Front Row

John Simm stars in new ITV drama Strangers as a man who has to fly to Hong Kong to identify his wife's body, only to discover she has a secret other life. We talk to the actor about filming the thriller in Hong Kong and why he's so often cast as an everyman figure. In Moby Dick, Captain Ahab vows vengeance against the white whale which took his leg and chases him around the globe. In his new book for young adults, And the Ocean was Our Sky, the award-winning novelist Patrick Ness inverts this. Bathsheba is an apprentice in a pod of whales who hunt humans and her captain is determined to track down a legendary white whaling ship and destroy Toby Wick. Patrick Ness tells Stig Abell about his motivation to write his story and what this interesting reversal allows him to explore.For our Inspire season we commissioned three artists to make a piece of work for us, we catch up with rapper and playwright Testament to see how he's getting on. Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Hannah Robins.

After a devastating fire at the newly-opened Alexandra Palace in London in 1873, a new building was designed and built which included an elaborate and elegant theatre, and the opening concert was of the early Gilbert & Sullivan operetta, Trial by Jury. The theatre hasn't been used as a performance space for 80 years, but tomorrow the BBC Proms will be broadcast live from the newly-restored space in all its faded grandeur, featuring the very same operetta. Alexandra Palace's Emma Dagnes and conductor Jane Glover discuss the challenge and the thrill of bringing music back to this forgotten venue.Jason Solomons is at the Venice Film Festival as the latest remake of A Star is Born with Lady Gaga premieres. He'll have all the news of much-anticipated films and performances including Olivia Colman in The Favourite, already getting Oscar buzz.Continuing Front Row's Inspire season we ask novelists Joanne Harris and Natalie Haynes what is it about myths and legends from across the world that provide such an enduri

Television drama Mother's Day charts the aftermath of the 1993 Warrington bombing, telling the stories of Colin and Wendy Parry (played by Anna Maxwell Martin and Daniel Mays), the parents of Tim Parry, one of two young boys who died in the attack, and Dublin housewife Sue McHugh (Vicky McClure). The BAFTA award-winning writer Nick Leather, who grew up in Warrington and who was a teenager on his way into town when the bombs exploded, discusses his drama.Natasha Carthew is a working-class writer from Cornwall who this year published All Rivers Run Free, her first novel for adults. Doing the rounds of the literary festivals Carthew was struck by how few featured working-class writers, telling working-class stories. As a result, she set up a Working Class Literary Festival which she discusses with Samira.As part of the Front Row Inspire season, presenters are trying their hand at an art form they've always had a passion for, and today Samira meets a group of comic-book writers and graphic novelists to show her t

Idris Elba is a man of many parts - actor, DJ, kick-boxer and now film director. He discusses his first feature, Yardie, based on the hit novel of the same name, by Victor Headley which, in 1992, told the tales of "D", a Jamaican in London engaged in the super-violent drugs trade of the 1970s. The former Raleigh Cycle Company headquarters in Nottingham recently became the 400,000th listed building in England. Deborah Mays, Head of Listing Advice at Historic England, writer and architect Douglas Murphy, and Dr Anton Lang, Chartered Town Planner, discuss whether we have too many listed buildings in the UK.For the Front Row Inspire season, each of the presenters has taken on a creative challenge to try something new, and Stig elected to write a sonnet for his new-born daughter Phoebe. He visits the Walthamstow Forest Poets, one of over 85 'Stanza' poetry meetups around the UK run by volunteers from The Poetry Society. Stig reads his sonnet, gets some advice on it and finds out where the poets in the group get th

Andrew Miller, who won the Costa Book of the Year Award for his novel Pure, discusses his new book Now We Shall Be Entirely Free, an adventure story set during the Napoleonic wars.We consider how the idea of the artist's muse has changed over time, and ask what makes a modern muse? With art critic Louisa Buck, novelist and critic Matt Thorne and Andrew Miller.As the latest TV adaptation of William Thackeray's Vanity Fair hits our screens this weekend, Emma Bullimore reports from the set, where she speaks to Olivia Cooke, who stars as Becky Sharp, the consummate and shameless social climber, as well as screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes and Michael Palin, who plays the narrator Thackeray.Neil Simon, the pioneering playwright who set a new tone in theatrical comedy with such shows as The Odd Couple and captured the spirit of the middle-class American family with plays like Lost in Yonkers, has died. Critic Michael Carlson pays tribute. Presenter : Samira Ahmed Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

Poet and broadcaster Ian McMillan takes us on a guided tour of Darfield churchyard near Barnsley, as part of Front Row's Inspire season.Patrick Gale, who wrote last year's TV drama Man In An Orange Shirt, discusses his new novel Take Nothing With You, a coming-of-age story as a young boy obsessed with the cello realises how messy adult life can be.Are internet horror movies becoming a new genre? In the wake of the recent release of several films using it as inspiration and a plot device, including Slender Man and the forthcoming Searching, horror podcaster Mike Muncer and technology lecturer Dr Kate Devlin discuss. TV reviewer Caroline Preece reacts to the announcement that US comedy series The Big Bang Theory will be coming to an end next year after nearly 300 episodes, and the differing responses the news has received from both critics and the public.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Jerome Weatherald.

Monday sees the performance of a ‘Relaxed Prom’ at the Royal Albert Hall, offering an informal environment for children, young people and adults with autism, sensory and communication impairments, learning disabilities and other challenges. The Prom will feature the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and its ensemble BSO Resound, comprising six disabled musicians led by conductor James Rose who has cerebral palsy. James Rose and violin and viola player Siobhan Clough discuss the practicalities of conducting and performing ahead of their first major UK performance. The shortlist for this year’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards has been announced. Journalist Stephen Armstrong is the chair of the judging panel and joins Kirsty to discuss the selection and the main themes explored by comedians at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. The winner will be announced on Saturday 25 August.What happens in the brain when we are inspired? Professor of Neuroscience Paul Howard–Jones explains, as part of our Inspire season.Novelist and nature

Jed Mercurio's new drama Bodyguard follows Richard Madden as a troubled war veteran assigned as protection officer to the Home Secretary played by Keeley Hawes. TV critic Alison Graham reviews this latest offering from the writer of police thriller Line of Duty.As a One Direction themed fanfiction is now being turned into a feature film; we ask if fanfiction has finally gone mainstream with books journalist Sarah Shaffi and fanfiction writer and novelist RJ Anderson. The Lovely Bones is a bestselling novel by Alice Sebold about a young girl who is brutally murdered and looks down on her grieving family from heaven. Playwright Bryony Lavery discusses turning this well loved book into a theatre piece.For our Inspire season we commissioned three artists to make a piece of work. Tonight we catch up with crime novelist Vaseem Khan to see how he's getting on. Presenter: Sharmaine Lovegrove Producer: Hannah Robins.

Spike Lee's new film BlacKkKlansman is based on a true story from the 1970s. John David Washington plays Ron Stallworth the first African-American detective to serve in the Colorado Springs Police Department. Determined to make a name for himself he sets out on a dangerous mission to infiltrate and expose the Ku Klux Klan. Natty Kasambala reviews.Canadian author Esi Edugyan on her Man Booker Prize long-listed novel, Washington Black. A historical adventure, set in the early 19th century, it's the story of a young slave who flees Barbados with an abolitionist inventor.Poet Alison Brackenbury tells us how she is getting on with her commission to write a poem for our Inspire season. Comedian Helen Lederer returns to stand-up comedy and launches Comedy Women in Print, a competition to encourage funny female fiction.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Harry Parker.

This year Sir Lenny Henry marks his 60th birthday with a special television programme with Sir Trevor McDonald. As well as performing some new sketches, he talks about bunking off school to appear in the TV talent show New Faces and how he fell in love with Shakespeare. He joins Stig to discuss a career that has spanned over four decades. In the US TV drama series Instinct, Alan Cumming stars as Dr Dylan Reinhart, writer, academic and former CIA operative, drawn into a murder investigation when a serial killer copies one of his books. We review the show, which is based on the novel Murder Games by James Patterson, claiming the first gay male lead in a police procedural television show.For centuries in the western world, religion was the great driving force for artists, musicians and writers. Janina Ramirez, Laura-Jane Foley and A N Wilson discuss the nature of divine inspiration and whether it still holds sway in an increasingly secular society.Presenter Stig Abell Producer Harry Parker.

How people with dwarfism have been represented in art and culture, from Ancient Egypt to Velasquez to Game of Thrones. Kirsty is joined by Tom Shakespeare, Professor of Disability Research at East Anglia University and Richard Butchins, who has made the BBC Four film Dwarfs in Art: A New Perspective. Scottish artist Barbara Rae has travelled to the Arctic in the footsteps of the Victorian explorer John Rae. She discusses the resulting artworks currently on show in Edinburgh and the challenges of working in the extreme cold.As another film about Winnie-the-Pooh is released, this time starring Ewan McGregor as Christopher Robin, film critic Kate Muir and children's author Meg Rosoff discuss our fascination with the world of A.A Milne.Producer: Timothy Prosser Presenter: Kirsty Lang.

Aretha Franklin, the "Queen of Soul" known for hits like Respect, Natural Woman and Say a Little Prayer, has died in Detroit at the age of 76. Broadcaster Paul Gambaccini and music critic Kevin Le Gendre assess her life and work. Actor David Suchet, discusses taking on the role of a 90 year-old furniture dealer in a revival of Arthur Miller's The Price at the Theatre Royal, Bath. It's 50 years since Miller's play was first staged in Broadway, but it also almost 50 years since David Suchet began his career on the British stage. The actor, who became a household name for his role as Hercule Poirot, explains why he starts with his character's voice and why he often plays outsiders. Singer and composer Laura Mvula talks about her new choral work, Love Like a Lion, commissioned for the BBC proms and performed by the BBC Singers, on which she has collaborated with the novelist and poet Ben Okri. Laura and Ben talk about their working relationship and Laura explains what it is like straddling the worlds of soul, pop

Queen guitarist Brian May fell in love with 3D photography as a child and has since gone on to establish his own publishing company devoted to sharing stereoscopic work from the Victorian era to the present day. May's latest publication is a book by Professor Roger Taylor about the Scottish photography pioneer George Washington Wilson. May and Taylor discuss why Wilson's 3D photographs of Scottish landscapes and street scenes remain as captivating today as they were during the 3D boom of the 1850s and 60s.As the NHS celebrates its 70th anniversary, three doctors are performing their own stand up shows on the Festival fringe. Adam Kay, Dr Kevin Jones and Kwame Asante talk to Kirsty about using their working lives as material.Star of The Mash Report and Austentatious, Rachel Parris tells us what makes a winning comedy song.And Scottish musician Mairi Campbell shares a lesser-known version of Auld Lang Syne.Presenter : Kirsty Lang Producer : Simon Richardson.

The drag girl band Denim was Cambridge University's first drag troupe when they formed in 2010. Now, they're back in Edinburgh and for Front Row perform a song from their Reunion Tour and discuss how their drag comes with a political and uplifting message.Author Maggie O'Farrell talks about the art of writing life stories as her own memoir I Am, I Am, I Am tops the bestseller charts, structured around 17 moments in her life when death came terrifyingly close.Two new plays, Angry Alan and User Not Found, focus on online identities - with Angry Alan already winning a Fringe First prize. Writer Penelope Skinner and creator Terry O'Donovan talk to Kirsty about dramatizing online experiences and legacies.Presenter : Kirsty Lang Producer : Jerome Weatherald.

Rosie Jones, a stand-up comedian whose material plays on her experience of living with Cerebral Palsy, discusses defying expectations - both onstage and off. Her one woman show is Fifteen Minutes.Janeane Garofalo is an American actress, comedian, and writer. She began her career as a stand-up comedian and became a cast member on The Ben Stiller Show, The Larry Sanders Show, and Saturday Night Live, and has appeared in more than 50 films. She discusses her Edinburgh show, Put A Pin in That.Jenni Fagan reads from her latest collection of poetry, There's a Witch in the Word Machine ahead of her appearance at the Edinburgh International Books Festival. Plus, we get under the skin of the Festival Fringe with two talent scouts, asking is Edinburgh still the place to make your name as a comedian?Presenter : Viv Groskop Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

The identity of the 'dark lady' of the Shakespeare's sonnets has mystified academics for years. As the Globe stage a new play about Emilia Bassano, one of the main candidates, Shakespearean academics Germaine Greer and Will Tosh consider how likely it is that Emilia is the dark lady and what we know about the real Emilia Bassano- a writer herself. Denzel Washington discusses starring in his first ever sequel, The Equalizer 2. He returns as the mysterious and elusive Robert McCall, who delivers vigilante style justice for those people who can't do so for themselves, using any means necessary.As part of our Inspire season, poet Imtiaz Dharker explains why walking through the city streets in the early hours gives her inspiration.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Hilary Dunn.

Disenchantment, Netflix's new animated series set in a fantastical medieval world from The Simpsons' creator Matt Groening is released this week. TV critic Andrew Collins and comedy writer Natasha Hodgson discuss whether the fantasy series has brought some Simpsons' magic to Netflix. Alan Garner's debut novel, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, is regarded as one of the great 20th century works of children's literature. It was inspired by the Cheshire landscape he grew up in, like many of his other novels like The Owl Service. His new memoir, Where Shall We Run To?, is a series of recollections of his wartime childhood but it's far from nostalgic. The Oscars have just announced the introduction of a new award category for outstanding achievement in popular film, making superhero films like Black Panther more likely to win an Oscar. Film critic Anna Smith comes into talk about the repercussions.Plus author and creative expert Dave Birss gives us his tips and tricks on how to improve our creativity.Presenter: Samir

Sharks have long held a prominent place in mythology, the imagination and even religion for centuries. As The Meg, a thriller about a 75-foot-long prehistoric shark, hits cinema screens nature writer Philip Hoare and film critic Isabel Stevens discuss the ways in which sharks have been represented in the arts. How much is the cultural representation of these 400 million year old mysterious creatures of the deep a reflection of our own human fantasies and anxieties?This year the distinguished composer Thea Musgrave celebrated her 90th birthday. The event is being marked with a series of special performances including Turbulent Landscapes, her sequence of movements inspired by the land and seascapes of JMW Turner, at the Edinburgh Festival. She talks to Front Row about her career: her work, her teachers, her inspirations and why she puts drama at the heart of her work.Award winning mentalist and illusionist Derren Brown reveals what it is that inspires his work on stage and screen and the art he creates in his

The mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly is an opera star, singing the big roles at La Scala, The Met, Glyndebourne and the Royal Opera House. Her latest project is much more modest yet very ambitious; 'Come to Me in My Dreams' is a CD of songs and poems, mostly English - Shakespeare, Blake, Housman - set by composers all of whom studied or taught at the Royal School of Music. She talks to Morgan Quaintance about the attraction of simply singing, how she found the material - which includes two settings by Benjamin Britten never before recorded - and what connects these works that span a dozen centuries. Dame Sarah and accompanist Joseph Middleton perform a song from the album for Front Row ahead of a Prom performance on Monday.As part of Front Row's Inspire season we set three artists, the poet Alison Brackenbury, crime writer Vaseem Khan and rapper and playwright Testament, a challenge: to seek out inspiration, act on it and over the next six weeks create an original piece each, which they will perform live in

Craig and Charlie Reid, better known as The Proclaimers, are live in the Front Row studio playing the title track of their new album Angry Cyclist. They discuss passing the 30 year landmark as professional musicians, seeing their music inspire a theatre production and a film, and why the idea of an angry cyclist seemed for them the perfect way of capturing the current political mood.Two new productions inspired by Gulliver's Travels open this month in Bolton and Edinburgh. Their respective directors - Elizabeth Newman and Dan Coleman - discuss the appeal of Jonathan Swift's classic novel, and how their respective versions celebrate and challenge different aspects of this 18th century story. Continuing Front Row's Inspire season, Drew Hemment, artist and founder of the FutureEverything Festival, and Lesley Taker, Exhibitions Manager at FACT - the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, discuss how the internet has inspired artists. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Ekene Akalawu.