Front Row

Best known for her performances in the 1978 film Grease and in the 1990s TV series The West Wing, the Emmy and Tony-winning actor Stockard Channing talks about her new role in Alexi Kate Campbell's Apologia at the Trafalgar Studios in London. Channing plays a famous art historian who has written a memoir which does not mention her two sons. The action takes place at a birthday party to which the sons - and their girlfriends - are invited. An installation in an old Roman fort near Hexham recreates the sound of 500 cavalry horses, and the Royal British Legion are commemorating the centenary of the Battle Of Passchendaele with immersive online videos. The poet and historian Katrina Porteous reviews both 360-degree representations of war.Matisse in the Studio is a new exhibition at the Royal Academy which focuses on the artist's personal collection of treasured objects, and how they were both subject matter and inspiration for his paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints and cut-outs. Ann Dumas, the exhibition's c

As public services come under increasing pressure from government cuts the demand for documentaries about them is reflected in the number of programmes on TV. Last week, ITV's Inside London Fire Brigade featured previously unheard accounts of fire fighters from inside Grenfell Tower. In the same week, Channel 4's 24 hours in A&E returned for its 13th series, alongside 999 What's Your Emergency which is in its fourth; earlier in July, the second series of Hospital was screened on BBC Two. TV executives Simon Dickson and Ed Coulthard discuss why programmes about public services are so popular and what is involved in turning hours of documentary material into compulsive viewing. Writer Damian Barr champions Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City novels for Front Row's Queer Icons series.Sally Hawkins stars as Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis, in new biopic Maudie. The actress discusses Maud's remarkable life in a remote part of Nova Scotia living in very basic conditions while suffering from juvenile arthritis,

For our Queer Icons series, director Sir Nicholas Hytner chooses the Rodgers and Hart song Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, which he reveals was written by Lorenz Hart with a gay subtext. Northern Irish writer Bernard MacLaverty returns with his first novel in 16 years, Midwinter Break: the small details of a retired couple's trip to Amsterdam build into a portrait of ageing, alcoholism, faith and love.The new Postal Museum in London features the art and artefacts which have shaped the British postal service. Samira and Trainspotting Live presenter Tim Dunn ride the 100-year-old Mail Rail, the small train that runs on miles of subterranean track linking the capital's main railway stations which used to carry millions of letters and parcels across the city.The Californian company SciFuture are commissioning science fiction writers to help corporations cope with change. Scientist Susan Stepney explains the interplay between science fiction and the future.Presenter : Samira Ahmed Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

David Walliams has just notched up his 100th week as the UK's best-selling children's author. Among his most popular books is Gangsta Granny, and a stage version is about to open at the London's Garrick Theatre. David Walliams tells Samira Ahmed why he thinks the play is better than the book, and how his career as a children's author developed out of the comedy sketch show he created with Matt Lucas - Little Britain.Cultural commentator Agnès Poirier reflects on the life of Jeanne Moreau, the French film actress and leading light of the Nouvelle Vague, whose death was announced today; and New York Times London theatre critic Matt Wolf remembers the American Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and actor Sam Shepard, who has died aged 73.Debut novelist Zinzi Clemmons was brought up in the USA, with roots in South Africa and Trinidad. She discusses her fragmentary book What We Lose, which was inspired by her own experiences nursing her mother through terminal cancer and explores motherhood, race and grief.Ever sin

For our Queer Icons series, Mary Portas champions Donna Summer's classic disco track, I Feel Love.The lexicographer Susie Dent pulls the stops out to tell John about words and phrases in the English language that have their origins in music, painting, the theatre or literature. The poet Michael Symmons Roberts describes his creation of a city that's rooted in Manchester, but isn't quite the real thing, for a new collection of poetry, Mancunia.And as the film Howard's End, starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, celebrates its 25th anniversary, a new technically improved version of it is being released in cinemas. To get an unusual insight into the film-making process, Front Row brought together the film's cinematographer, Tony Pierce-Roberts, and colourist, Steve Bearman to discuss how they upgraded the visual quality for the digital age. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Sarah Johnson.

A family secret inspired novelist Patrick Gale's first TV screenplay Man in an Orange Shirt. Part of the BBC's Gay Britannia season, the drama focuses on gay relationships in two interlinking episodes set during the '40s and in the present day.The Man Booker Prize 2017 longlist has just been announced and includes big names including previous winner Arundhati Roy, as well as Zadie Smith and Sebastian Barry, and Colson Whitehead and his Pulitzer-prizewinning The Underground Railroad. There are a few surprises there too including debut novelist Fiona Mozley's Elmet. Literary critic Alex Clark and Toby Lichtig of the Times Literary Supplement join John to talk about the significance of this year's choices.The 12 Albums of the Year nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize were announced earlier today. From pop to jazz to grime, the diverse shortlist includes some of the UK's biggest acts, and then some you may never have heard of - we'll be discussing it with BBC Radio 6 music presenter Tom Ravenscroft.For our

The films 47 Metres Down, Wish Upon and Hounds of Love are all out this week and all play on familiar tropes in horror. Samira Ahmed asks horror fan Kim Newman and horror sceptic Isabel Stevens if these movies have anything new to say, and take a wider look at the genre.In 1997 Kathy Reichs made her crime-writing debut and introduced the world to Dr Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist whose powers of observation and logic lay at the heart of what would become a bestselling series of 18 novels. But Reichs' latest novel, Two Nights, is a departure with a new and very different type of investigator seeking to escape her past and unravel the clues.As actor Michelle Terry is appointed Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe in London, we explore the tradition of actor-managers from Garrick to Olivier with actor Robert Hastie, who became the Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres in November 2016, and former actor, now theatre critic, David Benedict. What can actors bring to the role of artistic directo

Daniel Mays, the actor who came to prominence for his roles in Vera Drake, Line of Duty, Life on Mars and Mrs Biggs, discusses his new BBC drama Against The Law. He plays Peter Wildeblood, a man imprisoned for homosexual acts in the 1950s, who then went on to campaign for a change in the law. Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett Smith star in Girls Trip, a film where four old friends reunite for a wild weekend away. It has had a strong opening weekend at the US box office, which the director Malcolm D Lee ascribes to 'black girl magic'. Dreda Say Mitchell gives her verdict. Asifa Lahore, the UK's first out Muslim drag queen, chooses Dana International's Eurovision-winning song Diva for our Queer Icons series.Helen Mort has been described by Carol Ann Duffy as 'among the brightest stars in the sparkling new constellation of British poets'. But she first came to prominence in 1998 as one of the winners of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award. Helen Mort tells Samira Ahmed why young people should enter the competit

Jack O'Connell, who starred in the TV series Skins, and on the big screen in Starred Up, '71 and Unbroken, discusses his latest role as Brick in Tennessee Williams's classic play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.Tomorrow the conductor Jules Buckley will perform the first of his two BBC Proms 2017. Buckley - who founded The Heritage Orchestra and in 2015 performed The Ibiza Prom in conjunction with Radio 1's Pete Tong - discusses this year's works which will be taking their inspiration from Scott Walker and Charles Mingus. For our Queer Icons series, best-selling novelist Emma Donoghue champions Patricia Rozema's film, I've Heard the Mermaids Singing.Plus, Ashley Gething is the producer/director of the much talked about television film Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, in which Princes William and Harry give a rare interview about their mother Diana Princess of Wales who died 20 years ago. Ashley explains how the programme came about, and the insight it gives into how the Princes coped with her death.Presenter: Joh

Kate Muir explains the unexpected appeal and popularity of Love Island. Is it just another television reality show or has it got something extra?The first season of Top of the Lake was garlanded with praise and won an Emmy for its cinematography and a Golden Globe for Elisabeth Moss; season 2 is about to begin on BBC2. The action moves away from New Zealand to the brothels and backstreets of Sydney, Australia. Celebrated director Jane Campion is the co-writer and co-director and she's joined by her daughter, Alice Englert, who stars along with Nicole Kidman. They talk to Kirsty about creating the unique atmosphere of the series and how to ensure more opportunities for women directors. For our Queer Icons series, E.M. Forster's novel Maurice is championed by Chris Smith, the former Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, who in 1984 became the first MP to come out publicly. Lucy Kirkwood discusses her new play Mosquitoes which focuses on two sisters played by Olivia Colman and Olivia Williams. One sis

It's 50 years this summer since the artist Richard Long took steps across a Wiltshire field to create A Line Made By Walking, now regarded as a classic piece of conceptual art. John meets him in a rare interview in his studio near Bristol.Theatre director Marcus Romer and former arts funder and marketing consultant Roger Tomlinson discuss the holy grail of arts funding bodies: how to measure the quality of art that the public is paying for. For our Queer Icons series, Stella Duffy champions the novel Carol, Patricia Highsmith's love story set in fifties New York. And Radio 4's Poet in Residence, Daljit Nagra, comes in to tell us about the poetry of Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo, who died earlier this month.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Sarah Johnson.

Mark Rylance discusses his role in Christopher Nolan's new film Dunkirk, in which he plays the civilian captain of a small vessel commandeered for the rescue of some of the hundreds of thousands of British and Allied troops stranded on the French beach in 1940 as the enemy closes in.Critic Alex Clark and broadcaster and literary programmer Rosie Goldsmith give their recommended reads for this summer, including a selection of best books in translation from France, Italy and Russia. The seventh season of Game of Thrones began this week, and the television series has now overtaken the George RR Martin book series the show is based on. We ask TV critic Sarah Hughes, who has written The Guardian's Game of Thrones Blog since the first season, how she thinks the show will fare without the influence of the books.Presenter Kirsty Lang Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Nicola Barker is one of Britain's most unconventional novelists. Her new novel H(A)PPY is set in a post-post apocalyptic future where everyone is eternally young, eternally knowledgeable and eternally happy, until cracks start to appear. Nicola talks to Samira about the novel. For Front Row's Queer Icons, Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner champions Alison Bechdel's graphic novel Fun Home, which has been turned into a hit musical. In the new Netflix drama Ozarks Jason Bateman plays a financial adviser trying to keep his family safe from a Mexican drug cartel after a money laundering scheme goes wrong. Although very different in tone to TV shows like Arrested Development and films like Horrible Bosses, Bateman is once again cast as the most normal character, the one the audience can connect with. He talks to Samira Ahmed about the appeal of such roles, why he wanted to direct the series and life as a child star.In Front Row's new series Hooked, actors, writers and musicians share the films, podcast

Sofia Coppola discusses her new film The Beguiled starring Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Colin Farrell. Described as a feminist remake of the Clint Eastwood version in 1971, Coppola explains her approach, why she decided to cut the black character Hallie, and teaching the cast of women to be Southern belles.For our Queer Icons series, museum director Neil MacGregor chooses The Warren Cup, a Roman goblet from the British Museum that depicts men making love. Design journalist Corrine Julius looks at the new exhibition about plywood at the Victoria and Albert Museum and discovers its surprising versatility and appeal.Plus Kirsty speaks to Kate Wakeling, winner of this year's CLiPPA prize for Children's poetry, about her debut collection Moon Juice. Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Harry Parker.

As the Natural History Museum in London replaces Dippy the Dinosaur with a Blue Whale skeleton, we debate which animal group has inspired the best art. Broadcaster Matthew Sweet champions whales while historian Tom Holland is on the side of the dinosaurs, but who will convince Samira theirs is best?Frank Ocean's ground-breaking album Channel Orange is chosen for our Queer Icons series by rapper A.Dot, who presents the BBC Radio 1Extra Breakfast Show. Samira talks to pianist Igor Levit backstage at the Royal Albert Hall as he prepares to perform Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.3 in the First Night of the Proms tomorrow. The poet and novelist Nick Laird's new book, Modern Gods, is set in Ulster and New Ulster, which is an imaginary part of very real Papua New Guinea. Despite seeming worlds apart, Laird explores the strange parallels between these contested tribal lands. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Hannah Robins.

A month ago, Maria Balshaw took over the role of Director of Tate from Sir Nicholas Serota, having been Director of The Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester. In one of her first interviews the only woman to hold the post discusses her plans for the future of the institution.For our Queer Icons series, Alan Carr chooses My Father and Myself, J.R Ackerley's memoir about being gay and out in the first half of the 20th Century, and the complex relationship with his father. We cross live to the National Theatre to speak to actress Paksie Vernon, who may get to go on stage tonight, and hear from theatre critic Susannah Clapp about the art of the understudy.The Festival of Britain sculpture The Sunbathers, by Peter Laszlo Peri was in a terrible state of repair when John Wilson took the artist's daughter to see it in the restoration studio. Now the pair see it back where it belongs on London's Southbank.

As the Planet of the Apes reboot reaches its climactic third chapter, film critic Kate Muir reviews War of the Planet of the Apes and explores the themes of the franchise from 1968's first with Charlton Heston as well as its source material, Pierre Boulle's novel.The Tate Modern's Soul of a Nation exhibition looks at the relationship between art and Black Power in the 1960s and 70s. We discuss how one influenced the other and talk to two of the founders of the Coalition of Black American artists.For our Queer Icons series, Man Booker prize winning author Alan Hollinghurst champions Ronald Firbank's humorous novel The Flower Beneath the Foot.Plus, after the vinyl revival, music journalist Ben Wardle celebrates the surprising return of the cassette.Presenter : Samira Ahmed Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

As Shirley MacLaine releases a new film about a woman curating her obituary, she reflects on her long career in Hollywood, including working with Alfred Hitchcock, being the only female member of the Rat Pack and starring in Downton Abbey alongside Maggie Smith.As the Bolshoi Ballet cancels the eagerly awaited adaptation about Nureyev, ballet critic Ismene Brown discusses what might have caused this to come about.For our Queer Icons series, trans rights activist and journalist Paris Lees chooses Neil Jordan's 1992 film The Crying Game, about an IRA man's relationship with a British soldier's lover. The baritone and composer Roderick Williams talks about his upcoming performances at the Cheltenham Music Festival and at the Proms where a world premiere of his new BBC commission, inspired by the text of a well-known aria from Mozart's Don Giovanni, will be performed.

Sarah Hall's short story Mrs Fox won her the BBC National Short Story Award. Now it forms part of her new collection of short stories, Madame Zero, and she talks to John Wilson about depicting extraordinary transformations and where human behaviour meets the animal.For our Queer Icons series, actor Sir Antony Sher chooses the play and film Torch Song Trilogy by Harvey Fierstein, which tells the story of a New York drag queen's search for love and a family. As Fatherland, a play exploring relationships between fathers and sons, premieres at the Manchester International Festival, Front Row invites filmmaker Josh Appignanesi and Jeremy Davies of the Fatherhood Institute to discuss contemporary portrayals of fatherhood.And as world leaders at G20 settle down to a performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony conducted by Kent Nagano in Hamburg tonight, Tom Service talks about what he thinks is the most dangerous piece of music ever composed.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Sarah Johnson.

The Royal Shakespeare Company production of Queen Anne has opened at London's Theatre Royal Haymarket. Set in the early 18th century, the play charts the intimate and increasingly fraught relationship between the childless and insecure queen and her closest confidante Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough. Romola Garai who plays Sarah Churchill and writer Helen Edmundson discuss this often overlooked British monarch. For our Queer Icons series, the Oscar-winning writer of Moonlight, Tarell Alvin McCraney, champions the film Paris is Burning, about drag houses, drag balls and fabulousness in 1980s New York. Queer Icons is Front Row's celebration of LGBTQ culture, to mark the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality. The philanthropist Lloyd Dorfman today announced a major donation to the Royal Academy of Arts in London with a view to transforming the future of architecture at the institution. Architecture critic Hugh Pearman assess the significance of his contribution.The outgoing P