Front Row

Director Sofia Coppola on completing her mother Eleanor’s documentary about the making of Sofia’s feature Marie Antoinette, following her death. The film goes behind the scenes of the lavish 2006 biopic starring Kirsten Dunst - in spectacular locations such as Versailles - and is in cinemas around the UK from this Friday.

Can prescribing culture - such as choirs, art classes and poetry workshops - improve young people'...

As A A Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh, one of the most loved bears in children's literature reaches 100, Jane Riordan, author of the new Pooh books, and Hollie Piff, EH Shepard archivist at the University of Surrey discuss the appeal of the 'bear of very little brain'.

Poet and writer Luke Kennard on his Booker Prize 2026 shortlisted novel, Black Bag.

Following thee announcement of the death of Douglas Dunn, poet Don Paterson pays tribute t...

Academy Award-winning director Taika Waititi on his screen adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel Klara and the Sun, in which 'artificial friends' have been created to provide companionship for lonely teenagers in a near-future dystopian world.

Theatre critic Susannah Clapp discusses Caryl Churchill's 15 minute play Triumph and what these short performances can do for the theatre experience.

Of the 123 people who have won the Nobel Pri...

Critic David Benedict and journalist Muriel Zagha discuss Kristin Scott Thomas in Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, adapted by award winning playwright Conor McPherson.

They also discuss survival thriller Whalefall, in which a diver is swallowed by a whale.

Plus they'll be giving their verdict on Elif Shafak's novel In One Brief Moment All Eternity, which tells the story of Madame Bovary author Gustave Flaubert through fictional and re...

Comedian Leo Reich, who has been named as one of the "best British talent" by The Times, and who has previously appeared in Lena Dunham's Netflix romcom Too Much, talks to us about creating his own sitcom - It Gets Worse - about a group of dysfunctional BFFs - for Channel 4.

It emerged this weekend that almost 100,000 items have gone missing (and are either lost or stolen) from museums in Scotland in recent years. How are museums ...

Bad Sisters actress Anne-Marie Duff talks to Samira about her latest role as Julie in Helen Edmundson’s play in Some Woman on stage at the National Theatre in London.

In the next of our interviews with this year's Booker Prize shortlisted authors, visionary novelist and father of "New Weird" fiction M John Harrison discusses his disorientating dystopia, The End of Everything.

And in the year of the Bayreuth opera festival's 150...

We speak backstage with Christine Baranski and Richard E Grant on appearing in Noel Coward's Hay Fever in London's West End. Writer Douglas Stuart on John of John, nominated for this year's Booker Prize. We find out the big names and important movies to look out for, that are part of this year's London Film Festival. And controversy for the winner of this year's Caine Prize for African Writing, whose author has been accused of usi...

Zoe Williams and Laurence Scott join Tom Sutcliffe to review:

The Social Reckoning, Aaron's Sorkin's new film which revisits the world of Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg 16 years after his hit The Social Network. Mikey Madison stars as whistleblower Frances Haugen, who leaked tens of thousands of internal documents to the Wall Street Journal.

The 90s: Art and Fashion at Tate Britain, an exhibition curated by former Vogue editor Edward E...

News broke today of a discovery which may rewrite cinematic history. In 1926 Scottish playwright Graham Moffat's film - Till the Bells Ring - using pioneering audio technology which allowed sound and pictures to be synchronised, was premiered in Edinburgh. For decades, Alan Crossland’s 1927 film The Jazz Singer – starring Al Jolson – has been regarded as the world's first talkie, but does this newly discovered ...

The legendary Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr is back with his fifth solo album The Age of Everything, which he's described as the most cathartic album he's ever written. He joins Samira to talk about road-testing these songs before recording them, why he auctioned off his whole guitar collection and what keeps him making music after five decades in the spotlight.

As French Impressionist Claude Monet's letters are published in English ...

Two of the young stars of Saturday Night Live UK on bringing live satire back to television. Director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy, Captain Philips, United 93) on how the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 inspired his new film, Uprising. The British Museum has taken steps to quell public dissent over long queues and ticket cancellations for the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition. And novelist Sarah Hall on the rebelliousness of mod...

Susannah Clapp and Nick Hilton join Tom Sutcliffe to review Tom Cruise as a prosthetic laden billionaire oil tycoon in the film Digger, who is out to save humanity after causing a global catastrophe.

They also discuss Sky legal drama War – where Sienna Miller and Dominic West play a power couple who are getting divorced.

And they offer their verdicts on The Standard of Living, Dear England writer James Graham’s play abo...

Sherwood and Homeland star David Harewood talks to us about his lead role in Channel 4's new legal drama Pierre, which is co-written by John Donnelly and playwright Roy Wiliams.

Actor Simon Russell Beale discusses playing Liberace on stage in I'll Be Seeing You, the new play from Martin Sherman (who wrote Bent and Mrs Henderson Presents), a sparkling fantasia which follows a young writer struggling to create a play about the flamb...

Tom Sutcliffe hosts the ceremony for BBC National Short Story Award and Young Writers Award 2026, in partnership with University of Cambridge, live from BBC Broadcasting House in London.

As well as the announcements of the winners of both awards, Tom is joined by judges David Almond, Tahmima Anam and Saba Sams to discuss the key ingredients for a standout short story. They also recommend the short story writers and collections whic...

The multi-award winning stage designer and artist Es Devlin talks to Samira as a retrospective of her work opens at the Design Museum in London. Devlin has created sets for theatre and opera and also for stadium concerts, fashion shows, and the Olympics opening ceremony. This is her first UK museum show and her first retrospective in Europe, and it celebrates her 30-year creative practice across stage design, art installations, scu...

A special edition of Front Row from the BBC's poetry and performance festival - Contains Strong Language

Since self-publishing a poetry pamphlet in 2020, Donna Ashworth has gone on to become the UK's bestselling living poet of the decade. She talks about her new book, The Art of Being Easily Pleased: Words To Unlock A Wonderful life, and shares some of her new poems.

The phenomenally successful musical, Operation Mincemeat, which lo...

In this week's Review Show, our guest critics Hannah McGill and Fergus Morgan join Kirsty Wark to discuss three dystopian thrillers:

Bestselling novelist Emily St John Mandel's latest work of speculative fiction, Exit Party, chronicles how a range of characters respond to a complete collapse in society - in America, where Texas and California are now republics, and militia roam the streets, and in Paris, where a giant dome has been...

Comedian Russell Kane tells us about playing an older Romeo in a new take on Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.

Author Samantha Ellis gives her verdict on the new film adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility starring Daisy Edgar-Jones.

This week marks 100 years since the birth of John Coltrane. Saxophonist Soweto Kinch and Grammy award winning music historian Ashley Khan discuss Coltrane’s significance and legacy.

And...

Roger Taylor has been a driving force behind Queen, one of the most successful bands in history. The songwriter, drummer and singer talks to Tom Sutcliffe about his 7th solo album Violence Insane in a Beautiful World.

Stars Wars legend George Lucas has long sought to fulfil his dream to open a museum for his vast art collection, which includes everything from the comics of R. Crumb and Moebius to the art of Frida Kahlo, Banksy and ...