Shows / Front Row
Episodes
- Front Row
Tahar Rahim in The Mauritanian, Charlie Carroll, Greenborne
Kevin Macdonald’s new film The Mauritanian is based on the true story of a prisoner held in Guantánamo Bay for 14 years but never charged. The French-Algerian…
- Front Row
Tina Turner and Demi Lovato documentaries, author Dean Koontz, poet Marvin Thompson, artists on the high street
For our Friday Review, critics Jacqueline Springer and Sophie Harris give their verdict on two new documentaries, Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil and Tina…
- Front Row
Emerald Fennell, Benin Bronzes, Winner of the Sarah Maguire Prize for Poetry in Translation
Emerald Fennell is the director and writer of Promising Young Woman, a darkly comic revenge thriller starring Carey Mulligan. The film is nominated for five…
- Front Row
Playwright Mark Ravenhill, The Future of Festivals, 2021 Rathbones Folio Prize.
The playwright Mark Ravenhill joins us to talk about his new play Angela. It is a tender portrait of his parents; his mother, Angela, who died in 2019, and of…
- Front Row
Orlando Bloom; Liverpool Biennial; Elizabeth Knox
Orlando Bloom talks to Samira Ahmed about taking on a very different kind of role in his intense and visceral film Retaliation, and the new career challenges…
- Front Row
Nile Rodgers on his digital portrait, composer Hannah Peel
Nile Rodgers – guitarist, producer, songwriter, arranger, and co-founder of Chic in the 1970s – is the subject of what claims to be the world’s first…
- Front Row
Giles Terera, Griff, Line of Duty reviewed, Harriet Harman on touring musicians
Today, Griff was awarded the 2021 BRITs Rising Star prize. The 20 year old singer-songwriter joins us to discuss how she writes her lyrics including to her…
- Front Row
Michael Rosen, Chris Bush, Zack Snyder’s Justice League
A year ago, the poet and former Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen was admitted to hospital with Covid-19. Against all the odds, after months in hospital…
- Front Row
No Ordinary Man, Dream, Lofi Hip Hop, James Levine
Director Chase Joynt joins us to talk about his film No Ordinary Man, an in-depth look at the life of musician and trans culture icon Billy Tipton. Tipton was…
- Front Row
Theatre one year on - what now?
One year after theatres closed due to the Covid pandemic, leading figures from the industry join Front Row to look at how the past year has impacted upon…
- Front Row
Sarah Gavron and Theresa Ikoko on Rocks, Oscar nominations, Emma Stonex
Inspired by the real-life story of three men in a lighthouse who mysteriously vanished, Emma Stonex’s novel The Lamplighters is part thriller, part history and…
- Front Row
Aria Code podcast, Yaa Gyasi's new novel, Sky drama The Flight Attendant reviewed
The podcast ‘Aria Code’ from WQXR and the Metropolitan Opera aims to pull back the curtain on some of operas most well-known moments. Each episode “decodes”…
- Front Row
The rise, fall and rise again of audio cassettes, poet Luke Wright, film director Shaka King
The recent death of Lou Ottens - the inventor of audio cassettes who later went on to work on the development of CD technology - gives us the opportunity to…
- Front Row
The One on Netflix, Women's Prize for Fiction longlist, Samuel West rebooting regional theatre, Kieran Hodgson's moment of joy
Netflix’s new drama, The One, set five minutes in the future, depicts a world where a DNA test can find your perfect partner. Kohinoor Sahota joins us to…
- Front Row
Hilary Hahn; BAFTA nominations; competitive reading
The Bafta Film Awards have unveiled a highly diverse nominations list, with 16 of the 24 acting nominees this year coming from ethnic minority groups. This…
- Front Row
Oana Aristide, Remembering Stevie Smith, and what is an NFT?
Novelist Oana Aristide discusses her debut novel Under the Blue, about a reclusive artist forced to abandon his home and follow two young sisters across a…
- Front Row
David Mamet; The Glorias and Moxie reviewed; Danielle Evans
David Mamet's latest play, The Christopher Boy’s Communion is about a couple in New York whose son is facing trial charged with an appalling crime. First…
- Front Row
MC Grammar, Bookshop.org, proposed changes at the V&A
As World Book Day we’re speaking to teacher turned rapper turned internet sensation MC Grammar. He's created lots of videos setting information about grammar…
- Front Row
Guitarist Pat Metheny, Budget news for the arts, Translation
Pat Metheny has won 20 Grammy Awards, predominantly for his work as a jazz guitarist, but also for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, and Best Instrumental…
- Front Row
The Anchoress; Your Honour; Stories That Get Us Through
Your Honour is a new Showtime miniseries starring Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston as a respected New Orleans judge whose son is involved in a hit-and-run. He…
- Front Row
Review of Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun, Adrian Younge - The American Negro, Springtime in poetry
Kazuo Ishiguro has just published his eighth novel, the first to be written since he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017 and was knighted. Klara and the…
- Front Row
The United States vs Billie Holiday reviewed, Adrian Scarborough, Ronald Pickup remembered, Joanna Pocock
We review a new biopic of jazz singer Billie Holiday, directed by Lee Daniels, which tells the story of the FBI’s campaign against her. They were afraid that…
- Front Row
Gilbert & George, Ryan Calais Cameron, Jadé Fadojutimi
Artists Gilbert & George open a new exhibition at the White Cube next week. The pair first met in 1967 whilst studying sculpture at Central St Martin’s art…
- Front Row
Martina Cole, Sam Lee, opening date for museums
As she is awarded one of British crime writing’s top accolades, the Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger, Samira talks to crime novelist Martina Cole…
- Front Row
Keats, Bonnie Tyler, Museums and contested heritage
John Keats was just 25 when he died in Rome 200 years ago. To mark the anniversary The Poetry Society has commissioned new work from award-winning contemporary…
- Front Row
Huw Stephens on The Story of Welsh Art, Prequels, reaction to the covid roadmap
As the Prime Minister sets out his roadmap to ending the Covid lockdown we get reaction from Dominique Frazer, Founder of the Boileroom, a music venue in…
- Front Row
The Color Purple, Niven Govinden, U-Roy remembered, John Barber
Leicester Curve’s recent award-winning revival of the musical The Color Purple, based on Alice Walker’s novel, has been reimagined, filmed and is being…
- Front Row
Wagner's Ring, Bloodlands, Victor Ambrus, Jessie Brennan
Dame Sarah Connolly sings the role of the goddess Fricka in the Royal Opera House's production of Wagner's The Ring Cycle, currently being broadcast on BBC…
- Front Row
K-Pop and the South Korean music industry, poet Kate Fox, touring shows in Europe post Brexit
Is listening to K-Pop like buying sweatshop-made clothes? From rigorous childhood performance academies to long, labour-intensive contracts for young idols…
- Front Row
Good Grief, Shalom Auslander, National Galleries
In 2006 a friend of the actor and writer Lorien Haynes died. Haynes's grief has found unusual expression - in a romantic comedy starring Sian Clifford and…
- Front Row
Lolita Chakrabarti on her play Hymn, literature about waiting, The Silence of the Lambs 30 years on
As the nation waits for the vaccine and lockdown restrictions to ease, what can literature teach us about the art of waiting? Writer Rebecca Stott, critic Alex…
- Front Row
Chick Corea, Barbellion Prize winner Riva Lehrer, Sia's film Music reviewed & Schneel Malik
British jazz pianist and broadcaster Julian Joseph joins us to look at the life and music of his good friend; pianist and composer Chick Corea. Chick began his…
- Front Row
Ben Hopkins, Luke Jerram, Winsome Pinnock, Rex Obano
Screenwriter and novelist Ben Hopkins talks to Tom about his ambitious new novel, Cathedral. It's a portrait of the construction of the medieval period's…
- Front Row
Adam Curtis, Welcome to Your Fantasy, true crime podcasts
Documentary-maker Adam Curtis crafts densely-constructed, visually-fragmented work so packed full of ideas and images that you can’t take your eyes off the…
- Front Row
News of the World, Mary Wilson tribute, songwriter Roger Cook, Jean-Claude Carrière remembered
Tom Hanks stars in Paul Greengrass's new film, News of the World. Hanks plays Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a Civil War veteran who crosses paths with Johanna…
- Front Row
Cathy Yan on her film Dead Pigs
Twenty years ago this week, the artist Michael Landy famously destroyed every single one of his 7,227 possessions in an artwork called Break Down. The artist…
- Front Row
Luke Jerram's Vaccine Artwork, Remembering Christopher Plummer, Malcolm & Marie
In April the artist Luke Jerram spoke on Front Row about his sculpture of the Covid-19 virus. Since then he has been ill with Covid and has created another…
- Front Row
Sam Neill On New Film Rams
Hollywood star Sam Neill joins us from his home in New Zealand to discuss the perils of acting with sheep in his new film Rams, based on an acclaimed Icelandic…
- Front Row
Golden Globes, Sundance, K-Ming Chang and literary scouts
Film critic Leila Latif joins us to discuss today’s Golden Globe nominations, and gives us an overview of some of the highlights from the first ever online…
- Front Row
Kevin MacDonald Jakuta Alikavazovic
The Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald discusses his follow-up to his YouTube film Life In A Day from 2010, where he invited the public to upload their own…
- Front Row
Jill Halfpenny in new drama, The Drowning
Jill Halfpenny stars in a new tv thriller The Drowning. Nine years ago, Jodie’s little boy disappeared on a picnic by the lake, presumed drowned, and she’s…
- Front Row
The Dig reviewed, Arts Foundation Futures Award winner Tanoa Sasraku, Novelist Max Porter, Moments of Joy: Walt Whitman
We review The Dig, starring Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes and the Suffolk landscape, a film about the excavation of the Anglo-Saxon burial site at Sutton Hoo…
- Front Row
Edmund de Waal launches our #FrontRowGetCreative challenge, Hafsa Zayyan, Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Hung Parliament
The ceramicist, artist and writer Edmund de Waal today launches the #FrontRowGetCreative project, where artists will be encouraging you, our listeners, to try…
- Front Row
Celeste, poet Brian Bilston, new film Palmer reviewed
Celeste talks to Front Row about her career from making tracks on a laptop in her bedroom to successes at the Brit and BBC Music Awards, composing and…
- Front Row
Jenny Eclair, Jon Brown, Costa Book of the Year winner
Can you use craft to help make the world a better place, one stitch at a time? In her new BBC Four documentary, Craftivism: Making a Difference, writer…
- Front Row
Jonzi D and Pawlet Brookes on Black dance, TS Eliot Prizewinner Bhanu Kapil, portraying politicians
Choreographer Jonzi D has created a new work for Dancing Nation, the all-day digital festival of dance which is streamed on BBC iPlayer this Thursday. Jonzi…
- Front Row
The White Tiger, the TS Eliot Prize shortlist, sculptor Denise Dutton
The White Tiger is a new Netflix film based on Aravind Adiga’s 2008 Booker Prize-winning novel, directed by Ramin Bahrani. It explores Indian society and how…
- Front Row
It's a Sin, how Aids has been depicted in culture, Glastonbury Festival cancellation, London International Mime Festival
After weeks of speculation, we heard today that the 2021 Glastonbury festival is to be cancelled amidst uncertainly due to Covid. Tom talks to the Chairman of…
- Front Row
Schubert's Winterreise, novelist Olivia Sudjic, new US administration and the arts, performers' travel post-Brexit
Singers Roderick Williams and David Webb discuss Schubert’s celebrated 1827 song-cycle Winterreise, about a man dealing with rejection and loneliness who…
- Front Row
Patricia Highsmith centenary, Caroline Shaw, Baby Done comedy reviewed
John is joined by composer, vocalist, violinist and producer Caroline Shaw – the youngest ever winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music, winner of a Grammy in…
- Front Row
Ashley Walters makes his directorial debut
English rapper, songwriter and actor Ashley Walters has now turned his hand to directing with a short film called BOYS. Shot in London it follows Noah, who –…
- Front Row
Music festivals, Keeley Hawes, WandaVision reviewed
What will happen with music festivals this year? For Front Row, DJ Emily Dust talks to some of those involved.Keeley Hawes is one of the most in-demand British…
- Front Row
Stardust, The world's oldest painting, Jenni Fagan, Arts Students
Stardust is the new film about David Bowie’s promotional tour of the United States in 1971 during which he began to develop the concept of Ziggy Stardust…
- Front Row
Drag kings, Courttia Newland, wintry podcasts
As RuPaul’s Drag Race UK returns for a second season and the US series welcomes its first trans man as a competitor, are the ironically gendered boundaries of…
- Front Row
Regina King, classical music for kids, Northern Irish literature
Oscar winning actress Regina King tells Kirsty about her debut film as a director, One Night in Miami, inspired by the real-life meeting between Muhammad Ali…
- Front Row
Ben Okri, The Pembrokeshire Murders, Michael Berkeley
Ben Okri published his poem 'Grenfell Tower, June 2017' in the Financial Times a few days after the inferno. On Channel 4's Facebook page it was played more…
- Front Row
We commemorate the fifth anniversary of David Bowie's death and consider his continuing musical influence and legacy
Five years ago, on 10th Jan 2016, David Bowie died, just two days after his 69th birthday. To mark the anniversary, we revisit John Wilson's 2002 interview…
- Front Row
BBC Sound of 2021 Winner Pa Salieu, Finnish TV drama, Natasha Farrant
Pa Salieu, the Gambian-British artist from Coventry, has been named as the winner of the BBC Sound of 2021. His single Frontline was the most played track on…
- Front Row
Lee Lawrence, the impact of Brexit on classical music, Twelfth Night tradition at Theatre Royal Drury Lane
On 28th September 1985 Lee Lawrence’s mother Cherry Groce was shot by police during an armed raid on her Brixton home. Lee Lawrence talks to Samira Ahmed about…
- Front Row
The Great, Eavan Boland, the origin of the blues
The Great, a new ahistorical comedy from The Favourite writer Tony McNamara arrives on Channel 4 this month. Describing itself as “an occasionally true story”…