Comedian John Bishop on how his life story inspired Bradley Cooper's new movie, Is This Thing On? starring Will Arnett and Laura Dern. Hull Truck Theatre has just won the Innovation prize at the Stage Awards for their new training scheme for GPs. Associate Director Tom Saunders and GP Dr Eman Shamsaee discuss why drama classes are helping doctors treat patients. Writer Jamila Gavin on winning the Children's Fiction category of the Nero Book Awards with her World War One-set novel My Soul, A Shin...
Jan 20, 2026•42 min
Artist Beryl Cook would have been 100 this year - famed for her cheeky paintings of large ladies and people having fun, there's a new exhibition opening in Plymouth. Cole Escola is the man behind the stage musical sensation, Oh Mary, which has been hailed in some circles at The Next Hamilton. Washington National Opera is leaving their base for more than half a century. They have cited a slump in ticket sales since Donald Trump became chair of the Trump Kennedy Center in America's capital, as wel...
Jan 19, 2026•42 min
In the Front Row review programme, author Emily Itami and critic Tim Robey assess the steamy Canadian drama Heated Rivalry, which has caused a sensation in North America. Also, The British Museum's new exhibition Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans, and Jose Ando's novel about racial and sexual identity in Japan, Jackson Alone. Are contemporary art prizes favouring identity politics over artistic quality? Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones and artist/editor Veronica Simpson are on to discuss. Pre...
Jan 15, 2026•42 min
Sir Ian McKellen talks about performing Laurie Slade's one-man play Equinox - about an older man wrestling with his past and conflicting desires - at the inaugural Out in the Hills LGBTI+ culture festival at Pitlochry Festival Theatre. One of the world's most renowned and influential choreographers Wayne McGregor on his book We Are Movement, an exploration of "physical intelligence" which also asks what it means to be human in the age of AI. Ahead of a European farewell tour, country and America...
Jan 14, 2026•42 min
The boyband Blue perform one of the biggest early hits - One Love - and talk to Tom Sutcliffe about celebrating 25 years together with new album Reflections and a major tour. Marty Supreme director Josh Safdie discusses his film about an ambitious 1950s table tennis player. Timothee Chalamet won a Best Actor Golden Globe for the title role this week. It’s 40 years since Poems on the Underground was launched and a new collection is being released to mark the anniversary. And Claire Malcolm tells ...
Jan 13, 2026•43 min
Screenwriter Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Benjamin Button, Dune) on his West End stage adaptation of High Noon 50 years since her death, we ask whether Agatha Christie is still the preeminent crime writer Emmy-winning guitarist Tommy Emmanuel plays live Archaeologists in Wales have discovered a previously unknown Roman villa in Port Talbot - we speak with the leader of the team working on the site Presenter Samira Ahmed
Jan 12, 2026•42 min
Jessie Buckley talks to Tom Sutcliffe about her role in the historical drama Hamnet, adapted from Maggie O'Farrell's book which explores the origins of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Journalist Bidisha Mamata and writer Mark Ravenhill join Tom to review Hamnet. They also discuss award-winning author Bryan Washington's Palaver, which focuses on an estranged mother and son who attempt to reconcile in Tokyo. And they offer their verdict on Sheridan Smith's starring role in a revival of Alan Ayckbourn’s Woma...
Jan 08, 2026•42 min
American Ira Sachs' latest film is Peter Hujar's Day, which brings to life the transcripts from an unused 1974 interview that photographer Peter Hujar did with his friend, the nonfiction writer Linda Rosenkrantz. Ira shares what he's learned about the artist through the project. French pianist RIOPY first taught himself to play piano while growing up in a cult. After running away he was able to pursue a career in music, culminating in an album that topped the classical charts for years. His new ...
Jan 07, 2026•42 min
We hear from award-winning writer Dennis Kelly, the man behind Matilda the Musical and comedy show Pulling. In his new BBC One series Waiting for the Out he goes behind bars to tell the story of a man who teaches a philosophy class in prison. How do you choose the books you read? The Department of Education has launched the National Year of Reading and continuing Front Row's look at the subject of reading, today we’re looking at the evolution of book clubs. Nick is joined by Guinevere de La Mare...
Jan 06, 2026•42 min
As the tenth anniversary of David Bowie’s death approaches, Alexander Larman - author of Lazarus: The Second Coming of David Bowie – and Jonathan Stiasny – director of the documentary Bowie: The Final Act - join Tom to discuss David Bowie’s legacy and his less successful, low-profile period. The National Year of Reading 2026 is a government campaign to address declining literacy, and we're running a series of items on the state of modern literacy. Today, we're discussing reading and the brain, w...
Jan 05, 2026•42 min
As Scottish indie pop legends Belle & Sebastian prepare to celebrate 30 years of musicmaking, they look back at what got them here. Plus they help ring in the new year with a Rabbie Burns classic. Jamaica’s former Poet Laureate Lorna Goodison reflects on her recent residency at Ellisland Farmhouse, where Robert Burns wrote Auld Lang Syne. Award-winning Scottish poet and spoken word artist Michael Mullen brought their debut collection Goonie in to the world this June. Now they share a poem wr...
Dec 31, 2025•43 min
Director Joachim Trier on his latest film Sentimental Value, which is nominated for eight Golden Globes, including Best Picture and Best Director. We take a look at the late Brigitte Bardot's three most important films, with critic Muriel Zhaga Writer John Lloyd on the 42nd anniversary release of The Meaning of Liff, the book he co-wrote with Douglas Adams. Ahead of a memorial concert for the late great pianist Alfred Brendel, Samira is joined by his son, the cellist Adrian Brendel, and the pian...
Dec 30, 2025•42 min
In 1776, the Founding Fathers of America signed the Declaration of Independence, embarking on a new experiment in how to build a nation. On the eve of the 250th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence, Tom Sutcliffe and guests explore the founding fathers – and mothers – of American culture: the key figures who shaped American literature, music, visual art, and theatre and created a distinctively American voice. With the literary historian Sarah Churchwell, the art historian Erin...
Dec 29, 2025•42 min
Scott Bryan and Rhianna Dhillon join Tom Sutcliffe to discuss sports drama Marty Supreme which stars Timothée Chalamet as a table tennis hustler who dreams of becoming a world champion in 1950s New York. They also discuss Stephen Sondheim’s fairytale production Into the Woods which is at London’s Bridge Theatre. Plus they review Sentimental Value – Joachim Trier’s film which stars Stellan Skarsgård as a film director trying to mend his family through the camera. Finally, classicist and writer Na...
Dec 18, 2025•42 min
As a new adaptation of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus begins on Sky, actor Will Sharpe speaks to Front Row about he researched the role of Mozart, and music historian Flora Willson and Music Director of the Dunedin Consort John Butt discuss how recent research helps us better understand the man and his music. Baroness Margaret Hodge - whose review into Arts Council England was published this week - tells us about her findings and recommendations. And with just a week to go until Christmas, broadcaster ...
Dec 17, 2025•42 min
Jane Austen is often seen as an isolated genius who appeared from nowhere, or she is treated with a simplistic cult-like reverance which overlooks the complexities of her work. In this special edition of Front Row, exactly 250 years after Austen's birth, we take a close critical eye to a writer who innovated the novel as a form and revolutionised a literary style rarely seen before. Fellow novelists Tessa Hadley and Kamila Shamsie join Samira, alongside academics Professor John Mullan and Dr. So...
Dec 16, 2025•42 min
Hollywood giant Rob Reiner was found dead alongside his wife Michele at their Los Angeles Home this morning. Telegraph film critic Robbie Collin joins to discuss the life and career of the famed director of such classics as This Is Spinal Tap, When Harry Met Sally and The Princess Bride. Roland Gift, the lead singer of the hit 80s band Fine Young Cannibals, is live in session, playing one of the group's biggest hits and talking about the 40th anniversary of the release of their self-titled debut...
Dec 15, 2025•42 min
Film producer Jason Solomons and literary journalist Suzi Feay join Tom Sutcliffe to discuss the contemporary thriller Lurker which shows what happens when the line between popstar and fan gets blurred. They also talk about The Pelican Child a short story collection by Pulitzer Prize-nominated author Joy Williams. And the film Ella McCay is reviewed; a political comedy-drama that follows an idealistic woman juggling being state governor with a complicated family life. Tom also speaks to the film...
Dec 11, 2025•42 min
Actress June Squibb on her lead role in Scarlett Johansson's debut feature Eleanor the Great, in which a woman in her 90s moves back from Florida to Manhattan and forms a friendship with a young journalism student - the film explores themes of grief, the Holocaust, truth and lies. Jenny Colgan pays tribute to her fellow bestselling novelist Sophie Kinsella, whose death was announced today. From the daring heist on the Louvre in Paris in October to the theft of Matisse artworks from Brazil's seco...
Dec 10, 2025•42 min
Tonight, the winner of the 2025 Turner Prize will be announced in Bradford, this year’s City of Culture. Joining Nick to discuss the runners and riders is arts journalist at the Yorkshire Post, Yvette Huddleston. The death of the photographer Martin Parr was announced over the weekend. His reputation was established with his colourful1980s seaside holiday pictures. To remember his life and legacy, we hear from photographer Stephen McCoy who currently has a show at the Martin Parr Foundation in B...
Dec 09, 2025•43 min
Kate Winslet speaks to Samira Ahmed about her directorial debut, Goodbye June. With a screenplay written by her son Joe Anders, the film portrays complex family dynamics colliding with the surreal realities of palliative care. With talks around a possible peace deal in Ukraine ongoing, we discuss whether the country has effectively used arts and culture to further the national cause. We hear from conductor and founder of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra Keri-Lynn Wilson, and visual artist Pavlo M...
Dec 08, 2025•42 min
Tom and guests Arifa Akbar and Nick Hilton consider Paddington The Musical. It's the latest step for a beloved British institution... How does he work on stage? Is the bear believable? Are the songs memorable? Iranian director Jafar Panahi's latest film has won the Palme d'Or. It Was Just An Accident, straddles a difficult gap between political commentary and a lightly comic look at revenge. He had to make this film in secret and has just been sentenced - in absentia - to a prison sentence by th...
Dec 05, 2025•41 min
John Rutter on his first purely orchestral album in almost 60 years, which also marks the composer and conductor's 80th birthday. Novelist Sean Lusk on the extraordinary - and scandalous - life of 18th-century aristocrat Mary Wortley Montagu, which is told in A Woman of Opinion, which won Fiction of the Year at last month's Saltire Awards. Recently, a number of actors have said they would prefer not to have to work with intimacy coordinators on set. We raise their concerns with Ita O'Brien, an i...
Dec 03, 2025•43 min
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens has been transformed into a piece of hip hop dance at London’s Sadler's Wells East, and a Bollywood infused song and dance extravaganza for the big screen. We hear from the creatives behind the new versions, Bend it Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha and choreographer Dannielle Rhimes Lecointe. Beyond the Visual is the first of its kind in the UK - an exhibition co-curated by visually impaired artists. Held at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, the exhibi...
Dec 02, 2025•42 min
A celebration of the life and work of one of Britain’s greatest modern playwrights, Sir Tom Stoppard, who died at the weekend. He was 88. We hear from theatre critic Michael Billington, actress Emma Fielding, director Patrick Marber, biographer Hermione Lee, and literary critic Tristram Fane Saunders.
Dec 01, 2025•42 min
Nancy Durrant and Michael Donkor join Tom Sutcliffe to review Richard Linklater’s Broadway break up film Blue Moon, starring Ethan Hawke as Lorenz Hart, whose former writing partner Richard Rodgers had just made Oklahoma with Oscar Hammerstein. They also discuss Tate Britain’s exhibition about how the lives of Turner and Constable were entwined. And they talk about Pillion, a surprising award-winning romantic drama starring Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård, adapted from Adam Mars-Jones’ nov...
Nov 27, 2025•42 min
Dan Houser, lead writer of Grand Theft Auto, on his debut dystopian novel A Better Paradise, about a video game which goes wrong. Renowned director Katie Mitchell on why she is stepping back from opera due to a culture of misogyny. And we hear how Native American artists and musicians are responding to environmental concerns, with artist Neal Ambrose-Smith and Pulitzer Prize winning composer Raven Chacon. Presenter: Kate Molleson Producer: Mark Crossan
Nov 26, 2025•42 min
Actor Sydney Sweeney on her role in the boxing biopic Christie. Olivia Laing, author of The Silver Book, and Adrian Wootton discuss Italian film director and writer Pier Paulo Pasolini exactly fifty years after his controversial film Salò and horrific murder. Rising countertenor star Hugh Cutting performs live. The Scottish Government's review of Creative Scotland. Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Nov 25, 2025•43 min
Show creators Matt and Ross Duffer talk to Samira Ahmed about the final season of Stranger Things. So how much of the success of a Booker winner comes from the editing? We hear from Hannah Westland and Juliet Mabey, two publishers who have been particularly successful in producing Booker winning books. It's BBC Scam Safe week – a week of special programming to help keep you aware in the rapidly changing world of hustles and grifts. We focus on a very modern scam, AI generated biographies sold on...
Nov 24, 2025•42 min
Louisa Buck and Robbie Collin join Tom Sutcliffe to review the TV adaptation of Nick Cave’s novel The Death of Bunny Munro with Matt Smith playing a chaotic door to door beauty salesman They've visited artist Bridget Riley’s Learning to See exhibition at Turner Contemporary in Margate. And they discuss Marion Cotillard in the fairytale, fantasy drama The Ice Tower. Plus, Tom talks to the winner of this year's BBC New Comedy Award, Eli Hart. Celebrating its 30th anniversary, previous winners incl...
Nov 20, 2025•43 min
