Front Row: Archive 2013

I Am Nasrine is the BAFTA-nominated debut film from Tina Gharavi. It follows teenage refugee Nasrine, forced to leave Iran and start a new life in the UK after a run-in with the police. Tina Gharavi explains how her own life and work with refugees in the north east of England contributed to the script, and how she filmed parts of the footage undercover in Iran.

The White Queen is TV adaptation of Philippa Gregory's best-selling novel, The Cousin's War. Set during the War of the Roses, the battle between the Houses of York and Lancaster is seen through the eyes of the women at the heart of the action. Critic Rebecca Nicholson considers the growing appetite for historical drama and how The White Queen, with its underlying themes of magic and fantasy, compares to Game Of Thrones.

For the Cultural Exchange, Paul Weller nominates The Zombies' album Odessey And Oracle - released in 1968.

For the past twelve years, weavers at the West Dean tapestry studio have been recreating seven sixteenth century tapestries, known as The Hunt For The Unicorn series, for Stirling Castle in Scotland. As the final tapestry is cut from the loom, marking the completion of biggest British weaving project for two hundred years, John Wilson hears about the medieval techniques involved.

With Mark Lawson.

Kim Cattrall plays a fading Hollywood star in a new staging of Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth. Marianne Elliott directs the play, which is set in the late 1950s in the American South. Sarah Churchwell reviews.

The artist Cornelia Parker is best known for installations involving the exploding of a garden shed, Tilda Swinton sleeping in a glass case and the wrapping of Rodin's The Kiss in a mile of string. She reflects on her latest exhibition, and a new book on her work.

For Cultural Exchange, Gwyneth Lewis - the inaugural Poet Laureate of Wales - chooses a dance routine from the Laurel and Hardy film Way Out West (1937).

Novelist Brian Aldiss discusses his final science fiction work Finches Of Mars, which he's published at the age of 87. He also reveals why he has been writing a short story every day for the last year and casts his mind back over a long career that included a brief stint as an erotic novelist.

Producer Nicki Paxman.

With Mark Lawson.

James Baldwin's play, The Amen Corner, tells the story of Margaret, the uncompromising pastor of a Harlem church, who has to face a secret from her past. Marianne Jean-Baptiste stars in a new National Theatre production, featuring a gospel choir. Writer and critic Bidisha gives her verdict.

Best-selling crime writer Peter James discusses his latest book Dead Man's Time, the ninth novel in the Roy Grace Series, and reveals the high-profile real-life inspiration for his character Amis Smallbone.

For Cultural Exchange, concert pianist Stephen Hough chooses a song called The Hurdy Gurdy Man by Franz Schubert, from his 1828 song cycle Die Winterreise.

After directing the blockbuster Avengers Assemble, Joss Whedon now releases a very different film: a modern-day version of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, shot in his own home, in black and white, and featuring a cast of his friends - most of whom appeared in his various cult TV series. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews.

Producer Nicki Paxman.

With Mark Lawson,

Man of Steel, the latest Superman blockbuster, explores how Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) became a superhero. Amy Adams plays Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane and Michael Shannon is Superman's nemesis General Zod. Matt Thorne reviews.

In Cultural Exchange, in which creative minds share a cultural passion, writer A L Kennedy explains why she has chosen Hitler's SS: A Portrait Of Evil, a TV drama from 1985, starring Bill Nighy.

Mexican tenor Rolando Villazón discusses his love of Verdi's music, 200 years after the composer's birth. He explains when he first encountered it and the effect it had on him, the differences between singing on stage and in a recording studio - and why opera singers should try to stay as fit as athletes.

Producer Claire Bartleet.

With Mark Lawson.

Author and illustrator Judith Kerr is best known for her much-loved children's books, which include The Tiger who Came to Tea and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. In the week of her 90th birthday, she discusses her latest book, Judith Kerr's Creatures, which celebrates her life, family and work. She talks about the inspiration for her books and her family's remarkable story of escape from Nazi Germany.

Admission is a new comedy set at Princeton University. Tina Fey is an admissions officer who's approached by a teacher (Paul Rudd) trying to persuade her to accept his brilliant but troubled pupil. Critic and writer Elaine Showalter, who used to teach at Princeton, gives her verdict.

Dates, a new TV drama series, focuses on the uncomfortable, funny and complex situations arising when people meet for a first date. The series, created by Bryan Elsley, who also launched Skins, features a cast including Sheridan Smith, Will Mellor, Oona Chaplin and Gemma Chan. Writer and advice columnist Bel Mooney reviews.

In Cultural Exchange, in which creative minds share a cultural passion, novelist Mark Haddon nominates the Uffington White Horse, a giant prehistoric chalk figure on the Berkshire Downs.

Producer Olivia Skinner.

With John Wilson.

Marc Chagall's paintings filled with colour, floating figures and Jewish motifs are among the most distinctive in art. A new exhibition at Tate Liverpool traces the creation of Chagall's style by following his early years as an artist in Paris and his native Russia. Jackie Wullschlager, author of the biography Chagall: Love and Exile, reviews.

St Colmcille, the patron saint of Derry/Londonderry, returns for a public pageant on a city-wide scale, starting this evening. Frank Cottrell Boyce, the writer behind the London 2012 Opening Ceremony, discusses how he created the story for this weekend's events in the UK's City of Culture. Many aspects of the city's history are celebrated, culminating in a showdown on the river front between St. Colmcille and his monstrous nemesis.

Singer-songwriter Laura Marling reflects on her new album Once I was an Eagle, and explains why she has chosen to base herself in Los Angeles. She also brings her guitar to the Front Row studio, to perform.

And the Irish writer Colm Tóibín makes his selection for the Cultural Exchange: Poem by Elizabeth Bishop, a reflection on a small painting of a scene in rural Nova Scotia, where the poet spent time as a child.

Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson.

Writer and comedy performer Miranda Hart reflects on her career so far, as her book Is It Just Me? appears in paperback.

Martin Amis discusses his 13th novel Lionel Asbo: State of England, a black comedy about a very violent and not very successful criminal and his nephew Desmond Pepperdine.

Playwright and actor Kwame Kwei-Armah, currently Artistic Director of Center Stage in Baltimore, Maryland, selects his Cultural Exchange: Joe Turner's Come and Gone by August Wilson

Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson

As actress Anne-Marie Duff (The Virgin Queen, Shameless) takes to the stage as Nina in Eugene O'Neill's 1923 play Strange Interlude, she talks to Mark about the soliloquy technique, madness, shyness, and Doctor Who.

Formerly known as the Orange Prize, this year's Women's Prize for Fiction will be awarded this evening. The shortlist includes Hilary Mantel, Barbara Kingsolver, Zadie Smith, A.M. Homes, Kate Atkinson and Maria Semple. Mark speaks to the winner live from the ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall.

Now in its 245th year, the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy in London is about to open. It is the world's largest open-submission exhibition, displaying more than 1,000 works in all styles and media, including painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, architectural models and film. Curators Eva Jiricna and Norman Ackroyd discuss the range of works chosen by the Academicians.

And for this evening's Cultural Exchange, novelist and poet Sarah Hall chooses the 1992 Director's Cut of Blade Runner - Ridley Scott's dystopian science fiction film.

Producer Ella-mai Robey.

John Wilson has news of the winner of the £100 000 Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year, as he presents the programme live from the ceremony at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

The 10 contenders are:

BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead

Beaney House of Art and Knowledge, Canterbury

Dulwich Picture Gallery, London

The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield

Horniman Museum & Gardens, London

Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, Glasgow

Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, Cambridge

Narberth Museum, Pembrokeshire

Preston Park Museum, Stockton-on-Tees

William Morris Gallery, London

John hears from each of the museums in the running, as well as speaking to the judges of the Prize, including Stephen Deuchar of the Art Fund, Bettany Hughes, Sarah Crompton and artist Bob and Roberta Smith.

Maria Miller, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, discusses the current role of museums, and Ian Hislop will announce the winning museum live on the programme.

Producer Ella-mai Robey.

With Mark Lawson

Comedian Julian Clary reviews Steven Soderbergh's film Behind the Candelabra, starring Michael Douglas as Liberace, with Matt Damon as his lover Scott Thorson.

American composer Philip Glass discusses his latest opera, The Perfect American, which imagines the last few months of Walt Disney's life. It's based on the novel by Peter Stephan Jungk and directed by Phelim McDermott, and is Philip Glass's 24th opera.

Novelist P D James reveals her choice for the Cultural Exchange, in which leading creative minds share their passion for a favourite work. She nominates a poem by Philip Larkin.

Channel 4's first subtitled drama for two decades, French zombie drama The Returned, is reviewed by novelist Denise Mina.

Producer Stephen Hughes.