devised with his friend Ted Hughes. He reflects on the reasons for the shift and the impact on his career of the War Horse phenomenon, as it became a play and then a film. The final shortlisted author in the BBC National Short Story Award 2013 is Lavinia Greenlaw, who'll be discussing her entry We Are Watching Something Terrible Happening. Love and science collide in the chaos of a disintegrating relationship, a civil war and the trajectory of meteorites. The story will be read on Radio 4 tomorrow afternoon at 3.30. A new film by Margarethe von Trotta explores Hannah Arendt's experience of covering Adolf Eichmann's war crimes trial for the New Yorker. This became the basis for her most famous work Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. Shahidha Bari reviews the film. Producer Ellie Bury.

With John Wilson. Film director and former Python Terry Gilliam discusses the re-mastering of his classic film Time Bandits, for a new DVD release, as his new film The Zero Theorem heads for the Venice Film Festival. Jennifer Aniston stars as a stripper turned pretend suburban wife and mother in the film We're The Millers. She becomes involved in the plans of a small-time drug dealer, played by Jason Sudekis, who enlists a fake family to help him smuggle marijuana across the Mexican border. Mark Eccleston reviews. The Scottish band Franz Ferdinand, who won the Mercury Music Prize in 2004, are back with a new album, Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, their first release for four years. Alex Kapranos and Bob Hardy discuss creating a live sound on a studio album and how a line on a vintage postcard discovered in a London market led to the opening lyric of the title track. As an exhibition of pastel portraits by Bob Dylan opens at the National Portrait Gallery in London, music journalist Kate Mossman discusses Dylan's art and the portraits in his lyrics. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Reginald D. Hunter discusses race, sex and anatomy in his latest Edinburgh show In the Midst of Crackers. He reflects on fourteen years of coming to the festival and explains why he thinks the world has become a more stupid place in that time. Novelist David Peace is best known for the Red Riding Quartet and The Damned United, a fictional portrait of Brian Clough's spell at Leeds United. His new novel, Red or Dead, focuses on the legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly. Cabaret performers Sarah-Louise Young and Michael Roulston bring a taste of Hollywood royalty to the BBC tent with an extract from their homage to Julie Andrews, Julie Madly Deeply. Politics has been a common theme among a variety of genres at the Fringe this year. Kevin Toolis, creator of dramatic monologue The Confessions of Gordon Brown, Dugald Bruce-Lockhart, starring as David Cameron in The Three Lions and Gráinne Maguire, comedian and creator of One Hour All Night Election Show, discuss different approaches to tackling politics on stage. Producer Ellie Bury.

With John Wilson. Writer and critic Paul Morley discusses his new book The North: (And Almost Everything In It). The book is part memoir and part history, exploring what it means to be northern and the contribution the area has made to English cultural and political life. In Cultural Exchange, in which leading creative minds reflect on a favourite cultural experience, soprano Angela Gheorghiu nominates fellow Romanian Virginia Zeani singing Bellini's I Puritani. Critic Jason Solomons considers the runners and riders for this year's Palme D'Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, including the Coen Brothers new offering Inside Llewyn Davis and Blue Is The Warmest Colour, a love story that has already made history for containing the most explicit lesbian sex scenes in a mainstream movie. Singer-songwriter John Grant has revealed his anguish after his laptop, containing music and notes for lyrics, was stolen after a recent gig in Brighton. Jazz musician Soweto Kinch was also the victim of theft, but is now reunited with his beloved saxophone, and Beth Orton recovered a lost guitar after help from footballer Joey Barton. All three musicians reflect on their losses - and Soweto Kinch plays his returned saxophone in the Front Row studio. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown discusses his latest novel about code-breaking called Inferno, a Dante inspired crime thriller set in the streets, museums and ancient buildings of Florence. Richard Wagner is loved and loathed in almost equal measure. The composer of the musically ground-breaking Ring Cycle, Tristan and Isolde and Meistersingers is also known for his extreme political views, including anti-Semitism. Tomorrow is the 200th anniversary of his birth. Former England cricketer and Wagner fan Ed Smith debates if it's possible to look beyond Wagner's politics and celebrate his music. Comedy writer Eddie Braben, best known for his work with Morecambe and Wise, has died aged 82. The radio critic Gillian Reynolds, who was a lifelong friend of Braben, reflects on his career and legacy. In Cultural Exchange, in which leading creative minds reflect on a favourite cultural experience, Mary Beard chooses Laocoön and His Sons, a sculpture from Ancient Greece which depicts a key scene from the Trojan War. Producer Ellie Bury.

With John Wilson. Karl Hyde, of electronic duo Underworld, has worked with prominent film directors Danny Boyle and Anthony Minghella. Along with his partner Rick Smith, he was also the musical director of the London 2012 Olympics. Hyde talks about his latest project, Edgeland - a soundtrack for The Outer Edges, a film about Essex - and reveals the real inspiration behind their trance anthem Born Slippy. Harold Pinter's The Hothouse is in a rare revival on the London stage, starring John Simm and Simon Russell Beale. Writer Iain Sinclair delivers his verdict on the play about a bureaucratic mental institution run by a sadist. Poet Kate Clanchy won the National Short Story award in 2009 with her story The Not-Dead and the Saved. Now she has taken the next literary leap by writing her first novel Meeting the English. She explains how the book came about, despite her vow that she'd never write a novel. In the latest episode of Cultural Exchange, in which creative minds select a favourite art-work, best-selling author Jodi Picoult nominates Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Matthew McConaughey stars as a fugitive befriended by two children in Mud, a new drama from acclaimed director Jeff Nichols. The kids try to help him avoid capture and reunite him with his first love, but not everything goes to plan. Critic Ryan Gilbey delivers his verdict. M D Villiers was nominated for the Crime Writers Association's Debut Dagger award for her novel City of Blood. The book is set in Johannesburg and was inspired by a real murder which took place on the streets of the city. She explains how she started to write about her home country. In the latest episode of Cultural Exchange, in which creative minds select a favourite art-work, Booker Prize-winning novelist Howard Jacobson nominates Carnal Knowledge, the 1971 film directed by Mike Nichols and starring Jack Nicholson. This week further allegations arose about abuse in Britain's specialist music schools. Martin Roscoe is a music teacher who has voiced his concern about how schools are run. Paul Lewis is a world-renowned pianist and former pupil at Chetham's. Both talk to Mark about one-to-one teaching and how the culture of musical education should change. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. David Tennant and Emily Watson star in a new three part TV drama, The Politician's Husband. Written by Paula Milne, it centres on the family life, and career prospects of husband and wife MPs. As his fortunes wane, hers rise, with considerable repercussions. Baroness Virginia and Sir Peter Bottomley discuss whether it's a realistic depiction of a power couple. More from the Cultural Exchange project, in which 75 leading creative minds share their passion for a book, film, poem, piece of music or other work of art. Tonight actor Adrian Lester contributes Bob Marley's Redemption Song and explains why it struck such a chord when he heard it first in 1981 when he was 12. A Delicate Truth is the new novel by John le Carré and it finds the author returning to the world of espionage and diplomacy for which he is best known. The BBC's diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall gives her verdict. In The Fog, an award-winning World War II film set in the Soviet Union, centres around the developing relationship between a Nazi collaborator and two members of the resistance movement who have been sent to kill him. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews. Producer Ellie Bury.

With John Wilson. Tamara Rojo is the artistic director of the English National Ballet. This is her first season in charge of a company, after years as principal ballerina at the Royal Ballet, where she danced all the major roles. She talks to John about her vision for the ENB. The film The Place Beyond The Pines, an epic story of fathers and sons, crime and punishment, stars Ryan Gosling as a motorcycle rider and bank robber whose sins are visited upon his only child. Antonia Quirke delivers her verdict. James Blake was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2011 for his self-titled debut album of melancholy electronica, largely made in his bedroom while still at university. His second album Overgrown is released today. He explains how the success of his first release has informed the new record. On the first day of the MIP TV programmes sales conference at Cannes, TV buyers from around the world are out in force looking for the next drama, format or documentary most likely to prove a global hit. Peter White from Broadcast magazine reports live on the trends coming through so far. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Julian Barnes won the Man Booker Prize in 2011 for his novel The Sense of an Ending, following the award the same year of the David Cohen Prize for lifetime achievement, which celebrated his work including Flaubert's Parrot and A History of the World in 10 and a Half Chapters. However, during this period of public recognition and spotlight, Barnes was privately grieving after the death of his wife, the literary agent Pat Kavanagh, from cancer in 2008. His new book Levels of Life travels from a history of hot air ballooning, via a short story about the French actress Sarah Bernhardt to his memoir of becoming a widower. In this special interview Julian Barnes explains why despite being fiercely private, he was drawn to write about his experience of grief and reflects on why his work has always defied easy classification. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Playwright John Logan is also known as the writer of award-winning films like Gladiator, Skyfall and Martin Scorsese's The Aviator. This week he returns to the London stage with Peter And Alice, based on a real-life meeting between the people who inspired two classics of children's fiction, Alice In Wonderland and Peter Pan - Alice Liddell Hargreaves and Peter Llewellyn Davies, played by Judi Dench and Ben Wishaw. Kristin Scott Thomas stars in Francois Ozon's latest film, In the House. It's a comedy about a school student and his literature teacher. The boy displays a rare spark of creative-writing talent and his stories hook the teacher and his wife with devastating results, blurring the lines between fact and fiction. Rachel Cooke reviews. Suggs, the lead singer of Madness, is about to embark on a UK tour in which he looks back over his life, from his birth in Hastings to the disappearance of his father and his time with the band. Suggs, aka Graham McPherson, discusses the show and the continuing success of Madness who first formed in 1976. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Alan Bennett has been a feature of British cultural life for over 50 years, first as an actor in Beyond the Fringe and later as a dramatist, screenwriter and diarist, creating theatrical smashes such as The Madness of King George, The History Boys and most recently People. As a double-bill of his autobiographical plays, Hymn and Cocktail Sticks, arrives in the West End of London, he reflects on how it feels to see himself being portrayed on stage, and the influence of his parents on his work. He also addresses allegations that his recent play People attacked the National Trust, and explains why he is keen to avoid the National Treasure tag. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Michael Waldman is a TV documentary maker who has gained unprecedented access to the royal family to make Our Queen. The programme follows the Queen during 2012 as she celebrates her Diamond Jubilee and observes the usually secretive meetings she hold with the Prime Minister. He explains how he gained access and what he learned about the royal family. Beyond The Hills, an award-winning film from Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, is based on a true story about a suspected case of demonic possession in a monastery. Briony Hanson delivers her verdict. Last year the octogenarian American poet John Ashbery was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama at the White House. In a rare interview from his New York home, John Ashbery discusses his latest collection Quick Question, and reflects on the challenge some readers and critics have found in the complexity of the language he uses. Producer Ellie Bury.

With John Wilson. Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum is the British Museum's giant examination of daily life in the cities destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79. John takes an advance peek at the exhibition ahead of its opening with curator Paul Roberts. A new prize for literature in English by writers from around the world is being launched at the British Library today. John meets one of the founders of the new prize, Andrew Kidd and one of the authors supporting the award, Kamila Shamsie, and wonders whether the prize was founded in response to the 2011 Man Booker shortlist. In the Flesh is a new BBC3 drama which imagines life after a zombie apocalypse, and how former zombies try to fit back in to the community. Writer Natalie Haynes reviews. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time transfers to the West End this week and composer Adrian Sutton's score plays a prominent role in the production. What may not be so obvious are the mathematical rules he has hidden in the score, an attempt to stay true to the protagonist's love of prime numbers. Adrian and mathematician Marcus du Sautoy, who is holding a forthcoming event about the maths in Mozart's The Magic Flute, discuss the musical appeal of prime numbers. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Haydn Gwynne, Nathaniel Parker and Paul Ritter reflect on the experience of playing Margaret Thatcher, Gordon Brown and John Major respectively in Peter Morgan's new play The Audience. Helen Mirren returns to the role of Queen Elizabeth II as the play imagines the meetings between the monarch and the prime ministers who have served during her reign. As the first major UK show dedicated to the work of Yinka Shonibare opens at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the artist discusses the importance of humour in art, the impact of the success of his Trafalgar Square fourth plinth artwork, Nelson's Ship In A Bottle, and his love of opera. The British Board of Film Classification has today launched a survey asking people about their choice of viewing, their attitudes to topics such as strong language, and their views about current film certificates. So how will the BBFC use this information? BBFC Assistant Director David Austin talks about how their guidelines relate to public opinion. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Director Joe Wright, whose film credits include Atonement and Anna Karenina, makes his stage debut with a new production of Pinero's Trelawny of the Wells. Described as Pinero's love letter to theatre, the play pokes fun at the cliches associated with life on the stage. Writer and comedian Viv Groskop gives her verdict. Broadchurch and Mayday are two new TV thriller series starting next week. In Broadchurch, David Tennant and Olivia Colman star as detectives in a small coastal town trying to understand what lay behind the death of a young boy whose body was found at the foot of a cliff. Mayday has a similar theme, as a small community tries to find out what happened to a 14 year old who vanished without trace. Crime writer Dreda Say Mitchell and crime fiction specialist Jeff Park review the two series. Veteran American short story writer Edith Pearlman has received great acclaim for her new collection, Binocular Vision. The stories span 40 years of writing, with settings including tsarist Russia and London during the Blitz. Edith Pearlman discusses the appeal of the short form. As Pope Benedict XVI enjoys his last full day in office before retiring on Thursday, writer Peter Stanford considers the papacy in fiction from Morris West's bestseller The Shoes Of The Fisherman to the bio-pics of the short life of Pope Joan. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Kirsty Lang. Sixteen years ago a small British film, set in Sheffield, about a group of redundant steelworkers who decide that stripping could be a way out of their problems, became an international hit. As The Full Monty makes its stage debut, the writer Simon Beaufoy talks to Kirsty about why he wants to turn a celluloid success into theatre gold. The first artist to be announced for this year's Glastonbury festival was singer Rokia Traore from Mali. And in an intended act of solidarity with the war-torn country, Malian bands will open the Pyramid stage each day of the festival. Kirsty talks to Rokia Traore, and to Salif Keita, one of the earliest Malian performers to become an international star, about their new albums and the role of musicians in Mali now. The bestselling New York author John Green's latest novel The Fault In Our Stars has attracted a great deal of attention, because it deals with a young girl suffering advanced stages of cancer yet manages to be a darkly humorous read. John Green discusses the background to the novel, which came to him while working as a chaplain in a children's hospital, and how he found the voice of the protagonist, Hazel. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Light Show at the Hayward Gallery in London is the first survey of light-based art in the UK and brings together artworks from the 1960s to the present day, from 22 artists including Dan Flavin, Olafur Eliasson and Jenny Holzer. Lighting designers Paule Constable and Patrick Woodroffe give their response to the works on show. Paul Kildea discusses his biography of Benjamin Britten, which has already made the news when he claimed that the composer's death was hastened by syphilis. Playwright Simon Stephens' new play, Port, opens at the National Theatre this week. Directed by Marianne Elliott, it tells the story of a family in Stockport. We first meet 11 year old Racheal, and six-year-old Billy in 1988, and the play follows them over the next 13 years of their lives. Peter Kemp reviews. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Kirsty Lang. The TV drama series Call the Midwife follows the working and personal lives of a team of midwives working in east London in the 1950s and is based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth. The second series starts on Sunday on BBC One. Writer and reviewer Dreda Say Mitchell reflects on its appeal, and whether it can sustain its success. Ruthie Henshall is an actress, singer and dancer and has starred in many popular musicals - including Les Miserables, Cats and Cabaret. She's about to begin a UK tour - where her show will include many of the greatest musical hits of the past 20 years. She discusses her career, and the demands made on musical theatre performers. What does an artist see in an election campaign? Nicola Green, whose silkscreen prints reflecting on Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign go on show today at the Walker Art Gallery, and photographer Simon Roberts, the official Artist for the UK's 2010 General Election, discuss their experiences of following politicians on the campaign trail. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Damian Lewis, Hugh Laurie, Thandie Newton, Adrian Lester, Clive Owen and Ashley Jensen are among the actors who discuss the highs and lows of working as British performers in America. Many high profile American TV shows and films are casting British actors in key roles. The success of programmes such as Homeland and House are testament to the strong parts tempting British actors across the pond. Director Stephen Frears explains his theory that there is a crisis in American acting, prompting producers and directors to seek talent on this side of the Atlantic. Hugh Laurie and Damian Lewis reflect on the pros and cons of the long contracts and extended seasons on prime time US TV shows and Adrian Lester and Thandie Newton explore the reasons behind the success of many black British actors in America. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Jack Whitehall, Greg Davies, Niamh Cusack and Frances de la Tour are among the performers and artists who share memories and reflections on working with close members of their families. Christmas is the time when people are most likely to spend time with their closest relatives. But for some in showbusiness the holidays are not a rare family reunion but a continuation of a professional relationship or, for writers and comedians, an encounter with the relatives who have been the source of their best material. Comedians Greg Davies, Jack Whitehall and Sarah Millican regularly exploit cringeworthy family moments in the service of comedy. They describe how it feels to perform the material with the family members in question in the audience. Actress Niamh Cusack reflects on the experience of appearing in Chekhov's Three Sisters with two of her sisters and her father, and Andy and Frances de la Tour discuss working together in Alan Bennett's People, and why they are banned from laughing while watching each other perform. Singer Donny Osmond reveals why he and sister Marie's chemistry on stage does not necessarily reflect the reality off-stage and the conductor Alan Gilbert explains why having his violinist mother in the orchestra prevents the other musicians from indulging in a much-loved pleasure. Producer Ellie Bury.

With John Wilson. Photographer Don McCullin was on Front Row earlier this year talking about an exhibition of some of his most famous photographs of conflict, from Vietnam to Iraq. He said then that - at the age of 75 - his days on the frontline were over. But this morning The Times newspaper published new McCullin photographs of life on the streets of Alleppo, Syria, taken over the last few days. He explains why he decided to go back. Martin Freeman discusses playing Bilbo Baggins in the first of the trilogy of films that form the screen-version of Tolkien's classic, The Hobbit. The story focuses on events 60 years before The Lord Of The Rings, when Bilbo was still a young hobbit. Martin reflects on how he'll cope with the possibility that he'll forever be identified with this role. Gemma Cairney, Suzy Klein and Kate Mossman look back at 2012 in music, choosing their CDs of the year and talking about the importance of record labels, the role of technology and the Olympic opening ceremony. Since the start of 2012, The Listening Project has been collecting conversations between friends and family throughout the country. To mark its first year, composer Gary Carpenter has been commissioned to set fragments of the conversations to music. The result is The Listening Project Symphony which receives its premiere on Radio 4 tomorrow evening. Gary discusses how he approached creating music to fit the words. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Kirsty Lang. Following the huge success of Matilda, the RSC has a new Christmas show for family audiences. The Mouse and His Child is based on a book by Russell Hoban, and features the adventures of two wind-up mice, a purple elephant, and Manny Rat who pursues the mice as they try to find their home. Writer Jamila Gavin reviews.. Writer Robert Greene has inspired rappers such as Jay-Z and 50 Cent and attracted hard-to-reach readers, including prisoners, with his best-selling books which reveal strategies to gain influence and power. Greene discusses whether he has mellowed with his new book which focuses on obtaining Mastery. Mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli has established a reputation for releasing challenging material which doesn't follow the opera hits formula. Her latest release is Mission, an exploration of the life and work of largely forgotten Italian composer Agostino Steffani. She explains why Steffani merits revival and how writer Donna Leon became involved in the project. A caravan trip around England turns into a killing spree in the bleak comedy film Sightseers, an unsettling mixture of Mike Leigh and Grand Guignol. Critic Natalie Haynes goes along for the ride. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Dame Judi Dench, Danny Boyle and Simon Russell Beale were just some of the winners at last night's Evening Standard Theatre Awards. Despite the glamour of the ceremony, the mood was reflective, with speeches addressing proposed funding cuts to arts organisations. The night's winners reflect on the past year on stage. Clint Eastwood returns to the big screen in baseball drama Trouble With The Curve. He plays a veteran scout on a last trip before retirement. Joining him on the journey is his daughter (Amy Adams) and the pair bond as they share the crucial talent spotting decisions that her father's entire career will be judged by. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh gives her verdict. The winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year is announced today, from a varied shortlist which features cycling, the Isle of Man TT races, squash, Ironman, running, cricket and football. Each of the shortlisted authors discuss their subjects and the chair of the judges, John Inverdale, assesses the current state of sports writing in this country. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Kirsty Lang. Jimmy Page is the guitarist and founder member of Led Zeppelin. As Celebration Day, a film of their one-off 2007 reunion concert is released on DVD, Jimmy reflects on the performance, and why it's very unlikely the band will re-form. Sir David Attenborough is celebrating six decades of natural history programmes for the BBC. Charles Lagus was his cameraman in the 1950s when they worked as a two-man team on Zoo Quest. Simon King is a cameraman and film maker who's worked with Attenborough more recently. They consider the huge changes in technology in making wildlife programmes. Suranne Jones and Tom Ellis star in The Secret of Crickley Hall, a new TV adaptation of a novel by James Herbert. Natalie Haynes reviews the programme. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Kirsty Lang. Rust and Bone, Jacques Audiard's follow-up to his award-winning prison drama A Prophet is an earthy romantic fable about the unlikely relationship between a bare-knuckle boxer and a trainer of killer whales. Marion Cotillard, the star of Rust and Bone, talks to Kirsty, and critic Sandra Hebron reviews the film. Steven Tyler and Joe Perry from Aerosmith discuss their album, Music From Another Dimension. The band members talk about working with Julian Lennon and Johnny Depp, and why it's been over a decade since they last released new material. Paper is the subject of a new exhibition, The First Cut, at Manchester Art Gallery. The show features 31 artists from around the world who use this most basic of artistic materials to create their art. Kirsty Lang talks to Rob Ryan, one of the artists involved in the show who is known for his detailed papercuts, and curator Fiona Corridan. As Secret Cinema launch a Secret Hotel, writer Adam Smith acts as our guide on a whistle-stop tour of the great hotels in film, from The Shining to Psycho, and imagines what your experience might be if you were to stay there. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Kirsty Lang. Rod Stewart, the gravelly-voiced singer, songwriter, and stadium-filling star behind hits such as Maggie May and You Wear It Well - and chart-topping covers including I Don't Want To Talk About It - talks to Kirsty about his passion for art, how his less than perfect harmonica playing opened doors for him, and his only regret. Hebburn is a culture clash TV sit-com about what happens when a Geordie twentysomething brings his Jewish wife home to meet his family. Critic Boyd Hilton delivers his verdict. The Lost Prince at the National Portrait Gallery is an exhibition which focuses on the life of Henry Prince of Wales, son of James I, who was destined to become King Henry IX, but died at the age of 18. The exhibition includes his post-mortem report as well as miniatures, manuscripts and paintings and gives a glimpse into the culturally rich life of the young prince. Historian Suzannah Lipscomb reviews. Singer Lana Del Rey opens her new song with a long spoken section. The track joins an illustrious back-catalogue of songs where singers choose to speak over the music. David Quantick talks his way through his favourites, including Meat Loaf, Julian Cope, David Bowie and Diana Ross. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Welcome to India is a new BBC series which aims to lift the lid on the reality of life for India's 1.2 billion residents. The poet Daljit Nagra reviews the programme, and also considers previous Western documentaries about the country. The playwright Howard Barker - who coined the term 'Theatre of Catastrophe' - shares his uncompromising views on collaboration, accessibility, and art as an ordeal. And as his play Scenes from an Execution receives a new production at the National Theatre, he offers a theory as to why his works have never been staged there before. For younger audiences, opera can seem an unwelcoming art-form, and its reputation for high ticket prices can also make it seem unattractive. As the English National Opera launch a scheme designed to encourage young people to try opera, artistic director John Berry explains how Damon Albarn and Terry Gilliam are part of the plan to bring in new audiences. In the week that Channel 4 gathers a whole host of its presenting talent under one roof for its week-long Hotel GB series - including Gok Wan, Mary Portas, Gordon Ramsay and Katie Piper - David Quantick considers such celebrity supergroups, and whether they can ever be more than (or even as much as) a sum of their parts. Producer Ellie Bury.

With John Wilson. Ballerina Darcey Bussell reflects on her career, in the light of a new photographic book chronicling her remarkable time with the Royal Ballet. She also looks ahead to her new role as a judge on Strictly Come Dancing. Bob Dylan's new album Tempest is released next week. It is the singer's 35th studio album in 50 years of recording, and features three tracks of over seven minutes, with the title track about the sinking of the Titanic coming in at almost a quarter of an hour. The New Statesman's music critic Kate Mossman reviews. BBC Economics Editor Stephanie Flanders reviews The Queen of Versailles, a new documentary that explores the financial crash in America through the riches to rags tale of an incredibly wealthy couple, who build their dream home to resemble the French palace. As the Bristol Old Vic theatre throws open its doors following 18 months of refurbishment, artistic director Tom Morris takes John on a tour of Britain's oldest continually-working theatre, revealing some Georgian stage secrets. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson Hermione Norris, who played Ros Myers in the BBC TV spy series Spooks, returns to our screens tonight in A Mother's Son, a two-part ITV drama about a mother who suspects her son might have committed a murder. The actress discusses the challenge of the role and looks back over her award-winning television career which has included the series Cold Feet, and Kingdom, alongside Stephen Fry. Keira Knightley and Jude Law star in a new film version of Anna Karenina, directed by Joe Wright with a screenplay by Tom Stoppard. Writer and broadcaster Viv Groskop reviews. Henning Mankell is best known in the UK for his Wallander series of crime novels, but the crime genre represents only a small part of his output. His latest novel explores the secretive world of Sweden's immigrant community, and the impact it has on Swedish society. He explained why he felt this story needed to be told. Today the world's largest human form sculpture is unveiled. A quarter of a mile long, Northumberlandia is a landform sculpture of a reclining naked woman, designed by Charles Jencks and shaped from the waste from a surface mine in the village of Cramlington in Northumberland. The poet and historian Katrina Porteous gives her verdict. Producer Ellie Bury.

With John Wilson. Best known for gross-out comedies There's Something About Mary and Dumb And Dumber, the Farrelly Brothers pay homage to the tradition of American slapstick with their take on The Three Stooges. Adam Smith delivers his verdict. Writer James Meek discusses his latest novel The Heart Broke In, a sweeping family saga set in the digital age. With a string quartet playing in four helicopters, musicians suspended in the air and a dancing camel, Karlheinz Stockhausen's opera Mittwoch has long been considered almost unstageable. John reports from Birmingham on the eve of the work's world premiere. Cork Street in London has long been famous for its art galleries. Many notable 20th century artists first came to wider attention there, but now a number of galleries face an uncertain future in the wake of redevelopment plans. The Mayor Gallery, opened in 1925, was the first to open, and its current owner James Mayor explains how Cork Street's role as a centre for visual art is threatened. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Kirsty Lang. Writer John O'Farrell reviews two new TV comedies set in and around schools. Bad Education is written by and stars comedian Jack Whitehall as a teacher who seems less mature than most of his students. Gates stars Joanna Page and Sue Johnston and focuses on the relationships formed by parents at the school gates. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is underway, with more acts than ever competing for audiences. Comedy critic Stephen Armstrong reports on the trends and highlights emerging from the first frenetic week. How much should you pay for theatre? What's it worth? Kirsty reports from the Bush Theatre, London, which has opened up all its spaces for Bush Bazaar, a theatrical marketplace, where audiences pay performers according to the quality of the work. Artistic Director Madani Younis and the founders of Theatre Delicatessen discuss the project. In celebration of the Olympics, the BBC - in partnership with the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh - has selected and recorded a poem representing every single country competing. Each is read by a native of that country who's made their home here in Britain. Every night for the Olympic fortnight Front Row features one of these poems. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Colin Dexter received the Theakston's Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction award at this year's Harrogate Crime Writing Festival. Dexter wrote his last Inspector Morse novel, The Remorseful Day, in 1999, but his Oxford-based detective remains a giant on the crime fiction landscape. He talks to Mark Lawson about starting the Morse series and life after Morse. Crime expert Jeff Park presents his list of the best of current crime fiction. Kronos Quartet's David Harrington and composer Nicole Lizee discuss their latest collaboration, The Golden Age of Radiophonic Workshop, a tribute to the work of Delia Derbyshire and the other composers who produced some of the most memorable and unusual music for the BBC, including the Dr Who theme. Michael Dobbs, politician and best-selling author of House of Cards - and four novels about Winston Churchill - casts his critical eye over the latest televisual offering from David Starkey, The Churchills. Producer Ellie Bury.

With John Wilson. Author Eoin Colfer reveals the reason that he decided to put an end to the saga of his best-selling hero Artemis Fowl, despite his publisher's wishes. Tonight is the start of the BBC Proms 2012 - but what's it like being a world-class classical soloist? Mezzo-soprano Alice Coote, violinist Maxim Vengerov and trumpeter Alison Balsom reveal some of the pressures they face, and Colin Lawson, director of the Royal College of Music, discusses whether students can be prepared for life on the international stage. To mark the 250th anniversary of the coup d'état which placed Catherine the Great on the Russian throne, the National Museum of Scotland is holding an exhibition exploring how she used artworks to express her power. Dr Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum, explains what the collection tells us about Catherine herself. John revisits Afghan war veterans Rifleman Daniel Shaw and Sapper Lyndon Chatting-Walters, as they prepare to go on tour with Owen Sheers' play The Two Worlds of Charlie F. John first met them in rehearsal, and they now reflect on their stage nerves and their readiness to take to the road. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. James Fenton reflects on how his years as a war reporter fed into his poetry, and why it moves him so much to hear that his poem For Andrew Wood is popular at funerals. And he reveals how the words of the Roman poet Catullus happily fit the Archers theme tune. Author Nicola Barker is known for her distinctive dialogue and unpleasant characters. She discusses her new novel and explains why she wanted to set it in Luton. Bank Of Dave is a Channel 4 documentary which follows the fortunes of Dave Fishwick, who sets up his own small bank. Dave is also the name of a TV channel. David Quantick - David rather than Dave - charts the Daves and Davids in popular culture. Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan were set to be reunited in a huge concert in Hyde Park this evening. But along with many other summer music events it has been cancelled due to the wet weather. Insurance expert Jeff Park explains how our increasingly wet summers will affect festival prices. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Three decades after TV viewers around the world asked 'Who shot JR?', the saga of the Ewing family arrives in the 21st century, with a revamp of Dallas. In the new version, JR, Bobby and Sue Ellen are joined by the next generation - with just as many rivalries and power-struggles as before. David D'Arcy reviews. Turner Prize-winning artist Rachel Whiteread discusses her new commission, the facade of the Whitechapel Art Gallery. She explains how she found inspiration. The Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals are awarded for writing and illustrating books aimed at young people. Unusually this year the same book has won both medals: A Monster Calls was written by Patrick Ness, completed from an idea left by the late Siobhan Dowd, herself a winner of the Carnegie in 2009, and Jim Kay provided the book's atmospheric illustrations. They join Mark to reflect on their collaboration. Front Row is reporting from the four contenders for the Art Fund Prize for museums. Ten years ago, the Watts Gallery near Guildford, which is dedicated to the work of neglected Victorian painter G.F. Watts, was in a sorry state with a leaking roof, broken windows and an average attendance of five visitors a day. But, thanks to a multi-million pound restoration, the gallery has been returned to its former glory, when it was one of the major centres for art in this country. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Director Ridley Scott returns to science fiction with Prometheus, starring Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender. It follows a group of scientists who travel to a distant world, where they encounter a threat to human existence. How does it compare to Scott's earlier blockbuster, Alien? Naomi Alderman gives her verdict. Michael Morpurgo and his biographer Maggie Fergusson discuss how they have collaborated on his life story, From War Child to War Horse. In seven chapters she describes how the unbookish boy who wanted to be an army officer became a best-selling children's author; and Michael responds with seven new stories. They reflect on the sometimes painful aspects of his childhood and his relationship with his own children. Jodie Whittaker and Christopher Eccleston star in a new National Theatre production of Antigone by Sophocles. Peter Kemp reviews. Ken Loach recently complained about the certificate awarded to The Angels' Share by the British Board of Film Classification. In order to qualify for a 15 certificate, several swear words had to be removed, prompting the director to observe that the middle class "is obsessed by what they call bad language." The BBFC's Head Of Policy, David Austin, defends the decision and reveals the detailed negotiations that take place behind the scenes between the board and film-makers. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Ken Loach's latest film, The Angels' Share, is a comedy set in Scotland, following the fortunes of Robbie, a young Scottish gangster who discovers that he has a "nose" - a natural aptitude for judging whisky. Columnist Suzanne Moore gives her verdict. Singer Rumer released her first album Seasons of My Soul to much acclaim in 2010. Her second album is a collection of songs originally made famous by male artists. She discusses how she chose the songs and how she coped with her nerves at a recent performance at the White House, singing for President Obama. American writer, poet and musician James Sallis discusses his latest crime novel, Driven - a sequel to Drive, which was adapted as a film last year, starring Ryan Gosling. Driven is set seven years after the events in Drive, and the nameless Driver finds that his past still stalks him. Writer Travis Elborough charts the close connections between British crime fiction and British beaches - not just for readers sitting by the sea with a book, but for writers including Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie and Peter James. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Shameless creator Paul Abbott and writer Sean Conway discuss their unusual new TV drama series Hit & Miss, about a pre-op transgender contract killer. American suburban life turns sour as new neighbours meet in Lisa D'Amour's play Detroit, acclaimed in the US and now receiving its British premiere at the National Theatre. Gaylene Gould reviews. After Ali G, Borat and Bruno, Sacha Baron Cohen's latest creation is an African tyrant, for his new film The Dictator. Ryan Gilbey gives his verdict. The poet Benjamin Zephaniah reflects on the character of Puck, from A Midsummer Night's Dream, as part of the BBC's Shakespeare Unlocked season. We pay tribute to the Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes who has died aged 83. Producer Ellie Bury.

With John Wilson. Actor Jason Isaacs on his new high concept TV drama Awake and why British actors are storming Hollywood. South Sudan is the world's youngest country, gaining statehood less than a year ago. The South Sudan Theatre Company was formed immediately and has now come to the UK to perform Shakespeare's Cymbeline in Juba Arabic, as part of the Globe to Globe Shakespeare festival. John Wilson reports on how company members and the British Council think this new cultural institution can help shape a new national identity. The Scream by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch is among the world's most famous pictures, and one of his pastel drawings of the image will be auctioned tonight in New York. It is likely to achieve a sale price of nearly £50 million, close to the record for an art-work. Art market watcher Godfrey Barker reflects what this says about the value of art. Paddy Moloney is one of the founders of the Irish band The Chieftains, who this year celebrate their 50th birthday. He reflects on the band's many collaborations, and recalls how their music headed into orbit. Producer Ellie Bury.

With John Wilson. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews the film adaptation of the bestseller Salmon Fishing In The Yemen, about an unlikely scheme to introduce fly-fishing to the desert, which results in an equally unlikely love triangle. Salmon Fishing is one of 17 films scheduled to be released in cinemas this week, an all-time high for an already overcrowded market. Box office analyst Charles Gant explains why the numbers are so great and if anybody is actually watching many of them. Writer Stanley Booth travelled with The Rolling Stones as they toured the US in 1969, gaining unique access to the band. His account of what he saw has just been re-published, and he recalls the sometimes shocking events he witnessed, and also remembers the moment when he heard Otis Redding record (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay. The Fontana Modern Masters series were as known for their covers as their content - colourful, geometric patterns that have acquired the status of art, with several being sold as prints in their own right. Now artist Jamie Shovlin has added his own contribution, by painting covers for books that were commissioned but, for some reason, never published. And 100 days before the start of the Olympics, John talks to Damon Albarn ahead of a Front Row special with the musician, about his three separate contributions to the Cultural Olympiad. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. The Diary of Anne Frank is, for many, the book that best exemplifies the tragedy of the Jewish experience during World War II. Millions of school children read the book, which is seen as an important preventative reminder of the holocaust. In this Front Row special, writers including Shalom Auslander, Nathan Englander, Ellen Feldman, Meg Rosoff and Bernard Kops discuss why the life and writing of Anne Frank inspire writers of fiction. They also reflect on her continuing significance, while the actress Amy Dawson discusses how she approaches playing Anne on stage. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Writer Neil Cross created Luther, the tormented detective played by Idris Elba on TV, and also wrote for the acclaimed spy series Spooks. He discusses why he hopes Luther will move from the small screen to the cinema. A century after Diaghilev's Ballets Russes caused a sensation in Paris, two major British ballet companies are re-imagining the Ballets Russes' most famous works. Mark talks to the 21 year-old choreographer George Williamson who has re-worked Stravinsky's Firebird for English National Ballet, and Mark Baldwin from the Rambert Dance Company, who has created a contemporary take on Debussy's L'Apres-midi d'un faune. Novelist Naomi Alderman reviews Journey, the acclaimed new video game in which players find themselves in a vast and empty desert. This week Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner announced he would change a piece of music in the first episode of the new series, set in 1965, after canny preview audiences spotted the song hadn't been written yet. Music writer David Hepworth considers what happens when writers get their musical references wrong. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Mark talks to Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton, who star as the demon barber of Fleet Street and his partner in crime Mrs Lovett in Stephen Sondheim's musical Sweeney Todd. Having created the hugely successful Downton Abbey, Julian Fellowes has turned to the Titanic story for his new ITV mini-series. Writer and critic Kate Saunders gives her verdict. Novelist Russell Banks discusses the issues surrounding his latest work The Lost Memory Of Skin, which follows a convicted sex offender on probation. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Andrew Stanton is an Oscar-winning film-maker whose credits include Toy Story and Finding Nemo. His latest film is John Carter, a sci-fi time travel fantasy set on Mars. He reflects on working with Steve Jobs at Pixar and how directing live action differs from animation. Alyson Rudd reviews two new TV documentaries which both focus on a sporting challenge - Racing With The Hamiltons, looking at the motorsport aspirations of Lewis' brother Nic, and David Walliams' Big Swim. Andrew Carwood and his early music choir The Cardinall's Musick are touring the UK this year performing music by the Elizabethan composer William Byrd, for which they recently won the Gramophone Recording of the Year Award. Carwood reflects on how difficult it must have been for the devoutly Catholic Byrd in Reformation England and how this double-life produced such majestic music. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. The actress Olivia Colman talks about her breakthrough year, in which she has followed supporting roles in Peep Show and Rev with an award-winning lead in Paddy Considine's film Tyrannosaur and the role of Carol Thatcher alongside Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady. She's now appearing in a new stage production of Noel Coward's play Hay Fever. Woody Harrelson stars as a wayward LA policeman in Rampart, a film exploring the fallout of the LAPD's 1990s corruption scandal. Crime writer Dreda Say Mitchell gives her verdict on this bad cop, bad cop story. As e-books account for an increasing percentage of total book sales, many in the publishing industry are keen for the UK to instigate an e-book chart, along with the other readily-available sales figures. Jonathan Nowell from chart compilers Nielsen and Philip Jones from The Bookseller discuss why this is yet to happen. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson Novelist Lionel Shriver reviews a major retrospective of Lucian Freud's work at the National Portrait Gallery, including his final, unfinished portrait, which is on show for the first time. Dutch architect Herman Hertzberger believes passionately that architecture can help bring people together. The Royal Institute of British Architects has just awarded him the 2012 Royal Gold Medal, given in recognition of a lifetime's work. He tells Mark why he thinks a recession is good for architects. Stephen Daldry made history when he received a best director Oscar nomination for his first three films - Billy Elliot, The Hours and The Reader. His latest film Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close deals with loss and grief in the aftermath of 9/11. He reflects on why it has divided critics. Producer Ellie Bury.

With John Wilson. Novelist and psychogeographer Iain Sinclair reviews Turner and the Elements, a new exhibition at the Turner Contemporary gallery in the artist's old stomping ground of Margate. Alice Coote is one of the world's most acclaimed mezzo-sopranos, famous for taking on the male parts or "trouser roles" in opera. She talks to John about assuming the gait of a man, the demands of being jet-setting soloist, and how a car crash made her realise the importance of music. In 1962 the playwright Joe Orton was sent to prison for six months for defacing books in Islington Public Library. Fifty years later, barrister Greg Foxsmith is staging a re-trial to examine what sentence Orton might have received today. He tells John why. Singer Lana Del Rey releases her debut album on Monday. Although her song Video Games was one of the most acclaimed tracks of 2011, her decadent image has provoked debates about her authenticity and her recent live performances have drawn criticism. Kitty Empire gives her verdict. Producer Ellie Bury.

With John Wilson Historian Thomas Asbridge discusses his forthcoming three-part TV series about the Crusades, which considers the medieval holy war from both the Christian and the Muslim perspectives. Scottish singer-songwriter Emeli Sande has won the Brits Critics' Choice for 2012 - a prize for new talent, with previous winners including Adele, Jessie J and Florence And The Machine. She reflects on her unusual career path - she studied medicine and neuroscience before entering the music business full-time. Early in 2011, photographer Guy Martin travelled to Egypt and Libya to record the unfolding Arab Spring. This project was cut short, when he was seriously injured in a rocket attack. Two of his colleagues, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Tim Hetherington and photojournalist Chris Hondros, were killed in the same attack. Now images Guy produced up to that point are on show, and he reflects on the experience of working under fire. Gentrification is having an unexpected effect on Hollywood, as it's running out of dark New York alleys to film in. According to reports, only two remain, and even they are under threat of closure. Adrian Wootton of Film London discusses whether the UK will soon suffer a similar shortage of grimy urban locations. Producer Ellie Bury.

Mark Lawson unwraps a selection of new interviews with arts headline makers of 2011. Booker Prize winner Julian Barnes explains why he no longer refuses to read his reviews, and poet Jo Shapcott, winner of the Costa Prize for her collection Of Mutability, discusses why the book's subject, her cancer, is never referred to explicitly. Director Nicholas Hytner and writer Richard Bean reflect on the success of their hit play One Man, Two Guvnors, which will make its way to Broadway after a sell-out UK tour and London run. Film-maker Andrea Arnold is best known for contemporary dramas such as Red Road and Fish Tank, but her 2011 version of Wuthering Heights won wide acclaim. She reveals why her next film won't be an adaptation. Architect Sir David Chipperfield received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal this year, as well as completing the Turner Contemporary in Margate and the Hepworth in Wakefield. He discusses how the current wranglings in Europe could affect his profession. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Amy Winehouse's posthumous album Lioness: Hidden Treasures was released yesterday and is already topping the midweek charts. Editor of NME magazine Krissi Murison gives her critical verdict on the disc, and considers the issues surrounding the release of recordings after an artist's death. The acerbic art reviewer Brian Sewell reflects on his experience as a student at the Courtauld Institute with Anthony Blunt, his life as a critic and 21st century attitudes to art. New Year's Eve is a seasonal romantic comedy, with an ensemble cast including Hilary Swank, Sarah Jessica Parker, Halle Berry and Robert De Niro. Jason Solomons reviews. Producer Ellie Bury.

With John Wilson As he releases an album of his favourite songs, Sir Bruce Forsyth reflects on seven decades in show business, from duetting with Nat King Cole at the Palladium to his pre-show nerves at last weekend's Wembley Arena edition of Strictly Come Dancing. Brad Pitt stars in Moneyball, a new film written by West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin. Pitt plays the manager of a low-budget baseball team who uses computer data to identify the best players. Eleanor Oldroyd reviews. The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford is about to open six new galleries for its collections from Ancient Egypt and Nubia. The new displays more than double the number of mummies and coffins on show, bringing to light items kept in the stores for more than half a century. John takes a tour of the new galleries with the project's curator Liam McNamara. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson. Michael Sheen stars in the Young Vic's new production of Hamlet. Director Ian Rickson sets the play in the Elsinore Mental Asylum, an institution the audience must also check in to. Hermione Lee reviews. Kelvin Mackenzie, former editor of The Sun, gives the critical verdict on Tabloid: a new documentary charting the way British newspapers covered the extraordinary tale of Joyce McKinney, a US beauty queen accused of imprisoning a young Mormon missionary in 1977. Jeffrey Eugenides, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex, talks about his long- awaited third novel: The Marriage Plot. He discusses how this novel is born of a previous abandoned book, and how a friendly competition with fellow American author Jonathan Franzen has spurred him on throughout his career. The British Library's collection of medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts are on display together for the first time. The manuscripts were collected over 800 years by Kings and Queens of England. Writer A N Wilson reviews the exhibition. Producer Ellie Bury.

With Kirsty Lang. Emma Donoghue is the bestselling author of Room, the Booker-nominated novel inspired by the real life Josef Fritzl case. Her latest book is The Sealed Letter, a historical romp that deals with a scandalous 19th Century divorce case. She talks to Kirsty about why she always avoids taking sides among her characters. Music critic Caspar Llewellyn Smith reviews a selection of new albums - including Coldplay's recent Mylo Xyloto; Tom Waits' long-awaited Bad As Me; and Parisienne singer Camille's bilingual Ilo Veyou. Johnny Hallyday has announced he will play his first British concert at the Royal Albert Hall next year. French journalist Agnes Poirier explains the enduring appeal of the Gallic rocker. Martin Sixsmith reviews a new exhibition of Soviet art and architecture at the Royal Academy in London, which explores how the Russian avant-garde aesthetic reflected the energy and optimism of the new Soviet Socialist State Plus: America's most famous cellist, Yo-Yo Ma, is renowned for performing works which range far beyond the standard classical repertoire. His latest CD, The Goat Rodeo Sessions, is a collaboration with three string virtuosos: a bluegrass fiddler, a mandolin wizard, and a bassist. Ma talks about his attitude to improvisation - and explains what a goat rodeo is. Producer Ellie Bury.