Front Row

Art critic Ben Luke and writer Sarah Crompton join Samira Ahmed to review David Hockney’s first exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery in London: A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting, which includes new works and a digitally created ninety-metre-long frieze which was inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry. They also discuss Hooked by Asako Yuzuki, the author behind the award-winning bestseller Butter. And they review The Tasters, which tells the story of the women who were the food tasters for Adolf Hitler towards the end of World War II. Plus, BBC National Short Story Award judge Tahmima Anam talks about this year's competition and offers tips for writers.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Claire Bartleet

Actor James McAvoy who has starred in everything from Shameless to X Men talks about turning director for his debut feature, California Schemin'. The film, which is billed as being "based on a true lie", tells the story of two young rappers from Dundee who pretended to be American in order to be taken seriously by the record industry - and ended up touring with Eminem in the 2000s. BBC One's new Sunday evening drama series The Other Bennet Sister tells the story of Pride and Prejudice through the eyes of Mary Bennet, often regarded as less remarkable than her sisters Jane and Elizabeth in Jane Austen's classic novel. Screenwriter Sarah Quintrell speaks about adapting Janice Hadlow's bestselling book which offers a new perspective on the much-loved book and stars Bridgerton's Ella Bruccoleri in the lead role, as well as Ruth Jones as  mother Mrs Bennet, with Richard E Grant as Mr Bennet. And 800 years on from his death, we are joined by art historian Joost Joustra and Franciscan Friar Brother Samuel to consider the cultural legacy of St Francis of Assisi. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

Booker Prize-winning author Howard Jacobson discusses his new novel, Howl.Musician Thea Gilmore talks about her latest project The Echo Line, where she creates music from anonymous messages. Thea also performs the song Silvie live, which is the second track from the project.A book containing 10,000 writers' names entitled Don't Steal This Book is being given out at the London Book Fair as a stand against AI using copyrighted material. Tom talks to bestselling author Philippa Gregory about the book and why her name is included in it. And we delve into the popular world of micro-dramas also known as vertical dramas which are a booming in East Asia. Episodes only last a few minutes and move at a breathtaking pace, all filmed in the portrait, phone-friendly format that gives the genre its name. We speak to UK based director Dan Lowenstein, and the BBC's Seoul correspondent Jake Kwon, to find out if vertical dramas have a future here too. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Lucy Collingwood

Cillian Murphy talks to Samira Ahmed about the return of Tommy in new film Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. Timothee Chalamet's disparaging comments on opera and ballet have caused a stir. Matthew Hemley, editor of the stage, responds to what the Oscar nominee actually said.As London Book Fair begins, and new data suggests adult fiction sales are increasing, we ask why non-fiction seems to be in decline? Toby Mundy, director of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, and Bea Carvalho, Waterstones' Head of Books, discuss current trends.And Deepa Anappara, the Indian author behind the widely-praised Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line, returns with an exploration of 19th century Tibet in new novel The Last of Earth.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

Writer Rebecca Stott and Telegraph film critic Robbie Collin join Tom to discuss The Bride! Maggie Gyllenhaal's film about the bride of Frankenstein, starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale.They also talk about the novel Bad Fiction by Rebecca Sarah Ley which is based around a creative writing course and relationships with the lauded course leader.There’s going to be a new BBC TV documentary about reading and they want your stories about the book that changed your life. Maybe a book bought you love, transformed health or happiness or even saved a life? If you would like to tell your story please email: Reading@blinkfilmsuk.comArtistic director Seán Doran talks about a new Northern Literary Lands initiative, celebrating the literary legacy of eleven border counties in Ireland. With the new Samuel Beckett Biennale, several festivals and nine cross-border literary travel paths, the area is applying to become the world's first UNESCO Region of Literature. The German film Sound of Falling is the final item being reviewed. The award-winning film explores a home over a century which is haunted by family secrets.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet

Will Self dives in to his latest satirical novel in which he looks at the alienation of modern life, and takes a stab at middle-class life. He discusses how his experiences with cancer have impacted his writing, and his outlook. 75 years after the death of composer and performer Ivor Novello, we celebrate his life and works - from musicals to the talkies. Kirsty is joined by Novello specialist Ian McMillan-Davidson and conductor and composer Sir John Rutter. In 1976 a firebomb at Malone House in South Belfast destroyed almost the entire fashion and textile collection of the Ulster Museum. 50 years on, a new exhibition Ashes to Fashion showcases the story of its rebirth. Tonight, the winner of the Nero Gold Prize is crowned. Head judge and writer Nick Hornby shares what made the 2025 winner so special. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Caitlin Sneddon

Author Julia Quinn published The Duke and I, the first novel in her eight-part Bridgerton series, in 2000. Twenty years later the adaption of her books would become a television phenomenon. Julia reflects on the place of class, race, and sex in her Regency romances and why getting a call from one of television's most successful producers was such a transformative moment for the genre that she loves.With the government proposing an overnight visitor levy or ‘tourism tax’ in England, Nick talks to travel journalist Simon Calder and CEO of London’s Southbank Centre, Elaine Bedell. They discuss the potential impact of the levy and whether some of the revenue should be ringfenced for arts and culture.There's a new Rembrandt in town. Art historian Bendor Grosvenor on the newly attributed painting that's about to go on show at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.Beneath the Sheets: Anatomy, Art and Power is a new exhibition at the Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds. Curator Jack Gann discusses how attempts to understand the human body fused art and science.Presenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Media journalist Al Horner discusses the latest twist in Warner Bros sale.Pixar's chief creative officer Pete Docter on the inner workings of the animation giant as it marks its 40th anniversary this year.100 years after his birth, and with a special BFI season underway, we assess the work of the Polish director Andrzej Wajda, with fellow director Agnieszka Holland and film writer Ian Christie. British painter Rose Wylie's Royal academy retrospective opened last week. Samira sat down to speak with her at the RA in the shadow of one of her enormous canvasses. Presenter: Samira Ahmed

Art critic Louisa Buck and writer Chris Power giving their verdicts on Tracey Emin: a second life at Tate Modern. This landmark exhibition spans 40 years and includes famous works such as My Bed to recent paintings and bronzes which are on display for the first time.They will also be reviewing the Oscar nominated film Sirât - which tells the story of a father travelling the Moroccan desert with ravers in the hope of finding his missing daughter.And they discuss Bird Grove, a play which tells the story of Mary Ann Evans before she became George Eliot.Plus Tom interviews Linda Tolhurst, the National Theatre’s Stage Door Keeper who is receiving the Industry Recognition Award at the Olivier Awards this year.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet

Poet Laureate of the United States, Arthur Sze is one of the most admired poets of the past five decades influencing the work of Poet Laureates and Nobel Physicists. His work focusses on imagery from nature and he will talk about his latest collection and his first UK publication, Into The Hush.The Glasgow Film Festival opening film, Everybody to Kenmure Street tells the story of the community response to a dawn raid by Immigration Officers on Kenmure Street, a diverse community in the southside of Glasgow in May 2021. Director Felipe Bustos Sierra joins Kirsty.Artist Ilana Halperin on her exhibition 'What Is Us and What is Earth' that blends sculpture, drawing and photography to explore the connection between human life and geological time. Curator Susanna Beaumont will also join the discussison to talk about the exhibition, 'Earth Matters' that marks 300 years since the birth of James Hutton, the Edinburgh born geologist whose radical ideas gave us the first sense of deep time and changed how we see the Earth

The full scale invasion of Ukraine began four years ago today. Ukraine Unbroken is an evening of five new plays written in response to the war. David Edgar talks about his, Five Day War, which imagines the puppet government waiting to move in when Kviv falls, and the other dramas. Between the plays Ukrainian musician Mariia Petrovska sings and plays the bandura. She talks about her involvement and the bandura, the national instrument that was once banned. And Mariia plays and sings live in the studio.As Oscar-winning British cinematographer Sir Roger Deakins looks back at his career through his visual memoir Reflections: On Cinematography, he talks to Samira about his practical and inventive approach to working on many iconic films such as 1984, O Brother Where Art Thou, 1917, tackling sci fi on Bladerunner 2049 and Bond with Skyfall. The government has announced the introduction of new legisation to introduce monitoring by Ofcom of streaming services. Front Row explores the implcations of this.And we consider the novels selected for the International Booker Prize longlist, announced today with writer and head judge Natasha Brown. The books in contention are: The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran by Shida Bazyar, translated from German by Ruth Martin We Are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated from Spanish by Robin Myers The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, translated from Dutch by David McKay The Deserters by Mathias Énard, translated from French by Charlotte Mandell Small Comfort by Ia Genberg, translated from Swedish by Kira Josefsson She Who Remains by Rene Karabash, translated from Bulgarian by Izidora Angel The Director by Daniel Kehlmann, translated from German by Ross Benjamin On Earth As It Is Beneath by Ana Paula Maia, translated from Portuguese by Padma Viswanathan The Duke by Matteo Melchiorre, translated from Italian by Antonella Lettieri The Witch by Marie NDiaye, translated from French by Jordan Stump Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur, translated from Persian by Faridoun Farrokh The Wax Child by Olga Ravn, translated from Danish by Martin Aitken Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, translated from Mandarin Chinese by Lin KingPresenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Julian May

Fifty years on from the death of painter LS Lowry, the BBC has made a documentary featuring recently discovered recordings made in the last years of his life. Recorded by Lowry fan Angela Barratt over a period of four years, the tapes have been lip-synced for the documentary, with Ian McKellen playing Lowry and Annabel Smith as Barratt. Art historian Verity Babbs and curator of the Lowry Collection, Claire Stewart, join Samira Ahmed to discuss the painter's life and legacy. Actress Neve Campbell shot to fame playing the lead role of Sidney Prescott in Scream in 1996. She went on to appear in five of the six sequels - and now returns for another battle with the Ghostface killer in Scream 7. Francis Spufford is the award-winning author of Golden Hill and Light Perpetual. His new novel, Nonesuch, tells the story of a young woman who must thwart an occult plot by time-traveling fascists during the chaos of the London Blitz.And Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw reacts to last night's BAFTAs, as well as the winner of the Berlin Film Festival's coveted Golden Bear Award. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Tim Bano

Poet, playwright and curator Inua Ellams and film critic Hanna Flint join Tom Sutcliffe for this week's reviews. Riding high after the huge success of the Wicked films, actor Cynthia Erivo returns to the London stage for a one-woman production of Bram Stoker's Dracula, in which she plays all the parts. Last summer was dubbed 'brat summer' by the press, with the word 'brat' entering the dictionary as an adjective - all in response to the pop album Brat by singer Charli XCX. In a new mockumentary, The Moment, Charli considers how to follow up on Brat, and how to deal with fame. And Kleber Mendonça Filho's new film The Secret Agent follows a man caught in the turmoil of the Brazilian military dictatorship. With four Oscar nominations and two BAFTA nominations, it's widely tipped to be one of the big winners in this year's awards season. Plus authors Hallie Rubenhold and Jason Sanford tell Tom about a new and troubling marketing scam aimed at authors which promise good reviews and then resort to threats when authors do not respond.Producer: Tim Bano

Director Mona Fastvold and actor Amanda Seyfried discuss their film The Testament of Ann Lee, a musical history about the life of the founder of The Shakers, a mystic who moved from Manchester to the United States in the 18th century and founded a religious community, and who advocated for celibacy, communal living, and gender equality.As a new production of George Bernard Shaw's St Joan opens, director Stewart Laing and theologian and art historian Ayla Lepine discuss how the 15th-century French religious martyr who led France to victory in the Hundred Years War against England but who was burned at the stake after being found guilty of heresy has influenced culture, and why her story is particularly relevant today.In her new book Fashioning the Crown, journalist and author Justine Picardie explores how the women of The Windsors have used clothing to communicate messaging to the public. She speaks about her research in the Royal Archives and about how symbolic royal dress has been over the past century.Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

In 1986 Jim Cartwright's debut play, Road, was the theatrical sensation of the year and its reputation has only grown in the decades that have followed. As a new production to mark its 40th anniversary opens at the Royal Exchange in Manchester, Jim Cartwright joins Front Row to reflect on why the play has had such an enduring impact."How lovely yellow is! It stands for the sun.” So exclaimed Van Gogh in a letter. Now an exhibition, 'Yellow: Beyond Van Gogh's Colour', at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam explores why the artist and his contemporaries loved yellow so much. Art historians Martin Bailey and Kirsty Sinclair Dootson discuss the significance of yellow in art, and the long history of the colour.American filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir on her new Oscar-nominated documentary, The Perfect Neighbour, which looks at a 2023 shooting incident in Florida when white female, Susan Louise Lorincz, fatally shot her black female neighbour, Ajike Owens.Dr Jasmine Allen, Director of the Stained Glass Museum, on the "nation's favourite" stained glass window at Carlisle Cathedral.Presenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Baz Luhrman's newest film is recently rediscovered footage showing Elvis Presley, live in concert at the height of his fame. We speak with Baz about his continuing love for The King.75 years of The Archers; Emma Freud and Archer's editor Jeremy Howe discuss the world's longest running soap opera and how the programme has dealt with the attack on George Grundy.London's Royal Court Theatre is famous for productions that caused stir – Look Back in Anger, Saved, Blasted, The Rocky Horror Show. Its work may still be angry, but the theatre is no longer young, and its new director, David Byrne, has recently announced its 70th Anniversary Season. He talks to Samira Ahmed about his vision for this ‘writers’ theatre’, and its latest production, which might cause a stir, too - The Shitheads.Peter Bradshaw reports from the Berlin Film Festival - what's good, what's not-so-good, and what's making headlines.Presenter: Samira Ahmed

Anne Brontë biographer Samantha Ellis and writer Stephanie Merritt join Tom to discuss Emerald Fennell's racy adaptation of Wuthering Heights starring Margot Robbie.They also review Adolescence co-writer Jack Thorne's BBC adaptation of William Golding's Lord of the Flies.After a 35 year campaign, the South Bank Centre has secured Grade II listing. Former Artistic Director Jude Kelly and architecture historian Barnabas Calder talk about whether we're learning to love Brutalism.Finally, Samantha, Stephanie and Tom have read James Meek's book Your Life Without Me, which is concerned with the competing claims of the old and the new, in both architecture and life. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet

LIsa McGee on her fresh spin on the murder mystery genre How To Get to Heaven from Belfast, and on the impact of the Derry Girls phenomenon. At this month's Grammy Awards, Olivia Dean, Lola Young and FKA Twigs - all alumni of The Brit School in Croydon - walked off with prizes. We speak to the school's Principal, Stuart Worden, about how the school prepares students for a career in the music industry. And as the world premiere of The Great Wave, a new opera inspired by Hokusai's iconic print, takes place, composer Dai Fujikura talks to us about the man behind the art, and writer Fi Leith discusses the cultural love affair between Scotland and Japan. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

The creator of Yes Minister - Jonathan Lynn - on his new play I’m Sorry Prime Minister. Griff Rhys Jones plays Jim Hacker, the octogenarian former Prime Minister. Clive Francis plays civil servant Sir Humphrey in this elegiac comedy which draws the saga to a close.Inside Aardman is a new exhibition opening at the Young V&A this week to mark the 50th anniversary of the creative company who have brought plasticine stop-motion animation to a global stage in the form of Wallace and Gromit. Tom is joined by stop-motion animator and director Joseph Wallace and Jez Stewart, curator of animation for the BFI National Archive to discuss the exhibition and the state of stop-motion animation today. And director Amy Berg talks about her archive rich documentary It's Never Over about the late singer Jeff Buckley.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe

Hollywood star Kristen Stewart talks about her directorial debut, The Chronology of Water, which is a searing portrait of childhood abuse and redemption that’s based on the life story of author Lidia Yuknavitch.Seurat and the Sea is a new exhibition opening at London’s Courtauld Gallery. It features 26 paintings and sketches - many of which haven’t been seen together since they were created - that show the pointillist painter’s love for depicting the coast of northern France.Bad Bunny has made headlines in the last week for his outspoken political comments following his victory at the Grammys, as well as his historical performance at last weekend’s Super Bowl. Radio 1xtra’ s Fee Mak explains what it is about Bad Bunny’s music that makes him Spotify’s most streamed artist in the world.Here There are Blueberries is a play inspired by the discovery of an album of snaps of workers relaxing and enjoying time off. But these are the staff of Auschwitz. Writer and director Moises Kaufman explains why and how he and co-writer Amanda Gronich created their extraordinary and timely drama. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Julian May