Podcasts about producer jerome weatherald

Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones talk to John Wilson about their new film The Theory of Everything about the physicist Stephen Hawking; soprano Renée Fleming on her new album Christmas in New York; Billie Whitelaw remembered by former theatre critic Benedict Nightingale; and Adam Smith considers the dark side of Christmas films. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Ridley Scott's Moses epic Exodus: Gods and Kings is reviewed by Adam Smith; investigative journalist John Sweeney and Baltimore-based crime novelist Laura Lippman discuss the phenomenon of the 'Serial' podcasts; The Shoemaker's Holiday director Phillip Breen tells Samira Ahmed about his RSC production of Thomas Dekker's Elizabethan comedy of class, conflict and cobblers in love; and Quvenzhané Wallis and director Will Gluck on their new film adaptation of Annie. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Jim Broadbent talks to Kirsty Lang about playing Father Christmas for the third time in his new film Get Santa; Matt Haig and Katherine Woodfine on Young Adult Fiction; Croatian playwright Tena Stivicic discusses her play 3 Winters at the National Theatre; Stephen Armstrong brings us his pick of the year's comedy DVDs; and following the news that the British Museum has loaned one of the Elgin Marbles to the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Peter Aspden considers the role museums and galleries can play when political harmony between nations breaks down. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Annie Lennox talks to Kirsty Lang about her new album Nostalgia, on which she covers songs from The Great American Songbook. Hollywood actor and director James Franco shows Kirsty round his latest art venture Fat Squirrel. The international human rights lawyer Philippe Sands discusses A Song of Good and Evil, a show he developed when he realised that both a Nuremberg prosecutor and defendant shared a passion for Bach. And with the New York Film Critics Circle Awards kicking off the awards season this weekend, film critic Tim Robey gives us his advice on how to win an Oscar. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Tom Hardy and the late James Gandolfini star in the thriller The Drop, reviewed by Jenny McCartney. Saxophonist Jan Garbarek and David James discuss the Hilliard Ensemble. Quentin Blake on Paula Rego and Honoré Daumier: Scandal, Gossip and Other Stories at the House of Illustration. And Assaf Gavron on the reality of life in Israel in the 21st century in his new novel, The Hilltop. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Novelist Lionel Shriver reviews Christopher Nolan's three-hour film Interstellar, starring Matthew McConaughey. Nick Hornby talks to John Wilson about his new novel Funny Girl, set around a fictional 1960's sitcom. Saxophonist John Harle assesses the musical instrument designed by Adolphe Sax who was born 200 years ago. And Michael Carlson discusses Bob Dylan The Basement Tapes Raw: The Bootleg Series Vol. 11, containing 138 tracks, released today. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Michael Sheen talks to Kirsty Lang about performing Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood on stage in New York; Lynda Nead reviews the new Egon Schiele exhibition The Radical Nude at London's Courtauld Gallery; Daniel Kehlmann on his new novel F; and Akala, Erik Parker, One9 and Jacqueline Springer discuss the classic hip hop album Illmatic, 20 years on. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Yusuf Islam, also known as Cat Stevens, talks to Samira Ahmed about his new album Tell 'Em I'm Gone, his first for five years. Miranda Sawyer reviews a new film Northern Soul, about the music and dance phenomenon from the late '60s and early '70s. William Morris is the focus of a new exhibition Anarchy & Beauty at the National Portrait Gallery. The show's curator Fiona MacCarthy reveals there's a great deal more to him than wallpaper and furniture design. And the multi-award-winning American TV documentary-maker Ken Burns - he of the 'Ken Burns Effect' - looks back over a career in which he has covered The Civil War, the history of Jazz and the Great Depression, and discusses his latest 14-hour series The Roosevelts: an Intimate History. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Zadie Smith discusses Miss Adele Amidst the Corsets, her shortlisted entry for the BBC National Short Story Award; Tom Dyckhoff reviews The Art of the Brick, a new exhibition of artworks built with Lego; musician Ryan Adams on the analogue joys of the typewriter and the tape recorder. And as last night's controversial art performance featuring black actors in a recreation of a "human zoo" is called off after protests at its opening night in London, John Wilson hears both sides of the argument. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Philip Seymour Hoffman's final film A Most Wanted Man, based on the novel by John le Carré, is reviewed by Mark Eccleston; Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson discusses his exhibition influenced by JMW Turner at Tate Britain with Kirsty Lang, and critic Charlotte Mullins reviews a major new exhibition Late Turner at the same gallery, and Tamzin Outhwaite and Ben Ockrent on their play Breeders. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Canadian writer Margaret Atwood discusses Stone Mattress, her new collection of nine short stories. Flamenco guitarist Paco Peña tells Samira Ahmed about his latest work Patrias which is being performed at the Edinburgh International Festival, inspired by the writer Federico García Lorca who was murdered at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. Shahidha Bari reviews new film Obvious Child, about a comedienne who faces some challenging realities when she discovers she's pregnant. And artist Michael Sailstorfer on his interactive work at the Folkestone Triennial. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

The Social Network's Jesse Eisenberg discusses his latest role as a radical environmentalist in his new film Night Moves; Norwegian novelist Karl Ove Knausgaard on Boyhood Island, the latest addition to his autobiographical My Struggle series; Lucy Jones reviews Kate Bush's comeback concert in London last night, and Rachel Cooke reviews new TV drama series Our Zoo, based on the creation of Chester Zoo in the 1930s. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood discusses the world premiere screenings of Paul Thomas Anderson's film There Will Be Blood, with Greenwood's score being performed live by the London Contemporary Orchestra. South African writer Deon Meyer on his latest thriller Cobra, where the arrival of a Cambridge maths professor leads to a spiralling body count. As Amazon announces it is to launch a books subscription service, Charlie Redmayne of Harper Collins and Phillip Jones of The Bookseller discuss the implications for readers, authors and publishers. And film producer and critic Catherine Bray makes her selection of films that conjure up summer. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

The tenor, baritone and conductor Plácido Domingo discusses his return to the Royal Opera House to conduct Jonathan Kent's production of Puccini's Tosca. Alex Clark reviews Robert Galbraith's (aka JK Rowling) new novel The Silkworm. Jason Solomons reviews Clint Eastwood's film Jersey Boys, about Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. And Laura Mvula and Julian Lloyd Webber discuss the new BBC Music initiative Ten Pieces, announced today. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood discusses the world premiere of her first opera Pauline, live from Vancouver; Ranald McInnes on the Glasgow Art School fire; Neel Mukherjee on his new novel The Lives of Others, set during the political unrest in India in the 1960s; Amat Escalante, director of new film Heli, reveals the background to his drama about drugs, violence and corruption in a remote community in rural Mexico; and Jake Arnott reviews new British TV drama Quirke starring Gabriel Byrne and written by Andrew Davies and Conor McPherson, an adaptation of the novels by Benjamin Black (John Banville). Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Artist Richard Wilson unveils his vast 77-tonne new silver sculpture, Slipstream, in Heathrow's new Terminal 2 building. Playwright Mike Bartlett, who is currently enjoying a major critical success with King Charles III, discusses his play about the potential future monarch as well as An Intervention which premieres in Watford this week. Booker-winning novelist Rachel Seiffert discusses the new German TV drama series Generation War which follows the lives of five friends in Berlin on different paths through Nazi Germany and World War II. British director Joanna Hogg returns with her third film Exhibition starring Viv Albertine of punk band The Slits. Shahidha Bari reviews. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Kirsty Lang. Anne Hathaway is back in cinemas this week in Rio 2, an animated film about a rare blue macaw, set in Brazil. She reprises her role as the voice of Jewel, a free-spirited bird, who discovers that the family she thought had been killed are still alive and living in the Amazon jungle. Anne Hathaway discusses the challenges of playing an animated character and what she looks for when choosing a role. Believe is a new American fantasy and adventure TV drama series from Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity) and Star Wars writer J.J. Abrams. A young girl with mysterious powers is placed under the protection of an escaped Death Row inmate, who must shield her from the mysterious forces out to hunt her down. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh gives her verdict. The African-American photographer Lorna Simpson discusses the work on show in her new retrospective at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead. Large-scale photographs printed on felt are on display alongside her video works, watercolours and drawings, which often deal with themes of identity, desire and race. To mark Radio 4's forthcoming Character Invasion - when fictional characters will be taking over the network - Front Row asked five of Britain's leading actors to talk about their experience of playing an iconic character. Tonight, David Threlfall describes his experience of playing Frank Gallagher for a decade in the Channel 4 drama series Shameless. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Kirsty Lang As the US political drama House of Cards returns for its second season, actor and producer Kevin Spacey discusses the success of streaming and looks ahead to his plans for his remaining 18 months as artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London. The Lego Movie was the big hit at the U.S. box office last weekend, taking almost three times as much as The Monuments Men, and winning rave reviews in the process. Critic Jane Graham considers whether it's really just a long advert for a toy company. Belfast novelist Glenn Patterson's new novel The Rest Just Follows focuses on three teenagers in the city who are growing up amidst the Troubles in the 1970s. Patterson discusses the setting for his book, and his nomination for this weekend's BAFTA awards for his screenplay for the film Good Vibrations. John Travolta jets into London this weekend to take part in an on-stage interview about his career, following the example of Al Pacino and Sylvester Stallone who also spent "An Evening With" a British audience. Writer Antonia Quirke considers the appeal of the film star Q&A. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With John Wilson. Armistead Maupin discusses The Days of Anna Madrigal, the ninth (and possibly final) instalment of his celebrated Tales of the City series of novels. Madrigal is reunited with the former tenants of 28 Barbary Lane, San Francisco, as they prepare to spend time at Burning Man, the avant-garde festival in Nevada. Transgender Anna is now 92, and determined 'to leave like a lady', and embarks on a road trip to the desert - to the brothel where she lived as a teenage boy. Her is the romantic tale of a man (played by Joaquin Phoenix) who falls in love with the voice of his computer's operating system (the voice provided by Scarlett Johansson). Complications ensue when his feelings are reciprocated. Novelist Toby Litt delivers his verdict on this latest idiosyncratic movie from Being John Malkovich director Spike Jonze. The inaugural shortlist of The Folio Prize was announced today. Chair of Judges, Lavinia Greenlaw, discusses the eight shortlisted books in the running for the £40,000 prize, which celebrates the best English-language fiction from around the world, regardless of form, genre, or the author's country of origin. Cellist Raphael Wallfisch discusses his new CD of Jewish music, including Schelomo by Bloch, which he has dedicated to his grandparents who died in the Holocaust, and to his mother Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who survived Auschwitz by playing the cello in the Auschwitz Women's Orchestra. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Ralph Fiennes discusses his latest film The Invisible Woman, about the relationship between Charles Dickens and his mistress, which Fiennes stars in and directs. In his latest novel, the American author E L Doctorow takes us on a journey into the mind of a man who, more than once in his life, has been the cause of disaster, albeit inadvertently. In Andrew's Brain he thinks and talks about the various events of his life that have lead him to this point in time. E L Doctorow describes how he came up with this particular character, and the novel-writing process. This week sees the return of Channel 4's topical comedy series The Last Leg. The show became a hit when it was first broadcast during the 2012 Paralympics and this new series will provide an offbeat take on the forthcoming Sochi Winter Olympics and Paralympics. Presenters Adam Hills and Josh Widdicombe discuss the surprise popularity of the format and the appetite for representations of disability on television. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Australian writer Christos Tsiolkas, who came to worldwide recognition with his controversial novel The Slap, discusses his follow up, Barracuda, the story of a young man with the potential to become an Olympic swimming champion and his struggle with self-acceptance. Violinist Maxim Vengerov, who is performing a series of concerts at London's Barbican this year, discusses the challenges of the more demanding elements of the repertoire, how he responds to different audiences, and how he alters his playing technique to suit the acoustics of a venue. Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl With a Pearl Earring, reviews a new documentary film Tim's Vermeer, in which inventor Tim Jenison attempts to understand and recreate the painting techniques used by Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer. Two American cop shows begin on TV this week. Mob City, created by Oscar-nominated writer Frank Darabont, is a neo-noir drama looking at the LAPD in the 1940s. Brooklyn Nine-Nine won two Golden Globes at this weekend's ceremony and takes a comic look at the exploits of a contemporary Brooklyn police department. Crime fiction expert Jeff Park delivers his verdict on the two shows. Producer: Jerome Weatherald.

With John Wilson. Daniel Radcliffe's latest project is playing the young Allen Ginsberg in Kill Your Darlings. Based on a true story, the film follows a 17-year-old Ginsberg as he starts at Columbia University in 1944. A murder draws him together with Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs and leads to the birth of the Beat Generation. Writer and critic Michael Carlson gives his verdict. Writers Alex Clark and Danny Kelly discuss which of this year's best-selling autobiographies have the X-factor, judging the works of Morrissey, Sir Alex Ferguson and Jennifer Saunders by artistic impression, revelations, scores settled and sexual content. Singer John Newman first attracted attention for his vocal on Rudimental's hit single Feel the Love last year. He followed that success this year when both his debut single Love me Again and debut album Tribute topped the UK charts. He reveals where the raw emotion on his album comes from and discusses the challenge of writing a follow-up. This year's National Theatre Christmas show is an adaptation of Erich KÃstner's classic children's novel Emil and the Detectives. Detective novelist and critic Stephanie Merritt was at the first night and gives her response. Producer: Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. The RSC's stage adaptations of Hilary Mantel's bestselling novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies are currently in rehearsal before their sell-out run in Stratford-upon-Avon. Hilary Mantel and Mike Poulton, who has adapted the novels, discuss the challenges of transposing such vast and densely populated books to the stage. Critics Catherine Bray and Adam Smith review Oldboy, Spike Lee's re-make of the Korean revenge drama, and discuss how it compares with other Hollywood versions of foreign-language dramas. The historic department stores Liberty of London and Bergdorf's in New York come under the spotlight this week. A three-part Channel 4 documentary series goes behind the scenes at Liberty's, while a new film Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's hears from leading figures in the fashion world about the profile of the family-run store. Finance writer Lucy Kellaway reviews both. Producer: Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. As the first part of her autobiography is published, actress Anjelica Huston discusses her unconventional childhood with her father, film director John Huston, and why he encouraged her to roll cigars and drink sherry as a child, and what a Samurai warrior was doing in her kitchen. Hull has been named as UK City of Culture 2017, beating competition from Swansea Bay, Leicester and Dundee. John Godber, playwright and former Artistic Director of Hull Truck Theatre Company, and writer and journalist David Mark discuss Hull's historic and contemporary cultural significance. Lawrence Fox and Imogen Stubbs star in a new stage version of Strangers on a Train by Craig Warner, based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith, and famously filmed by Hitchcock. Critic Peter Kemp was at the opening night. Turner & the Sea at the National Maritime Museum claims to be the first full-scale examination of J.M.W. Turner's lifelong fascination with the sea. The exhibition features 120 works by Turner and his contemporaries, including The Fighting Temeraire. Art critic Charlotte Mullins gives her response to this latest Turner show. Producer: Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Zadie Smith discusses her new story The Embassy of Cambodia which is 69 pages long, and focuses on Fatou, a young African immigrant in Willesden, north-west London, who flees hardship in her own country only to face a different set of challenges in her new life. Lady Gaga's third album Artpop is released in the UK next week. Gaga's recent performance on The X Factor to promote the album attracted hundreds of complaints about its explicit nature. Meanwhile Lorde, a 16-year-old from New Zealand, has topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic singing about the glamorous world of pop that at once attracts and alienates teens. Kitty Empire discusses both singers' albums. nut is the new play by Olivier award-winning playwright debbie tucker green, whose previous plays include born bad and random. It follows a character called Elayne and those closest to her over one day in contemporary London. Shahidha Bari reviews. And with news that the actor David Morrissey will voice the audiobook of the singer Morrissey's Autobiography, Front Row reports on an expanding market and wonders why certain actors are cast for certain books, and what part consumer preference plays. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson, including an interview with critic and writer Hermione Lee about her new biography of Penelope Fitzgerald, who published her first novel at the age of 60, and won the Booker Prize with her book Offshore at the age of 63. With the news of a massive find of Nazi looted art in a Munich flat this weekend, Mark speaks to art critic Bill Feaver and Head of Collections at the Berlin Jewish Museum Inka Bertz about the connection to the 1937 "Entartete Kunst" - the Degenerate art exhibition in Berlin which included work by Picasso, Paul Klee, Kandinsky and Nolde. J J Abrams, the creator of TV series Lost, discusses his latest work - S - a novel where the writing is not just between the lines but in the margins and in scraps of paper embedded between the pages. S tells the story of a book written by a mysterious author and two of its readers who correspond to each other via its yellowing pages. Abrams talks of its conception and why he handed the project to novelist Doug Dorst, while he worked on Star Trek and the new Star Wars movies. Fresh Meat returns to our screens tonight, joining the students at the beginning of their second year at university. John Yorke, former head of EastEnders and author of Into the Woods: A Five Act Journey into Story, joins Mark to reflect on how TV has used the passage of time to bolster plots and storylines. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Dame Judi Dench discusses her role in the new film Philomena, in which she plays a 70-year-old Irish woman who is looking to trace her son, taken away from her when she was a teenager. She discusses portraying and meeting the real Philomena Lee, and working with Steve Coogan, who co-scripted and co-stars in the film as Martin Sixsmith, the man who helped Philomena find her child. Honoré Daumier was a French printmaker, sculptor and painter whose work offered a social commentary on 19th Century French life. A new exhibition, Visions of Paris, explores his legacy. Booker Prize-winning novelist Julian Barnes reviews the show. Henrik Ibsen's play Ghosts is enjoying two very different new productions at the moment. In English Touring Theatre's staging, the sets take inspiration from designs originally made for the play by Edvard Munch in 1906. In Richard Eyre's new version, at the Almeida Theatre, London, the transparent walls of the set provide a stark contrast to the secrets hidden by the characters. Tim Hatley who designed the Almeida's production and Sue Prideaux, Munch's biographer, discuss the different approaches to representing the text. Peep Show stars David Mitchell and Robert Webb reunite in Ambassadors, a TV comedy-drama series about the inner-workings of an embassy in the fictional country of Tazbekistan. Briony Hanson of the British Council delivers her verdict. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Kirsty Lang. The romantic comedy Austenland, based on a novel of the same name, centres on a single 30-something American woman who travels to Britain to visit a resort where the Jane Austen era is recreated, hoping to find her very own Colin Firth version of Mr Darcy. Critic Viv Groskop - who was born a stone's throw away from Chawton, where Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice - reviews. Stephen Poliakoff, writer of Caught On A Train and Shooting The Past, reflects on his controversial debut TV drama Hitting Town, which was made in 1975 and is released on DVD for the first time. Written when he was 23, the TV play made headlines when Mary Whitehouse campaigned for it to be banned, appalled by its storyline about a brother and sister who embark on an incestuous affair. Poliakoff reveals his own sister's reaction to Hitting Town and his other incest drama Close My Eyes. Australian author Hannah Kent's debut novel Burial Rites tells the story of the last woman executed in Iceland. Set in the winter of 1829 and including real court documents, the book combines Nordic noir with cold case fiction. Kent describes how she first heard about the story when visiting Iceland as a teenager and what drew her to write about the case a decade later. Artists Elmgreen and Dragset have turned five former textile galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum into an apartment belonging to a fictional retired architect, using objects from the museum's collection alongside items from antique markets. Kirsty and architecture critic Hugh Pearman visited the apartment to see if they could decode its secrets. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With John Wilson. Comedian Lee Evans returns to stage in Barking in Essex, the last play written by screenwriter Clive Exton (Entertaining Mr Sloane, 10 Rillington Place, Jeeves and Wooster) before his death in 2007. The play centres on a dysfunctional criminal family from Essex and co-stars Sheila Hancock and Keeley Hawes. Lee Evans discusses swearing, Samuel Beckett, and the plumber providing inspiration for his forthcoming tour. Roland Emmerich, director of disaster movies Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, is about to release his latest, White House Down, in which a heavily-armed group of paramilitary invaders target the President of the United States. Kate Muir reviews. The shortlist for the Man Booker Prize for fiction was announced today. Contenders for the £50,000 prize are Jim Crace, Colm Toibin, Eleanor Catton, Jhumpa Lahiri, NoViolet Bulawayo and Ruth Ozeki. Chair of judges Robert Macfarlane and judge Natalie Haynes discuss their selection. The winner is announced on 15 October. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. American conductor Marin Alsop discusses becoming the first woman to conduct the Last Night of the Proms. She also reflects on toying with the idea of conducting with one hand after injuring her wrist, and falling in love with Leonard Bernstein at the age of nine. As Philip French puts away his pen after being The Observer's film critic for 50 years, coinciding with his 80th birthday today, he discusses the 2,500 films he has watched and the changes he has seen in cinema in that time. As Bonjour Tristesse is re-released in cinemas, the tragic life of actress Jean Seberg is re-assessed by her biographer Garry McGee. The star of A Bout De Souffle and Saint Joan was a political activist and supporter of the Black Panther movement and became the subject of an investigation by the FBI. She committed suicide in 1979, after her film career had faded away amid bad press and conspiracy theories. American drama series The Newsroom, created by Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing, The Social Network), returns to our TV screens this week for a second series, and Bad Education, a comedy written by and starring Jack Whitehall, also begins its second run. TV critic Chris Dunkley considers different ways to approach the potentially tricky second series. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With John Wilson. Tony Grisoni, writer of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the Red Riding TV series, discusses his latest project: Southcliffe is a new four-part drama for Channel 4, about a random killer on the loose in a small English rural town. Architect Richard Rogers nominates a favourite public space for Cultural Exchange, in which leading creative minds share a cultural passion. As the Imperial War Museum London partially re-opens its doors during its major redevelopment, John takes a look at the two new art exhibitions on display. Architecture of War examines the impact of conflict on the landscape and environment, and 5000 Feet is the Best - Omer Fast's multi-layered film about drone warfare - launches IWM Contemporary. Artist and illustrator Ralph Steadman discusses his contribution to a festival about Surrealist artist Marcel Duchamp in Herne Bay, inspired by a trip Duchamp took to the Kentish coast in 1913. He wrote a postcard back to Paris declaring "I am not dead... I am in Herne Bay", and on his return started working on his famous ready-mades, fuelled by his experiences of the English seaside. Steadman reveals why he's donating his own urinal, which started life in the gentlemen's convenience of the Hackney Empire. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Writer and poet Clive James discusses his ambitious version of Dante's 14th century epic poem The Divine Comedy. He reflects on the challenge and pleasure of translating the 14,233 lines which took him several years, while struggling with ill health which made him wonder whether he'd live to see it published. Directed by Joe Wright and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, the UK premiere of A Season in the Congo by Aimé Césaire opens on stage this week. Set in the Congo during the country's first year of independence, the play charts the life of Patrice Lumumba from his campaigning against Belgian rule, to becoming Prime Minster, to his assassination. Novelist Justin Cartwright gives his verdict. Screenwriter Paula Milne offers her choice for Cultural Exchange - Five Easy Pieces, an influential 1970 film starring Jack Nicholson as a frustrated musician who drifts from job to job and embarks on a road trip to see his seriously ill father. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With John Wilson. Emma Watson stars in The Bling Ring, Sofia Coppola's film about a teenage gang who raid the Hollywood homes of young celebrities. Jason Solomons reviews. Actress Anna Chancellor discusses her role as Amanda in Noel Coward's Private Lives on stage. Anna won acclaim for roles on TV in Spooks and Pramface and was nominated for a BAFTA for BBC One's The Hour - and is still remembered as Hugh Grant's jilted fiancée Duckface in Four Weddings and a Funeral. For Cultural Exchange, actor and musician Clarke Peters selects an anthropological book: They Came Before Columbus, by Dr Ivan Van Sertima. Dr Van Sertima argued that the Indians whom Columbus encountered had already met Africans, long before Columbus had got there. This would mean that Africans had first arrived in the Americas not as slaves, but far earlier - as explorers and traders. A new apocalyptic comedy This is the End features James Franco, Seth Rogen and Emily Watson playing James Franco, Seth Rogen and Emily Watson. And this week Status Quo make their movie debut in action-comedy caper Bula Quo!, playing none other than Status Quo. Critic Adam Smith looks into this cinematic habit of actors playing alternative versions of themselves in films. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With John Wilson. Disco legend, music producer and Oscar-winner Giorgio Moroder is the man behind hits from Donna Summer, The Three Degrees and Sparks. In a rare interview, Moroder reflects on his humble beginnings, his rise to fame and his recent comeback with Daft Punk. As Roger Hiorns' blue crystal sculpture Seizure is moved from a derelict council flat in south London to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, artist Richard Wilson and critic Rachel Campbell-Johnston consider the importance of site-specific art and what happens when an installation is transferred to an environment other than its original location. Tim Firth, writer of the stage version of Calendar Girls - one of the most successful plays in recent British theatre - has turned his hand to a musical. The result is This Is My Family, which explores family life from the perspective of a 13 year old girl, and opens this week in Sheffield. Tim Firth and Daniel Evans, artistic director of Sheffield Theatres, discuss the project. For Cultural Exchange, Francine Stock chooses The Apple, a film made by Iranian director Samira Makhmalbaf in 1998, when she was only 18 years old. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With John Wilson. Marc Chagall's paintings filled with colour, floating figures and Jewish motifs are among the most distinctive in art. A new exhibition at Tate Liverpool traces the creation of Chagall's style by following his early years as an artist in Paris and his native Russia. Jackie Wullschlager, author of the biography Chagall: Love and Exile, reviews. St Colmcille, the patron saint of Derry/Londonderry, returns for a public pageant on a city-wide scale, starting this evening. Frank Cottrell Boyce, the writer behind the London 2012 Opening Ceremony, discusses how he created the story for this weekend's events in the UK's City of Culture. Many aspects of the city's history are celebrated, culminating in a showdown on the river front between St. Colmcille and his monstrous nemesis. Singer-songwriter Laura Marling reflects on her new album Once I was an Eagle, and explains why she has chosen to base herself in Los Angeles. She also brings her guitar to the Front Row studio, to perform. And the Irish writer Colm Tóibín makes his selection for the Cultural Exchange: Poem by Elizabeth Bishop, a reflection on a small painting of a scene in rural Nova Scotia, where the poet spent time as a child. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With John Wilson. Berlin-born photographer Erwin Blumenfeld (1897-1969) was one of the most internationally sought-after portrait and fashion photographers in the 1940s and 1950s. America's leading magazines, including Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, hired him for his imaginative and highly individual shots. Erwin's grandson Remy and critic Joanna Pitman assess his legacy as a new exhibition Blumenfeld Studio: New York, 1941-1960 opens. Lydia Davis won The Man Booker International Prize last night for a career which includes a novel, translations of Proust and Flaubert and a large repertoire of very short stories, some only one sentence long. She explains how momentary observations inspire her work, including something she spotted on the London Underground yesterday. For Cultural Exchange, in which leading creative minds reflect on a favourite cultural experience, violinist Nigel Kennedy selects Black and Blue, by Louis Armstrong. John Constable's renowned landscape painting Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows has been bought for the nation at a price of £23.1m - a record figure for a work by Constable. Art reviewer William Feaver reflects on the painting's worth, and looks back at how it was received when first exhibited in 1831. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With John Wilson. Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu is one of opera's best-known performers, appearing in the world's most prestigious opera houses and concert halls. She reflects on her controversial reputation and the breakdown of her marriage to tenor Roberto Alagna. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is the film adaptation of Mohsin Hamid's novel. Directed by Mira Nair and starring Riz Ahmed and Kate Hudson, it's the story of Changez, a young Pakistani man who finds success working in Wall Street. When the 9/11 attacks happen he begins to notice a change in how his adopted society responds to him. Writer and critic Shahidha Bari reviews the film. In the latest episode of Cultural Exchange, in which creative minds select a favourite art-work, Peter Bazalgette, chairman of Arts Council England, nominates a portrait of Edith Sitwell by the writer and painter Wyndham Lewis. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With John Wilson. Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B Schmit of America's biggest-selling band The Eagles discuss a new documentary, History of the Eagles, which charts the ups and downs of their career and the stories behind their classic songs. 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 writer and editor Diana Athill explains why Byron's letters have had such a lasting effect on her. The Weir by Conor McPherson, set in a remote Irish pub, and the musical version of Once, which has been transposed to a bustling Dublin pub, are both currently running in London. Josie Rourke, who is directing The Weir, and Declan Bennett, who stars in Once, reflect on the process of creating an authentic pub atmosphere on stage, and P J Mathews considers the theatrical history of the Irish pub. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Dominic Cooke is leaving London's Royal Court Theatre after seven years as Artistic Director. He looks back at his often controversial tenancy and discusses his final production, The Low Road by Bruce Norris. And in the week that Nicholas Hytner announced the date for his departure as Artistic Director of the National Theatre, Kenneth Branagh, Marianne Elliott, Sam Mendes and Kwame Kwei-Armah reveal where they stand as potential contenders for the top job. Michael Dobbs, who was Conservative Chief of Staff under Margaret Thatcher, and Haydn Gwynne who is currently portraying Thatcher on stage in The Audience, reflect on the ways that the former Prime Minister has been represented in culture. And two exhibitions by leading women artists open in London this week. In her new show Detached, Rachel Whiteread continues her exploration of casting the inside of objects including sheds, doors and windows. And sculptor Elisabeth Frink, who died twenty years ago, has an anniversary retrospective which celebrates the four decades of the artist's life in sculptures, drawings and paintings. Rachel Cooke reviews. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With John Wilson. Sarah Brightman became a household name when her group Hot Gossip had a number 1 hit with I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper. She went on to perform in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals Cats and The Phantom of the Opera, eventually marrying Lloyd Webber. Aptly enough her latest project is a trip into space, and she discusses her plans for the journey and the album it has inspired. The Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado has just opened his new exhibition, Genesis, at the Natural History Museum in London. Like his two ambitious earlier projects - Workers and Migrations - Genesis is a long-term exploration of global issues, in a series of large-scale monochrome prints which on this occasion celebrate nature and examine the balance of human relationships with the planet. In a rare interview Sebastiao Salgado discusses the challenge, which was eight years in the making, and which took him to 32 countries and some of the remotest and most inhospitable locations in the world. The Gatekeepers is a documentary telling the story of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service. Directed by Dror Moreh, the film includes interviews with six former heads of the service, none of whom had ever spoken on camera before. The BBC's security correspondent Gordon Corera reviews the film which was nominated for an Oscar. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With John Wilson. Gustavo Dudamel, the young Venezuelan conductor of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, has become one of the most high-profile classical musicians in the world. He returns to the UK this week as Musical Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, to perform a series of concerts. Dudamel discusses the residency and his work advocating music as a way to enrich children's lives. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. The artist Marcel Duchamp is the focus of a new exhibition at the Barbican, London. The Bride and the Bachelors explores his influence on four great modern masters - composer John Cage, choreographer Merce Cunningham, and visual artists Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. Critic Jackie Wullschlager reviews the exhibition and discusses Duchamp's role in contemporary art. Spooks star David Oyelowo returns to undercover duty in a new one-off TV drama Complicit. Oyelowo plays Edward, an MI5 officer doggedly on the trail of a suspected terrorist he believes is plotting an atrocity in the UK. On the line from Los Angeles, David Oyelowo discusses the appeal of drama based on the secret service. While his translation of Brecht's A Life of Galileo opens at the RSC, playwright Mark Ravenhill is training for this year's London Marathon. Mark Lawson puts on his running shoes and joins Ravenhill at an early morning training session. While on the move, Ravenhill explains the parallels between acting and running, and why the Pope's surprise resignation is perfect timing for the production. And in the week when it was announced that the TV drama The Hour would not be returning for a third series, leaving Freddie's fate undecided, ex-EastEnders supremo and TV producer Mal Young discusses the thorny subject of unresolved cliffhangers. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson Rowan Atkinson takes on his most serious role yet as the eponymous hero of Simon Gray's play Quartermaine's Terms. Atkinson and director Richard Eyre discuss the challenges of such a quiet and sedentary part, and why audiences who turn up expecting to see Mr Bean quickly adapt to the tone of the play. Hilary Mantel was announced last night as the winner of the £30,000 Costa Book of the Year award for her novel Bring Up the Bodies. She discusses her golden year, having already won the Man Booker Prize for the same novel. Samuel West discusses his role as King George VI in Roger Michell's film Hyde Park on Hudson. Also starring Bill Murray as Franklin D Roosevelt, the film focuses on the weekend in 1939 when the King and Queen visited Roosevelt in an attempt to persuade America about the threat of World War II. Nicholas Hytner, director of the National Theatre, reveals his plans for the Theatre's 50th birthday celebrations, and hints at when he will end his tenure, which began in 2003. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. In Quentin Tarantino's latest film Django Unchained, starring Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio, a slave-turned-bounty hunter sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner. Jacqueline Springer reviews. Jonathan Lynn was the co-writer behind the British satirical sitcoms Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister in the 1980s. As a new series of Yes, Prime Minister returns to our screens with a new cast including David Haig as Jim Hacker and Henry Goodman as Sir Humphrey, Jonathan Lynn looks back over more than 30 years of the political satire. And as he celebrates his 60th birthday, the actor and comedian John Sessions discusses his wide-ranging film, TV and stage career. Sessions, also an impressionist, recalls reactions from his subjects and what he's learnt from over 30 years in show business. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson Comedian and actor Jack Whitehall was hardly off our screens in 2012 - playing a struggling newly-qualified teacher in self-penned sitcom Bad Education and as the über-posh JP in Channel 4's Fresh Meat. He explains how he destroyed his chances of playing Harry Potter and why it's his mum's fault he's obsessed with Robert Pattinson. Danish political TV drama Borgen - the second series of which starts this weekend - follows the attempts to form and maintain a coalition government by the female Prime Minister Birgitte Nyborg. Conservative Peer Michael Dobbs and Labour MP Gisela Stuart give their verdicts. Irish novelist Stuart Neville discusses his new historical thriller Ratlines, set in Ireland in the 1960s. When a German businessman is found murdered in a guest house, it transpires he is just one of a number of former Nazis granted asylum by the Irish government. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Kirsty Lang turns the spotlight on the backstage stars, some of the key individuals behind-the-scenes who play a key role in big events and major TV shows. The band from Strictly Come Dancing lurk at the back of the stage in the shadows as the brightly-lit action takes place on the dance floor in front of them. Band leader Dave Arch, bass player Trevor Barry and singers Haley Sanderson and Lance Ellington give us an insight into the view from the back, and what they can do when things don't quite go according to plan. Costume designer Caroline McCall is in charge of creating, sourcing, designing and hiring the wide selection of period dress for Julian Fellowes' ITV1 hit drama series Downton Abbey. She takes Kirsty round her main costume suppliers who provided the extensive high-end wardrobe for Shirley MacLaine in Series 3, and describes what it's like to see the script for the first time and find there's a big wedding, a jazz party and a trip to London, and filming starts in two weeks. And Patrick Woodroffe, lighting designer of choice for the Rolling Stones since 1982, has had a busy year lighting the Queen's Diamond Jubilee concert outside Buckingham Palace, the Stones' 50th anniversary tour, and not least the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics and Paralympics. He discusses the pleasures of creating a new show from scratch and the challenges that faced him when Danny Boyle described his vision for his opening ceremony - and why the big orange Olympic rings so nearly didn't light up. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Kirsty Lang. Writer William Boyd discusses the television adaptation of his novel, Restless, which stars Michael Gambon, Michelle Dockery and Charlotte Rampling. Ravi Shankar, who has died at the age of 92, took the sitar to a global audience, and was a huge influence on many musicians. Choreographer Akram Khan pays tribute. Dramatist Martin Crimp discusses his new play In the Republic of Happiness. It centres on a family Christmas interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Uncle Bob, who's not seen his relatives for a long time. Their world will never be the same again. The video gaming year is reviewed by writer Naomi Alderman. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Daniel Radcliffe and John Hamm star in A Young Doctor's Notebook, a new four-part TV comedy drama based on a collection of short stories by the celebrated Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov. Including graphic scenes, the series is partly based on the author's experiences as a young country doctor working at the dawn of the Russian Revolution in 1917. Leading neurosurgeon Henry Marsh reviews. Oliver Sacks' seminal 1985 book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat described some of the most intriguing case histories he encountered through his work in neurology. Sacks discusses his latest book Hallucinations, a collection of mind-altering episodes experienced by his patients and himself. The Danish director of Festen, Thomas Vinterberg, has returned to the controversial subject of child abuse for his latest film. The Hunt is the story of a primary school teacher who is accused of exposing himself to one of his pupils and is subsequently ostracized by his friends and community, even though there is no real proof of a crime. Briony Hanson delivers her verdict. And as Antony Gormley fills the entire space at the White Cube gallery in south London with his vast new sculpture Model, created from 100 tons of weathering sheet steel, Mark and art critic Rachel Campbell Johnston explore the large-scale artwork. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Actor John Goodman discusses his latest role in Argo, Ben Affleck's film about a high-risk cinematic solution to the Iranian hostage crisis in the late '70s, which is based on a true story. Secret State is a new TV adaptation of Chris Mullin's novel A Very British Coup. Gabriel Byrne stars as the Deputy Prime Minister thrown into the limelight when his boss disappears. Political journalist Andrew Rawnsley reviews the programme. Orhan Pamuk was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006, recognized for novels including Snow and My Name is Red. Silent House is his second novel and has just been translated into English for the first time. The Turkish writer reflects on what makes his writing political and why Silent House is oddly prophetic. As the Vatican newspaper gives its blessing to the new James Bond movie, Papal expert John Cornwell surveys the history of the Catholic Church's complex relationship with cinema. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Some of the most famous costumes in Hollywood history, including John Travolta's suit from Saturday Night Fever and Judy Garland's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, are on show in a major new exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Curator Deborah Nadoolman Landis and Deborah Scott, costume designer for Titanic and Avatar, discuss the collection. Three new rock documentaries are released this week, focusing on blues legend BB King, the rock group Status Quo, and the former frontman of Queen, Freddie Mercury. Music critics Rosie Swash and David Hepworth compare and contrast the films' styles and content. A vast bronze statue of a pregnant woman by the artist Damien Hirst now stands near the seafront in Ilfracombe, Devon. The 20-metre statue called Verity has been given to the seaside town by Hirst on a 20-year loan. Travis Elborough, writer of Wish You Were Here: England on Sea, went to take a look, and gives his verdict on the work, and its role in the town's life. During the 2008 election for the American Presidency, the media spotlight fell on Barack Obama's youngest half-brother, George Hussein Obama. Much was made of the difference in their lives, one running for the highest Office in the USA and the other living in poverty in Kenya. A new play based on George's life has just opened in Leicester. George Hussein Obama and the writer Kevin Fegan discuss the drama. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Tim Burton's new black-and-white animated film Frankenweenie tells the story of a young boy Victor, who harnesses the powers of science to bring his faithful pet dog Sparky back to life, with monstrous consequences. Critic Mark Eccleston reviews. David Walliams, the comedian and co-creator of Little Britain with Matt Lucas, has just published his memoir Camp David. The autobiography includes his TV work, his charity fundraising - including swimming the Channel and the Thames - and the difficulties he's faced coping with depression. He reflects on the experience of re-assessing his life for the page. Girls is the latest hit American show to come to British TV screens. It's written and directed by Lena Dunham, who also stars as Hannah, an aspiring writer living in Brooklyn whose parents decide they will no longer fund her income-free lifestyle. Like Sex and the City, Hannah is surrounded by friends who each embody a female archetype. Writer and comedian Viv Groskop gives her verdict. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Emma Watson returns to the big screen in a new film The Perks of Being a Wallflower, in which a young man falls for Sam (played by Watson) while under the protective eyes of two fellow students who take him under their wing. Rebecca Nicholson reviews. The 2012 Turner Prize exhibition opens tomorrow, featuring works by the four shortlisted artists. Spartacus Chetwynd, Luke Fowler, Paul Noble and Elizabeth Price are competing for the £25,000 award. Art critic Jackie Wullschlager gives her verdict. The production company behind Spooks and Ashes To Ashes now bring us Hunted, a TV drama series which focuses on a highly-skilled operative for an elite private intelligence firm. She has faced a threat to her life which might have been an inside job. Gabriel Tate reviews. And as Halifax-based theatre company Northern Broadsides celebrate their 20th anniversary, founder Barrie Rutter and company members reflect on their tradition of performing classic plays in northern voices in non-velvet spaces. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Kirsty Lang. The actor Rupert Everett is just about to publish a second memoir, Vanished Years, in which he describes what he sees as a precarious career in film and theatre since his early success in Another Country. He reflects on how Noel Coward inspired the book's title, and reveals his plan to direct a film about the last weeks of Oscar Wilde's life. 2012 Man Booker-shortlisted author Deborah Levy is also on the shortlist for this year's BBC International Short Story Award. She discusses her story Black Vodka, to be broadcast on Radio 4 tomorrow, read by Rory Kinnear. Swedish film-maker Fredrik Gertten fell foul of the fruit company Dole when he made his 2009 documentary Bananas!*, about a lawsuit filed against the company for using banned pesticides. Dole responded with a lawsuit against Gertten in an attempt to get him to withdraw the film. His new documentary Big Boys Go Bananas!* charts the David and Goliath battle between the independent film-maker and the fruit giant. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Director Ol Parker, who wrote the screenplay for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, discusses his new film Now Is Good, about a young woman - played by Dakota Fanning - who has terminal cancer and is compiling a list of the things she wants to do before she dies. Caryl Churchill's first play for six years, Love And Information, has 57 scenes and over 100 characters played by 16 actors. The novelist and critic Bidisha delivers her verdict. Ferdinand von Schirach, one of Germany's leading crime fiction writers, discusses his new novel The Collini Case, in which he explores the mark left on the Ministry of Justice by its Nazi part. He also reflects on the legacy of his grandfather's surname: Baldur von Schirach was the leader of the Hitler Youth. And as Radio 4 broadcasts the 10 short stories competing for the £15,000 BBC International Short Story Award, Front Row talks to each of the writers. Tonight South Korean-born writer Krys Lee reveals the background to her short story The Goose Father. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. As Donny Osmond prepares for a series of British concerts with his sister Marie, the 1970s teen star-turned middle-aged grandfather looks back over his career, including his adolescent years, sharing a stage with the Jackson Five, and his parents' role in the Osmonds phenomenon. Cecil Beaton was one of Britain's most celebrated photographers and designers, best known for documenting royalty and celebrity, but a new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in London explores a lesser-known side of his work. Cecil Beaton: Theatre of War follows Beaton on his travels during the Second World War as he explored the impact of war on people and places. Writer A N Wilson reviews. A new series of the long-running US TV soap Dallas returns tonight. Viewers last saw the Ewing family two decades ago, and now everyone is gathering at Southfork Ranch where old family rivalries are about to erupt. TV critic Chris Dunkley considers how the new model compares with the old, and Dallas rookie Larushka Ivan-Zadeh gives her initial response to the every day story of Texan oilfolk. Art of Change: New Directions from China is a new exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London which focuses on contemporary installation and performance art from China from the last two decades. Charlotte Mullins reviews. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With John Wilson, including an interview with singer Alfie Boe, as he publishes an autobiography My Story, about his rise from car mechanic in Blackpool to international opera, music and recording star. ITV1's new murder mystery drama, The Bletchley Circle, stars Anna Maxwell Martin and Rachael Stirling. Set in 1951, the series follows four highly intelligent women who were code-breakers at Bletchley Park during WWII. Having returned to civilian life, the four women reunite to use the skills they acquired during the war to crack a murder case. Natalie Haynes reviews. As Cameron Carpenter prepares for two afternoon Proms taking place this weekend, John met the flamboyant and unconventional organist while he rehearsed late into the night on the Royal Albert Hall's Grand Organ. Subjects up for discussion included Cameron's special organ shoes, why size doesn't matter, and how the launch of his digital organ looks set to rock the organ world. And film critic Jason Solomons reports from the Venice Film Festival, which got underway this week. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With John Wilson. Tony Gilroy wrote the original Bourne trilogy of films starring Matt Damon and has written and directed the latest, The Bourne Legacy, following the departure of director Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon. Gilroy, who wrote and directed the George Clooney film Michael Clayton, discusses the latest re-incarnation of the spy franchise, and the challenge of creating a Bourne sequel without the central character whose name appears in the title. Jackpot, a crime caper based on a story by bestselling Norwegian author Jo Nesbo, is the latest slice of Nordic noir to arrive in our cinemas. Kim Newman reviews. 7,500 volunteers performed in the Olympic opening ceremony, 1700 volunteers are involved in this year's production of the York Mystery plays, and for the National Theatre of Wales's new production of Coriolanus, 450 audience members walk around with the actors, playing an active part in 'the crowd scenes'. John finds out why theatre is increasingly expecting audiences to get up and join in, talking to theatre directors Damien Cruden and Mike Pearson, and the critic Natalie Haynes. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Kirsty Lang, Brave is the latest animated film from Pixar and features the voices of Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly and Julie Walters. Set in the Scottish highlands in the 10th century, the film tells the story of a Princess who defies her family's expectations by refusing an arranged marriage. Writer Denise Mina reviews. Brave and another major film The Bourne Legacy are set to be released next Monday, five days before the traditional Friday opening, Front Row discusses the possible impact upon the industry with historian Ian Christie, cinema owner Kevin Markwick and critic Nigel Floyd. Scottish-born musician and lead singer of The Waterboys discusses his new memoir Adventures of a Waterboy. The autobiography takes him from his early years as a struggling musician in Ayr to Ireland, New York, Dublin, and the Findhorn spiritual community in northern Scotland. 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. And as Lily Allen and Snoop Dogg announce they've decided it's time for a name-change, Danny Robins considers the ramifications for those who've chosen a nomenclature makeover in the past. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Kirsty Lang. American musician and performer Ice-T has directed a cinema documentary Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap in which he talks to leading performers including Snoop Dogg, Dr Dre and Eminem about the culture of hip-hop. Ice-T discusses the origins of the music, and its continuing influence. Tom Hanks, Jerry Seinfeld and Larry King are just three high-profile entertainers who have launched new online film and video projects. Boyd Hilton considers the growing phenomenon of big stars creating productions solely for the internet. On the eve of her retirement Monica Mason, director of The Royal Ballet Company, reflects on her 54 years with the company which she joined as a 16 year old dancer in 1958. She recalls working with stars such as Margot Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev, becoming a muse to the choreographer Kenneth MacMillan, and why, as a young dancer, she was terrified of Royal Ballet founder Ninette de Valois. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. The Dark Knight Rises is the third of director Christopher Nolan's Batman films. Christian Bale stars as Bruce Wayne, with Tom Hardy as an evil terrorist, and Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. Writer Naomi Alderman reviews. The first phase of Tate Modern's extension programme is unveiled this week with the opening of The Tanks, two enormous chambers in former oil tanks, which will show art in live form - performance, installations and film. Mark meets architect Jacques Herzog and artist Sung Hwan Kim. Director Asif Kapadia, whose motor-racing documentary Senna won considerable acclaim, discusses his film Odyssey, a portrait of London since it won the bid to host the Olympic games. Starting on 6 July 2005, the film shows the euphoria of winning the bid, the devastation of the 7/7 terrorist attacks, the impact of the credit crunch and the 2011 riots. Birger Larsen, the director behind the Danish crime series The Killing, reveals that the now-famous jumper worn by the show's main character Sarah Lund was an after-thought - and that the original costume paid tribute to a big-screen gunslinger. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Julian Barnes reviews The Players (Les Infidèles), the new film by Jean Dujardin, the writer and lead actor of Oscar-winning movie The Artist. The film is a series of vignettes by different directors on the theme of infidelity, starring Jean Dujardin and Gilles Lellouche. Designing 007: Fifty Years of Bond Style is a new exhibition which charts the design and fashions of the James Bond films, half a century after Thunderball arrived in our cinemas. The golden gun, the flick-knife shoes, costumes, vehicles and set design are all on display. Writer Anthony Horowitz reviews. Writer and actor Ray Cooney pays tribute to Eric Sykes, whose death at the age of 89 was announced today. Nick Hewer, who found fame alongside Lord Sugar on The Apprentice, now moves onto agriculture. In The Farm Fixer he applies 40 years of business experience to aid struggling farms, starting close to his roots in Northern Ireland. He reflects on his TV career so far. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. In the new three-part TV thriller Blackout, Christopher Eccleston plays a disillusioned, heavy-drinking local politician, who is dealing with the consequences of an alcohol-fuelled fight. Author and former MP Chris Mullin reviews. The new stage version of Chariots of Fire has just transferred to the West End, with the actors put through their paces on a running track which extends five rows out into the stalls. Mark puts on his running shoes and tries out the track for himself, alongside the set designer Miriam Buether. A new film Ping Pong follows a group of eight pensioners from different corners of the globe as they compete in the over-80s category of the World Table Tennis Championships in Inner Mongolia. Three-time Commonwealth table tennis champion and two-time Olympian Matthew Syed reviews. Photographer Stuart Roy Clarke has spent 20 years with his focus on football, taking over 100,000 photographs at more than 4000 matches around the world. As an exhibition of his work opens at the new National Football Museum in Manchester, Clarke discusses his work with the Rochdale manager John Coleman. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. On the eve of her 80th birthday, Prunella Scales discusses acting roles from Basil Fawlty's wife Sybil in the British comedy Fawlty Towers, to Queen Elizabeth II in the British film A Question of Attribution, and reveals secrets of family life with fellow thespians husband Timothy West and elder son Samuel West. Steve Coogan returns to TV in a one hour special, Alan Partridge: Welcome to The Places of my Life, and his occasional writing partner Armando Iannucci launches Veep, a new TV political sitcom about a woman senator - played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus from Seinfeld - who unexpectedly becomes vice-president (Veep) of the United States. Both are reviewed by Boyd Hilton. Artist Jenny Saville became known in the mid-1990s for monumental and distorted paintings of nude women - after Charles Saatchi bought up her entire post-graduate show. Saville discusses about her first ever solo exhibition in a UK public gallery, which opens at Modern Art Oxford this week and includes works inspired by Leonardo da Vinci. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Julie Walters returns to the stage playing an old hippie, in The Last of the Haussmans, a debut play by Stephen Beresford. The play also stars Helen McCrory and Rory Kinnear as Judy's grown-up children and the victims of a rackety 60s upbringing. Valerie Grove reviews. A new exhibition at the Science Museum celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Alan Turing, the wartime codebreaker and pioneering computer scientist. Actor Ed Stoppard, who played Turing in a recent TV docudrama, reviews. Actor Adrian Lester, star of hustle on BBC One, discusses his career and takes questions from a group of young would-be actors in a session recorded in Hackney at the Radio 1 Academy. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. The artist Tom Phillips is celebrating his 75th birthday today. To mark this, his classic book A Humument is being reprinted which he first embarked on in 1966, and there is a new exhibition of his recent and early art works. Phillips discusses his constantly-evolving book, and his long-term artistic projects, including The Seven Ages of Man, which takes the form of a series of tennis balls covered in the artist's own hair. The last episode of the award-winning medical drama House is being broadcast tonight. As Hugh Laurie says goodbye to his maverick role, the writers are playing with viewer expectations by titling the finale 'Everybody Dies'. Writers Sam Vincent, Stephen Churchett and Matthew Graham, who were behind the final episodes of Spooks, Inspector Morse, Ashes to Ashes and Life on Mars, discuss the challenges of wrapping up a hit series. On the day Arnold Wesker celebrates his 80th birthday, young playwrights Ryan Craig and Amy Rosenthal discuss the influence of Wesker's plays on their own work and whether he has changed the course of British theatre. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Kirsty Lang. Wes Anderson's new film Moonrise Kingdom is set in New England in the summer of 1965. Two 12 year olds fall in love and run away together into the wilderness, with a local search party out to find them. Natalie Haynes reviews the film which stars Bill Murray, Ed Norton, Tilda Swinton and Frances McDormand. Joanne Harris discusses her new novel Peaches for Monsieur le Curé, which returns to the fictional French village of Lansquenet, first seen in her her best-seller Chocolat, which was also adapted into a feature film. Richard Wilson, the installation artist, is best known for the work 20:50 - a room half-filled with highly-reflective sump oil. He reveals details of Slipstream, his new sculpture for the 2014 opening of the new Heathrow Terminal 2. Over 70 metres long and weighing 77 tons, the aluminium work will describe the shape carved through space by a stunt plane. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Hilary Mantel discusses her novel Bring Up The Bodies, a sequel to her Booker Prize-winner Wolf Hall. It focuses on the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn and, like Wolf Hall, the story is told from the point of view of Henry VIII's minister Thomas Cromwell. Mantel reflects on the art of writing historical fiction. Tim Burton's latest film Dark Shadows stars Johnny Depp as a 200 year old vampire, who finds himself in the 1970s. Burton explains how he was inspired by a 1960s gothic soap opera. 56 Up is the latest instalment of the landmark TV documentary series which has returned every seven years to focus on a group of people from varying social backgrounds who were first filmed at the age of seven. The new series revisits all but one of the original group. Rachel Cooke and Chris Dunkley review. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Michael Frayn discusses his new novel Skios, a story of mislaid identity, confusion and miscalculated consequences set on a Greek island. And in the light of an acclaimed new revival of his stage farce Noises Off, he also reflects on the hits and misses of his theatrical career. David Hare's latest play South Downs was commissioned by Chichester Festival Theatre as a companion piece to Terence Rattigan's one act play The Browning Version. Anna Chancellor takes a leading role in the two plays, which are both set in minor public schools half a century ago. Kathryn Hughes reviews. The Nobel Prize-winning Caribbean poet Derek Walcott is in the UK to direct a professional production of his 1978 play Pantomime. He considers his approach to the stage and to poetry, and why he chose this particular play for revival. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With John Wilson. Last year on Front Row poetry publisher William Sieghart announced that a line from Alfred Tennyson's Ulysses would be displayed prominently on a wall in the London Olympic Village. Now the wall, which is part of the Winning Words poetry project, has been finished. John visits the Olympic Park with William Sieghart and artistic commissioner Sarah Weir as they see the completed wall for the first time. On Shakespeare's birthday, Front Row focuses on his sonnets. Now in its second year, tonight's World Book Night sees 2.5 million books given away as part of an international initiative to encourage people to make reading a part of their lives, including prisons, hospitals and homeless shelters. Each of the books in the UK will include a Shakespeare sonnet, selected by poet Don Paterson. He and writer Meg Rosoff discuss how the sonnets fit with the chosen titles. Playwright Mark Ravenhill reads his new sonnet, commissioned by the RSC, to celebrate Shakespeare's birthday and the official opening of the World Shakespeare festival. He also discusses the challenges of writing it. Naomi Alderman reviews the week's big multiplex release, Marvel Avengers Assemble, starring Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson and Mark Ruffalo. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

John Wilson talks to four leading photographers of the same generation whose careers began in the 1960s and whose images have become classics of their time, from the pages of Vogue magazine to the Vietnam war, and the death of Bobby Kennedy. David Bailey, Don McCullin, Terry O'Neill and Harry Benson discuss their approach to their new craft at a time when magazines and newspapers were beginning to change the way they used images, and offer tips on how to take the perfect photograph. David Bailey discusses his approach to getting the best out of his fashion models in the studio, Terry O'Neill reflects on the changing role of photography and the arrival of the culture of celebrity; Don McCullin revisits the Vietnam war and its lasting effect on him as a photographer, and Harry Benson remembers the night he was standing next to presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy when he was shot, and describes the challenge of getting his images of the dying senator. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With John Wilson, New Orleans-born singer, songwriter and pianist Dr John reflects on the role of magic in his career, and discusses his new album Locked Down, produced by Dan Auerbach from the band The Black Keys. Janet Street Porter reviews a new exhibition British Design 1948-2012: Innovation in the Modern Age at the V&A in London, which celebrates the best of British post-war art and design from the 1948 'Austerity Games' to the summer of 2012. Over 300 objects highlight significant moments in the history of British design, arguing that the country continues to nurture artistic talent and be a world leader in creativity and design. Tim Lott's new novel Under The Same Stars draws on the writer's own experience of sibling rivalry, with one 40-year-old man trying to come to terms with his troubled relationship with his older brother. Tim Lott candidly discusses the personal issues at the heart of the book, and the emotionally challenging Texas road trip he took with his brother by way of research. With theatre increasingly experimenting with new ways of providing the live stage experience via the internet, cinema screenings and other digital media, Andrew Dickson considers the merits and disadvantages of watching stage performances on screens large and small. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Brendan O'Carroll, the creator and star of the comedy Mrs Brown's Boys, reflects on the genesis of his raucous alter-ego Agnes Brown and her loving but dysfunctional family. Conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner first made his name with interpretations of baroque music on period instruments, but this week he tackles Verdi's Rigoletto for the very first time. He discusses his approach to performing it at the Royal Opera House. A major retrospective of the Turner Prize-winning artist Gillian Wearing is about to open at the Whitechapel Gallery in London, featuring her films and photographs which explore public faces and private lives. The exhibition includes her 1992 series of images in which people were offered paper and pen to communicate their message or thoughts. Sarah Crompton reviews. Producer Jerome Weatherald

With Mark Lawson. Christina Ricci discusses her role in Bel Ami, a film based on Maupassant's novel about a young man's scheming rise to power in Paris, through his relationships with influential women. Ricci reflects on how she first read the book as a teenager, her transition from child to adult star and how she combines films with TV roles such as Maggie in Pam Am. Make Bradford British is a two-part documentary series which aims to see if people of different racial, religious and cultural backgrounds can live happily together. Eight people from Bradford, who all failed a citizenship test, are asked share a house in a microcosm of a multicultural society. Gabriel Tate reviews. The Trinidad-born actor and playwright Errol John died in 1988, and is largely overlooked, but next week his play Moon on a Rainbow Shawl receives a new National Theatre production. Written in 1953, the play focuses on soldiers returning to Trinidad after the second world war. Writer Kwame Kwei-Armah, director Michael Buffong and actress Jacqueline Chan, who worked with Errol John, re-assess John's life and career. Radio 4 is inviting you to nominate New Elizabethans - people who have made an impact on the UK from 1952 to today. This week Front Row is asking writers and artists for their suggestions, and tonight Wallace & Gromit creator Nick Park suggests not only a man in an ill-fitting suit who's big in Albania, but also a mischievous boy with a naughty dog. Producer: Jerome Weatherald.

In the new film This Means War, Tom Hardy and Chris Pine play two CIA agents waging an epic battle against each other when they find they are dating the same woman, played by Reese Witherspoon. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews. Radio 4 is inviting you to nominate New Elizabethans - people who have made an impact on the UK from 1952 to today. This week Front Row is asking writers and artists for their suggestions, and tonight novelist Ian Rankin nominates a pioneering English singer and songwriter who had a habit of reinventing himself. The award-winning screen-writer Paula Milne talks about her new six-part TV drama White Heat, starring Juliet Stevenson and Lindsay Duncan. The series charts the lives of seven characters who share a student flat in 1960's London and follows their interwoven lives up to the present. Shalom Auslander's novel, Hope: A Tragedy, is a satirical exploration of what it would mean to find an elderly Anne Frank living in one's attic. The novel examines the burden of history and remembrance for the Jewish community. Shalom Auslander discusses why he wasn't afraid of portraying a revered historical figure. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With John Wilson. Bestselling author Walter Mosley discusses his novel All I Did Was Shoot My Man, which continues his thriller series featuring New York City Private Investigator Leonid McGill. In this latest installment McGill is trying to help a woman he put in prison. TV documentary-maker Phil Agland revisits the Baka tribe of Cameroon, West Africa, 25 years after he first filmed them in their isolated home in the jungle. He discusses his shock at what he found on his return, which he documents in his film Baka: A Cry From The Rainforest Rory Gallagher has been described as Ireland's first rock star. This year marks the 40th anniversary of his solo career which began with the release of his first album in 1971. Rock critic Neil McCormick explains why Gallagher was inspirational to his generation. And, following Hugo and The Artist, the latest cinema release with a canine star is Red Dog, an Australian film based on Louis de Bernieres's novel about the legendary true story of the red dog who united a disparate local community while roaming the Australian outback in search of his long-lost master. Natalie Haynes reviews. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Novelist A S Byatt discusses a new exhibition Picasso and Modern British Art at Tate Britain, which examines Picasso's relationship with the country and how British artists including Francis Bacon, David Hockney and Henry Moore have responded to his work. As a child, Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo sang for the Sistine Chapel choir, before making his debut at La Scala in Milan at the age of 23. Grigolo explains why he likes to cross over from classical to pop, from Keane's Bed-Shaped to La Donna E Mobile, and why he never talks to his wife before a concert. Kate Saunders reviews a new French film Hadewijch, about a young Christian fanatic who befriends a group of Muslims and finds herself being led down paths which put her life in danger. And with David Guetta's single Titanium doing well in the charts, David Quantick considers how chemical elements and the periodic table have inspired a variety of songwriters. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Mark Lawson and Emily Bell preview the hit US television series Homeland, a political thriller which stars Claire Danes and Damian Lewis. The 81 year old Syrian poet Adonis is one of the Arabic-speaking world's most celebrated writers and one of the most provocative. He regularly crops up on the shortlists of major literary prizes and as a tribute to him opens in London he talks to Mark Lawson about about his long literary career. Restoration comedy is a distinctive style of British theatre. As a new production of William Congreve's famous play of money and morals opens, cast members Deborah Findlay, Ben Lloyd-Hughes, and Leo Bill talk about the art behind this 17th century dramatic form And with the news that composer Paul Mealor is on a quest to find a singer who can sing a note so low that it is thought never to have been sung before for his new work, bass baritone Stephen Richardson discusses the challenge of hitting those deep 'money' notes, from Purcell to Tavener. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Charlize Theron plays a writer of teen literature who returns to her small hometown to reclaim her happily married high school sweetheart, in her new film Young Adult. But things don't go according to plan. The film is directed by Jason Reitman, who also brought us Juno and Up in the Air. Ryan Gilbey reviews. The Orange Prize-winning novelist Kate Grenville discusses her novel Sarah Thornhill in which she returns to early Australia and the story of the Thornhill family, whose story she told in her novel The Secret River. The Singing Detective, the TV drama series written by Dennis Potter and starring Michael Gambon, returns to our screens 26 years after it was first shown. Chris Dunkley and Rebecca Nicholson re-assess this TV classic. And writer Joanne Harris visits a new exhibition in Sheffield with a focus on the family, with artists ranging from William Hogarth to Rachel Whiteread. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Novelist William Boyd gives his response to a major new exhibition of landscape paintings by David Hockney, and also re-assesses the film A Bigger Splash, made in the early 1970s, which focuses on Hockney and his circle of friends at the time. In Steven Soderbergh's new film Haywire a black ops soldier seeks payback after she is betrayed and set up during a mission. Gaylene Gould reviews the film, whose cast includes Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor and Michael Fassbender . Carolina Chocolate Drops are an African-American string band, using the fiddle, banjo and jug to revive often-overlooked folk music from the Piedmont region of the American south. They discuss how they rediscover old tunes, and their approach to tradition. And in a new comic film The Sitter, Jonah Hill plays a student who is coaxed into babysitting the kids next door. Film critic Mark Eccleston considers what movies tell us about choosing the right babysitter, from Three Men and a Baby to Halloween. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Actor Michael Fassbender is hotly-tipped for Oscar nominations this year, which will be welcome reward for shooting six films in the last 20 months, three of which are about to open: Shame, directed by Steve McQueen - his former collaborator on the Irish hunger-strike film Hunger - Haywire with Steven Soderbergh, and A Dangerous Method with David Cronenberg. Fassbender discusses the challenges of the quick succession of demanding roles. Cellist Julian Lloyd Webber and violinist Tasmin Little discuss the music and reputation of the composer Frederick Delius as the 150th anniversary of his birth approaches. In the new TV drama series Eternal Law, the daily life of a York law firm is mixed with the magic of angels. Samuel West and Ukweli Roach star as Zak and Tom, angels working as lawyers, with strict instructions to help humans without getting emotionally involved. Matt Thorne reviews. How do you follow up a smash hit? In the second of this week's series, One Man, Two Guvnors writer Richard Bean and National Theatre Director Nicholas Hytner discuss what's next after the James Corden comedy became one of the theatre successes of 2011. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

John Wilson talks to singers Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Jack Jones and Bruce Forsyth, whose careers began before rock and roll, and whose combined performing experience totals over 200 years. They reflect on the art of 'intimate singing', their inspirations, and the art of sustaining a career in a business which has changed radically over seven decades. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Former Monty Python star Terry Jones has now written 26 books. His latest, Evil Machines, is a collection of 13 short stories which explore what happens when everyday objects take on a life of their own. He discusses the inspiration for the book, life as a Python and his relationship with the group now. The young lives of James Herriot and Inspector Morse will soon arrive on our TV screens. Glasgow in the 1930s is the setting for the adventures of James Herriot as an idealistic student vet; and Endeavour turns the clock back to 1965, when the young Morse is in Oxford to hunt for a missing schoolgirl. Rebecca Nicholson and Chris Dunkley assess the new portrayals of two much-loved TV characters. And conductor Jeremy Summerly gives an illustrated guide at the keyboard to those underrated Christmas carols which deserve to be better known. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

The Heart of Robin Hood is the new family show at the RSC. But it's the Robin Hood story with a twist. The production is directed by Gisli Örn Gardarsson, who has a reputation for challenging staging. Andrew Dickson reviews. Novelists Joanna Trollope and Tracy Chevalier discuss how a selection of Tudor portraits of unknown people at the National Portrait Gallery in London inspired them to invent fictional biographies for the mystery portrait sitters. Professional double-bass player Andy Wood and percussion instrument maker Paul Jefferies discuss making music out of scrap, and perform with instruments including a boiler double bass and tea urn snare drum. The challenge, to be shown in a BBC4 documentary, was to build a Scrapheap Orchestra in 11 weeks and perform Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture at the 2011 Proms. And John Wilson concludes his reports on the Turner-Prize-shortlisted artists when he meets painter George Shaw, whose landscapes feature the area of Coventry where he grew up. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Lenny Henry was acclaimed when he made his stage debut as Othello, and now he returns to Shakespeare as Antipholus of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors, in a new production at the National Theatre. Rachel Cooke reviews. Comedy performer and actor Rob Brydon reflects on his career so far, including his first appearance in a play, starring alongside Kenneth Branagh in Belfast earlier this year. He also recalls an awkward encounter with Harold Pinter. Charlie Brooker's latest project is Black Mirror, described as a dark trilogy of twisted tales about the power of technology in the 21st century. In the first episode of the TV drama, The National Anthem, written by Brooker, the Prime Minister finds himself forced to consider how far he would go for his country. Matt Thorne gives his verdict. And John Wilson talks to the artist Martin Boyce in his latest report on Turner Prize nominees. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Joanna Lumley and Robert Lindsay star in Trevor Nunn's new production of The Lion in Winter, taking the roles made famous by Katharine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole in the 1968 film, the tale of a dysfunctional family Christmas with the Plantaganets. Kathryn Hughes reviews. America Ferrera, the star of TV show Ugly Betty, discusses making her British stage debut as the alluring publicity-seeker Roxy Hart in the musical Chicago. She also reflects on her famous TV role, and how she prepared for it. Welsh composer Paul Mealor received an unexpected boost to his career when his choral piece Ubi Caritas was chosen to be performed at the Royal Wedding earlier this year. He discusses how Ubi Caritas started life as a secular rather than a sacred piece, and why he wasn't in Westminster Abbey on day itself, despite receiving a much-coveted invitation. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Playwright and film director Neil LaBute discusses his new play Reasons to be Pretty, starring Billie Piper, which asks if conventional beauty can be a curse. Writer Ian Rankin reviews two new TV shows which focus on undercover operators: Confessions of an Undercover Cop, and Double Agent: The Eddie Chapman Story. In his new film Justice, Nicolas Cage plays a man who enlists the services of a vigilante group to settle the score after his wife is assaulted. Dreda Say Mitchell reviews. Although the sales of vinyl records are rising again, the days when every high street boasted a shop filled with LPs and singles are long gone. David Hepworth recalls the vanishing pleasures offered by record shops. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. At the age of 91, P D James has published a new crime novel, which is a sequel to Pride and Prejudice. Death Comes To Pemberley is set in Mr Darcy's ancestral home, where he and Elizabeth Bennet are living in marital bliss, which is suddenly ruptured by a brutal murder on the estate. P D James discusses her passion for Jane Austen and the challenge of living up to the great writer. Collaborators is a new play by John Hodge, whose film scripts include Trainspotting and Shallow Grave. It's set in Moscow in 1938, where writer Mikhail Bulgakov, played by Alex Jennings, accepts a tricky commission: to write a play celebrating the 60th birthday of Stalin, played by Simon Russell Beale. Michael Berkeley reviews. Cellist Steven Isserlis believes that the cello is closest of all instruments to the human voice, and his forthcoming concerts at the Wigmore Hall in London investigate the repertoire for voice and strings. Tenor Mark Padmore joins Steven Isserlis to discuss the tensions between singer and player in attempting to create the perfect balance of voice and music. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Kirsty Lang meets Italian intellectual and novelist Umberto Eco, now nearly 80, at his home in Milan. The writer looks back at the surprise success of his first novel The Name of the Rose, published when he was 48, which has sold 50 million copies. Following successes with subsequent novels including Foucault's Pendulum and Baudolino, Umberto Eco's sixth novel is published in the UK next week. The Prague Cemetery is a controversial novel set in 19th Century Europe, which focuses on the birth of modern-day anti-semitism. The book has already sold one million copies and abounds with conspiracy theories, forgery and deceit. In a rare interview Umberto Eco, a professor in semiotics, reflects on his fascination for language and the way it is used to deceive, which lies at the heart of much of his writing. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. In the new film Contagion, an untreatable deadly virus is threatening the world's population. Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon and Jude Law head the cast, directed by Steven Soderbergh. Matt Thorne reviews. As the hit play Jerusalem returns to the London stage after great success on Broadway, Mark Rylance discusses the role that won him his second Best Actor Tony Award. He describes the subtle changes made to the very English play for the benefit of American audiences and why after more than 250 appearances as Johnny Byron, he still looks forward to every performance. Sir Terry Pratchett reflects on his career as he publishes Snuff, his 50th book and part of the bestselling Discworld series, which began in 1983. He reveals the inspiration behind his latest novel, which centres on a policeman investigating a brutal murder, and discusses the impact of living with Alzheimer's since his diagnosis in 2007. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones star in a new stage production of Driving Miss Daisy, the Pulitzer prize-winning play which inspired an Oscar-winning film. Peter Kemp reports from the opening night. Des O'Connor has worked as an entertainer for over 45 years, including over 1000 appearances on the London Palladium stage. Now - at the age of 79 - he is making his debut in a West End musical, in Dreamboats and Petticoats. He reflects on his career, including the jokes made by Morecambe and Wise. Frank Cottrell Boyce has written sequels to Ian Fleming's children's adventure Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, with the blessing of the Fleming Estate. He discusses the challenges of continuing a children's classic. The Swedish poet Tomas Transtroemer has won the 2011 Nobel Prize for Literature. Writer Anders Roslund reflects on how the news has been received in Sweden. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Actor and director Kenneth Branagh returns to the stage in his native Belfast this week in Sean Foley's adaptation of the French farce The Painkillers, alongside Rob Brydon. In this Front Row special, Kenneth Branagh reflects on returning to Belfast, and looks back over his extensive career on stage, film and TV, which has featured Shakespeare, Chekhov, John Osborne, Hollywood movies and the role of the weary police inspector in the British TV adaptation of Henning Mankell's best-selling Wallander crime novels. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson. Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton and Nick Nolte star in Warrior, a new film in which two brothers take each other on in a brutal competition of Mixed Martial Arts fighting. BBC sports correspondent Eleanor Oldroyd reviews. Frank Oz worked on Sesame Street before creating his own animation series The Muppet Show, providing the voice for Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear. He moved on to voice Yoda in Star Wars. As he puts the finishing touches to directing Saul Rubinek's stage play Terrible Advice, Frank Oz looks back over his varied career. Tenor Ian Bostridge talks about his new book A Singer's Notebook - a collection of diary entries, essays and reviews written about the world of classical music, where he has spent two decades working with many leading conductors and specialising in music by Britten, Janacek, Schubert and Weill. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Rupert Goold's Headlong Theatre Company, the people who created Enron, have devised Decade - an immersive theatrical experience reflecting on the legacy of 9/11 ten years on. The site-specific production takes place in an old trading hall at St Katherine's Dock in London and is written by a team of authors including Abi Morgan, Alecky Blythe and Mike Bartlett. Jonathan Freedland reviews. Sue MacGregor, chair of the judges for this year's BBC National Short Story Award, announces the shortlisted writers live on Front Row tonight. Following the announcement, Kirsty Lang will interview the first of the successful authors, with the other four writers being interviewed on Front Row next week. The winner of the £15,000 award will be announced live on Front Row on Monday 26 September. Singer-songwriter Mara Carlyle has had an eventful musical career. After being dropped by her record company, her independently-released latest album Floreat, seven years after her critically acclaimed debut, was destroyed in a warehouse fire during the recent riots. Mara explains the numerous re-namings of her album as bad luck kept striking and how her fortunes changed thanks to a furniture company. Producer Jerome Weatherald.