Front Row

Annie Leibovitz looks back at her career of nearly 50 years, in which she's photographed many of the world's leaders, celebrities and the Royal Family. With the publication of her book Annie Leibovitz Portraits 2005-2016 she reflects on the turbulent decade and how that has informed her more recent work.Andy Serkis discusses his directorial debut, Breathe, the true story of Robin Cavendish. At 28, Cavendish was paralysed from the neck down after contracting polio. With his wife Diana, he went on to revolutionise what was possible for many severely disabled people. David Bomberg was one of the great artists of the 20th century. 60 years on from the artist's death and as a new exhibition of his work opens at the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, Richard Cork explains Bomberg's significance. Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Sarah Johnson.

Nicholas Hytner, who used to run the National Theatre, has a new project - The Bridge Theatre. Richard Bean (who wrote One Man Two Guvnors) and Clive Coleman discuss their play Young Marx, the theatre's opening production, which reveals how the man who brilliantly analysed the workings of the capitalist economy was hopeless with money. Stranger Things, the retro Netflix teen sci-fi series, was a surprise breakout TV hit last year. Can its sequel, Stranger Things 2, live up to the expectation? Boyd Hilton gives his verdict. Rosalind Porter, Deputy Editor of Granta, and essayist Francis Spufford discuss the revival of the essay - a literary form which last enjoyed a golden age in the 18th century and is finding new fans in the 21st century.And music from the Danish group Between Music, who perform their new concert AquaSonic underwater.Presenter Samira Ahmed Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Revelations about Harvey Weinstein's casting couch have led some of the biggest voices in Hollywood to talk about this being a watershed moment. So tonight we'll be asking where we are when it comes to sexism and the treatment of women in the arts. And how are leaders in the creative industries responding? Joining us live will be Vicky Featherstone, artistic director of London's Royal Court Theatre, actor and director Maureen Lipman and Helen Lewis, deputy Editor of the New Statesman to discuss. Also, to what extent is the portrayal of women across film, theatre, music and visual art defined by the male gaze? And how easy is it for female artists to claim ownership of their own image? We'll hear from photographer Annie Leibovitz, Feminist Art Historian Tamar Garb, Dance critic Luke Jennings and Jacqueline Springer, music journalist and senior lecturer at University of Westminster.

Kiwi director Taika Waititi, known for Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Flight of the Conchords, on bringing his comedic style of indie film-making to the Hollywood superhero blockbuster in Marvel's Thor: Ragnarok. Eisenstein's film about the Russian Revolution, October, is about to be screened in its newly restored original version, with the London Symphony Orchestra performing the original score live at the Barbican. Ian Christie explores the film's significance. Samira Ahmed discusses how art has responded to terror post 9/11, with former official war artist John Keane and Sanna Moore, curator of the Imperial War Museum London's new exhibition, Age of Terror: Art since 9/11. Designer David Adjaye reveals his plans for the UK's National Holocaust Memorial, which will be created in a park near the Houses of Parliament.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Timothy Prosser.

Tales of The City writer Armistead Maupin discusses his new memoir Logical Family, which details his early life in an ultra-conservative family in the deep South, serving in Vietnam, and his move to San Francisco, the city with which he is most associated. On the 25th anniversary of the death of choreographer Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Viviana Durante, former principal ballerina of the Royal Ballet, and dance critic Debra Craine discuss the legacy of the man whose work is currently being celebrated at the Royal Opera House.The UK's first gallery dedicated to mining art has just opened in Bishop Auckland in County Durham. The Mining Art Gallery celebrates the 'pitmen painters' - the miners who also made art. David Maddan, Chief Executive of the Auckland Project, as well as two local mining art collectors, Dr Robert McManners and Gillian Wales who have donated their entire collection, discuss the project. And local artist and former miner Bob Olly gives a guided tour. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Edwina Pitman.

Comedian Harry Hill is best known for writing and presenting the BAFTA-winning television show, Harry Hill's TV Burp - which ran for 11 years - and for narrating You've Been Framed, the series which features funny home video clips. Tonight, the doctor-turned-comic introduces Matt Millz, eponymous hero of Matt Millz - The Youngest Stand-Up Comedian in the World, his latest children's novel, which is also a practical guide for aspiring comedians. Actor and presenter Liza Tarbuck joins Harry to reveal the secrets of the mysterious art of narrating television programmes. Japanese rock sensation Yoshiki discusses the highs and lows of his career as the drummer in his prog-rock band X Japan that sold over 30 million records, and as a classical pianist who has composed and performed for the Emperor of Japan. Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Julian May.

Daniel Radcliffe stars in new film Jungle, about the real experience of Yossi Ghinsberg who spent three weeks lost in the Bolivian jungle. Daniel explains what it was like to portray this epic fight for survival on screen.I Am Not a Witch was one of the highlights of this year's Cannes film festival. The satirical drama, set in Zambia, about a young girl accused of being a witch, is now due to open in the UK. African film curator Nadia Denton reviews.The Taj Mahal has been at the centre of a set of controversies in recent months regarding its significance to Indian culture. BBC Delhi correspondent Geeta Pandey reports on the dispute which flared up again last weekend.Film director Wim Wenders, who brought us Wings of Desire, Paris, Texas, and Buena Vista Social Club, discusses a new exhibition of Polaroid photos he took during the 1970s and early 1980s, and the extent to which they influenced his work on the big screen. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Hannah Robins.

Beth Ditto talks about her debut solo album Fake Sugar, her first since the break up of her punk-pop band Gossip, in which she returns to her Southern roots.Jackie Kay performs new work live. When Jackie became Scotland's Makar, or National Poet, she said she hoped to open 'the blethers, the arguments and celebrations that Scotland has with itself'. In Bantam, her first collection as Makar, she does exactly that, with poems celebrating the people, history and landscape of Scotland.The phrase Domestic Noir was first coined in 2015, and is often used in relation to psychological suspense dramas in a domestic, intimate context. Two writers of this genre, Mel McGrath and Alex Marwood, discuss the appeal of writing this over straight crime, and why it appeals to a predominantly female readership.

The American singer St. Vincent, aka Annie Clark, discusses her new album Masseduction.Andrew Michael Hurley's debut novel The Loney was a runaway success, winning the 2015 Costa Book Award in the First Novel category. The author discusses his follow-up, Devil's Day, which like The Loney is a gothic horror story set in Lancashire.The Tin Drum by Nobel Laureate Günter Grass centres on Oskar, who refuses to grow from the age of 3 and has a voice that can shatter glass. The Cornwall-based theatre company Kneehigh have adapted the story for the stage and is currently touring the UK. Writer and broadcaster Paul Allen reviews. Poet Daljit Nagra considers the current fashion for TV and radio adverts to feature poetry.Presenter Stig Abell Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Armando Iannucci, writer of The Thick of It, discusses his new film satire The Death of Stalin and his love of classical music as explored in his book, Hear Me Out.Kwame Kwei-Armah has been running the Center Stage Theater in Baltimore and in February will take over the Young Vic in London. Meanwhile he's directing The Lady From the Sea, in a new version by Elinor Cook that transports Ibsen's Scandi drama of a woman's tussle for her independence to the Caribbean. John Wilson finds out why, and what Kwei-Armah has up his sleeve for his new job.Form 696 is a risk assessment form which the Metropolitan Police requests promoters and licensees of events complete and submit 14 days in advance of hosting some music events. When the form was first introduced in 2005 it proved controversial as it asked for details of audience ethnicity and, although this wasamended later, critics still say the form is discriminatory because grime and urban music artists are disproportionately affected. As London Mayor Sadiq Khan asks

Kit Harington on playing his own ancestor in Gunpowder, the new BBC1 drama series about the 17th Century plot to blow up Parliament. Kele Okereke, lead singer of Bloc Party, talks to Stig about his new solo album Fatherland, which includes a love duet with Olly Alexander, and he performs live in the studio. As 80's supersoap Dynasty returns with a remake on Netflix, Karen Krizanovich gives her verdict. As artists such as Liam Gallagher, Beck and St Vincent release albums on coloured vinyl discs, is this becoming a new trend?Download today's podcast for an extra live performance by Kele Okereke and an interview with the creators of TV series Porridge, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Timothy Prosser.

Kate Mossman reviews George Michael: Freedom, the film George Michael was working when he died, in which he and a host of A-List names talk about his songs, his career, his relationships and his battles with the music industry. The Irish writer John Banville is the highly acclaimed winner of the 2005 Man Booker Prize, The Sea. His novels include The Book of Evidence, Ghosts and now, Mrs Osmond. It's a sequel to Henry James' The Portrait of a Lady. That novel famously ends inconclusively: having travelled to England against her husband Gilbert Osmond's wishes to witness the death of her beloved cousin Ralph, we don't know if she'll return to her husband in Rome or shape some other future for herself. Banville talks about continuing her story and his debt to James.When Tate Modern opened its new extension last year, for the first time the gallery had purpose built spaces for performance art, and as Fierce, the live art festival in Birmingham prepares to open, Front Row invited Aaron Wright, the festival's artis

In his latest film, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), Dustin Hoffman plays an old, bitter, self obsessed sculptor, whose children from several marriages nonetheless crave his approval. He and the director, Noah Baumbach, discuss grumpiness, fatherhood and the nature of success with Kirsty Lang.In St Ives the Tate is about to reopen with refurbished rooms rehung with wonderful work, by international artists - Rothko, Gabo, deKooning - and those working there who achieved such status - Hepworth, Lanyon, Wallis. The writer on art, Michael Bird, who lives in St Ives, follows the conversation between these works with the artistic director, Anne Barlow and curator Sara Matson. He has a preview, too, of Tate St Ives' beautiful new gallery, a feat of engineering years in the making. It is cut into the hill, yet still illuminated with the natural light of St Ives that drew artists there to begin with.Singer and multi-instrumentalist Jon Boden caused some consternation when he decided to leave Bellowhead, the

In Sally Potter's latest film, The Party, a group of friends meet to celebrate a promotion but their lives begin to unravel as shocking secrets are exposed. The writer-director speaks to John about the film which stars Kristin Scott Thomas, Timothy Spall and Emily Mortimer.Writer and critic Hadley Freeman and the playwright and TV writer and actor Eva O'Connor discuss the challenges of depicting anorexia on screen. Eva's drama Overshadowed on BBC 3 has been widely praised for its portrayal of the illness, but why is it that programme makers so often get it wrong? Jimmy Webb, the songwriter, composer and arranger, has written for some of the biggest names in the business, and wrote over 100 songs for Glen Campbell. The multi-Grammy-award-winning writer looks back over his own life and work - including his hit songs Galveston and Wichita Lineman - which feature in his new memoir The Cake and The Rain.Presenter John Wilson Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Audre Lorde described herself as "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet". A writer of the 70s and 80s, this month her poetry and prose is published in the UK for the first time in a new anthology: Your Silence Will Not Protect You. Akwugo Emejulu, Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick discusses the resurgent interest in Lorde's work and her importance to contemporary activistsDan Brown came to the fame in 2003 with his novel The Da Vinci Code which became a worldwide bestseller and a Hollywood movie. As his latest book, Origin, is published, Brown discusses his new novel's exploration of the tension between science and religion, and the appeal of his protagonist, Professor Robert Langdon, who seems never happier than when he's fleeing for his life in search of esoteric clues to labyrinthine mysteries.Dr Bendor Grosvenor, art dealer and presenter of Britain's Lost Masterpieces, argues that we are at risk of losing the skill of connoisseurship - being able to determine the painter simply by lookin

As Blade runner 2049 hits cinemas around the country, John Wilson speaks to Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling about what the film offers to fans of the original.On the day that Liam Gallagher releases his debut studio solo album As You Were, the former Oasis frontman discusses his music and looks back over the years since the breakup of the band and his feud with his brother Noel. James Franco becomes the latest actor to play two roles at the same time on screen in David Simon's HBO drama The Deuce. So we've asked film critic Hannah McGill to talk us through the rich history of the 'dual roles' device, from Keaton to Dead Ringers to The Social Network. We also shed some light on how it's done.

Kazuo Ishiguro wins the Nobel Prize in Literature. The literary critic, Alex Clark, assesses his contribution to the literary canon.Latonia Moore has just made her debut at the English National Opera in a visually spectacular new production of Aida. The soprano, from Houston, Texas, hit the headlines in 2012 when she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, stepping into the title role of Aida at 36 hours' notice, a performance broadcast around the world.Loving Vincent is the first fully painted feature film. 94 of Van Gogh's originals were re-created by 125 professional oil painters for the 65,000 frames. Set in Arles, it focuses on the mystery surrounding the death of the artist. Kirsty speaks to the couple who are the film's co-directors and writers, Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman.Presented by Kirsty Lang Produced by Sarah Johnson.

Kate Winslet's latest film, The Mountain Between Us, is an epic romance shot at 10,000 feet above sea level and at -38 degrees Celsius. The actress talks to Samira about working with co-star Idris Elba, the legacy of Titanic, and looks forward to making her next film, when she will be working with Woody Allen.Californian brothers Ron and Russell Mael formed the band Sparks in the early '70s, and their first hit This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us made them household names in the UK. 23 albums and more than four decades later, the brothers discuss their new album, Hippopotamus, and look back at their early days living in London at the time of power cuts and the three-day week. Edward Lear is the writer of some of our most loved poetry. The Owl and the Pussycat has been voted the UK's favourite poem many times. Jenny Uglow's new biography, Mr Lear: A Life of Art and Nonsense, explores the life behind the rhymes and reveals a natural history painter, a landscape artist, and only later a somewhat reluc

Join John Wilson for a celebration of the power and possibilities of the short story as Chair of Judges Joanna Trollope announces the winner of the 2017 BBC National Short Story Award live from the Radio Theatre. The judging panel Eimear McBride, Jon McGregor and Sunjeev Sahota discuss the merits of the entries from the shortlisted authors. In contention for the £15,000 prize are Helen Oyeyemi, Benjamin Markovits, Cynan Jones, Jenni Fagan and Will Eaves.Radio 1 presenter Alice Levine will also announce the winner of the BBC Young Writers' Award and consider the strengths and emerging themes of the stories with fellow judge, the best-selling author Holly Bourne. The BBC National Short Story Award is presented in conjunction with BookTrust.Presenter : John Wilson Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

Matt Lucas talks to Stig Abell about his autobiography 'Little Me: My life from A-Z', in which he writes about the challenges of his childhood, his start on the comedy circuit 25 years ago, and the phenomenal success of TV show Little Britain. Tamsin Greig and Martin Freeman discuss James Graham's new play Labour of Love, about the three decade battle between old and new Labour in a North Nottinghamshire constituency, in which they play a labour party agent and an MP. Jacky Klein on the surprising relationship between the father of conceptual art Marcel Duchamp, and the surrealist Salvador Dali, the subject of a new exhibition at the Royal Academy.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Timothy Prosser.