Front Row: Archive 2013

With John Wilson

Mike Oldfield's album Tubular Bells was released 40 years ago this month - the first disc on Richard Branson's Virgin Records label. Since then, the album has sold millions of copies, featured in the London 2012 opening ceremony, and is now being performed by a duo in the show Tubular Bells For Two on a UK tour. Richard Branson reflects on the genesis of the album, his relationship with Mike Oldfield, and the concert that cost him a car.

This year's Cannes Film Festival opened on Wednesday: critic Jason Solomons reports on the hits and misses so far.

Trumpeter Alison Balsom reveals her choice for Cultural Exchange: a recording of Bach's St Matthew Passion. She first heard it in her 20s, and feels the work sums up every possible human emotion. The music doesn't feature any trumpets - but she says adding one would spoil its perfection.

The film Fast And Furious 6 has just been released - the fifth sequel to 2001's original, The Fast And The Furious. Film critic Adam Smith considers the art of naming sequels.

Producer Rebecca Nicholson.

With John Wilson.

The photographer Rankin is known for his cutting-edge fashion and advertising images, and his celebrity portraits. His new show at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool is called ALIVE: In The Face Of Death, where he has turned his attention to death and mortality. He talks to John about his experience of photographing people as they face the prospect of death.

Actor Terence Stamp chooses The Razor's Edge (1946) for Cultural Exchange. Based on Somerset Maugham's novel, it tells the story of an American pilot played by Tyrone Power who, traumatized by his experiences in World War I, sets off to India in search of transcendent meaning in his life. Terence talks about the huge impact this film has had on his own life.

Brilliant Adventures is a new play by Alistair McDowall. which won the Judges' Award in the 2011 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting. Set on a Middlesbrough council estate, the play focuses on the relationship between two brothers, one of whom has built a time machine. Writer Charlotte Keatley reviews.

The new Daft Punk album, Random Access Memories, is the French duo's fourth long-player after a seven year silence. Regarded as dance music pioneers, on this record Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo are joined by other luminaries of the music world including Nile Rodgers and Giorgio Moroder. Writer and DJ Dave Haslam gives his verdict.

Producer Ekene Akalawu.

With Mark Lawson,

Andrew Lloyd Webber discusses the new restoration of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, one of London's oldest theatres. The first theatre building was opened in May 1663, an event recorded in Samuel Pepys's diary. The Grand Saloon, rotunda and main staircases have been restored by Lord Lloyd Webber in a £4 million project. He reflects on the importance of London's historical theatres, how an interview on Front Row led to his next musical, and why he doesn't want a theatre named after him.

In the new BBC One drama Frankie, Ken Bruce is a radio presence weaved into the series. He discusses the difficulties involved in playing himself, and Kirsty Wark and Richard Bacon also reflect on their experiences of appearing as themselves in TV dramas.

In tonight's Cultural Exchange, in which leading creative minds select a favourite work, writer Will Self nominates The Man Who Was Thursday, a novel by G K Chesterton.

Producer Penny Murphy.

With Mark Lawson.

Baz Luhrmann's much-anticipated film version of The Great Gatsby stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire. F Scott Fitzgerald's glittering Jazz Age world of 1922 is combined with Luhrmann's screenplay, co-written with Craig Pearce, which aims to make the story relevant to a modern audience. Sarah Crompton reviews.

This year's Eurovision Song Contest comes from Malmö, Sweden. Bonnie Tyler performs the British entry, competing against a varied field of performers. Front Row's Jukebox Jury, Rosie Swash and David Hepworth, deliver their verdicts on this year's contenders.

The French government is considering levying a "culture tax" on technology giants such as Google and Apple, to fund the arts in France. A report from businessman Pierre Lescure, commissioned by Francois Hollande's government, suggests a 4% tax on hardware, including smartphones and tablets, to fund content. The Independent's Paris correspondent John Lichfield discusses the protection of arts funding in France and whether this radical tax proposal can succeed.

Cultural Exchange: writer Anne Tyler shares her passion for a self-portrait by photography pioneer Charles R Savage.

Producer Claire Bartleet.

With Mark Lawson.

Writer Allan Cubitt discusses his new TV drama The Fall. Set in Belfast, it stars Gillian Anderson as Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson, who has been brought in from the Metropolitan Police to review an unsolved murder. Allan Cubitt discusses creating the tense atmosphere and tangled plot lines of the new crime drama.

In the latest Cultural Exchange, The Archbishop of Canterbury shares his passion for Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, and also reflects on how we should commemorate the forthcoming centenary of the 1914-18 war.

Shakepeare's Titus Andronicus includes a notorious scene requiring a pie with gruesome ingredients. As a new production of the play opens at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Craig Almond, Senior Prop Technician at the RSC, discuss the art of creating food on stage, and Alycia Smith-Howard, author of The Food of Love, examines Shakespeare's other culinary demands.

Producer Olivia Skinner.

With John Wilson.

Karl Hyde, of electronic duo Underworld, has worked with prominent film directors Danny Boyle and Anthony Minghella. Along with his partner Rick Smith, he was also the musical director of the London 2012 Olympics. Hyde talks about his latest project, Edgeland - a soundtrack for The Outer Edges, a film about Essex - and reveals the real inspiration behind their trance anthem Born Slippy.

Harold Pinter's The Hothouse is in a rare revival on the London stage, starring John Simm and Simon Russell Beale. Writer Iain Sinclair delivers his verdict on the play about a bureaucratic mental institution run by a sadist.

Poet Kate Clanchy won the National Short Story award in 2009 with her story The Not-Dead and the Saved. Now she has taken the next literary leap by writing her first novel Meeting the English. She explains how the book came about, despite her vow that she'd never write a novel.

In the latest episode of Cultural Exchange, in which creative minds select a favourite art-work, best-selling author Jodi Picoult nominates Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937.

Producer Ellie Bury.

With John Wilson.

Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu is one of opera's best-known performers, appearing in the world's most prestigious opera houses and concert halls. She reflects on her controversial reputation and the breakdown of her marriage to tenor Roberto Alagna.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist is the film adaptation of Mohsin Hamid's novel. Directed by Mira Nair and starring Riz Ahmed and Kate Hudson, it's the story of Changez, a young Pakistani man who finds success working in Wall Street. When the 9/11 attacks happen he begins to notice a change in how his adopted society responds to him. Writer and critic Shahidha Bari reviews the film.

In the latest episode of Cultural Exchange, in which creative minds select a favourite art-work, Peter Bazalgette, chairman of Arts Council England, nominates a portrait of Edith Sitwell by the writer and painter Wyndham Lewis.

Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson.

Matthew McConaughey stars as a fugitive befriended by two children in Mud, a new drama from acclaimed director Jeff Nichols. The kids try to help him avoid capture and reunite him with his first love, but not everything goes to plan. Critic Ryan Gilbey delivers his verdict.

M D Villiers was nominated for the Crime Writers Association's Debut Dagger award for her novel City of Blood. The book is set in Johannesburg and was inspired by a real murder which took place on the streets of the city. She explains how she started to write about her home country.

In the latest episode of Cultural Exchange, in which creative minds select a favourite art-work, Booker Prize-winning novelist Howard Jacobson nominates Carnal Knowledge, the 1971 film directed by Mike Nichols and starring Jack Nicholson.

This week further allegations arose about abuse in Britain's specialist music schools. Martin Roscoe is a music teacher who has voiced his concern about how schools are run. Paul Lewis is a world-renowned pianist and former pupil at Chetham's. Both talk to Mark about one-to-one teaching and how the culture of musical education should change.

Producer Ellie Bury.

With Mark Lawson.

A diamond ring given by King Charles I to his young wife is one of the highlights of a new exhibition opening this week at the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace. In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion aims to show how much clothes, jewellery and armour told us about their wearers and their status. A N Wilson gives his verdict.

In the latest episode of Cultural Exchange, in which creative minds select a favourite art-work, Germaine Greer nominates the The Getting of Wisdom, a novel by the Australian writer Henry Handel Richardson, published in 1910.

Benedict Cumberbatch and Simon Pegg star in J J Abrams' return to the Star Trek film franchise. Captain Kirk and crew embark on a mission to Earth, now a war zone, to capture a one-man weapon of mass destruction in Star Trek Into Darkness. Naomi Alderman reviews.

The Vulcan bomber takes centre stage in James Hamilton-Paterson's new novel Under the Radar, about the lives of British aircrew at the height of the Cold War. The writer discusses the book which is set in 1961, as the aircrew brace themselves for an imminent Soviet nuclear attack.

Producer Stephen Hughes.

With Mark Lawson.

British actor, director and playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah is now Artistic Director of the Center Stage theatre in Baltimore. Mark spent a day with Kwame, discussing his new play, race relations and the differences between UK and US theatre.

Producer Penny Murphy.