Shows / Front Row
Episodes
- Front Row
Khaled Hosseini, Roxanna Panufnik, The inspiration of dreams
To celebrate her 50th birthday, the composer Roxanna Panufnik discusses her new album Celestial Bird which showcases the variety of her work, from religious…
- Front Row
The Seagull, Refashioning Shakespeare, Alison Balsom
As two new productions prepare to take on Shakespeare in fresh and unexpected ways, the women behind them - Jeanie O'Hare, creator of new play Queen Margaret…
- Front Row
John Simm, Patrick Ness, Testament
John Simm stars in new ITV drama Strangers as a man who has to fly to Hong Kong to identify his wife's body, only to discover she has a secret other life. We…
- Front Row
Proms at Alexandra Palace, Venice Film Festival, Inspire - myths and legends
After a devastating fire at the newly-opened Alexandra Palace in London in 1873, a new building was designed and built which included an elaborate and elegant…
- Front Row
Nick Leather on Mother's Day, Natasha Carthew, Drawing comic-book characters
Television drama Mother's Day charts the aftermath of the 1993 Warrington bombing, telling the stories of Colin and Wendy Parry (played by Anna Maxwell Martin…
- Front Row
Idris Elba, director; Listed buildings; Stig Abell, poet
Idris Elba is a man of many parts - actor, DJ, kick-boxer and now film director. He discusses his first feature, Yardie, based on the hit novel of the same…
- Front Row
The muse in history, Andrew Miller, Vanity Fair, Neil Simon remembered
Andrew Miller, who won the Costa Book of the Year Award for his novel Pure, discusses his new book Now We Shall Be Entirely Free, an adventure story set during…
- Front Row
Ian McMillan, The internet as a source for horror, Patrick Gale, The end of The Big Bang Theory
Poet and broadcaster Ian McMillan takes us on a guided tour of Darfield churchyard near Barnsley, as part of Front Row's Inspire season.Patrick Gale, who wrote…
- Front Row
BSO Resound at the Proms, Edinburgh Comedy Awards shortlist, Creativity and the brain, Melissa Harrison
Monday sees the performance of a ‘Relaxed Prom’ at the Royal Albert Hall, offering an informal environment for children, young people and adults with autism…
- Front Row
Bodyguard, Fanfiction, Bryony Lavery's stage adaptation of The Lovely Bones, Vaseem Khan
Jed Mercurio's new drama Bodyguard follows Richard Madden as a troubled war veteran assigned as protection officer to the Home Secretary played by Keeley…
- Front Row
BlacKkKlansman, Helen Lederer, Alison Brackenbury, Esi Edugyan
Spike Lee's new film BlacKkKlansman is based on a true story from the 1970s. John David Washington plays Ron Stallworth the first African-American detective to…
- Front Row
Sir Lenny Henry, Alan Cumming in Instinct, Divine inspiration in the arts
This year Sir Lenny Henry marks his 60th birthday with a special television programme with Sir Trevor McDonald. As well as performing some new sketches, he…
- Front Row
Dwarfs in art, Barbara Rae, Christopher Robin
How people with dwarfism have been represented in art and culture, from Ancient Egypt to Velasquez to Game of Thrones. Kirsty is joined by Tom Shakespeare…
- Front Row
Aretha Franklin remembered, David Suchet, Laura Mvula and Ben Okri
Aretha Franklin, the "Queen of Soul" known for hits like Respect, Natural Woman and Say a Little Prayer, has died in Detroit at the age of 76. Broadcaster Paul…
- Front Row
Brian May and Professor Roger Taylor, Doctors' shows at the Fringe, Rachel Parris
Queen guitarist Brian May fell in love with 3D photography as a child and has since gone on to establish his own publishing company devoted to sharing…
- Front Row
Live from Edinburgh with drag act Denim, Maggie O'Farrell, Penelope Skinner and Terry O'Donovan
The drag girl band Denim was Cambridge University's first drag troupe when they formed in 2010. Now, they're back in Edinburgh and for Front Row perform a song…
- Front Row
Rosie Jones, Janeane Garofalo and Jenni Fagan on stage at the Edinburgh Festival
Rosie Jones, a stand-up comedian whose material plays on her experience of living with Cerebral Palsy, discusses defying expectations - both onstage and off…
- Front Row
Denzel Washington, Imtiaz Dharker, Emilia Bassano and Shakespeare's dark lady
The identity of the 'dark lady' of the Shakespeare's sonnets has mystified academics for years. As the Globe stage a new play about Emilia Bassano, one of the…
- Front Row
Disenchantment, Alan Garner, tips to boost your creativity
Disenchantment, Netflix's new animated series set in a fantastical medieval world from The Simpsons' creator Matt Groening is released this week. TV critic…
- Front Row
Sharks in culture, Thea Musgrave, Derren Brown
Sharks have long held a prominent place in mythology, the imagination and even religion for centuries. As The Meg, a thriller about a 75-foot-long prehistoric…
- Front Row
Mezzo-Soprano Sarah Connolly, Inspire Season Commissions, The Producers at 50
The mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly is an opera star, singing the big roles at La Scala, The Met, Glyndebourne and the Royal Opera House. Her latest project…
- Front Row
The Proclaimers, Gulliver's Travels, Internet as inspiration
Craig and Charlie Reid, better known as The Proclaimers, are live in the Front Row studio playing the title track of their new album Angry Cyclist. They…
- Front Row
Hang Ups, The Artist's Way author Julia Cameron, Brandenburg Concertos Prom
The Artist's Way is a creative self-help book that has sold over 4 million copies and garnered dedicated fans around the world. As part of Front Row's Inspire…
- Front Row
What is Inspiration? Plus playing music from memory with the Aurora Orchestra
Yesterday we launched our new season Inspire. Today we ask the key question: what is inspiration? The poet Kei Miller, the composer Philip Venables, the…
- Front Row
Nature as artistic inspiration - live from Epping Forest, Loch Lomond and Helen's Bay
We explore the natural landscape as artistic inspiration from three locations around the country. Writer Tracy Chevalier and artist Gayle Chong Kwan join John…
- Front Row
Love Island, Melvin Burgess, Milos Karadaglic and Joby Talbot, Roy Foster on Brian Friel
Melvin Burgess, who's been dubbed the Godfather of Young Adult fiction, talks about his new book The Lost Witch about a teenage girl who discovers she has…
- Front Row
Dad's Army at 50, Jazz on streaming services, Marvellous Mechanical Museum
Chris Dunkley, for many years television critic of the Financial Times, discusses the impact and ongoing popularity of Dad's Army, which was first broadcast…
- Front Row
Iceman, Suicide in the performing arts, Samuel Barber opera Vanessa
New film Iceman was inspired by Ötzi, the prehistoric man who was found perfectly preserved in the ice in the Ötztal Alps in 1991. Dubbed "The European…
- Front Row
Marlon James, Mercury Prize shortlist, Decolonising museum collections
Fran Ross was a gifted African-American author who died in 1985. Her novel Oreo, written at the height of the Black Power movement, tells the rollercoaster…
- Front Row
Andre Holland, Housing for artists, Feminist sci-fi
Andre Holland is perhaps best known for his role as Kevin, the chef (and love interest) in the Oscar winning film Moonlight. Now he is in Britain playing…
- Front Row
Exit the King, Man Booker Longlist, Tony Walsh, Nick Drnaso
Playwright Patrick Marber and actress Indira Varma on Exit the King, Marber's adaptation for the National Theatre of the Romanian absurdist drama by Eugène…
- Front Row
John Hurt's paintings, The Fool in King Lear, Summer reads for the UK
John Hurt as Artist is a new exhibition in Norfolk which reveals a less well-known side of the actor who died last year. Sir John Hurt's widow Anwen discusses…
- Front Row
Mission: Impossible - Fallout, American footballer-turned-opera star Morris Robinson, Commercial bookclubs
American footballer-turned-opera star Morris Robinson is returning to the Proms this weekend to perform as the bass soloist in Mahler's epic Symphony of a…
- Front Row
The Lehman Trilogy, Now That's What I Call Music 100, Zaffar Kunial
The Lehman Trilogy at the National Theatre is an epic new play directed by Sam Mendes, which tells the story of the American banking dynasty from its humble…
- Front Row
Alan Bennett and Nicholas Hytner, Diversity in children's fiction, Yves Klein at Blenheim Place
Alan Bennett's new play Allelujah! is set in the geriatric ward of a Yorkshire hospital threatened with closure. It follows a singing, dancing choir of…
- Front Row
Sacha Baron Cohen's Who Is America?, Glasgow School of Art Rebuild, Anita Corbin, China's Most Expensive Film Flops
Sacha Baron Cohen's return to TV is Who Is America?, a new series in which he dupes figures such as Sarah Palin and Bernie Sanders into giving interviews to…
- Front Row
Pierce Brosnan on Mamma Mia, Irish arts funding, Summer reads
Pierce Brosnan discusses his long and varied career which began as an artist, as he reprises the role of Sam Carmichael in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again - with…
- Front Row
Agnès Varda, The rise of grime, Artistic superstitions
Grime has been on an epic journey from subculture to explosive phenomenon. John speaks to presenter DJ Target, writer of Grime Kids, and to music journalist…
- Front Row
Eve Myles, Bernie Taupin, This Class Works exhibition
Torchwood and Broadchurch star Eve Myles returns to our screens in the Welsh-noir series Keeping Faith. The drama centres around a working mother, Faith…
- Front Row
Singer Olly Alexander, Veteran documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, Can a critic call an actor overweight?
Theatre criticism has been in the dock recently after a reviewer was publicly reproached for mentioning an actor's weight. Critics Sarah Crompton and Quentin…
- Front Row
10/07/2018
Holly Hunter talks about her four-decade career in Hollywood, including her Oscar winning performance in The Piano, her role as a TV journalist in Broadcast…
- Front Row
Oliver Knussen remembered, Natalie Dormer, Life modelling
The acclaimed composer and conductor, Oliver Knussen, has died aged 66. He began composing at just six years-old and as well as continuing to write music, went…
- Front Row
100 Poems by Seamus Heaney, Jesse Jones, Ulysses at the Abbey Theatre
Live from Dublin, Seamus Heaney's wife and daughter, Marie and Catherine Heaney, talk to the writer Sinéad Gleeson about 100 Poems, a selection of the poet's…
Front RowRob Brydon on Swimming With Men, Laura Wade, Ferens Art Gallery
Rob Brydon, Daniel Mays and Adeel Akhtar were among the actors spending long hours in swimming pools last summer rehearsing for, and shooting, the new British…
- Front Row
Emily Mortimer, Man Booker Prize at 50, Glasgow Women's Library
Actor Emily Mortimer on a new film adaption of Penelope Fitzgerald's The Bookshop, about a widow who decides to open a bookshop selling subversive literature…
- Front Row
Film director Haifaa al-Mansour, Sharp Objects, Brooklands Museum, Holiday reads
When Haifaa Al Mansour released Wadja in 2012 she became Saudi Arabia's first female director of a feature film. She has now directed her first…
- Front Row
Maxine Peake, Gillian Lynne remembered, Whitney documentaries
Maxine Peake discusses her new stage play, Queens of the Coal Age, which dramatizes the incident in 1993 when, armed with wet wipes and nicotine gum, Anne…
- Front Row
Fun Home, Portrayal of lesbians in drama, Caryl Phillips, Tate St Ives
Winner of five Tony Awards, Fun Home is a ground-breaking new musical about a lesbian girl coming out, based on Alison Bechdel's autobiographical graphic…
- Front Row
Japan Special: Ryuichi Sakomoto, Japanese Short Stories, Sou Fujimoto
A Japanese-themed edition of Front Row as the Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, whose scores include Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence and The Last Emperor…
- Front Row
Bartlett Sher and The King and I, Olivia Laing, Museum of the Year report
Bartlett Sher's adaption of The King and I won four Tony Awards during its run on Broadway and is transferring to London this month. The American director was…
- Front Row
Michael Jackson at the National Portrait Gallery, Kynren in Bishop Auckland
Michael Jackson as a visual icon is the subject of a new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery which brings together artists inspired by the global star…
- Front Row
Duran Duran, The Bradford Literature Festival, Stained Glass artist Brian Clarke, and the Poetry of Sun and Summer
Forty years after forming, two of the original members of the iconic New Romantic band Duran Duran, Roger and John Taylor, talk about their time in the music…
- Front Row
Fly by Night, Tim Winton, Poems by teenagers, Music discovered in a painting
Australian writer Tim Winton discusses The Shepherd's Hut, his first novel in five years. Set in the parched landscape of his native Western Australia, the…
- Front Row
James Corden, Poet Raymond Antrobus, Arts Minister Michael Ellis
James Corden, who is bringing his Late Late Show to London, talks to John Wilson about the challenges of presenting a live daily topical show, how he'd like to…
- Front Row
Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain, GLOW star Kate Nash, Pop-up arts
The American photographer and former model Lee Miller had a leading role in championing Surrealism in Britain in the 1930s, which is the focus of a new…
- Front Row
Caitlin Moran, Beyonce and Jay-Z's new album, National Youth Folk Ensemble, Frank Styles
Caitlin Moran talks about writing her second novel, a characteristically candid and comic account of a young woman's misadventures in 1990s London at the…
- Front Row
Snatches, Carnegie Prize Winner, Best New Video Games, Glasgow School of Art fire
Snatches is a series of eight monologues celebrating the lives of women over the past 100 years, to be broadcast on BBC Four. The director, Vicky Featherstone…
- Front Row
Frida Kahlo, Fly by Night, Queer Eye, Cats in literature
The V&A's latest exhibition includes 13 artworks by the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, but far more of her colourful skirts, blouses and pieces of jewellery…
- Front Row
Ocean's 8, Football kit design, Tacita Dean on drawing, Classical pianist Alexis Ffrench on hip-hop
Ocean's 8 is the latest in the Ocean's heist movie franchise - but this time with an all-female gang starring Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett. Does the twist…
- Front Row
Eddie Izzard, Wilko Johnson and novelist Benjamin Markovits
After discovering that he was almost exactly 150 years younger than Charles Dickens, comedian Eddie Izzard set himself the task of reading all of Dickens'…