Front Row: Archive 2013

With Kirsty Lang.Actor Cillian Murphy, who reached a global audience in films such as Batman Begins and Inception, now stars as a gang leader in the BBC Two drama Peaky Blinders, set in Birmingham in 1919. He reflects on the historical background to the drama, and the blurring of the divide between film and TV.Director Mira Nair discusses her film The Reluctant Fundamentalist, based on the novel by Mohsin Hamid, in which Riz Ahmed plays a Pakistani financier whose life in America is dramatically altered by the attacks of September 11 2001. The film is about to be released on DVD.The Million Second Quiz is a new high-profile TV show, about to start in America, in which contestants compete over 11 days, 24 hours a day, aiming to win the biggest prize in game show history - $3 million. Stephen Lambert, the British producer who has created the show, talks about his desire to create a TV event for viewers watching live.Singer Alexandra Burke has released a track called Day Dream, reportedly about her former partne

With Kirsty Lang.Skinny jeans, phone calls and cameramen recording intimate footage all appear in a mediaeval setting, in a new National Theatre production of Christopher Marlowe's Edward II. Making his debut at the National Theatre, director Joe Hill-Gibbins adds a modern twist to this erotic and brutal play, which stars John Heffernan in the title role. Jerry Brotton reviews.Alan Cumming stars in the film Any Day Now, set in the late 70s and based on a true story about a gay couple who become guardians of an abandoned young boy with Down's Syndrome. Everyone's delighted with the progress the child makes under their care - until the fact that they're gay becomes public knowledge. Alan Cumming discusses institutional homophobia both in the story and today, working on the US TV hit series The Good Wife - and cabaret-singing with Liza Minnelli.The exhibition Victoriana: The Art Of Revival features new art inspired by the Victorian era, with pieces from 28 artists including Grayson Perry, Paula Rego, and Jake an

With Mark Lawson.Tamsin Greig, familiar to Radio 4 listeners as Debbie Aldridge in The Archers, is also well known from TV comedies such as Black Books and Green Wing, along with numerous acclaimed stage roles. This week she stars in the TV drama series The Guilty, as a mother who is also leading a police investigation into the death of a young boy. She reflects on the relationship between comedy and tragedy, corpsing on stage and the importance of pauses.Jonathan Coe, best known for What a Carve Up! and The Rotters Club, discusses his new novel Expo 58. It's set at the 1958 World Fair in Belgium, where a naïve young civil servant is sent to run the British pavilion against a backdrop of the Cold War. Jonathan Coe discusses spies and intrigue in his latest comic novel.A rare photograph of one of Vincent Van Gogh's sunflower paintings has been tracked down by writer Martin Bailey. The original painting, Six Sunflowers, was destroyed in Japan, during bombings in 1945. Martin Bailey explains how he found the ima

With Mark LawsonThe Italian film The Great Beauty was acclaimed at this year's Cannes Film Festival, and now arrives in British cinemas. Set in contemporary Rome, it's the story of an ageing writer looking back with bitterness on his passionate youth. Sarah Crompton reviews.Stephen Fry is curating the Deloitte Ignite Festival at the Royal Opera House, London. Events focus on Verdi and Wagner, to mark the bicentenaries of their births. Stephen Fry discusses his ideas for the Festival, which include taking QI panellist Alan Davies to his first opera for a scientific experiment. He also talks about the political situation in Russia, and not wanting to make a career out of his personal life.The Great Tapestry of Scotland, thought to be the longest in the world, is being unveiled today in Edinburgh. It is more than 140 metres long and depicts the history of Scotland from pre-history to the present. The work was conceived by author Alexander McCall Smith, and the panels were designed by artist Andrew Crummy, with i

With Mark Lawson.About Time, a new film written and directed by Richard Curtis, is the story a 21 year old, played by Domhnall Gleeson, who is told by his father (Bill Nighy) that he has the ability to travel back in time and change events. He uses this ability to woo future girlfriend Mary, played by Rachel McAdams. Camilla Long reviews.British reggae group UB40 are back with Getting Over the Storm, their 20th studio album, which includes new versions of country and western songs, including covers of tracks made famous by Jim Reeves and Willie Nelson. Saxophonist Brian Travers and drummer Jimmy Brown, original members of the band, discuss the inspiration behind the album, and reflect on recent financial troubles.Two new TV documentary series starting this week go behind the scenes at two very different schools. Sky 1's Harrow: A Very British School charts life at one of the UK's most famous boarding schools, while Channel 4's Educating Yorkshire follows staff and pupils at Thornhill Community Academy in Dews

Mark Lawson reflects on the life and work of the Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney, whose death was announced today. Writers including Edna O'Brien, Colm Toibin, Michael Longley and Hermione Lee consider Seamus Heaney's long writing career, and there's another chance to hear part of a special Front Row interview, recorded before an audience on the occasion of his 70th birthday.Producer Stephen Hughes.

With Kirsty LangHistorian Simon Schama discusses the challenge of bringing his latest project The Story of the Jews to television, the importance of story-telling to the Jewish experience, and how his former professor inspired him to focus on bringing history to popular audiences.The vast and ever-growing amount of information now stored on computer servers around the world has become a ready source of inspiration for artists. With an estimated 90 per cent of the world's data having been created in the last two years, there is plenty to call on. Artists Stanza and R Luke Dubois explain how they mine so-called "Big Data" to create images and music, and curator Hannah Redler describes how data has been used to make art since the early days of the internet.The British Film Institute kicks off its Gothic Season with a restored print of cult classic Night Of The Demon. This 1957 horror, by Cat People director Jacques Tourneur, stars Dana Andrews as a psychologist who enters a battle of wills against a psychic and

With Mark Lawson.American conductor Marin Alsop discusses becoming the first woman to conduct the Last Night of the Proms. She also reflects on toying with the idea of conducting with one hand after injuring her wrist, and falling in love with Leonard Bernstein at the age of nine.As Philip French puts away his pen after being The Observer's film critic for 50 years, coinciding with his 80th birthday today, he discusses the 2,500 films he has watched and the changes he has seen in cinema in that time.As Bonjour Tristesse is re-released in cinemas, the tragic life of actress Jean Seberg is re-assessed by her biographer Garry McGee. The star of A Bout De Souffle and Saint Joan was a political activist and supporter of the Black Panther movement and became the subject of an investigation by the FBI. She committed suicide in 1979, after her film career had faded away amid bad press and conspiracy theories.American drama series The Newsroom, created by Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing, The Social Network), returns to ou

With Mark Lawson.Super Size Me director Morgan Spurlock's latest film is a 3D documentary about the boy band One Direction. The film promises a behind-the-scenes look at the famous five-piece who were brought together on The X Factor in 2010. Rosie Swash gives her verdict.Scottish playwright and artist John Byrne has added his distinctive visual style to the King's Theatre in Edinburgh, where he has created a new mural for the auditorium's dome. He explains how the commission emerged from a visit to the theatre to watch a production of The Ladykillers.Nic Roeg, the acclaimed director of classic films such as Walkabout and Don't Look Now, discusses his career, sex scenes and much more besides, in the light of his newly-published memoir.With the announcement of the death of comedian Mike Winters, half of a double-act with his brother Bernie, comedy performer and writer Steve Punt considers the role of the 'straight man' in comedy.Producer Kate Bullivant.

With Mark Lawson, who reports from this year's Harrogate Crime Writing Festival.Ruth Rendell and Jeanette Winterson discuss their friendship, which began when Winterson was a house-sitter for Rendell in 1986. The writers also discuss crime plots, exercise regimes and mammoth book signing sessions.Kate Atkinson turned to crime-writing with Case Histories, which has become a TV series with Jason Isaacs playing private investigator Jackson Brodie. Atkinson reveals her reluctance to call herself a crime-writer and why she often comes up with titles before stories.For the second year running Denise Mina received the Novel of the Year award. But there were times when she feared her winning book wouldn't be published. Mina discusses rewriting her book in a weekend.Val McDermid, Erin Kelly, David Mark, Steve Mosby and Nicci French - husband and wife duo Nicci Gerrard and Sean French - discuss debut writers and JK Rowling's The Cuckoo's Calling, writers' block and tweeting, pure evil and taking inspiration from real l

With John Wilson.Film director and former Python Terry Gilliam discusses the re-mastering of his classic film Time Bandits, for a new DVD release, as his new film The Zero Theorem heads for the Venice Film Festival.Jennifer Aniston stars as a stripper turned pretend suburban wife and mother in the film We're The Millers. She becomes involved in the plans of a small-time drug dealer, played by Jason Sudekis, who enlists a fake family to help him smuggle marijuana across the Mexican border. Mark Eccleston reviews.The Scottish band Franz Ferdinand, who won the Mercury Music Prize in 2004, are back with a new album, Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, their first release for four years. Alex Kapranos and Bob Hardy discuss creating a live sound on a studio album and how a line on a vintage postcard discovered in a London market led to the opening lyric of the title track.As an exhibition of pastel portraits by Bob Dylan opens at the National Portrait Gallery in London, music journalist Kate Mossman discusse

With Mark Lawson.Fran Healy, lead singer of the band Travis, discusses their first new album for six years, and reflects on a career which includes the hits Why Does it Always Rain on Me, Driftwood and Sing.At the recent Harrogate Crime Writing Festival, Mark talked to three writers about how new technology makes it more difficult for characters to disappear without trace, or to hide or change their identities. With Lottie Moggach, Colette McBeth and Michael Robotham.Simon Bird, one of the stars of The Inbetweeners, and Jonny Sweet discuss their TV comedy series Chickens, which they co-wrote with Joe Thomas. It focuses on three young men who have avoided active service in the First World War.Producer Timothy Prosser.

With Mark Lawson.Mark meets Vince Gilligan, the creator of hit American TV series Breaking Bad, about a chemistry teacher who becomes a drugs overload after being diagnosed with cancer.Meg Rosoff reviews the film What Maisie Knew. Based on the 1897 novel by Henry James, the film is set in modern day New York and stars Julianne Moore and Steve Coogan as parents going through an acrimonious custody battle, in which their young daughter Maisie has become a pawn.Nadifa Mohamed, the award winning author of Black Mamba Boy, discusses her second novel The Orchard of Lost Souls. Set in her birthplace of Somalia, the novel tells the stories of two women and a young girl who are living through the destruction of the 1988 civil war. Mohamed talks about the difficulties of writing the book, her relationship with Somalia and the experience of moving to London.A London theatre has had to cancel some performances of one of its productions as a cast member is indisposed and there are no understudies. Actor Michael Simkins di

John Wilson meets Naughty Boy, the British-born Pakistani songwriter, musician and producer, who has worked with Emeli Sande and Britney Spears and is now releasing his debut album Hotel Cabana.Zoe Williams reviews the film Lovelace, starring Amanda Seyfried as Deep Throat actress Linda Lovelace.An extract from John's 2002 interview with the American crime writer Elmore Leonard, whose death was announced today.And Harry Nilsson's biographer Alyn Shipton discusses the life and career of the singer whose hits included Everybody's Talking, Without You, and Coconut.Producer Timothy Prosser.

With Mark LawsonSir Tom Stoppard has written Darkside, a new radio play starring Bill Nighy and Rufus Sewell, to mark the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd's album The Dark Side of the Moon. In discussing the play Stoppard talks about thought experiments, moral philosophers, and Mamma Mia.Elysium is a science fiction thriller set in a future where privileged elite live on the space station Elysium while the rest of the population remains on a damaged earth. Directed by Neill Blomkamp, who is best known for his politically charged 2009 film District 9, the sci-fi blockbuster stars Jodie Foster as the ruler of Elysium and Matt Damon as the man trying to break across the divide. Naomi Alderman reviews.Charlaine Harris is best known for her Sookie Stackhouse series which inspired the True Blood TV drama. Harris discusses her distinct Southern gothic style, books which fell short of her aspirations and how fans reacted angrily to the conclusion of her famous vampire series.Producer Claire Bartleet.

John Wilson brings the Cultural Exchange project to a close, with Armando Iannucci, Laura Mvula, Germaine Greer, Paul Weller, Terence Stamp, the Archbishop of Canterbury and others choosing their favourite artwork.John looks back at the 75 selections made over the past four months, and identifies trends and surprises.Visit the Cultural Exchange website for all 75 interviews and archive clips featuring Jack Nicholson, Bette Davis, Nina Simone and more.Also on the Cultural Exchange website: John Wilson and Mark Lawson make their choices.Producer Timothy Prosser.

With Mark Lawson.Reginald D. Hunter discusses race, sex and anatomy in his latest Edinburgh show In the Midst of Crackers. He reflects on fourteen years of coming to the festival and explains why he thinks the world has become a more stupid place in that time.Novelist David Peace is best known for the Red Riding Quartet and The Damned United, a fictional portrait of Brian Clough's spell at Leeds United. His new novel, Red or Dead, focuses on the legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly. Cabaret performers Sarah-Louise Young and Michael Roulston bring a taste of Hollywood royalty to the BBC tent with an extract from their homage to Julie Andrews, Julie Madly Deeply.Politics has been a common theme among a variety of genres at the Fringe this year. Kevin Toolis, creator of dramatic monologue The Confessions of Gordon Brown, Dugald Bruce-Lockhart, starring as David Cameron in The Three Lions and Gráinne Maguire, comedian and creator of One Hour All Night Election Show, discuss different approaches to tackling po

With John Wilson.Edinburgh born artist Peter Doig moved in Trinidad in 2002, and his new exhibition No Foreign Lands concentrates on the work he has painted since he has lived there. Showing at Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh it is the first major exhibition of his work to be shown in the country of his birth. Art critic Moira Jeffrey reviews.Crime-writer Chris Brookmyre's new novel Flesh Wounds is the third in a series to follow private investigator Jasmine Sharp and Detective Superintendent Catherine McLeod amongst the Glasgow criminal underworld. Brookmyre talks to John about writing from female perspective, how Glasgow has changed and why his name and titles are getting shorter.Based on a Stephen King novel and produced by Steven Spielberg, Under The Dome is a hit American TV series about a small town which suddenly finds itself cut off from the rest of the world by a mysterious force field. Critic and writer Andrew Collins delivers his verdict.In for the Cultural Exchange is actor and musician Riz

With Mark LawsonDavid Walliams writes, and stars in Big School as the Deputy Head of Chemistry in a comprehensive school who's smitten by the new French teacher, Catherine Tate, but finds a love rival in the shape of PE master Philip Glenister. Critic and ex-teacher Natalie Haynes delivers her verdict.Award winning poet John Agard received the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry earlier this year. Agard, who was born in Guyana and moved to Britain in 1977, talks about what the award means to him. He also discusses how his dual heritage and cricket were sources of inspiration for his latest collection Travel Light Travel Dark.Jerry Lewis' film about a clown who entertains children in a concentration camp, The Day the Clown Cried, has never been shown to the public after the comedian decided he was too embarrassed for it to be screened. Yesterday, footage from a behind-the-scenes documentary emerged online over 40 years after it was made, allowing us a glimpse of a film we never thought we'd see. Critic Adam Smith co

With John Wilson.The Clash were the noisy sound of rebellion in the late 1970s, a band who refused to perform on Top of the Pops, sold their double album for the price of a single LP, and won an international audience and critical acclaim. Three decades after their acrimonious split, band members Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Nicky 'Topper' Headon re-unite to reflect on their career and their legacy, as they prepare to release a box set of all their music. And from the Front Row archives, we hear from the band's charismatic front-man Joe Strummer, recorded in 1999, three years before his death at the age of 50: 'musicians don't know what they're doing in a creative way, it's more like blundering around - and certainly we had no idea what sort of impact we were going to make with our blunderings'. Editor John Goudie.