Shows / Front Row
Episodes
- Front Row
Benedetta film and Let the Song Hold Us exhibition reviewed; Slung Low Theatre
Our Thursday review critics, Dr. Kirsty Fairclough and poet Joelle Taylor, give their assessment of Paul Verhoeven's film Benedetta and the exhibition Let the…
- Front Row
Jude Owusu, Operation Mincemeat, Wrexham's bid for UK City of Culture 2025
Tom Robinson is the black man wrongly accused of raping a white girl in To Kill a Mocking Bird. In Harper Lee's novel and the film he is at the centre of the…
- Front Row
Photographer Edward Burtynsky; Turner Prize shortlist; Novelist Patrick McCabe; Staying well on stage discussion
After being announced as the recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to Photography award at the Sony World Photography Awards 2022, the Canadian…
- Front Row
Richard Cadell and The Sooty Show; The Handmaid’s Tale opera; actor Liz Carr; gender neutral dance calling
70 years after Sooty first appeared with Harry Corbett on the BBC’s Talent Night, presenter and current owner of The Sooty Show Richard Cadell talks to Samira…
- Front Row
Jeremy O. Harris's play Daddy, Walt Disney exhibition & Navalny documentary reviewed; musician Kizzy Crawford
American playwright Jeremy O.Harris discusses his play Daddy, at London’s Almeida Theatre, which explores the romantic relationship between Franklin, a young…
- Front Row
Ocean Vuong, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore reviewed, Southampton UK City of Culture bid, Nadifa Mohamed
Ocean Vuong is a Vietnamese-American poet whose recent works include a best-selling novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, and a multi-prize-winning volume of…
- Front Row
Mike Bartlett, Hannah Hodgson, Nick Laird
The playwright Mike Bartlett is busy. The 47th, his dark comedy about the next presidential race, with Bertie Carvel giving an uncanny performance as Donald…
- Front Row
Rae Morris performs live, author Ashley Hickson-Lovence, video artist Rachel Maclean
Rae Morris discusses her latest single, ‘No Woman is An Island,’ ahead of the release of her new album.Ludovic Hunter-Tilney joins us to discuss the highlights…
- Front Row
A Clockwork Orange, the National Poetry Competition winner announced, Slow Horses and Coppelia reviewed
Critics Sarah Crompton and Abir Mukherjee review Slow Horses, the brand new series from Apple TV+ starring Gary Oldman, Kristen Scott Thomas, Olivia Cooke…
- Front Row
Glasgow's Burrell Collection reopens; Orphans the musical; Yoga Concerto; Edinburgh’s new Makar Hannah Lavery
Presented by Kate Molleson from Glasgow. As the Burrell Collection reopens in Glasgow after a £68 million refit, Sunday Post art critic Jan Patience discusses…
- Front Row
How to refill theatres; the 2022 Windham Campbell Prizes; crime writing duo Dreda Say Mitchell and Ryan Carter
We look at how audience figures are recovering after two years of shutdown and pandemic restrictions. Carolyn Atkinson reports on the business of seat-filling…
- Front Row
Sonia Boyce, Cellist Laura van der Heijden, the Oscars
Artist Sonia Boyce discusses her new video work, the product of being embedded with social services in Barking and Dagenham, which addresses domestic violence…
- Front Row
The Hermit of Treig film and Anne Tyler's novel French Braid reviewed; Erich Hatala Matthes on art and morality
Critics Viv Groskop and Hanna Flint review The Hermit of Treig, a documetary film made by Lizzie Mackenzie who follows Ken Smith, a man who has spent the past…
- Front Row
Bridgerton showrunner Chris van Dusen, choreographer Ivan Michael Blackstock, William Morris wallpaper
Bridgerton is based on Julia Quinn's best-selling novels, set in the competitive world of Regency era London's ton during the season. The series follows the…
- Front Row
Joachim Trier, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Angus Robertson
Director Joachim Trier has been nominated for the Best Original Screenplay and Best International Film Oscars for The Worst Person in the World. If the title…
- Front Row
Hew Locke, Ivo Van Hove, Danielle De Niese, Ernesto Ottone and Dr Maya Goodfellow
The latest in Tate Britain’s series of annual commissions is an installation by the artist Hew Locke. It’s called The Procession and is comprised of…
- Front Row
Mark Rylance, Julian Knight, Reviews of Hockney's Eye, The Dropout and WeCrashed
Multi award winning actor Mark Rylance on his latest film The Phantom of the Open, a warm hearted comedy about Maurice Flitcroft, a crane operator at the…
- Front Row
Olga reviewed, David Hare on Straight Line Crazy, audio postcard from York
The playwright David Hare talks about the resonances of his new play at the Bridge in London, Straight Line Crazy. It's a drama about Robert Moses, a civil…
- Front Row
Liv Ullmann, Hilary McGrady, Literary Translation
Over the past 60 years Liv Ullmann has worked in film and throughout April the BFI celebrates her contribution to the medium as actor, writer and director with…
- Front Row
The National Theatre's Rufus Norris, smoking on screen, Alison Brackenbury's poetry collection Thorpeness
Rufus Norris’s production Small Island has returned to the National Theatre's Olivier stage, chronicling the experiences of a couple of the Windrush…
- Front Row
Colin Barrett, reviews of Servant of the People, Run Rose Run and Warsan Shire's new poetry collection
Irish writer Colin Barrett discusses his much anticipated second collection of short stories, Homesickeness, the follow up to his hugely successful 2014 Young…
- Front Row
Larry Achiampong, Zinnie Harris, Thomas Sanderling
Front Row goes to the seaside and sends a sonic cultural postcard. The first major solo exhibition by British-Ghanaian artist Larry Achiampong opens at the…
- Front Row
Howard Jacobson, Russian Cultural Philanthropy, Women's Fiction Prize, Turning Red
Howard Jacobson, who won the Booker prize for his novel The Finkler Question, discusses his new memoir Mother's Boy, an exploration of how he became a writer…
- Front Row
Sean Baker, The Shires, Kaveh Akbar
Director Sean Baker discusses his new film Red Rocket that was nominated for the Palme D’Or - the top prize at Cannes.The Iranian-American poet Kaveh Akbar…
- Front Row
The 50 year anniversary of The Godfather, Our Generation reviewed, Paul Dano on his role in the new Batman
It’s 50 years since The Godfather was released, the first of three films that have had a huge impact in their own right and on so much that followed them, from…
- Front Row
Jane Campion on The Power of the Dog, Ukrainian artist Pavlo Makov
Filmmaker Jane Campion is the first woman to be nominated twice for the Oscar for Best Director and the first woman to win the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film…
- Front Row
Tears for Fears, English Heritage, Unboxed Festival, Welsh poetry on St. David's Day
Tears For Fears, the duo who sound-tracked the 1980s with songs such as Shout, Mad World and Everybody Wants to Rule the World, have just released a new album…
- Front Row
Ali & Ava reviewed, Cultural Responses to Ukraine, Cherry Jezebel
On tonight’s Front Row, we take a look at the cultural responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with the BBC’s Culture Editor, Katie Razzall.Clio Barnard’s…
- Front Row
Mark Neville photographing Ukraine, Whistler's Woman in White exhibition and The Duke film reviewed, Adam McKay on Don't Look Up
Director Adam McKay talks to Tom about his film Don’t Look Up. He discusses why it divided audiences and how he thinks cinema can influence…
- Front Row
David Byrne, Arts Minister Lord Parkinson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Agnès Poirier on culture in Paris
Musician, film maker and artist David Byrne discusses his new book A History of the World (in Dingbats) - a collection of more than 100 line drawings he…
- Front Row
Samuel Bailey, Sensitivity Readers, Social Media Satire
Samuel Bailey’s debut play, Shook, about three young men in a young offender's institution, won the Papatango New Writing Prize in 2019, glowing reviews, and a…
- Front Row
Kit Harington, Chris Riddell on Jan Pieńkowski, Jamal Edwards, Surrealism
Game of Thrones star Kit Harington and director Max Webster discuss their new production of Henry V, and why they chose to make Henry a more complex character…
- Front Row
Living Sculpture Daniel Lismore, Severance and The Real Charlie Chaplin reviewed, Lady Joker crime thriller
Artist Daniel Lismore describes himself as a ‘living sculpture.’ His elaborate creations have been worn by Naomi Campbell, Boy George and the cast of the…
- Front Row
Richard Bean on Hull Truck at 50, portrayal of autism on screen, Sheila Heti
Comedy writer Sara Gibbs and actor and writer JJ Green discuss the portrayal of autistic characters on TV and film and call for change. Half a century ago…
- Front Row
British dance post-pandemic, Pissarro, Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton
Cassa Pancho and Billy Trevitt on the future of British dance, the "father of Impressionism" Pissarro and Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton on new play…
- Front Row
Michael Morpurgo's Private Peaceful on stage, Barbellion prize-winning author Lynn Buckle, singer-conductor Barbara Hannigan
Michael Morpurgo’s book Private Peaceful has been made into a film, a solo stage show and a radio drama. As a new ensemble version opens at Nottingham…
- Front Row
Drive My Car film review, Shakespeare's problem plays, the Great Yarmouth arts scene
Japanese film Drive My Car has been nominated for four Oscars, including Best Director for Ryusuke Hamaguchi. With his next film Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy…
- Front Row
The resurgence of black and white films, Oscar nominations and Hannah Silva
Monochrome is having a moment at this year’s awards season in films such as Belfast, The Tragedy of Macbeth and C’mon C’mon. To discuss the comeback of black…
- Front Row
Yard Act's debut album, writer Esi Edugyan, Jason Katims on the TV series As We See It
Fresh from a special concert in their home city of Leeds to mark Independent Venue Week, James Smith, lead singer of Yard Act talks to Samira about the group’s…
- Front Row
The Eyes of Tammy Faye & novel They reviewed, Brass Eye anniversary
The Eyes of Tammy Faye is a new film starring Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield as televangelists Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker charting their controversial…
- Front Row
Erin Doherty on new drama Chloe, Andrei Kurkov on culture in Ukraine, true crime podcasts
Erin Doherty shot to fame playing Princess Anne in The Crown and joins Tom to discuss her latest role as social media obsessed stalker Becky in BBC drama…
- Front Row
Bastille perform live, independent book sellers, Costa Book Awards Book of the Year Winner
Ahead of the release of their fourth studio album, Give Me the Future, Dan Smith and Charlie Barnes of the alt-pop four piece Bastille perform live in the…
- Front Row
Van Gogh Self Portraits, Joanna Hogg on The Souvenir Part II, Dr Semmelweis
Van Gogh’s self portraits have defined our sense of his inner life. As a new exhibition gathers many of them together for the first time, The Courtauld’s…
- Front Row
Romola Garai, Almodóvar's Parallel Mothers & Francis Bacon: Man and Beast reviewed
The actress Romola Garai talks about her directorial debut, the horror film Amulet. Critics Maria Delgado and Louisa Buck review Pedro Almodóvar's film…
- Front Row
Isabel Allende on her new novel Violeta, Freya McClements on the play The White Handkerchief, William Sitwell and Façade,
Isabel Allende was born in Peru in 1942 and raised in Chile. Most famous for her novel The House of the Spirits, her works have been both bestsellers and…
- Front Row
Martin Freeman on The Responder and Cultural Levelling Up
The Responder, a five-part BBC drama broadcast on consecutive nights this week, was written by ex-police response officer Tony Schumacher. He joins Samira…
- Front Row
Olly Alexander, Honorée Fannone Jeffers, Femi Elufowoju jr on Rigoletto
The singer and actor Olly Alexander discusses his new album, Night Call, and playing the central role in the Russell T Davies drama acclaimed television drama…
- Front Row
Ciarán Hinds, Nightmare Alley and The Gilded Age reviewed, the latest Serpentine exhibition on the gaming platform Fortnite
Belfast-born actor Ciarán Hinds tells Tom Sutcliffe about playing Kenneth Branagh’s grandfather in the director’s semi-autobiographical film Belfast, set in…
- Front Row
Munich: The Edge of War, Australia, Jo Browning Wroe on her novel, A Terrible Kindness
Munich: The Edge of War is new film set in 1938 at the time of the Munich Agreement when the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was making a last ditch…
- Front Row
Tilda Swinton, secrecy in screen casting, proposed cuts at Stoke museums
Tilda Swinton talks to Samira about her new film Memoria, in which she plays a Scottish woman who, after hearing a loud 'bang' at daybreak, begins experiencing…
- Front Row
Adrian Lester on Trigger Point; Heal and Harrow perform live; northern writing prizes
Actor Adrian Lester joins Samira to discuss his varied career on stage, in film and now back on UK television in the gripping new ITV police drama, Trigger…
- Front Row
Boiling Point and Hanya Yanagihara's To Paradise reviewed, Costa Children's Award winner Manjeet Mann
Writers Okechukwu Nzelu and Stephanie Merritt join Tom Sutcliffe to review Hanya Yanagihara’s novel To Paradise, eagerly awaited by fans of her…
- Front Row
Ascension, John Preston on Robert Maxwell and is vinyl manufacturing at breaking point?
Kirsty Lang speaks to John Preston who has won the Costa biography award for Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell.As a new vinyl pressing plant opens in…
- Front Row
Winner of TS Elliot Prize for Poetry, Unboxed, Folk at the Hampstead Theatre
We talk to Joelle Taylor fresh from her win last night of the 2021 TS Eliot Prize for Poetry for her collection of poems which explores her life as a…
- Front Row
Sheffield Crucible Theatre at 50, Philosophy in the Gallery, Self Esteem
As Sheffield's Crucible Theatre celebrates its 50th anniversary, Nick Ahad talks to Artistic Director Robert Hastie. Sheffield pop star Self Esteem on her…
- Front Row
Joe Wright on Cyrano, Costa poetry winner Hannah Lowe, A Hero
In his latest film Cyrano, director Joe Wright has tackled the 1897 French verse drama, Cyrano de Bergerac. He joins Tom Sutcliffe to discuss turning a classic…
- Front Row
Andrea Arnold, Claire Fuller, Afghanistan National Institute of Music
Filmmaker Andrea Arnold on her first documentary film, Cow, about the life of two cows, which one critic described as 'a meaty slice of bovine socio-realism.'…
- Front Row
The Costa Book Awards, Julia Ducournau on Titane, disabled access to arts and culture
The Costa Book Awards are in their 50th year. Tonight on Front Row, Chair of Judges Reeta Chakrabarti will join Samira Ahmed to announce each of this year’s…
- Front Row
Joan Didion remembered, Call the Midwife, The Tragedy of Macbeth and a review of the year in culture
Writer and essayist Olivia Laing reflects on the work of the American journalist and essayist Joan Didion, who has died at the age of 87.With the Christmas…
- Front Row
Paul Thomas Anderson, Eliza Carthy and Jon Boden, Postcard from Doncaster
Paul Thomas Anderson discusses directing and writing his new romantic comedy, Licorice Pizza, starring Sean Penn, Bradley Cooper and Tom Waits. The film is a…