Front Row: Archive 2014

Phyllida Lloyd talks to Samira Ahmed about her all-female Henry IV and the importance of casting women in plays about political power. Professor Griselda Pollock reviews The Sensory War, a new exhibition in Manchester which reflects on how artists have tried to capture the impact of military conflict between 1914 and 2014. Photographer and official war artist Robert Wilson discusses Helmand Return, a new series of 59 billboards across the UK of his photos which capture the daily life of British troops in Afghanistan in their final tour of duty. And tomorrow is Super Thursday, the day when more than 300 books will be published on the same day. We ask why this has evolved, and what it means for the books market. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Rebecca Armstrong.

In tonight's Front Row, John Cleese talks to John Wilson about his memoir, So, Anyway - an account of the influences that shaped his comedy - and singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran considers song-writing as revenge and explains why so many of his lyrics are about drinking. Also in the programme, Tracey Emin makes it clear why she feels motherhood and a career as an artist are incompatible. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Rebecca Nicholson.

Clive James talks to Samira Ahmed about his new publication Poetry Notebook 2006-2014, in which he presents a distillation of all he's learned about the art form that matters to him most; Sarah Dunant reviews Emma Thompson and Dakota Fanning in new film Effie Gray about the life of the Victorian art critic and painter John Ruskin; playwright Brad Birch on his new production, Selfie, an update on Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray; and Niven Govinden on his novel All the Days and Nights Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks of Genesis discuss a new documentary about the band and Sarah Churchwell reviews David Mamet's Speed the Plow starring Lindsay Lohan. Also on the programme Jude Kelly and Stella Duffy explain how this weekend they're hoping to fulfil Joan Littlewood's vision of making art and science available to all through the Fun Palaces initiative and Victoria Hislop reveals the real history behind her new novel. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Ellie Bury.

Rosamund Pike talks to Kirsty Lang about her emotionally and physically demanding role in the much-anticipated screen adaptation of the crime thriller Gone Girl. Many operatic heroines die at the end - but not Minnie, the gun-toting heroine of Puccini's opera, The Girl Of The Golden West. Director Richard Jones and conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson talk about this "wild west" opera at the ENO. 21 year-old Aisling Fahey has just been appointed Young Poet Laureate For London; she describes her beginnings in poetry using magnets on the fridge. And Sarah Crompton reviews ITV's upcoming 1950s mystery drama Grantchester, starring James Norton as clergyman turned sleuth Sidney Chambers alongside Robson Green as a police investigator. Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Sarah Johnson.

Stephen Fry discusses his memoir, More Fool Me; the writer and political commentator Polly Toynbee reviews Tony Benn: Will and Testament, a new autobiographical documentary about Britain's longest-serving Labour MP; Kei Miller talks to Kirsty about winning the Forward Poetry Prize; Curator Tim Pye takes Kirsty round the British Library's new exhibition, Terror and Wonder: the Gothic Imagination, and shows her exhibits including a Victorian vampire slaying kit and a stage version of Dracula handwritten by Bram Stoker.

In a special edition of Front Row live from the BBC Radio Theatre, John Wilson and guests celebrate the short story. He'll be joined on stage by Hilary Mantel and Laura Dockrill. And chair of the judges Alan Yentob will be announcing the winner of the BBC National Short Story Award 2014 from the all female shortlist of Tessa Hadley, Rose Tremain, Francesca Rhydderch, Zadie Smith and Lionel Shriver.

Kristin Scott Thomas and director Ian Rickson discuss reuniting for a new stage production of Sophocles's Greek tragedy Electra, which has music by PJ Harvey. Mackenzie Crook tells John Wilson about Detectorists, a new BBC comedy about people who go in search of buried treasure with their metal detectors, which he has written and directed and also stars in alongside Toby Jones. Critic Rachel Campbell-Johnston reviews the work of the four shortlisted artists for the Turner Prize 2014, on show at Tate Britain. George Harrison's widow Olivia Harrison discusses a new CD set of his tracks both as a Beatle and solo artist. Plus, a tribute to poet Dannie Abse whose death was announced on Sunday. Presenter : John Wilson Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

A new exhibition by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei at Blenheim Palace will be his biggest UK show to date, which Craig Clunas reviews with Kirsty Lang. Eimear McBride, who won the Bailey's Women's Prize for her debut novel A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing, and theatre director Annie Ryan discuss adapting McBride's experimental and challenging book for the stage. Playwright Roy Williams talks about putting Sophocles's Greek tragedy Antigone in a contemporary setting, and as Prince releases two new albums on the same day, Matt Thorne asseses whether the Minneapolis singer-songwriter still has the power to thrill and surprise. Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Olivia Skinner.

Bernard Sumner, one of the founding members of Joy Division and the lead singer of New Order, discusses his autobiography "Chapter and Verse: New Order, Joy Division and Me" which charts his part in the Manchester music scene since the late 1970s, author Lionel Shriver discusses her short story Kilifi Creek, which has been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award, as two plays about youth activism open, playwrights James Graham and Tim Price discuss portraying political protest on stage and What We Did On Our Holiday, a comedy starring David Tenant, Rosamund Pike and Billy Connolly, reviewed. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Olivia Skinner.

Zadie Smith discusses Miss Adele Amidst the Corsets, her shortlisted entry for the BBC National Short Story Award; Tom Dyckhoff reviews The Art of the Brick, a new exhibition of artworks built with Lego; musician Ryan Adams on the analogue joys of the typewriter and the tape recorder. And as last night's controversial art performance featuring black actors in a recreation of a "human zoo" is called off after protests at its opening night in London, John Wilson hears both sides of the argument. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Ricky Tomlinson and playwright Neil Gore talk to John Wilson about United We Stand, a new play which looks at the controversial criminal prosecution that followed the 1972 national building workers' strike; Dreda Say Mitchell reviews The Driver, BBC1's new drama starring David Morrissey whose life takes an unexpected turn when he finds himself moonlighting for a criminal gang. Also on the programme, Francesca Rhydderch, who's been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award, reveals the research she undertook for her entry, The Taxidermist's Daughter; and this week the German artist Anselm Kiefer, whose 40-year career wrestles with the darkness of Germany's history, has his first major UK retrospective. The exhibition's curator Kathleen Soriano discusses the themes and the monumental scale of Kiefer's work on show at the Royal Academy.

British actor Toby Jones discusses his role in new TV drama Marvellous and Jason Solomons reviews David Cronenberg's latest film, the dark Hollywood satire Maps to the Stars. Also on the programme Rose Tremain explains the idea behind her shortlisted entry for this year's BBC National Short Story Award, and John Lahr on how he got inside the mind of Tennessee Williams for a new biography. Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Ellie Bury.

Zach Braff on the film Wish I was Here, which he directed, wrote and starred in, and which is the biggest original project funded by Kickstarter. Kirsty Lang talks to the French singer Charles Aznavour, whose hits include the classic She. Writer Tessa Hadley on her story Bad Dreams, which has been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award, and which can be heard read by Carey Mulligan, here on BBC Radio 4 at 3.30 Monday 22 Sept. Following the result of the Scottish Independence Referendum, Scottish poet Robert Crawford selects and reads one of his poems, which - for him - sums up the mood of the moment. Plus the winner of the John Moores Prize for Painting is announced.

Denzel Washington on getting revenge in his new film, action thriller The Equalizer. Samira Ahmed talks to conductor Riccardo Chailly, whose recordings of Brahms Symphonies last night won Gramophone Record the Year. Howard Brenton discusses Doctor Scroggy's War, his new play for Shakespeare's Globe about the founding father of plastic surgery. And 80 year old Leonard Cohen releases his 13th studio album, Popular Problems. Ruth Barnes reviews.

With John Wilson. The singing legend with the bell-like voice, Joan Baez, about to perform at the Royal Festival Hall, talks about her extraordinary life and musical career. Alan Yentob announces the shortlist for the BBC National Short Story Award 2014, and James Schamus - the writer and producer whose films include Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Brokeback Mountain and Lost in Translation - talks about the future of Hollywood, ahead of his opening talk for the BAFTA Screenwriting Lectures Series. Plus, Susannah Clapp reviews Maxine Peake as Hamlet at Manchester's Royal Exchange theatre. Presenter : John Wilson Producer : Dymphna Flynn Image Credit: Marina Chavez.

Tonight's Front Row reviews Woody Allen's Magic In The Moonlight, starring Colin Firth, and Samira Ahmed visits the new Constable exhibition at the V&A. Also in the programme: Enda Walsh on his latest play Ballyturk, and documentary-maker André Singer on Night Will Fall, the untold story of how Alfred Hitchcock became involved in the making of a Holocaust documentary - and why that film was suppressed. (Image: Full-Scale Study for The Hay Wain, John Constable, 1821. Copyright: Victoria and Albert Museum, London).

The Riot Club, whose cast includes Max Irons and Jessica Brown Findlay, is a film based on Laura Wade's play Posh, about a fictional elite Oxford University male members club. Rachel Cooke reviews. John Wilson tours the 15th Century Ming treasures at the British Museum's new exhibition - Ming: 50 years that changed China. With curator Jessica Harrison-Hall. One of the world's top percussionists, Colin Currie, talks about becoming a human drum kit for the first night of Metal, Wood, Skin: his four month long festival at the Royal Festival Hall. And Viv Groskop on the return of ITV's Downton Abbey. Presenter John Wilson Producer Claire Bartleet.

Kate Mosse discusses her new novel The Taxidermist's Daughter and actor Stellan Skarsgård tells Kirsty about his role in Norwegian comic thriller In Order of Disappearance . Also tonight Rosie Swash reviews Glue, a new teen drama from the writer of Skins and Enn Reitel remembers Sir Donald Sinden, who he portrayed for Spitting Image. Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Ellie Bury.

Including a review of Sheridan Smith as Cilla Black in a new three part series about the singer's early career, and an interview with actors Oliver Chris and Lydia Wilson as they return to their roles as Will and Kate in Mike Bartlett's King Charles III. Also on the programme, historian Jessie Childs reviews a new exhibition of Tudor portraiture and artefacts at the National Portrait Gallery, and poet Alice Oswald discusses the animal poetry of Ted Hughes. Presenter: Razia Iqbal Producer: Ellie Bury.