Front Row

42:27

Actors David Harewood and Sir Simon Russell Beale

Front Row ·

2026/09/30

Sherwood and Homeland star David Harewood talks to us about his lead role in Channel 4's new legal drama Pierre, which is co-written by John Donnelly and playwright Roy Williams. Actor Simon Russell Beale discusses playing Liberace on stage in I'll Be Seeing You, the new play from Martin Sherman (who wrote Bent and Mrs Henderson Presents), a sparkling fantasia which follows a young writer struggling to create a play about the flamboyant superstar with a carefully constructed public image, who was

en

42:24

BBC National Short Story Award and Young Writers...

Front Row ·

2026/09/29

Tom Sutcliffe hosts the ceremony for BBC National Short Story Award and Young Writers Award 2026, in partnership with University of Cambridge, live from BBC Broadcasting House in London.As well as the announcements of the winners of both awards, Tom is joined by judges David Almond, Tahmima Anam and Saba Sams to discuss the key ingredients for a standout short story. They also recommend the short story writers and collections which they love to read. Presenter: Tom SutcliffeProducer: Lucy

en

42:12

Es Devlin retrospective, Sebastian Faulks, Turner...

Front Row ·

2026/09/28

The multi-award winning stage designer and artist Es Devlin talks to Samira as a retrospective of her work opens at the Design Museum in London. Devlin has created sets for theatre and opera and also for stadium concerts, fashion shows, and the Olympics opening ceremony. This is her first UK museum show and her first retrospective in Europe, and it celebrates her 30-year creative practice across stage design, art installations, sculpture and music. The music played in the exhibition and briefly on

en

42:05

Front Row at the Contains Strong Language festival

Front Row ·

2026/09/24

A special edition of Front Row from the BBC's poetry and performance festival - Contains Strong LanguageSince self-publishing a poetry pamphlet in 2020, Donna Ashworth has gone on to become the UK's bestselling living poet of the decade. She talks about her new book, The Art of Being Easily Pleased: Words To Unlock A Wonderful life, and shares some of her new poems.The phenomenally successful musical, Operation Mincemeat, which looks at a WW2 deception operation, began life as a 15 minute

en

42:15

Review Show: Exit Party by Emily St John Mandel,...

Front Row ·

2026/09/23

In this week's Review Show, our guest critics Hannah McGill and Fergus Morgan join Kirsty Wark to discuss three dystopian thrillers: Bestselling novelist Emily St John Mandel's latest work of speculative fiction, Exit Party, chronicles how a range of characters respond to a complete collapse in society - in America, where Texas and California are now republics, and militia roam the streets, and in Paris, where a giant dome has been constructed to protect elites. An alien invasion in the heart

en

42:41

Comedian Russell Kane on playing an older Romeo

Front Row ·

2026/09/22

Comedian Russell Kane tells us about playing an older Romeo in a new take on Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.Author Samantha Ellis gives her verdict on the new film adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility starring Daisy Edgar-Jones.This week marks 100 years since the birth of John Coltrane. Saxophonist Soweto Kinch and Grammy award winning music historian Ashley Khan discuss Coltrane’s significance and legacy.And we reveal this year’s Booker Prize shortlist live on air. Literary critic and

en

42:23

Roger Taylor, drummer from the super band Queen, on...

Front Row ·

2026/09/21

Roger Taylor has been a driving force behind Queen, one of the most successful bands in history. The songwriter, drummer and singer talks to Tom Sutcliffe about his 7th solo album Violence Insane in a Beautiful World. Stars Wars legend George Lucas has long sought to fulfil his dream to open a museum for his vast art collection, which includes everything from the comics of R. Crumb and Moebius to the art of Frida Kahlo, Banksy and Norman Rockwell. Art critic Jocelyn Silver joins to tell us about

en

42:27

Review Show: Rose Tremain’s The Housekeeper, inspired...

Front Row ·

2026/09/17

Robbie Collin and Sarah Crompton join Samira Ahmed to review:Rose Tremain’s new book, The Housekeeper, which imagines how Daphne du Maurier’s classic novel, Rebecca, came to be written.Queen at Sea, a film starring Juliette Binoche and Tom Courtenay, which takes on the moral quandaries that occur with care in the advanced stages of dementia, when someone has lost the ability to make critical decisions.Thelma & Louise the new musical which is playing at the Young Vic in London.And we’ll have an

en

42:11

The Proclaimers on their new album, You May Offend

Front Row ·

2026/09/16

Twin brothers Craig and Charlie Reid emerged almost 40 years ago with their debut album This Is The Story and Top 3 single ‘Letter from America’. The Proclaimers join Kirsty Wark to discuss their new album, the ambiguously titled, You May Offend.Novelist Kate Atkinson won the Whitbread Book of the Year prize with her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum and today she chats about her latest novel, Our Noble Selves, set around the Festival of Britain which is 75 years old this autumn.Ahead of

en

42:23

Hermione Lee on her biography of the notoriously...

Front Row ·

2026/09/15

Biographer Hermione Lee talks to Tom about her new book Anita Brookner: Art and Life, which explores the career of the famously private art historian and author of 24 novels including the Booker prize-winning Hotel du Lac.Hollywood is enjoying one of its best summers at the box office as a mix of big budget blockbusters and surprise hits by new directors has powered cinema to a record $4.76 billion in global ticket sales, a 25% increase on the year before. Tim Richards, the CEO of VUE Cinemas, and

en

42:13

The Beatles' early days, Juliette Binoche's...

Front Row ·

2026/09/14

Samira Ahmed talks to Hunter Davies about his new book Get Back: The Boys Who Became the Beatles, Juliette Binoche about her directorial debut on In-I in Motion, Jack Thorne on his speech arguing for the need to protect writers in the age of AI, and National Short Story Award shortlisted author Lucy Caldwell. Producer: Eliane Glaser

en

42:34

Review Show: Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum

Front Row ·

2026/09/10

Viv Groskop and Amanda Vickery join Tom Sutcliffe to review:The Bayeux Tapestry as it goes on display to the public in Britain for the first time since its creation almost a millennium ago. Taipei Story, the new novel from bestselling literary phenomenon Rebecca F Kuang, author of Babel and Yellowface, about a young Chinese-American woman studying in Taiwan and grappling with ideas of disapora and identity. Everybody Digs Bill Evans, the debut narrative feature from filmmaker Grant Gee which looks

en

42:22

Oasis documentary Don’t Look Back in Anger

Front Row ·

2026/09/09

Music critic Neil McCormick shares his verdict on the Oasis documentary, Don’t Look Back in Anger about Noel & Liam Gallagher's reunion tour. Writer Beth Steel talks about her acclaimed play Till The Stars Come Down. The drama is based around a wedding in Mansfield, East Midlands. Originally a sold-out hit at the National Theatre, the production has had a West End Transfer and been performed globally. Beth talks to Samira Ahmed about the show making its regional premiere at the Nottingham

en

42:22

Call My Agent's writer and creator Fanny Herrero on...

Front Row ·

2026/09/08

Fanny Herrero, writer and creator of the French sitcom Call My Agent, joins Tom Sufcliffe to talk about how her show about the antics of the cut-throat Paris talent agency ASK became a global hit and why, after a five year hiatus, she’s got the agents back together for their first ever film.This year’s unprecedented extreme heat and lack of rain in large parts of the UK has wreaked havoc with gardens big and small. How have the historic landscapes, parks and gardens coped? Historic England and The

en

42:44

Helen of Troy - a new play by Ava Pickett

Front Row ·

2026/09/07

Ava Pickett discusses her new play Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy at Theatre Royal Stratford East, and the huge success 1536, her Olivier Award-winning play about the Tudors.Louisa Young on her novel The Golden Years, which continues The Cazalet Chronicles, the hugely popular series of books by Elizabeth Jane Howard. With the opening this week of the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum, Samira talks to Agnes Valencak, Head of Exhibitions at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and art dealer Philip

en

42:09

Norman Day special

Front Row ·

2026/09/03

Tom Sutcliffe and guests explore the architecture and culture of Norman Britain as part of a special day of programmes on Radio 4 marking the return of the Bayeux Tapestry.From Durham to Peterborough, Lincoln to Norwich, the Norman invasion shaped British architecture, landscape and culture. Beginning in wood but later cemented in stone, power was expressed in the rounded arches and distinctive ornamentation of cathedrals and castles. Beginning in 1066, the Romanesque style can still be seen all

en

42:27

Review: Pedro Almodóvar's new film Bitter Christmas

Front Row ·

2026/08/27

Mark Ravenhill and Leila Latif join Tom Sutcliffe to review:Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar's new film Bitter Christmas, a tragi comedy told across different time frames, and questioning the relationship between reality and fiction in the film industry. Author of best selling The Immortalists, Chloe Benjamin's new speculative fiction novel is Under Story, which asks if you could turn back the clock, would you live your life a second time?And Ridley Scott's film The Dog Stars, starring Jacob

en

42:21

YouTube's Pedro Pina on the future of television, and...

Front Row ·

2026/08/26

Ahead of her sixth performance at the BBC Proms the mezzo soprano star Joyce DiDonato talks to Kirsty about the explosive potential of her voice. VP Head of YouTube EMEA - Pedro Pina - delivers the flagship address of this year's Edinburgh TV Festival. He gives his perspective on the continuing evolution of tv as we know it. Comedy is at the heart of the Edinburgh Festivals, and today the shortlist for the Edinburgh Comedy Award has been revealed. Director of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards Nica Burns

en

42:01

Remembering Dolly Parton, Meg Mason and Notting Hill...

Front Row ·

2026/08/25

Samira Ahmed spoke to Dolly Parton in 2023. As her death is announced Front Row pays tribute to the star of country music who sold more than 100 million records and wrote over 3,000 songs in a career that spanned six decades. A chance to hear Meg Mason, the bestselling author of Sorrow and Bliss, about her new novel, Sophie Standing There, which deals with celebrity obsession and the publishing industry. A new film looks at the story of the Second World War through General De Gaulle’s eyes. We

en

42:14

Review Show: Rachel Cusk's new novel and the return...

Front Row ·

2026/08/20

Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and William Lee Adams join Tom Sutcliffe to review:The Life of M - the new novel from Rachel Cusk. The book centres on a writer’s attempt to chronicle the life of a globally famous film star, and explores the strangeness of celebrity.Stop! That! Train! - a comedy disaster movie featuring many of the stars from RuPaul's Drag Race.Coyote vs Acme - after a lengthy and tumultuous journey, including being shelved by its studio, the much anticipated Looney Tunes film finally reaches

en

All Episodes

Similar Podcasts

وجوه من الـظل

Medi1 Podcast

A voix nue

France Culture

Laissez-vous tenter

RTL

Adjacent Podcast

Jody Silvey Wynn & Shelly Silvey Grabe

Paratruther

Tony Arterburn