Front Row: Archive 2011

With Mark Lawson.

Anthony Horowitz, author of the Alex Ryder spy series, has written a new Sherlock Holmes novel. He discusses how he has approached the distinctive narrative voice, and reflects on the potential pitfalls in taking on such well-loved characters.

Alice in Wonderland, an exhibition at Tate Liverpool, examines how Lewis Carroll's classic books have inspired a wide range of art, from Victorian paintings to videos. Children's author and illustrator Chris Mould reviews.

Dramatist David Edgar talks about his new play Written on the Heart, which marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible. The play explores the different fates of the two translators: death at the stake for one, and for the other the possibility of an archbishop's mitre.

The next James Bond film will be called Skyfall - which is not one of Ian Fleming's original titles. Language expert David Crystal reflects on the possible sources of the word skyfall, and film critic Mark Eccleston discusses what makes a great Bond title.

Producer: Georgia Mann.

With Mark Lawson.

At the age of 91, P D James has published a new crime novel, which is a sequel to Pride and Prejudice. Death Comes To Pemberley is set in Mr Darcy's ancestral home, where he and Elizabeth Bennet are living in marital bliss, which is suddenly ruptured by a brutal murder on the estate. P D James discusses her passion for Jane Austen and the challenge of living up to the great writer.

Collaborators is a new play by John Hodge, whose film scripts include Trainspotting and Shallow Grave. It's set in Moscow in 1938, where writer Mikhail Bulgakov, played by Alex Jennings, accepts a tricky commission: to write a play celebrating the 60th birthday of Stalin, played by Simon Russell Beale. Michael Berkeley reviews.

Cellist Steven Isserlis believes that the cello is closest of all instruments to the human voice, and his forthcoming concerts at the Wigmore Hall in London investigate the repertoire for voice and strings. Tenor Mark Padmore joins Steven Isserlis to discuss the tensions between singer and player in attempting to create the perfect balance of voice and music.

Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With John Wilson.

Justin Timberlake stars in the sci-fi thriller In Time, set in a world where you die after your 25th birthday unless you can afford to buy more time. Timberlake teams up with a young heiress, played by Amanda Seyfried, to try to destroy the system. Natalie Haynes reviews.

David Bowie's influence in the 1970s, his most productive decade, is the focus of a new book by Peter Doggett. He charts how the music developed through the decade, and reflects on why Bowie's difficult background, including the shadow of a 'family curse' of madness, led to pioneering and experimental personas.

Singer Adele has had to cancel her tour, after the discovery of a haemorrhage on her vocal cords. It's also the time of year when singers live in terror of getting a cold and being forced to cancel performances. Consultant laryngologist John Rubin, voice coach Mary King and soprano Elizabeth Watts discuss the problems singers face, and how they can avoid them.

Two British sit-coms are back for second series. BBC Three's Him and Her, the channel's most successful ever sitcom, returns with unemployed couple Becky (Sarah Solemani) and Steve (Russell Tovey) together in a bedsit. Also returning is E4's PhoneShop, where the staff are determined to beat the downturn. Rebecca Nicholson gives her verdict.

Producer Claire Bartleet.

With John Wilson, including an interview with novelist and screenwriter Ronan Bennett, whose new TV drama series Top Boy focuses on young drug dealers in Hackney, London.

Andrew Lloyd Webber reveals the winners of the first English Heritage Angel Awards, which he founded earlier this year to celebrate the efforts of people attempting to rescue historic buildings or places. He discusses the future funding of restoration projects with Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of English Heritage.

Jack Goes Boating is the directorial debut of the actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. He also stars in the film as a shy and awkward limousine driver who is set up on a blind date. Andrew Collins reviews.

And to mark Halloween, Jeremy Summerly - conductor and lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music - explains how composers create spooky and scary effects in classical music and film scores.

Producer Claire Bartleet.

With Kirsty Lang.

Emma Donoghue is the bestselling author of Room, the Booker-nominated novel inspired by the real life Josef Fritzl case. Her latest book is The Sealed Letter, a historical romp that deals with a scandalous 19th Century divorce case. She talks to Kirsty about why she always avoids taking sides among her characters.

Music critic Caspar Llewellyn Smith reviews a selection of new albums - including Coldplay's recent Mylo Xyloto; Tom Waits' long-awaited Bad As Me; and Parisienne singer Camille's bilingual Ilo Veyou.

Johnny Hallyday has announced he will play his first British concert at the Royal Albert Hall next year. French journalist Agnes Poirier explains the enduring appeal of the Gallic rocker.

Martin Sixsmith reviews a new exhibition of Soviet art and architecture at the Royal Academy in London, which explores how the Russian avant-garde aesthetic reflected the energy and optimism of the new Soviet Socialist State

Plus: America's most famous cellist, Yo-Yo Ma, is renowned for performing works which range far beyond the standard classical repertoire. His latest CD, The Goat Rodeo Sessions, is a collaboration with three string virtuosos: a bluegrass fiddler, a mandolin wizard, and a bassist. Ma talks about his attitude to improvisation - and explains what a goat rodeo is.

Producer Ellie Bury.

With Kirsty Lang.

The enduring fascination with Wallis Simpson continues in The Last of the Duchess, a new play by Nicholas Wright. Juliet Gardiner reviews Richard Eyre's production, and considers Simpson's recent popularity in film, television and literature.

Gerard Butler discusses his role in the film Machine Gun Preacher, based on the true story of a drug dealer who becomes a crusader for children caught up in conflict in Africa.

Kate Prince is the founder and creative director of Zoo Nation, an award winning dance and theatre company. Their show Into The Hoods became both the first ever hip-hop dance show to open in the West End and the longest running dance show in the West End's history. She tells Kirsty how she's trying to change hip hop's violent image.

Space Age technology and ancient Sufi poetry are fused in a new sound installation at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire. Artists Tasawar Bashir and Brian Duffy and astrophysicist Tim O'Brien discuss a work featuring the voice of the celebrated Pakistani musician Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan alongside the sounds of the cosmos.

Producer Lisa Davis.

With Mark Lawson.

George Clooney directs and stars in The Ides of March, a political drama set on the US primary campaign trail. Ryan Gosling plays an up and coming political strategist, whose idealism is threatened by the discovery of a dirty secret. Baroness Shirley Williams reviews.

Jeanette Winterson made her literary debut with Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, a novel with strong autobiographical references to her troubled childhood. She talks about her new memoir, Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal?, which promises the true story of her upbringing.

As David Attenborough's latest series Frozen Planet starts on BBC One, he discusses how making programmes about the natural world has changed during his career - and why it's now impossible to ignore climate change when filming.

As protesters remain camped outside St Paul's Cathedral, Mike Bartlett's new play 13 opens at the National Theatre and explores political and social unrest in contemporary London. Andrew Rawnsley gives his verdict.

Producer Georgia Mann.

Kirsty Lang meets Italian intellectual and novelist Umberto Eco, now nearly 80, at his home in Milan. The writer looks back at the surprise success of his first novel The Name of the Rose, published when he was 48, which has sold 50 million copies.

Following successes with subsequent novels including Foucault's Pendulum and Baudolino, Umberto Eco's sixth novel is published in the UK next week. The Prague Cemetery is a controversial novel set in 19th Century Europe, which focuses on the birth of modern-day anti-semitism. The book has already sold one million copies and abounds with conspiracy theories, forgery and deceit. In a rare interview Umberto Eco, a professor in semiotics, reflects on his fascination for language and the way it is used to deceive, which lies at the heart of much of his writing.

Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson.

Anonymous, directed by Roland Emmerich, claims Shakespeare didn't write any plays or sonnets: the real author was the Earl of Oxford - played by Rhys Ifans - who wrote them all in secret. Ryan Gilbey reviews.

Stephan Solzhenitsyn, son of the Nobel Prize-winning writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, reflects on his father's life and legacy, as a new collection of his short stories is published in English for the first time.

Oscar-nominated actress Viola Davis talks to Mark about her new film The Help. She reflects on the differences between acting in Hollywood and on stage, and the roles she is offered as an African-American actress.

Producer Georgia Mann.

With John Wilson.

Brian Wilson and Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys reflect on their never-released album Smile, recorded in 1966 and 1967 and now made available for the first time. Brian Wilson remembers the destructive role drugs played in the creation of this legendary 'lost' album, and music broadcaster Paul Gambaccini assesses how it sounds four decades on.

Steven Spielberg's new film is an adaptation of the Tintin comic series using motion-captured CGI with Jamie Bell in the leading role of the intrepid boy reporter. Naomi Alderman considers how well the Hergé characters translate into film.

Peter Brook's 1964 production of Marat/Sade for the Royal Shakespeare Company caused huge controversy and public outcry. Now, as part of their 50th anniversary season, the RSC are restaging it. Has it retained its shock value? Andrew Dickson has the verdict.

Producer: Philippa Ritchie.