Front Row: Archive 2013

With Mark Lawson, including an interview with critic and writer Hermione Lee about her new biography of Penelope Fitzgerald, who published her first novel at the age of 60, and won the Booker Prize with her book Offshore at the age of 63.With the news of a massive find of Nazi looted art in a Munich flat this weekend, Mark speaks to art critic Bill Feaver and Head of Collections at the Berlin Jewish Museum Inka Bertz about the connection to the 1937 "Entartete Kunst" - the Degenerate art exhibition in Berlin which included work by Picasso, Paul Klee, Kandinsky and Nolde.J J Abrams, the creator of TV series Lost, discusses his latest work - S - a novel where the writing is not just between the lines but in the margins and in scraps of paper embedded between the pages. S tells the story of a book written by a mysterious author and two of its readers who correspond to each other via its yellowing pages. Abrams talks of its conception and why he handed the project to novelist Doug Dorst, while he worked on Star T

With Kirsty Lang.The British rapper Tinie Tempah became a global sensation in 2010 with his debut album, winning the 2011 Brit Award for Best British Breakthrough Act. As he releases his second album, Demonstration, Tinie reflects on his fear of selling out, his support for the royal family and why he mentions Prince Harry, Jeremy Clarkson and Stephen Fry in his songs.Rosie Boycott reviews the Chilean film Gloria, which stars Paulina Garcia as a divorced woman in her late 50s who goes in search of romance. Garcia won Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival.Ballet star Carlos Acosta has written his first novel, Pig's Foot, which is the story of one family set against the backdrop of Cuban history from slavery to the present. He discusses why he is turning from ballet to literature.At the height of his success, novelist Dennis Wheatley sold over 50 million copies of his books worldwide in 28 languages, luring readers in with titles such as The Devil Rides Out and To The Devil A Daughter. Since his death in 197

With John Wilson.David Beckham talks about being a photographic muse - and of what's it's been like, living his life in front of a camera-lens.Singer-songwriter Graham Nash found fame with The Hollies and then with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. He's just published his memoirs and reflects on his upbringing in Salford and how his childhood was affected by his father's prison sentence. He also describes the unique harmonies created through his friendship with David Crosby and Stephen Stills - and his thorny relationship with Neil Young.Guitarist Brian May, founder member of Queen, also has a life-long passion for Diableries, 19th century French cards with 3D views of the underworld printed on them. He and fellow-enthusiast Denis Pellerin explain how these gothic images became hugely popular, and how Brian developed a modern day stereoscope in order to view them.A new dramatisation of Dracula arrives on TV for Halloween, starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers. This version sees the count posing as an American industria

With Mark Lawson.Joan Collins on her new memoir, picking the wrong husbands, not giving away her age, and why she wasn't the first choice for the now iconic role of Alexis Colby in Dynasty.The first major UK exhibition of 17th Century artist Giovanni Castiglione is opening this week at Buckingham Palace. Castiglione led a turbulent and violent life, but he was an innovative artist who invented the technique of monotype which is still used by artists such as Tracey Emin, whose works can be seen alongside Castiglione in Gifted: From the Royal Academy to The Queen.The work of crime writer Ian Rankin and the late Irish musician Rory Gallagher is paired up on a new concept compilation album - which features a story inspired by music which was in turn inspired by crime fiction. Ian Rankin and Rory's brother, Donal discuss the project with Mark.Indie film Drinking Buddies explores the relationship between two brewery co-workers who seem perfect for each other - except they're both in relationships with other people.

With Mark Lawson,Susan Stroman, the American theatre director and choreographer whose productions include the multi-award winning The Producers, talks about her new musical, The Scottsboro Boys. With music and lyrics by Kander and Ebb (Cabaret, Chicago), The Scottsboro Boys is based on the true story of a group of black teenagers in Alabama wrongly accused of rape, whose case became a milestone in the history of US civil rights.Short Term 12 is a drama set in a foster home for at-risk teenagers, written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton (I Am Not a Hipster). Shown from the perspective of a care supervisor played by Brie Larson, the film explores the complex, dark and sometimes humorous life of those working and living within the care system. Film critic Catherine Bray reviews.Comedian Ross Noble turns TV host this week with a show called Freewheeling, in which he follows invitations he receives on Twitter - whether it's a chance to arrive unannounced at a sales conference, or to meet a man who has a large

With Mark Lawson.Sandra Bullock, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2010, is now tipped for Oscar success again for her role in Gravity, in which she plays a medical engineer lost in space. She considers the demands of the part, which involves relatively little dialogue and the illusion of weightlessness.Few musicians experience the success enjoyed by Leonard Bernstein, acclaimed as a charismatic conductor as well as a composer whose work includes West Side Story. Now a 600 page collection of his letters offers a chance to re-assess his life, as revealed in correspondence with family members, numerous high-profile fellow musicians and cultural figures. Nicholas Kenyon, managing director of the Barbican Centre, London, gives his verdict.Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz and Rafe Spall star in a new Broadway production of Harold Pinter's play Betrayal - the latest staging of a work which has received several high-profile revivals since its premiere in 1978. Theatre critic Dominic Maxwell reflects on Betraya

With Kirsty LangElizabeth Gilbert's memoir Eat, Pray, Love spent nearly 200 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list and was made into a film starring Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem. Elizabeth talks to Kirsty about returning to fiction for her new book The Signature of All Things, a story which spans the 18th and 19th centuries and sees its heroine, botanist Alma Whittaker, travel from Philadelphia to Tahiti and Amsterdam in search of answers, adventure, and love.James Corden stars as Britain's Got Talent winner Paul Potts in the biopic One Chance. The film also stars Julie Walters as his mother Yvonne and is directed by David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada, Marley & Me). Larushka Ivan-Zadeh went to find out whether it matters that James Corden had to lip-sync to Paul's vocals.Robert Webb and Tamzin Outhwaite star in Raving, a new play about competitive parenting and middle class status anxiety by Simon Paisley Day. Critic Viv Groskop delivers her verdict.This week Qatar's Sheikha Al-Mayassa was deem

With Kirsty Lang.From Here To Eternity is given the musical treatment by Sir Tim Rice, the lyricist who gave us Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita, with Pop Idol contestant Darius Campbell in the role of Sergeant Milt Warden, memorably played by Burt Lancaster in the film adaptation. Critic Jason Solomons delivers his verdict.Earth, Wind And Fire, the American group behind hits September, Let's Groove and Boogie Wonderland in the late '70s, have just released their first studio album in eight years. Verdine White, Philip Bailey and Ralph Johnson, the three core members of the group - its founder Maurice White is no longer performing as a result of Parkinson's Disease - discuss the legacy of those early hits and the renewal of interest in their music following the success of Daft Punk.Artist Maggi Hambling and Tim Marlow pay tribute to the sculptor Sir Anthony Caro, whose death at the age of 89 was announced today.The V And A's new exhibition of Chinese painting promises to be "the most ambitious survey of one o

With Mark Lawson.Dame Judi Dench discusses her role in the new film Philomena, in which she plays a 70-year-old Irish woman who is looking to trace her son, taken away from her when she was a teenager. She discusses portraying and meeting the real Philomena Lee, and working with Steve Coogan, who co-scripted and co-stars in the film as Martin Sixsmith, the man who helped Philomena find her child.Honoré Daumier was a French printmaker, sculptor and painter whose work offered a social commentary on 19th Century French life. A new exhibition, Visions of Paris, explores his legacy. Booker Prize-winning novelist Julian Barnes reviews the show.Henrik Ibsen's play Ghosts is enjoying two very different new productions at the moment. In English Touring Theatre's staging, the sets take inspiration from designs originally made for the play by Edvard Munch in 1906. In Richard Eyre's new version, at the Almeida Theatre, London, the transparent walls of the set provide a stark contrast to the secrets hidden by the characte

Mark Lawson presents a special programme from Derry~Londonderry, UK City of Culture 2013.This year's Turner Prize for contemporary art is on show in Derry~Londonderry and features artists Tino Sehgal, Laure Prouvost, David Shrigley and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. David Shrigley and Laure Prouvost discuss their work and critic Philip Hensher delivers his verdict on the show.Derry-based writer Jennifer Johnston was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for her novel Shadows on Our Skin. Her Three Monologues, in response to The Troubles, are being performed as part of the City of Culture celebrations and her new novel A Sixpenny Song is published this month. She discusses the impact of the 2013 celebrations on the atmosphere in the city.Gerald Barry's comic opera The Importance of Being Earnest is being performed in Derry this week and then in Belfast, Cork and Dublin later in the year. He explains how he went about filleting Oscar Wilde's text and why Lady Bracknell was always going to be cast as a basso profondo.The ina

With Mark Lawson.Writer Susan Hill is now probably best known for her ghost story The Woman in Black, which became a long-running play and a major film. Her new novel Black Sheep is set in a mining village, and like many of her books, it's full of emotional claustrophobia, isolated characters and set at an unspecified time in the 20th century. She reflects on her long career and her approach to fiction.The Corrupted, a major new Radio 4 drama series, plots the course of one family against the backdrop of a revolution in crime, as the underworld extends its influence to the very heart of the establishment. Mark talks to its creator G F Newman, the award-winning writer of Judge John Deed and Law And Order.Pop Art Design is the first major exhibition in this country to examine the relationship between artists such as Andy Warhol, Richard Hamilton and Roy Lichtenstein and the world of commercial design - from posters to album sleeves to architecture. Critic William Feaver delivers his verdict.Producer Dymphna Fly

With John Wilson.Following in the footsteps of Homer's Odyssey, Morrissey's Autobiography has been published as a Penguin Classic. The singer takes readers through his childhood in Manchester, The Smiths' success and subsequent court battles, insights into personal relationships - and unexpected stories, including an invitation to appear in Friends. Philip Hoare, a winner of The Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction, reviews.Director Clio Barnard, who won acclaim for The Arbor, her portrait of the Bradford writer Andrea Dunbar, talks to John about her new film The Selfish Giant, loosely based on a story by Oscar Wilde, which now focuses on two boys lured into the world of scrap metal.Nelson, Navy, Nation is a new permanent gallery at the National Maritime Museum. Opening on Trafalgar Day (21 October) it looks at how the Royal Navy shaped individual lives and the course of British history in the 18th century - a period when sea-faring heroes were national celebrities. Naval historian Dr Sam Willis reviews.Tonig

With Mark Lawson.The film Prince Avalanche is a tale of two men (played by Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch) who, as they spend a summer painting the traffic markings on a country highway, share a journey of self-discovery. Novelist M J Hyland reviews.Mark visits a Luton primary school, as the children get to see a Frank Auerbach painting, on loan for the day. The work came from the Ben Uri Gallery as part of the Masterpieces in Schools programme, a partnership between the Public Catalogue Foundation and BBC Learning. Mark joins the children as they prepare to see a masterpiece first-hand, many of them for the very first time, and hears their thoughts about Auerbach's Mornington Crescent, Summer Morning II.Michael Blakemore joined the National Theatre as an Associate Director in 1971 under the leadership of Sir Laurence Olivier. His memoir Stage Blood tells the story of his time at the theatre and reveals the reasons behind his dramatic exit in 1976 after speaking out against Peter Hall's leadership. He reflects on

With John Wilson.Sir Paul McCartney talks about his latest album (called New), he sets the record straight regarding his relationship with John Lennon, and admits that he finds it difficult to say "I love you". The legend of a lost city of gold in South America captivated Europeans for centuries. A new exhibition at the British Museum unravels the myth of El Dorado - it was a man, not a city, and "The Golden One" was covered in powdered gold as part of a ritual. Rachel Campbell-Johnston reviews.War photojournalist Tim Hetherington was killed covering the Libyan conflict in 2011. He'd been Oscar-nominated earlier that year along with his co-director and friend Sebastian Junger. Now Sebastian has made a moving documentary-portrait of his colleague. He talks to John about Tim's courage, his distinctive approach to photography and the effect Tim's death has had on his work.Producer Timothy Prosser.

With Mark LawsonThis morning it was announced that Rufus Norris will succeed Nicholas Hytner as the new director of the National Theatre. Norris, who has been associate director of the National Theatre for two years, where he directed the Amen Corner and London Road among other productions, will take over from April 2015. Rufus Norris talks to Mark Lawson about his future plans.As Sir David Jason, the star of Only Fools And Horses, Open All Hours, The Darling Buds of May, and A Touch of Frost, marks his five decade long career with an autobiography, he reveals why his career began almost by accident and how he can do an uncanny impression of Julian Clary.The artist Jeremy Deller shows Mark around his latest exhibition, All That Is Solid Melts Into Air, which has opened at Manchester Art Gallery. The show, which will tour the UK, explores what Deller sees as the continuing impact of the Industrial Revolution on British popular culture.Producer Ekene Akalawu.

With Mark Lawson.In one of his final films, the late James Gandolfini stars alongside Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Seinfeld) in Enough Said. The pair play two single parents whose romance runs into problems. Sarah Crompton reviews.The singer-songwriter Tori Amos has written a new musical for the National Theatre, in collaboration with the playwright Samuel Adamson. The Light Princess is adpated from a fairy tale, with a new feminist twist. Tori Amos and Samuel Adamson discuss their partnership and how they worked within the traditional structure of a musical while breaking the rules.Stephen Fry and Karl Pilkington have both been travelling around the world, for TV documentaries which examine cultural attitudes. Stephen Fry: Out There looks at attitudes towards homosexuality, while in The Moaning of Life, Karl Pilkington investigates Marriage, Happiness, Kids, Vocation and Death. Rachel Cooke reviews.The work of the artist Paul Klee is explored in a major new exhibition at Tate Modern. The show focuses on the decade t

With Kirsty Lang.Julian Fellowes, the creator of Downton Abbey, has adapted Romeo And Juliet for the big screen, inserting his own blank verse in the process. Andrew Dickson, the author of The Rough Guide To Shakespeare, delivers his verdict.Booker Prize-winning novelist Penelope Lively, now in her 80s, discusses the impact of ageing and the fallibility of memory as her memoir Ammonites and Leaping Fish is published.The Bridge was a Scandi TV drama about a body found on the bridge between Denmark and Sweden and the cultural differences that informed the investigation of the murder. Now it has been adapted for British and French audiences as The Tunnel, with the body found halfway across the Channel Tunnel. Former Times Paris correspondent Kate Muir gives her verdict.It's 25 years since the band Prefab Sprout enjoyed their greatest chart success with the single The King of Rock 'N' Roll, and a decade since their last album of new material, but now founder-member Paddy McAloon is back with a new disc. He discus

With Mark Lawson.Tom Hanks reflects on saying no to film offers, playing real people, and his latest role in Captain Phillips, which depicts the ordeal of Richard Phillips, captain of a cargo ship taken hostage by Somali pirates in 2009. Captain Phillips is directed by Paul Greengrass (United 93, The Bourne Supremacy).It was announced today that Alice Munro has been awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize for Literature. AS Byatt and Hermione Lee discuss the Canadian author, who writes short stories rather than novels.And Mark talks to the American artist Dana Schutz, whose colourful and fantastical paintings are on show at The Hepworth gallery in Wakefield.Producer Timothy Prosser.

With Mark Lawson.Two major exhibitions of portraits open this week. Elizabeth I and Her People, at the National Portrait Gallery, focuses on paintings of the queen and her courtiers, as well as merchants, soldiers, artists and writers, offering insight into the rise of the 'middling sort' or middle classes in late 16th Century England. The National Gallery's Facing the Modern has portraits from early 20th Century Vienna by Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt and lesser known female artists showing how the newly-rich industrialists used portraits to express their aspirations. Charlotte Mullins gives her verdict.on.Jennifer Saunders discusses her life and career, from being heckled at the Comedy Store with Dawn French in the 80s to worldwide success with Absolutely Fabulous. She also talks about her little-known foray into French movies, why the French and Saunders show is over and why she might finally make an Absolutely Fabulous film.Roddy Doyle's debut novel The Commitments was made into a hit film in 1991. Its lates

With John Wilson.Front Row is live from the BBC National Short Story Award ceremony, where the chair of the judges, Mariella Frostrup, announces the winner of the £15,000 first prize, and we hear from the winning writer. The Beatles biographer and historian Mark Lewisohn discusses the first in his trilogy of books about the band, Tune In , which ends in 1962 as they're about to release their first single Love Me Do. The work is a weighty tome, running to 960 pages, and examines their lives week by week in the run-up to global fame, with the help of letters written by the group to their fans, which have been unearthed for the first time.The Fifth Estate is cinema's take on the story of Wikileaks, played out through the friendship and subsequent rivalry of website activists Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Bruhl). Rosie Boycott reviews.Producer Olivia Skinner.