Episode description

As Bradford limbers up for its year as UK City of Culture, in a special edition of Front Row, Nick Ahad meets:

Steven Frayne, the award-winning Bradford-born magician formerly known as Dynamo. Frayne's magic skills have brought him success in arenas and television studios worldwide and his biography Nothing is Impossible: My Story became a bestseller. He returns to Bradford in the ultimate homecoming gig as co-creator of RISE - the opening show for Bradford's year as UK City of Culture.

The 2022 documentary film, A Bunch of Amateurs, charmed critics and audiences alike. This portrait of one of the oldest amateur film societies in the world, Bradford Movie Makers, was the work of filmmaking duo Kim Hopkins and Margareta Szabo. On the set of their latest project, The Local, about another Bradfordian institution, the Jacob's Well pub, one of the oldest Beerhouses in Bradford, they discuss capturing the spirit of the community who walk through the pub doors.

Shanaz Gulzar is the Creative Director of Bradford 2025 and she's also the curator of one of the year's public art events, Wild Uplands. She talks about her vision for celebrating culture in her home city, and the four visual artists that she's selected to create work in the moors landscape she grew up with.

RISE co-creator and theatre director Kirsty Housley is known for the innovation that she brings to the stage in a wide variety of acclaimed productions including for the National Theatre. In poems such as BFD, poet, playwright, and cultural mentor Kirsty Taylor, has turned her home city into alluring verse. Kirsty H and Kirsty T talk about their work on RISE to create an opening show that reflects Bradford to its people and the rest of the world.

Presenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu