Front Row: Archive 2013

With John Wilson.

Architect Richard Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside, is the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Royal Academy in London. Timed to coincide with his 80th birthday, the show includes his designs for the Pompidou Centre, the Lloyds building and the Millennium Dome. Richard Rogers talks to John about dyslexia, Prince Charles and everybody's democratic right to see a tree from their window.

Preparations are underway for the first Gospel music Prom. Conductors Ken Burton and Rebecca Thomas join Prom host Pastor David Daniel to discuss the history of British gospel music, what it means today and whether having a religious belief is important to be a performer. To illustrate what audiences at the Royal Albert Hall and on BBC Radio 3 will hear, members of the London Adventist Chorale sing in the studio.

In tonight's Cultural Exchange, Ian Rankin chooses the 1973 album Solid Air by the British singer-songwriter and guitarist John Martyn.

Producer Claire Bartleet.

With John Wilson.

Sergei Polunin is the youngest dancer ever to be made a principal with the Royal Ballet, a role he unexpectedly quit after two years aged 21. Earlier this year he suddenly left the cast of a new ballet version of Midnight Express, days before its UK premiere. As he takes the lead in a Moscow production of Coppélia in London, Polunin discusses this role and his career highs and lows.

David Baddiel's first full stand-up show for over 15 years concentrates on the idea of celebrity. In Fame - Not The Musical, he argues that famous people don't talk about how the level of fame can fluctuate, and suggests that he is no longer as famous as he used to be. He discusses his return to the stage, and also reveals that he feels partly responsible for Sachsgate, the infamous prank calls made by Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross to Andrew Sachs.

In 1936 Dame Laura Knight became the first woman to be elected to the Royal Academy since 1769. As a new exhibition of her work opens at the National Portrait Gallery, Juliet Gardiner reassesses an artist who began painting circus scenes and went on to become an official war artist, creating a famous picture of the Nuremberg Trials.

In tonight's Cultural Exchange, the British portrait and fashion photographer Rankin - full name John Rankin Waddell - selects a short poem by Thomas Hardy which had a big influence on his decision to become a photographer while studying at Brighton Polytechnic.

Producer Claire Bartleet.

With Mark Lawson.

Top of the Lake is a new TV drama series, directed by Oscar-winner Jane Campion, whose works include The Piano and Portrait of a Lady. The series, set in the remote mountains of New Zealand, stars Holly Hunter and Mad Men actress Elisabeth Moss. When a 12 year old girl disappears, Moss's character takes a keen interest in the police case, and returns to her hometown to pick up the investigating duties. Rachel Cooke reviews.

Rachel Joyce's novel, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, was the bestselling debut of 2012. She talks discusses her new book, Perfect, in which the usual parent/child roles are reversed, when the life mother of a ten year old boy starts to unravel.

The England and Wales Cricket Board has released a poem entitled #Rise For England, which is on the front cover of programmes throughout the Ashes series and features in a short film played on screen at all five match venues. Actor and cricket lover Michael Simkins reflects on the long tradition of poetry about the game and assesses whether poetry can inspire the players.

For Cultural Exchange, Booker Prize-winning novelist Pat Barker nominates Benjamin Britten's song cycle Who Are These Children?.

Producer Karla Sweet.

With Mark Lawson.

Composer Murray Gold discusses his music for Doctor Who, to be performed in two BBC Proms concerts this weekend. He also explains his aims when writing for such a much-loved series, and how advances in technology have affected his work.

Run is a four part Channel 4 series of interlinked stories, with each episode concentrating on a different character. The cast includes Olivia Colman, Lennie James, Katie Leung and Jamie Winstone, and the first episode stars Olivia Colman as a single mother with some difficult choices to make, whilst trying to keep her family together after an act of random violence. Writer Dreda Say Mitchell reviews.

Black and white films have returned to the big screen in recent weeks, with Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing and Ben Wheatley's A Field in England, and Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha arrives in the UK later this month. Film critic Ryan Gilbey reflects on why these directors have forsaken colour photography, and considers other directors who have followed a similar route recently.

Artist Maggi Hambling discusses her Cultural Exchange choice: the Bacchus series of cascading blood red paintings by the American painter Cy Twombly.

Producer Rebecca Nicholson.

With Mark Lawson.

Sir Kenneth Branagh returns to performing and directing Shakespeare, taking the title role in a new production of Macbeth at the Manchester International Festival. This follows a decade-long hiatus in his long relationship with Shakespeare - from his RSC years, through the Renaissance Theatre Company and films including Henry V, Hamlet and Love's Labours Lost. Dramatist Charlotte Keatley reviews.

Monsters University is a prequel to Monsters, Inc, the 2001 film from the animation studio Pixar. The film sees Mike and Sulley (voiced by Billy Crystal and John Goodman) attend the classes of Dean Abigail Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren), to learn how to scare children. Mark Eccleston reviews.

When the South London band The xx released their debut album in 2009, its quiet ambience gained critical acclaim, became the soundtrack for several TV programmes and won the Mercury Music Prize. Its follow up, Coexist, topped the UK charts. As they prepare for start of their Manchester International Festival residency, Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim of The xx discuss playing in a small secret venue.

For Cultural Exchange, in which creative minds share a favourite art-work or design, Penelope Curtis, Director at Tate Britain, chooses buildings designed by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon at the University of Leeds. Created in the 1960s and 70s, and including the Grade II* listed Roger Stevens Building, the designs are seen as key examples of modernist architecture.

Producer Nicki Paxman.

With Mark Lawson at the Manchester International Festival.

Film-maker Adam Curtis and the band Massive Attack are the co-creators of the event that launched this year's Manchester International Festival. Adam Curtis discusses his approach to directing a film which works with the live music, to create an experience that he and the band hope will redefine the idea of the gig.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Garry Kasparov dominated the world of chess. His much-publicised match against the IBM computer, Deep Blue, is the inspiration for a new play by Matt Charman, called The Machine. Matt and the play's director Josie Rourke discuss dramatizing a game of chess with only one human player.

At 4am this morning Mark arrived at the Whitworth Gallery for the start of a show which will last about 65 hours. In the Gallery, the performance artist Nikhil Chopra aims to connect his native India with Manchester through a variety of personal and political explorations. Just before sunrise, he reflected on becoming a live artwork, and Mark also returned to the Gallery during the afternoon to find out how the show is progressing.

Producer Ekene Akalawu.

With Mark Lawson.

A Field In England is the first British film to be simultaneously released in cinemas, on DVD, video on demand and terrestrial television. Directed by Ben Wheatley and starring Reece Shearsmith from The League Of Gentlemen, it's a Civil War drama about a group of soldiers who ingest some magic mushrooms and encounter a mysterious figure who may, or may not, be the devil. Professor Roger Luckhurst decides whether it's a trip worth taking.

With a CV that includes EastEnders, The Iron Lady and West End productions of Mamma Mia! and Yes, Prime Minister, Michael Simkins has a wide range of acting experience. He talks to Mark about his book which offers a practical guide to aspiring actors, including tips on what to do on stage if someone misses their cue and why you should always read the whole script.

Eagle-eyed viewers of the new film Chasing Mavericks might notice that the new surf drama is credited to two directors, because Michael Apted completed the last few weeks of photography when the original director, Curtis Hanson, had to drop out for health reasons. But it isn't the first movie to have two or more directors in the credits, as critic Catherine Bray explains.

Tonight's Cultural Exchange is by the outspoken art critic and historian Brian Sewell - who has chosen a painting by the Spanish artist Diego Velazquez (1599 - 1660) depicting Christ after the Flagellation. Called Christ Contemplated by the Christian Soul, the work is on display at the National Gallery in London.

Producer Ekene Akalawu.

With John Wilson.

Elton John reflects on his return to musical basics on his forthcoming album The Diving Board, to be released later this year. He also considers the impact of early fame on young performers, the continuing influence of soul and classical music on his own songs and the effect of his two young sons on his performing career.

Producer John Goudie.

With John Wilson.

Emma Watson stars in The Bling Ring, Sofia Coppola's film about a teenage gang who raid the Hollywood homes of young celebrities. Jason Solomons reviews.

Actress Anna Chancellor discusses her role as Amanda in Noel Coward's Private Lives on stage. Anna won acclaim for roles on TV in Spooks and Pramface and was nominated for a BAFTA for BBC One's The Hour - and is still remembered as Hugh Grant's jilted fiancée Duckface in Four Weddings and a Funeral.

For Cultural Exchange, actor and musician Clarke Peters selects an anthropological book: They Came Before Columbus, by Dr Ivan Van Sertima. Dr Van Sertima argued that the Indians whom Columbus encountered had already met Africans, long before Columbus had got there. This would mean that Africans had first arrived in the Americas not as slaves, but far earlier - as explorers and traders.

A new apocalyptic comedy This is the End features James Franco, Seth Rogen and Emily Watson playing James Franco, Seth Rogen and Emily Watson. And this week Status Quo make their movie debut in action-comedy caper Bula Quo!, playing none other than Status Quo. Critic Adam Smith looks into this cinematic habit of actors playing alternative versions of themselves in films.

Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson.

Mark Ruffalo, Morgan Freeman and Jesse Eisenberg star in a new film Now You See Me, in which four illusionists pull off bank heists during their elaborate shows and reward the audiences with the money. But the FBI and Interpol are on their case. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews.

The Swedish writer Henning Mankell is best known for his series of novels featuring Inspector Kurt Wallander, but this accounts for only a fraction of his work, which includes books for children, plays, and novels set in Africa, where he spends half his time. Henning Mankell discusses his latest novel, A Treacherous Paradise, set in Mozambique, and how his Wallander series has tended to overshadow his other output.

For the first time in its history, Tate Modern is focussing on the rarely told story of African and Arabic modernism. Sudanese painter Ibrahim El-Salahi gets his first major exhibition in the UK, with a retrospective that spans five decades and over one hundred paintings. Meanwhile Benin-born artist Meschac Gaba has created a temporary museum of contemporary African art inside the gallery, complete with its own shop.

In Cultural Exchange, Julia Donaldson, the former Children's Laureate, talks about the stories by American writer Arnold Lobel. Best known for his series Frog and Toad which are for young children beginning to read, Julia chooses and reads from Grasshopper on the Road.