Front Row

Author Rachel Rachel Joyce and musician Passenger discuss the new musical based on Rachel's hit book The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.Eric Schlosser’s book Fast Food Nation has been republished after 25 years as a Penguin Classic. Samira Ahmed talks to the author about the impact of the book.Emily Itami and comedian Iszi Lawrence review the British Museum's new exhibition "Samurai".Critic Tim Robey on the work of Catherine O'Hara, following news of her death.

Tom Sutcliffe and guests Viv Groskop and Dorian Lynskey, review Bradley Cooper's film Is This Thing On? - about a marriage in crisis and a comedian on the rise. Guess How Much I Love You? is the new play by Luke Norris at London's Royal Court Theatre, which deals with starting a family, enduring love and impossible choices And George Saunders' new book, Vigil, set in the living world and the world of the dead and the in-between. Also how successful is British soft power in China?Presenter Tom Sutcliffe

John Carter Cash on how the lives of his famous parents - Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash - have inspired a stage musical which tells the story of the couple's long love story but also tackles addiction head on. As a long-lost portrait of poet Robert Burns by the acclaimed artist Henry Raeburn goes on display, art historian Bendor Grosvenor and art journalist Melanie Gerlis discuss how experts go about attributing a painting to a great artist. While technology can show us detail far beyond the paint on the canvas, will human expertise and discernment always be necessary in cases such as this? And author Benjamin Wood talks about his atmospheric novel Seascraper, which centres the story of a young shrimper in a coastal town in the north of England who dreams of becoming a folk singer, and which has won the Nero prize for fiction. Presenter: Kate Molleson Producer: Mark Crossan

Michael Sheen on the first production of his newly-formed Welsh National Theatre, Thornton Wilder’s 1938 play Our Town seen through a Welsh lens. Film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reacts to the Bafta nominations announced today and how they compare with last week's Oscar's list. 100 years since Laurel and Hardy united for their first film, Neil Brand discusses the comedy duo with film historian Pamela Hutchinson.And writer Patrick Charnley discusses his Cornwall-set novel This My Second Life, which came out of his experience being clinically dead for forty minutes, and his subsequent recovery from a life changing brain injury.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Lucy Collingwood

Richard Linklater speaks to Samira Ahmed about his new film Nouvelle Vague.Robbie Williams has beaten the Beatles' record for the most UK album chart number ones - we ask former Spotify exec Will Page how he's done it.Daughters of Donbas is a musical project, created by Ukrainian musicians to bring the world’s attention to the kidnapping by Russian authorities of Ukrainian children. Samira speaks with two of its members - Marichka and Liza – about what they hope it could achieveWhy is there a wave of children’s authors turning to writing fiction for adults? We talk to Francesca Simon MBE - bestselling author of the Horrid Henry Books and now the Welsh-myth inspired Salka - as well as Liz Flanagan who has written her first historical novel for older readers, When We Were Divided.Presenter Samira Ahmed Producer Harry Graham

Tom Sutcliffe is joined by film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and novelist Lawrence Norfolk to review:Korean auteur Park Chan-Wook's redundancy revenge thriller No Other Choice.Julian Barnes' Departure(s) which he's said will be his last book.Oliver Hermanus' film The History of Sound starring Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor in a folk music love story.And they discuss the Oscar nominations which were announced today.And the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have announced that they will be investing £1.5 billion in cultural organisations, but is it enough and is it going to the right place. Georgia Luckhurst, news editor with Art Professional magazine, is on to discuss.

Actor Claire Foy on her role as a grieving academic who finds solace in falconry in the film adaptation of Helen Macdonald's award-winning memoir H Is For Hawk. As it goes on display for a period of three months, Chris Cassells of the National Library of Scotland, Ashleigh Hibbins of Perth Museum and playwright and poet Liz Lochhead discuss the cultural significance of the last letter of Mary Queen of Scots, written hours before her execution in 1587. Two of the creative team behind Trolleydarity, a National Theatre of Scotland-backed project which transports hospital patients and staff on multi-sensory micro-adventures talk about their innovative approach to taking art and theatre into NHS settings. And as the Music Venue Trust publishes a report about the fragile ecology of small music venues around the UK, we hear whether there might be hope on the horizon. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

Comedian John Bishop on how his life story inspired Bradley Cooper's new movie, Is This Thing On? starring Will Arnett and Laura Dern. Hull Truck Theatre has just won the Innovation prize at the Stage Awards for their new training scheme for GPs. Associate Director Tom Saunders and GP Dr Eman Shamsaee discuss why drama classes are helping doctors treat patients.Writer Jamila Gavin on winning the Children's Fiction category of the Nero Book Awards with her World War One-set novel My Soul, A Shining Tree.Poet Karen Solie discusses scooping this year's TS Eliot Prize - at £25,000 it's the biggest prize in the British poetry world.Presenter: NIck Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Artist Beryl Cook would have been 100 this year - famed for her cheeky paintings of large ladies and people having fun, there's a new exhibition opening in Plymouth. Cole Escola is the man behind the stage musical sensation, Oh Mary, which has been hailed in some circles at The Next Hamilton.Washington National Opera is leaving their base for more than half a century. They have cited a slump in ticket sales since Donald Trump became chair of the Trump Kennedy Center in America's capital, as well as "shattered" donor confidence.The Voice of Hind Rajab is a harrowing film from Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, based around a real emergency call from a 5 year old Palestinian girl under fire in Gaza. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Oliver Jones

In the Front Row review programme, author Emily Itami and critic Tim Robey assess the steamy Canadian drama Heated Rivalry, which has caused a sensation in North America. Also, The British Museum's new exhibition Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans, and Jose Ando's novel about racial and sexual identity in Japan, Jackson Alone.Are contemporary art prizes favouring identity politics over artistic quality? Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones and artist/editor Veronica Simpson are on to discuss.Presenter: Samira Ahmed

Sir Ian McKellen talks about performing Laurie Slade's one-man play Equinox - about an older man wrestling with his past and conflicting desires - at the inaugural Out in the Hills LGBTI+ culture festival at Pitlochry Festival Theatre. One of the world's most renowned and influential choreographers Wayne McGregor on his book We Are Movement, an exploration of "physical intelligence" which also asks what it means to be human in the age of AI. Ahead of a European farewell tour, country and Americana legend Emmylou Harris discusses her incredible six-decade career in music.And UK Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy on the first ever UK Town of Culture competition Presenter: Kate Molleson Producer: Mark Crossan

The boyband Blue perform one of the biggest early hits - One Love - and talk to Tom Sutcliffe about celebrating 25 years together with new album Reflections and a major tour. Marty Supreme director Josh Safdie discusses his film about an ambitious 1950s table tennis player. Timothee Chalamet won a Best Actor Golden Globe for the title role this week.It’s 40 years since Poems on the Underground was launched and a new collection is being released to mark the anniversary.And Claire Malcolm tells Tom about plans for the new Centre for Writing and Publishing in Newcastle.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Lucy Collingwood

Screenwriter Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Benjamin Button, Dune) on his West End stage adaptation of High Noon 50 years since her death, we ask whether Agatha Christie is still the preeminent crime writer Emmy-winning guitarist Tommy Emmanuel plays live Archaeologists in Wales have discovered a previously unknown Roman villa in Port Talbot - we speak with the leader of the team working on the sitePresenter Samira Ahmed

Jessie Buckley talks to Tom Sutcliffe about her role in the historical drama Hamnet, adapted from Maggie O'Farrell's book which explores the origins of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Journalist Bidisha Mamata and writer Mark Ravenhill join Tom to review Hamnet.They also discuss award-winning author Bryan Washington's Palaver, which focuses on an estranged mother and son who attempt to reconcile in Tokyo.And they offer their verdict on Sheridan Smith's starring role in a revival of Alan Ayckbourn’s Woman in Mind, alongside Romesh Ranganathan in his West End stage debut.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet

American Ira Sachs' latest film is Peter Hujar's Day, which brings to life the transcripts from an unused 1974 interview that photographer Peter Hujar did with his friend, the nonfiction writer Linda Rosenkrantz. Ira shares what he's learned about the artist through the project.French pianist RIOPY first taught himself to play piano while growing up in a cult. After running away he was able to pursue a career in music, culminating in an album that topped the classical charts for years. His new album Be Love sees the artist sing for the first time.As Front Row continues it's exploration of UK literacy as part the Year of Reading 2026, we discuss how we can all become better readers to gain a deeper understanding of and more pleasure from books. We're joined by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, who is Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford, and Ann Morgan, a writer, editor, and critic best known for her exploration of global literature.We also talk to Arts critic Hannah McGill about the change in the format of the BBC 1 show, the Traitors.Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Gillian Wheelan

We hear from award-winning writer Dennis Kelly, the man behind Matilda the Musical and comedy show Pulling. In his new BBC One series Waiting for the Out he goes behind bars to tell the story of a man who teaches a philosophy class in prison. How do you choose the books you read? The Department of Education has launched the National Year of Reading and continuing Front Row's look at the subject of reading, today we’re looking at the evolution of book clubs. Nick is joined by Guinevere de La Mare, creator of Silent Book Clubs, and Dr. Nicola Wilson whose book Recommended explores the story of Britain's first celebrity book club.The death of distinguished British theatre director Frank Dunlop has been announced today. Dunlop established the Young Vic theatre and directed the first full production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. Theatre critic Michael Coveney explores Dunlop’s career.Often cited as a trailblazer Victoria Wood was one of the first women to write and star in a television comedy show, but the path she’s beaten appears difficult to find and women are still in the minority when it comes to sitcom writing. Dr. Laura Minor, a BBC New Generation Thinker and Senior Lecturer in Television Studies at the University of Salford, and comedian Alexandra Haddow discuss. Presenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu

As the tenth anniversary of David Bowie’s death approaches, Alexander Larman - author of Lazarus: The Second Coming of David Bowie – and Jonathan Stiasny – director of the documentary Bowie: The Final Act - join Tom to discuss David Bowie’s legacy and his less successful, low-profile period.The National Year of Reading 2026 is a government campaign to address declining literacy, and we're running a series of items on the state of modern literacy. Today, we're discussing reading and the brain, with neuroscietist, Dr Maryanne Wolf and journalist Jo Glanville.A giant of Iranian cinema, director Bahram Beyzai, died on Boxing Day aged 87. We take a look back at his career and impact with Dr Saeed Talajooy, a scholar of Persian Literature and Culture, who's also a fan of Beyzai's work.Goblin Band, a London-based folk group, are live in studio to sing a wassail celebrating Twelfth Night. They'll chat to Tom about the draw of folk music in modern times and exactly what a wassail is.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Harry Graham

As Scottish indie pop legends Belle & Sebastian prepare to celebrate 30 years of musicmaking, they look back at what got them here. Plus they help ring in the new year with a Rabbie Burns classic. Jamaica’s former Poet Laureate Lorna Goodison reflects on her recent residency at Ellisland Farmhouse, where Robert Burns wrote Auld Lang Syne. Award-winning Scottish poet and spoken word artist Michael Mullen brought their debut collection Goonie in to the world this June. Now they share a poem written specially for Front Row, about the joys of Hogmanay. Kirsty celebrates the life of Scottish comedian and impressionist Stanley Baxter, who passed away earlier this month aged 99. His productions became staples of Christmas and New Year television, as broadcaster and cultural historian Matthew Sweet discusses with actor Juliet Cadzow.

Director Joachim Trier on his latest film Sentimental Value, which is nominated for eight Golden Globes, including Best Picture and Best Director. We take a look at the late Brigitte Bardot's three most important films, with critic Muriel Zhaga Writer John Lloyd on the 42nd anniversary release of The Meaning of Liff, the book he co-wrote with Douglas Adams. Ahead of a memorial concert for the late great pianist Alfred Brendel, Samira is joined by his son, the cellist Adrian Brendel, and the pianist Dame Imogen Cooper.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Oliver Jones

In 1776, the Founding Fathers of America signed the Declaration of Independence, embarking on a new experiment in how to build a nation.On the eve of the 250th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence, Tom Sutcliffe and guests explore the founding fathers – and mothers – of American culture: the key figures who shaped American literature, music, visual art, and theatre and created a distinctively American voice.With the literary historian Sarah Churchwell, the art historian Erin Pauwels, the musicologist Glenda Goodman, the music critic Kevin Legendre, and the theatre historian Heather Nathans and critic Matt Wolf. Producer: Eliane Glaser