Front Row: Archive 2011

With John Wilson.

Peter Gabriel's latest project was inspired by his 2010 CD Scratch My Back, in which he gave an orchestral treatment to some of his favourite artists' songs. The former Genesis frontman discusses his new album New Blood, in which he gives highlights from his own solo back-catalogue a similar makeover, including Don't Give Up and Solsbury Hill.

Doctor Who's Karen Gillan makes her professional stage debut in a new production of John Osborne's Inadmissible Evidence, which stars the Olivier and Tony award-winning actor Douglas Hodge in the massive central role of a disintegrating middle-aged lawyer, clinging to the human wreckage he's left in his wake. Sarah Churchwell reviews.

The first major show for over 25 years of the work of surrealist painter Edward Burra opens this weekend. Despite suffering with acute arthritis so that his hands could hardly hold the brush, Burra is one of the most original 20th century British artists, fascinated by the seedy side of life, and inspired by a mixture of old masters and the pop culture of jazz and Hollywood films. John reports from Pallant House Gallery, Chichester.

Gus Van Sant, whose films include Good Will Hunting and Milk, has now directed Restless, the tale of a terminally-ill girl who befriends a funeral gate-crashing drop-out. Starring Mia Wasikowska and Henry Hopper, the film has divided critics in America. Antonia Quirke gives her verdict.

Producer Nicki Paxman.

With Mark Lawson,

The actress Thandie Newton has set herself a challenge for her first ever stage role. Taking time out from her film career - she won a Best Supporting Actress BAFTA for Paul Haggis's Crash - she discusses playing the role of Paulina Salas, a former political prisoner in a Latin American country who was incarcerated and raped by her captors, in Ariel Dorfman's play Death and the Maiden.

Romola Garai, star of The Hour and Atonement, reviews a new exhibition of historical actress portraits depicting such superstars of their time as Nell Gwyn, mistress of Charles II, and Dorothy Jordan who had 10 illegitimate children with William IV. The exhibition includes Joshua Reynolds's depiction of Sarah Siddons as a noble Tragic Muse, and a full frontal portrait of a bare-breasted Nell Gwyn.

The Slap is a new TV drama series starting on BBC Four, based on Christos Tsiolkas' best-selling novel. At a summer barbecue, a man slaps a child who is not his son and the story traces the repercussions of a single event upon a group of family and friends. Rachel Cooke reviews.

We Need to Talk About Kevin is a best-selling book and now an acclaimed film, and its title is being widely re-worked by headline writers, authors and organisations. Comedian Danny Robins assesses why some titles prove so alluring.

Producer Claire Bartleet

Presenter Mark Lawson.

With Mark Lawson.

In the new film Contagion, an untreatable deadly virus is threatening the world's population. Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon and Jude Law head the cast, directed by Steven Soderbergh. Matt Thorne reviews.

As the hit play Jerusalem returns to the London stage after great success on Broadway, Mark Rylance discusses the role that won him his second Best Actor Tony Award. He describes the subtle changes made to the very English play for the benefit of American audiences and why after more than 250 appearances as Johnny Byron, he still looks forward to every performance.

Sir Terry Pratchett reflects on his career as he publishes Snuff, his 50th book and part of the bestselling Discworld series, which began in 1983. He reveals the inspiration behind his latest novel, which centres on a policeman investigating a brutal murder, and discusses the impact of living with Alzheimer's since his diagnosis in 2007.

Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson.

Director Lynne Ramsay's new film We Need to Talk About Kevin won considerable acclaim at this year's Cannes festival. She discusses adapting Lionel Shriver's Orange Prize-winning novel for the cinema, where Tilda Swinton plays the tortured mother of Kevin, who goes on a horrific rampage two days before his 16th birthday.

Theatre producer Cameron Mackintosh is 65 today. He discusses his four decades in the business, in which he has defied critics with international successes including The Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables, which is now set to become a film staring Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe. He also reflects on working with Andrew Lloyd Webber and finding talent via TV audition shows.

Writer Haruki Murakami is a literary superstar in his native Japan, and his books have been translated into dozens of languages. His latest title 1Q84 sold a million copies in one month in his homeland, and is published in English for the first time this week, as three books in two volumes. Novelist Toby Litt reviews.

Producer Nicki Paxman.

With Kirsty Lang.

Tamsin Greig, who plays Debbie in The Archers, returns to the stage in Jumpy, a new play by April De Angelis which focuses on the relationship between a mother and her difficult teenaged daughter. Tamsin discusses why she doesn't see herself as a comic actress, and reflects on the uncertainties of the actor's life.

In 1979, Monty Python's film Life Of Brian caused outrage around the world. Michael Palin and John Cleese took part in a televised debate with Malcolm Muggeridge and the Bishop of Southwark, to defend their film against charges of blasphemy. A new TV drama, Holy Flying Circus, tells the story of this encounter. Writer Peter Stanford reviews.

Former Python turned director Terry Gilliam has made a short film which was wholly financed by an Italian pasta company. Wholly Family is being screened as part of the BFI London Film Festival. He talks about the making of the film - and why he feels he wasn't selling out.

A new documentary Blood In The Mobile examines how minerals commonly used in mobile phones are extracted in illegal mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and could fund the conflict there. The film's director Frank Poulsen, who appears on screen, discusses his approach to this difficult subject.

Producer Rebecca Nicholson.

With Mark Lawson.

As the band Manic Street Preachers release a compilation of their singles and a volume of Polaroids charting their story, band member Nicky Wire reflects on their career, the loss of Richey Edwards and their continuing belief in singles and albums in a digital age.

In the wake of a bomb explosion outside the City of Culture offices in Londonderry, Shona McCarthy, Chief Executive of Culture Company 2013, discusses how this event might affect her plans and preparations.

As a Dance Marathon begins at the Barbican, London, and the Bush Theatre plans to re-open with a 24 hour continuous performance of 66 new plays, Mark reports on the demands and perils of the marathon show, with Mark Watson, the comedian who managed three stand-up shows lasting 24 hours and more ; DJ Simon Mayo, former world-record holder for the longest radio broadcast ever; theatre critic Michael Coveney, who experienced Ken Campbell's 22 hour play The Warp, and Dr Sarah Jarvis, who offers health warnings.

Producer: Lisa Davis.

With John Wilson.

Singer-songwriter Noel Gallagher dominated the musical landscape of the 1990s in the band Oasis, alongside his brother Liam. After a final acrimonious split with the band, Gallagher is set to release his first solo album: High Flying Birds. He talks about how the modern music industry baffles him, and why he had to say no to Simon Cowell.

Is the art market impervious to the current economic turmoil? As wealthy collectors gather at the Frieze Art Fair in London, art market watchers Godfrey Barker and Sarah Thornton attempt to follow the money.

The war photography of Don McCullin is the subject of a new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in London. Shaped by War brings together McCullin's frontline work from across the world, including East and West Berlin, the Middle East, Northern Ireland, Biafra, and his classic images from the wars in Vietnam and Cambodia. Don McCullin discusses his 50 years avoiding bullets in search of the picture that captures the story in a fraction of a second.

Producer Georgia Mann.

With Mark Lawson.

Steve Coogan has returned to the character that made him a household name, publishing Alan Partridge's autobiography. He discusses the way Partridge has evolved over the years and whether he's ever considered killing him off.

The Comic Strip returns to Channel 4 this week with The Hunt for Tony Blair, in which the former Prime Minister is a 1950s fugitive, on the run for mass murder. Political commentators Quentin Letts and Andrew Rawnsley review.

The new Australian film Sleeping Beauty - the debut from writer and director Julia Leigh - tells the story of a university student who signs up for a series of sessions in which her unconscious body is used by men for their erotic fantasies. Author and critic Kate Saunders gives her verdict.

Producer Georgia Mann.

With Mark Lawson.

Turner Prize nominee Tacita Dean unveils her newly commissioned work in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall. Her silent film is displayed on a giant screen which stretches from the floor to the ceiling of the gigantic space.

Fim-maker Morgan Spurlock, Oscar-nonimated for his documentary Super Size Me, has turned his attention to product placement, marketing and advertising in movies and TV shows for his new film The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. Wearing a suit embroidered with the names of the sponsors he got on board for the film, Morgan Spurlock discusses the challenge of getting corporations to commit substantial sums to finance his project.

Real Steel is a science-fiction action film starring Hugh Jackman, set in the year 2020 when humans have been replaced by robots in the boxing ring. Jackman plays a debt-ridden former boxer, who attempts to profit from illegal robot fights. Mark Eccleston reviews.

And as Channel 4 announce that they are putting their popular property series Relocation, Relocation 'on ice' due to the 'current climate', and American children's TV show Sesame Street introduces a character living on the breadline - Mark talks to TV critic Stephen Armstrong about how broadcasters are responding to the recession era.

Producer Georgia Mann.

With Kirsty Lang.

Vermeer's Women, a new exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, features four works by the Dutch master, including The Lacemaker from the Louvre in Paris, on show in the UK for the first time. Tracy Chevalier, whose novel Girl With A Pearl Earring was inspired by a Vermeer painting, reviews the show.

The actor Paddy Considine, known for films including In America, Dead Man's Shoes and Hot Fuzz, has written and directed his first feature film. Tyrannosaur is loosely based on Considine's own father, and stars Peter Mullan as a man plagued by violence and rage, whose life changes when he meets a religious charity shop worker. Paddy Considine discusses the film and the difficulties he faces coping with Asperger's Syndrome, diagnosed last year.

Mohammed Hanif, Pakistan-born journalist and writer of the prize-winning A Case of Exploding Mangoes, talks about his new novel Our Lady of Alice Bhatti, the story of a junior nurse in downtown Karachi. He explains the art of being a sit-down comedian, and why Pakistan's secret service asked him to name his sources.

Orlando Bloom, star of three Pirates of the Caribbean films, reprises his swashbuckling skills as the villainous Duke of Buckingham in a new 3D film of The Three Musketeers. He reflects on his experiences in major film franchises, and the perils of too many swords and sandals roles.

Producer Philippa Ritchie.