Front Row

Bridget Riley is known for her abstract geometric images featuring grids, lines, circles and squares. As the artist prepares to open a new exhibition of her recent work, art critic Charlotte Mullins assesses the importance and impact of the canvases and murals created in the last four years. As the Bayeux Tapestry is set to come to the UK from France we consider the extraordinary qualities of this artwork, the soft power of such cultural moves and the messages that might lie within Macron's gesture. Nick Park's new film is set aeons earlier than his Wallace and Gromit adventures. Dug, a resourceful cave-youth, and best friend Hognob, a prehistoric wild boar, unite their Stone Age tribe in defence of their green and pleasant land using not weapons but guile and football. Park explains how he came to make Early Man, the first feature the four-time Oscar winner has directed on his own, and Front Row asks if, actually, it's all about Brexit.David Lodge is both a leading comic novelist and a renowned literary crit

Carleen Anderson, former singer with Young Disciples and the Brand New Heavies, discusses her album and 'tribal opera' Cage Street Memorial, and performs a song from it in the studio.Turkish writer Elif Shafak discusses her bestselling novel The Bastard of Istanbul about a family of women, for which she was accused of 'insulting Turkishness' in 2006 and put on trial. The novel has been made into a two-part drama as part of Radio 4's Reading Europe season. Kirsty will be exploring the state of Turkish literature in a special Istanbul edition of Front Row next Friday, 26 January. In the week that Liam Neeson's new film The Commuter opens in cinemas, film critic Mark Eccleston considers the portrayal of commuting on film, from Brief Encounter to The Girl on the Train. Presenter Kirsty Lang Producer Jerome Weatherald.

As Will & Grace is revived twenty years after its premiere, TV critic Louis Wise discusses how the ground-breaking sitcom about two gay men and their best girl pal comes across in 2018. Disney and Pixar's new film Coco is about a Mexican boy who travels through the Land of the Dead to unlock a family mystery. We consider the evolution of Disney films, how they depict and reflect international cultures, and also ask where they sit in the wider animation landscape. The London Sinfonietta, world renowned contemporary classical ensemble, will perform at the Royal Festival Hall on 24th of this month, 50 years to the day since their first concert, at the same venue. Since then they have commissioned more than 300 pieces of music from composers such as Sir Harrison Birtwistle and Steve Reich. They have also worked with musicians such as Thom Yorke from Radiohead and Mica Levi. Artistic director and chief executive, Andrew Burke, leads Samira through the history of the London Sinfonietta, in four pieces of music

Liam Neeson stars in action thriller The Commuter in which an insurance salesman is caught up in danger and conspiracy on his way home from work. He talks about the appeal of the ordinary man as hero.Jamie Hewlett is best known for his artwork for the comic strip Tank Girls, the group Gorillaz, and Damon Albarn's Chinese opera Monkey: Journey to the West. With the publication of a new monograph which features more than 400 of his artworks, Hewlett discusses his approach to graphic art and how tastes have changed over the last 20 years.This evening the winner of The T.S. Eliot Prize, is announced. To mark the 25th anniversary of Britain's most prestigious award for poetry the prize money has been increased to £25,000. Front Row will have the first interview with the winner, live from the award ceremony, and comment from one of the judges about this year's shortlist and how they made their choice.Following the news that Italian police are investigating three organisers of a Modigliani exhibition in Genoa after

Tom Hanks discusses his new film The Post, co-starring Meryl Streep and directed by Steven Spielberg, which tells the story of the part The Washington Post played in publishing the top secret Pentagon Papers that changed American public opinion about the Vietnam War. Sir Simon Rattle is conducting the European concert premiere of The Genesis Suite, a work with narration based on stories from the first book of the Bible, such as Adam and Eve, the Flood and the Tower of Babel. The conductor discusses the little-known piece from 1945 which was written by seven different European composers, émigrés to America, including Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Milhaud, who each composed a movement. The French culture minister Françoise Nyssen has unveiled plans to launch a heritage lottery. The money will go towards restoring ancient monuments. It follows reports of a fall in lottery receipts in the UK. French journalist Agnes Poirier and cultural historian Robert Hewison discuss the proposal, and consider how far arts and her

In December the Royal Court withdrew and then reinstated its invitation to stage a new touring production of Andrea Dunbar's semi-autobiographical 1982 play Rita Sue and Bob Too as a result of sexual harassment allegations made against its co-director Max Stafford Clark - himself a former Artistic Director of the Royal Court and one of the most influential theatre directors of his generation. The Royal Court's current Artistic Director Vicky Featherstone and theatre critic Lyn Gardner discuss the way in which the play continues to speak to young women today and the impact of the recent controversy on this particular production in the context of the continuing revelations about sexual harassment in the arts industries. Kirsty Lang speaks to Jonathan Ruffer, the city financier who has donated almost £200 million to fund arts and restoration projects in the town of Bishop Auckland. For the past two summers the town has hosted the open-air drama Kynren, with the participation of 100 volunteers. In October Front R

As The Southbank Show marks its 40th anniversary we discuss the legacy of this historic arts programme with host Melvyn Bragg. As ITV makes a return to arts programing with Great Art, and the BBC prepares to revive its landmark series Civilisations, we discuss the state of arts on TV today. With Phil Grabsky, the award-winning executive producer of Great Art and the founder of Seventh Art Production, and the TV writer Julia Raeside. 50 years ago this week saw the release the song Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay, performed and co-written by Otis Redding, considered to be one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music. The song, which was recorded just days before Redding died in a plane crash at the age of 26, became one of his best-known and loved. Music journalist Kevin le Gendre considers why.As Michael Wolff's expose of the US president's administration sells out, we ask if you can ever predict what will be publishing hit or a miss. Cathy Rentzenbrink, author and former contributing e

The 1996 radical feminist theatre piece, The Vagina Monologues, made a huge impact in America and around the world as well as inspiring V-Day, an organisation working to stop violence against girls and women. As the writer Eve Ensler updates it with some contemporary voices, we ask about the original production and why now is the right time to revisit it.We also look at feminist theatre in Britain today. In an age where so many people describe themselves as feminist, what defines a play as such? Which issues are being explored, and are dramatic techniques, such as shocking language and violence, employed in the same way as in the past? Theatre critic Sam Marlowe and playwright Phoebe Éclair-Powell discuss. With the return of French tv crime drama Spiral to BBC Four, critic Adrian Wootton gives us a guide to this cult series, and explains why it's worthy of a bigger audience in the UK. Presenter : Samira Ahmed Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

A special episode featuring all five winners of the Costa Book Awards 2017. The winner of the novel category Jon McGregor talks about how he wrote his stunning portrait of an English country village, Reservoir 13. Katherine Rundell, winner of the children’s book category, reveals how she ate tinned tarantula for her adventure story The Explorer. The biography winner Rebecca Stott discusses In the Days of Rain which tells the story of her family’s life in a cult and how they escaped. The novelist Louise Doughty discusses the late Helen Dunmore and her last collection of poems, Inside the Wave, which was awarded the poetry prize. And debut novelist Gail Honeyman discusses how she wrote Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine which won the Costa First Book Award.

Kiri, Channel 4's new drama series, is about the disappearance of a young girl, written by Jack Thorne. It stars Sarah Lancashire as the girl's social worker and Lucian Msamati as her grandfather. Dreda Say Mitchell reviews.The winner of the Costa First Novel prize is Gail Honeyman for Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. It tells the story of a 29-year-old woman who lives alone, surviving, but not really living. Gail discusses how she was inspired to write the book after reading an article about loneliness.The Golden Globe Awards last night were dominated by speeches about Hollywood's sexual abuse scandal. Anna Smith runs us through the events of the night and Best Actor winner Gary Oldman talks about finally being recognized by the Golden Globes after 30 years. Why does the public appetite for portraiture and self-portraiture prevail in the age of the selfie? We discuss with Art Critic Jonathan Jones and Art Historian Frances Borzello, author of Seeing Ourselves: Women's Self Portraits. Presenter: John Wils

Christopher Plummer discusses replacing Kevin Spacey as John Paul Getty in the Ridley Scott-directed All the Money in the World after Spacey was dropped from the film due to allegations of sexual misconduct. Film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh considers whether this bold move by the director pays off.As Saudi Arabia announces that it will reopen its cinema doors, we look at the arts scene in the country and ask if this reflects a more liberal attitude towards culture. BBC Arabic Correspondent Hanan Razek reports.The writer Helen Dunmore is the posthumous winner of the 2017 Costa Poetry Award for her collection Inside the Wave. Many of the poems are concerned with her illness and the knowledge of her approaching death but as her fellow writer and friend Louise Doughty explains they are uplifting, often joyous works.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Sarah Johnson.

Michelle Terry takes over as Artistic Director at Shakespeare's Globe in London in April, and today she announced details of her first season. She discusses her plans, as well as the drama off-stage that led to her predecessor Emma Rice's controversial early departure.Rebecca Stott, winner of the Biography category in this year's Costa Book Awards announced on Front Row this week, discusses In the Days of Rain, her part-memoir, part-biography, about her family's historical involvement with - and escape from - the fundamentalist Christian sect, the Exclusive Brethren.Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike and Wes Studi star in the new big-screen western, Hostiles. Tim Robey reviews the film and considers the portrayal of the Native American characters, so often side-lined in this genre. Jez Butterworth, who wrote the West End hits Mojo, Jerusalem and The Ferryman, discusses his latest project, the Sky TV drama Britannia. The Celts try to resist the Roman invasion amidst myth and mystery, but it's not Game of Thrones, t

Neil Cross, the creator of Luther talks about his new BBC One series Hard Sun. The pre-apocalyptic crime drama follows two detectives who stumble upon proof that the world faces certain destruction, a fact the British Government is trying to suppressKatherine Rundell is the winner of the Costa Children's Book Award 2017 for The Explorer, a classic adventure story of four children whose plane crashes in the Amazon. Scholar, tightrope walker and amateur pilot Katherine Rundell explains the importance of the novel's environmental themes and why eating tinned tarantulas was an essential part of her research.And this week on Front Row we are interviewing the category winners from the Costa Book Awards, but how do literary prizes juries make their decision and who picks the judges? To get an insight we speak to two former book prize judges Professor John Mullan and journalist Viv Groskop. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Hilary Dunn.

Novelist Wendy Holden announces the category winners of the Costa Book Awards 2017 exclusively on Front Row and Stig talks to the winner of the Novel Category. Artist Elizabeth Friedlander is the subject of a new exhibition at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft. The work of Friedlander is instantly recognisable as mid-20th century design at its best including her Penguin book covers and Bauer Type Foundry typeface named for her - Elizabeth. Curator Katharine Meynell talks about her life and work. Taylor Swift's new album Reputation features the single Look What You Made Me Do, whose chorus bears more than a passing resemblance to Right Said Fred's 1991 single I'm Too Sexy. Mixing new lyrics and additions to an original piece of music has the name 'interpolation'. Music writer Ben Wardle ponders this now-widespread phenomenon, and looks back to when it all started.Presenter : Stig Abell Producer : Kate Bullivant.

The opening of V&A Dundee will be one of the big arts stories in 2018 and it's in Dundee that Samira Ahmed begins today's programme which looks at how arts organisations nationwide are seeking to make themselves open and relevant to their local communities. In Dundee, Samira visits the new V&A Dundee community garden in the company of volunteers Denis Harkins and Derek Cassie and Communities Producer Peter Nurick; she talks to Sarah Saunders, Director of Learning and Engagement at V&A Dundee, and Cameron Price about the museum's first public engagement project - Living Room For The City; and she joins young engineers Emma Evans and Ross Tolland on the deck of Captain's Scott's RRS Discovery to hear about their contribution to V&A Dundee's most recent public engagement project - the Scottish Design Challenge.Natalie Walton, former Head of Learning at the Hepworth Wakefield, winner of the Museum of the Year 2017 award, explains the steps The Hepworth took in the year before it opened to ensure i

Kay Mellor discusses her new ITV drama, Girlfriends, about three women in their late 50s, early 60s, and reveals how closely she's drawn on her own life and friends to write it.Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was published on New Year's Day 1818. Christopher Frayling, author of Frankenstein The First Two Hundred Years, joins Janet Todd, the biographer of Mary Shelley's mother Mary Wollstonecraft, to discuss how we read Frankenstein in our era of genetic engineering and artificial intelligence and how we view Mary Shelley herself.Upcoming film Swimming With Men, starring Rob Brydon and Daniel Mays, tells the true story of a group of middle-aged men who make it to the World Synchronised Swimming championships. It was shot earlier this year in Basildon swimming pool masquerading as Milan, Stig visited the set to meet Rob Brydon and the synchronised swimming trainer, Adele Carlsen.

Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer are back on TV with Vic and Bob's Big Night Out. Three decades after starting out they discuss their surreal and anarchic style of comedy. The legendary Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu returns with a new album Eternamente - her first studio album in six years. She discusses her affinity with the role of Tosca, and why she feels like the "black sheep" of the opera world. Bristol Old Vic is the longest continuously running theatre in the UK, and celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2016, which means it might just be old enough to house a ghost or two. Game of Thrones star Patrick Malahide and members of the theatre staff tell us of their spooky encounters there.

The surprise success of this year's Wonder Woman film emphasized the current dominance of superhero movies at the box office. Stig Abell investigates the comic book origins of these characters and explores why they have become such a presence in our culture. Dave Gibbons, the comic book writer and artist most famous for his collaboration with Alan Moore on The Watchman, shows Stig around his studio. Gibbons, who has also worked on Superman, Green Lantern, and Frank Miller's Give Me Liberty, talks about his 40 year career in comics and whether today is truly a 'Golden Age' for the form. Stig visits Orbital comics shop and is guided around the superhero universes by comic critic Adam Karenina Sherif and journalist Louise Blain. Plus he gets a lowdown on the changing film industry from Den of Geek editor Simon Brew.Author Nikesh Shukla and critic Gavia Baker-Whitelaw join comic book writer Kieron Gillen to examine what is it about superhero characters and their stories that is so appealing. Presenter: Stig Abell

Gary Oldman on his 30 year career in film, from playing punk rebel Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy to a barnstorming performance as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour. He tells Kirsty why he was reluctant at first to take on the role. How he transformed himself into Britain's wartime Prime Minister and the challenge of recreating Churchill's distinctive voice. How when he was young his drama teachers told him that he wouldn't amount to anything. And as he approaches his 60th birthday, why he would like to return to British theatre.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Timothy Prosser.

Join John Wilson for a Christmas party including games and performances from all our guests.Impressionist Jon Culshaw delivers ten Christmas messages, but can you guess all the voices?Poet Patience Agbabi performs her Christmas poem, I Go To the Supervillains Christmas Ball As The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come, written especially for Front Row. Cariad Lloyd and Charlotte Gittins from comedy improv group Austentatious perform an excerpt from a previously unknown Jane Austen work suggested by our party guests.Playwright Inua Ellams reads his poem, Swallow Twice, about family and feasting.Actress Josie Lawrence improvises a Christmas song based on a random object, with Steve Edis on piano providing musical accompaniment throughout.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Hannah Robins.