Shows / Front Row
Episodes
- Front Row
Lauryn Redding, Claire Barnett-Jones, Supernova film, Venice Biennale
In two days' time, the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester will open its doors to an audience for the first time in over a year. And the first show to be…
- Front Row
Ian McKellen on playing Hamlet
50 years after last playing the Danish prince, Sir Ian McKellen is returning to the role of Hamlet, in an age, colour gender-blind production. At the age of…
- Front Row
Lisa Dwan on Beckett's Happy Days, the winner of the Walter Scott Prize
We announce and speak to the winner of the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. Peggy Ashcroft said that Winnie, in Happy Days by Samuel Beckett, ‘is one…
- Front Row
Colin Macleod, Jason Reynolds, Hanna Flint reviews 'Together'
Starring James McAvoy and Sharon Horgan, Together is a new BBC2 drama following a couple forced to re-evaluate their relationship during lockdown. Polar…
- Front Row
Timothy Spall, Shaan Sahota, Universal Basic Income for artists
To play the celebrated British painter, J.M.W. Tuner, for Mike Leigh’s film, Mr Turner, the actor Timothy Spall learned to paint. Four years later, it was the…
- Front Row
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Gerda Stevenson, Implications of the Covid restrictions extension
Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegria Hudes discuss the new screen version of their smash hit musical, In the Heights, which celebrates the intertwined lives…
- Front Row
Simon Armitage, After Life, The Disciple
Poet Laureate Simon Armitage reflects on the experience of the pandemic in new BBC film, A Pandemic Poem: Where Did The World Go? Interspersed with interviews…
- Front Row
Noel Gallagher, Amanda Whittington, Mount Recyclemore
Noel Gallagher discusses his new album Back the Way We Came: Vol 1, a Greatest Hits compilation from a decade of his band High Flying Birds that he formed once…
- Front Row
Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, Danny Elfman, Emily Davison statue
Danny Elfman has composed the score for over 100 films including Batman, Men in Black, Edward Scissorhands, as well as writing The Simpsons theme tune. Before…
- Front Row
Ai Weiwei, Claire Fuller, Seamus Heaney's poetry on location
The artist Ai Weiwei has just unveiled his seven-metre-tall Gilded Cage at Blenheim Palace, a sculpture which addresses the international migrant crisis. He…
- Front Row
Florian Zeller on The Father; Jeffrey Boakye; Ita O'Brien
Florian Zeller’s play The Father was hailed as a masterpiece. Zeller made his debut as a director with his film of it, and Sir Anthony Hopkins won an Oscar for…
- Front Row
Joanna Scanlan, Kneehigh, Chibundu Onuzo, Time Review
Actress and writer Joanna Scanlan - best known for her comedic roles in tv series such as The Thick of It, Getting On and No Offence - talks to Tom about her…
- Front Row
Sorious Samura, Susanna Clarke, Edinburgh Fringe, Liverpool Biennial
Sierra Leone’s best-known journalist, Sorious Samura, discusses his documentary, Sing, Freetown. After growing tired of hearing only negative stories from…
- Front Row
Es Devlin on Forest for Change, artist Phoebe Boswell, Covid amateur choirs update
Es Devlin, who designed sets for Hamlet with Benedict Cumberbatch and Stormzy at the Britz, has created something more quietly contemplative as artistic…
- Front Row
Films Gunda and First Cow reviewed, Actor and writer Amy Trigg, Composer Dan Jones
Briony Hanson joins Tom to review two extremely different films starring animals as their central characters. First Cow - directed by Kelly Reichardt - is set…
- Front Row
Paulette Randall
Paulette Randall MBE celebrates her 60th birthday this year. Her career highlights include her role as Associate Director of the unforgettable London 2012…
- Front Row
Pianist Mitsuko Uchida, Bolton Octagon reopens, Ghazal poetry, Anne Boleyn reviewed
The pianist Mitsuko Uchida returns to the Wigmore Hall in London next week where she’ll be marking five decades since she first performed there. She discusses…
- Front Row
Chris Addison on Breeders; Nadifa Mohamed's new novel; BBC Proms 2021 debuts
Breeders is a highly successful TV comedy series that looks honestly and unflinchingly at the difficulties (and rewards) of parenting. It’s just about to…
- Front Row
101 Dalmations prequel, Cruella; Two Tone Exhibition in Coventry, City of Culture; new play The Merthyr Stigmatist
Disney’s much-anticipated 101 Dalmatians prequel Cruella is the visually stunning origin story of the woman who becomes the puppy-stealing force of evil from…
- Front Row
Slavery exhibition at the Rijksmuseum, Grime artist Bugzy, the decline or resurgence of crafts
As the Rijkmuseum in Amsterdam opens a landmark exhibition, Slavery, exploring the Netherlands’ 250 years involvement in the trade of human beings, the…
- Front Row
David Weil on Solos, Novelist Brit Bennett, Great British Photography Challenge
David Weil is the showrunner for Hunters, a TV series which imagined the work of Nazi hunters in 1970s New York . The large cast included Al Pacino in his…
- Front Row
Front Row on Bob Dylan at 80
Front Row joins Radio 4's celebration of Bob Dylan, who will be 80 on Monday. John Wilson joined by Bob Geldof, to consider the art and influence of Bob, on…
- Front Row
Barbara Hepworth retrospective, Broadening museum boards, Othello as a woman
Eleanor Clayton is the curator of the largest publlc exhbition of the work of the sculptor Barbara Hepworth since her death in 1975. She's also written a new…
- Front Row
Composer Roxanna Panufnik, Science meets music at The Brighton Festival, Eileen Agar retrospective
The new album of compositions by Roxanna Panufnik performed by the Saconni Quartet features a surprising range of subject material; letters written home during…
- Front Row
Julie Hesmondhalgh, Christina McMaster, James Barnor
The actress Julie Hesmondhalgh, best known for Coronation Street and Broadchurch on TV, returns to the theatre for the opening night of her new play at the…
- Front Row
Director Barry Jenkins on The Underground Railroad
Barry Jenkins, the director of the 2017 Oscar-winning film Moonlight, discusses his new ten-part TV adaptation of Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning…
- Front Row
Cinemas Reopen, St Vincent, Maylis de Kerangal, Festival Ticketing
Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland, which recently won best film at both the Oscars and Baftas, is leading the pack as cinemas reopen next week. Film critic Tim Robey and…
- Front Row
Rachel Maclean, arts education cuts, Richard Osman, British Book Awards Author of the Year
Author of the Year was announced today at the British Books Awards. Tom speaks to the winner, Richard Osman, game show host and author of the hugely successful…
- Front Row
As theatres in England reopen soon, we ask what the experience will be like for audiences and staff?
From next Monday theatres in England will legally be allowed to reopen with social distancing and strict capacity restrictions. We find out what it will be…
- Front Row
Two Distant Strangers, Golden Globes, Resident Evil, U.Me The Musical
It was after the death of George Floyd that television writer and producer Travon Free, and filmmaker Martin Desmond Roe came together to create a response to…
- Front Row
David Hockney, TV drama Three Families and novelist Rónán Hession
David Hockney has captured the unfolding of Spring during the pandemic, creating 116 new works on his ipad which have been blown up for a new exhibition at…
- Front Row
Emily Mortimer on The Pursuit of Love, Jupiter's Legacy, Rag'n'Bone Man
The actress and writer Emily Mortimer discusses her directorial debut The Pursuit of Love, her 3-part adaptation of Nancy Mitford's novel starring Lily James…
- Front Row
Don Warrington, Gillian Reynolds, Benjamin Myers
Don Warrington stars as the head of a family, united and divided by grief in Sian Davila’s debut play for Radio 4, Running with Lions. We speak to both Sian…
- Front Row
Anna Kerrigan, events testing, Sunjeev Sahota
A mother and father struggling to come to terms with their trans child are at the centre of Anna Kerrigan’s new film, Cowboys. She talks to Samira about…
- Front Row
Essay collections from novelists and poets. Review of TV series Bloods, New Pokemon Snap explored
This year sees a number of writers we know primarily as poets or novelists releasing collections of essays - from Jeanette Winterson to Lucy Ellman and Karl…
- Front Row
How should we memorialise in the 21st century?
The National Covid Memorial Wall on the bank of the Thames opposite the Houses of Parliament is an unofficial site of remembrance and reflection for the…
- Front Row
Theresa Lola and 70 years of the RFH; The Mosquito Coast reviewed; Royal Blood's new album; Andrew Miller on events pilots
Adapted from Paul Theroux’s bestselling book, The Mosquito Coast follows a family on the run from the US government and seeking escape in Mexico, where they…
- Front Row
Raoul Peck, Camilla Greenwell and Tufting on TikTok
Raoul Peck is a Haitian filmmaker whose documentary I Am Not Your Negro, based on the words of James Baldwin, was Oscar-nominated and won a Bafta in 2018. Now…
- Front Row
Women's Prize Shortlist, Jamie MacDonald, Rotten Tomatoes
Today the shortlist for the 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction is revealed. Chair of judges Bernardine Evaristo joins Front Row to talk through the chosen books…
- Front Row
Shadow and Bone, Lemn Sissay, Gwendoline Riley
We review new Netflix fantasy series Shadow and Bone. It's being touted as the new Game of Thrones but is it worth the hype? Children's and YA author Katherine…
- Front Row
Nicola Benedetti, Mark Simpson, Oscars roundup, Mr Wickham
Violinist Nicola Benedetti is performing a new concerto by Mark Simpson, who was winner of both the BBC Young Musician of the Year (as clarinettist) and the…
- Front Row
Tom Jones looks back at his life and career
In a wide ranging extended interview, Sir Tom Jones looks back at his life and career, from his coal-mining upbringing in South Wales to global superstardom…
- Front Row
Rose Matafeo, Isobel Waller-Bridge, Ninebarrow
Rose Matafeo discusses her new BBC3 comedy Starstruck. It follows Jessie, a millennial living in East London juggling two dead end jobs and navigating the…
- Front Row
Actor and director Noel Clarke reflects on his career
Actor, writer and director Noel Clarke discusses his latest role in the new five-part ITV drama series Viewpoint, in which he plays a surveillance detective…
- Front Row
Kayo Chingonyi; Joyce DiDonato; The Importance of Being Earnest reviewed
Kayo Chingonyi is an award-winning poet, producer, DJ and lyricist. Kayo joins Tom to talk about his much anticipated new collection A Blood Condition…
- Front Row
London Grammar, Frank of Ireland, Photographer of the Year Craig Easton
London Grammar's debut album in 2013 won an Ivor Novello Award for Best Song. Their follow up four years later topped the album charts. Singer and songwriter…
- Front Row
Deborah Warner on Peter Grimes, Helen McCrory remembered, Mare of Easttown
Director Deborah Warner discusses her new production of Benjamin Britten’s opera Peter Grimes, which opens at the Teatro Real in Madrid on Monday. The staging…
- Front Row
Paul Theroux on his new novel, Under The Wave at Waimea
Paul Theroux talks to Tom Sutcliffe about his latest novel “Under The Wave At Waimea” set in Hawaii where he now lives. Published just as he’s celebrated his…
- Front Row
Testament, diversity in nature writing, festivals insurance update
Rapper and writer Testament discusses his new work Orpheus in the Record Shop which fuses spoken word and beatboxing with players from the Orchestra of Opera…
- Front Row
Ammonite; Jack Holden's play Cruise; Voices from the Peak
Ammonite tells the story of fossil hunter Mary Anning and a young woman sent to convalesce by the sea who develop an intense relationship, altering both of…
- Front Row
Too Close, Rachel Whiteread, Chloe Zhao, Rosa Rankin Gee
Leila Latif reviews Too Close, ITV’s new psychological thriller starring Emily Watson and Denise Gough, which will be broadcast on consecutive nights this…
Front RowTaylor Swift's Fearless, Prince Philip portraitist Jonathan Yeo, David Almond, Them
Taylor Swift, who recently won Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards, has today released a new album called Fearless (Taylor's Version), which is an exact…
- Front Row
Peggy Seeger, Liverpool pilot of arts events, Fiction writers of faith
Peggy Seeger has just released her latest album, The First Farewell, at the age of 85. She tells us about the pleasures of working on it with her family, her…
- Front Row
Katherine Parkinson, Louise Kennedy, TikTok and bands
Katherine Parkinson is best known as an actress – she won a BAFTA playing Jen in The IT Crowd and warm praise for her performance on stage in Laura Wade’s play…
- Front Row
Riz Ahmed, Climate change books, Paul Ritter remembered, Israel covid passports
Riz Ahmed stars in Sound of Metal as a rock drummer who loses his hearing. The actor and rapper discusses learning American sign language, working with…
- Front Row
Author Michael Rosen on his experience of Covid and his tribute to the NHS
A year ago, the writer, poet and broadcaster Michael Rosen was rushed to hospital with Covid. Put into an induced coma in intensive care for 48 days, he…
- Front Row
Front Row: The Blue Edition
Tonight's Font Row is a blue odyssey led by John Wilson as he talks to:Dr Narayan Khandekar, Director of the Forbes Pigment Collection and one of the first…
- Front Row
Director Lee Isaac Chung, Samantha Ege, Jane Austen's Persuasion, musicians selling back catalogues
Minari tells the story of a Korean family who move to a farm in Arkansas in pursuit of the American Dream. The film’s director, Lee Isaac Chung, explains how…
- Front Row
Future of Disabled Theatre, Disability Champion Andrew Miller, London Symphony Orchestra
Andrew Miller, the Government’s first Disability Champion for Arts and Culture, is stepping down after three years in the post. He discusses the challenges…
- Front Row
International Booker Prize longlist reviewed, Joanne Harris, Who should translate work?
Novelist Nadifa Mohamed and translator Maureen Freely review the just-announced longlist for the International Booker Prize 2021.Author Joanne Harris talks to…