Front Row: Archive 2013

With John Wilson,

A job centre and a local government Health and Safety department are the settings for two new sitcoms. ITVs The Job Lot stars Russell Tovey (Him & Her) and Sarah Hadland (Miranda). Ben Elton has written the BBC's The Wright Way, which stars David Haig. Viv Groskop reviews.

Ian Gillan and Ian Paice, long-standing members of the band Deep Purple, discuss their forthcoming album Now What?! The heavy metal pioneers also talk about their Smoke on the Water 70s heyday, multiple lineups, and how the band has evolved over the decades.

Krister Henriksson, best-known in Britain as the star of the Swedish TV series Wallander, is making his debut on stage in the UK, in a one-man play, Doktor Glas. Adapted from a classic Swedish novel by Hjalmar Söderberg, it's the tale of a 19th century physician who falls madly in love with the wife of a corrupt clergyman. Will it attract the same enthusiastic audiences who adore Swedish dramas on British television? Author and Wallander fan Kate Saunders gives the critical verdict.

The designer Storm Thorgerson, best known for creating the cover of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, has died. Peter Saville, who designed many memorable record sleeves from the Factory Records era, discusses his influence and music journalist Laura Lee Davies discusses whether there have been any classic albums with disappointing sleeve artwork or music that didn't live up to the promise of its cover.

Producer Claire Bartleet.

With John Wilson.

Matt Damon's new film, Promised Land, based on a story by Dave Eggers, focuses on fracking - extracting gas by fracturing rock layers. Damon plays Steve Butler, an executive sent to a rural town to gain drilling rights, who comes into conflict with an environmental campaigner. The film reunites Damon with Good Will Hunting director Gus Van Sant. Natalie Haynes reviews.

Radio 3 and Proms Controller Roger Wright reveals highlights of this summer's BBC Proms season - including Marin Alsop, the first woman to conduct The Last Night Of The Proms.

Singer-songwriter Kacey Musgraves has taken US country and western music by storm, topping the country charts with her songs inspired by the darker side of life in small-town America. Guitar in hand, Kacey Musgraves reflects on her inspirations, and how she hopes to confound the expectations of the music industry.

The contenders for this year's Deutsche Börse Prize for photography include two projects in which the photographers have curated images they have found online, rather than photos they have taken themselves. Mishka Henner, who has gathered images from Google Streetview, and duo Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, who borrow images from the war on terror, discuss changing ideas about how photographers can capture the world.

Producer Rebecca Nicholson.

With Mark Lawson.

On 3 April 2011, the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was arrested at Beijing airport. He disappeared for 81 days and on his release the government claimed his imprisonment related to tax evasion. Howard Brenton's latest play is based on an account of conversations with Ai, in which he told the story of that imprisonment. Howard Brenton discusses the creation of the play, and also the DVD release of his memorable but never repeated 1986 noir BBC series Dead Head.

William McIlvanney's Laidlaw trilogy of crime novels created a hard-drinking, Glaswegian, middle-aged cop with marital issues that inspired a generation of fellow Scottish writers including Ian Rankin, Christopher Brookmyre, Val McDermid and Denise Mina. As the Laidlaw series is republished, William McIlvanney talks about Raymond Chandler, poetry and the moment he realized that not everybody's mother read the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

Io e Te (Me and You) is the latest film from Bernardo Bertolucci, the Italian director of Last Tango in Paris. Adapted from a novel by Niccolo Ammantini , Io e Te follows Lorenzo, a teenage boy who, keen to be alone, pretends to be on a school trip while he hides out in a basement, only to find himself unexpectedly joined by his half-sister. Gaylene Gould reviews.

The contenders for the Ivor Novello Awards for songwriting, announced today, include an unexpected name: the composer Dmitri Shostakovich receives a co-writing nomination in the Best Contemporary Song category - because his music was sampled on a song by rapper and singer Plan B. Steve Yates looks at other unusual borrowings by contemporary stars.

Producer Olivia Skinner.

With Mark Lawson,

David Baldacci is one of the best-known writers of crime thrillers: his books are regularly bestsellers, and have been translated into more than 45 languages. A former Washington Attorney, Baldacci finds inspiration in stories shared with him by FBI agents. He reflects on the explosions which left three people dead at the end of the Boston marathon.

Tate Modern displays the first major UK exhibition of the Lebanese artist Saloua Raouda Choucair. Born in 1916, Choucair studied under Fernand Leger in 1940s Paris and became a pioneer of abstract art in the Middle East. The retrospective charts five decades of her work, reflecting her fascination with mathematics, science and Islamic art. Shahidha Bari reviews.

Director Michael Winterbottom talks about The Look of Love, his biopic of Soho entrepreneur Paul Raymond. Steve Coogan portrays the owner of the strip club Raymond's Revue Bar, and the soft porn magazine Men Only.

Producer Claire Bartleet.

With Mark Lawson.

Front Row reveals the Best of Young British Novelists, as selected by Granta magazine, and featuring 20 writers under 40. The prestigious list, which was first published in 1983, is released once a decade: the class of 1983 included Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie and Rose Tremain. The editor of Granta John Freeman and writer A L Kennedy, who was selected in both 1993 and 2003, unveil the new list and reflect on their judging process.

The White House is the setting for the action film Olympus Has Fallen, starring Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart and Morgan Freeman. After the US president is taken hostage by terrorists, a disgraced former guard (Butler) finds himself playing a vital role. Elaine Showalter reviews.

Mark reports from Derry-Londonderry, as it celebrates its 100th Day as City of Culture 2013. Throughout the year hundreds of events will take place, involving both international artists and local people. Mark speaks to the organisers of a photography project which aims to show the personal history of the city, not the news headlines from the Troubles. A record shop owner and local band Strength discuss their participation, and author Brian McGilloway talks about the City of Culture legacy.

The conductor Sir Colin Davis died yesterday at the age of 85. Nicholas Kenyon, director of the Barbican Centre, London, reflects on the career of a musician who won international acclaim, most notably for his performances of works by Berlioz and Sibelius.

Producer Nicki Paxman.

With Mark Lawson

Director Oliver Stone's latest project is an ambitious ten-part TV documentary series called Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States. He's teamed up with writer Peter Kuznick to look back at events that at the time went under-reported, but that shaped America over the 20th century. Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick discuss the challenge of such a large undertaking and the inevitable controversy that it has attracted.

First Position is a film about the ballet world. It shows a group of 11-17 year olds as they prepare to enter the Youth America Grand Prix, where scholarships to ballet schools and dancing contracts can be won. Dance critic Judith Mackrell reviews the film.

Cloud Atlas writer David Mitchell and composer Michel van der Aa have collaborated on a new opera, The Sunken Garden, which opens tonight at the Barbican in London. Including 3-D film, and singers on stage as well as film, the story is about a 'soul stealer'. They talk to Mark Lawson about the project and how they worked together.

Produced by Penny Murphy.

With Mark Lawson.

Dominic Cooke is leaving London's Royal Court Theatre after seven years as Artistic Director. He looks back at his often controversial tenancy and discusses his final production, The Low Road by Bruce Norris.

And in the week that Nicholas Hytner announced the date for his departure as Artistic Director of the National Theatre, Kenneth Branagh, Marianne Elliott, Sam Mendes and Kwame Kwei-Armah reveal where they stand as potential contenders for the top job.

Michael Dobbs, who was Conservative Chief of Staff under Margaret Thatcher, and Haydn Gwynne who is currently portraying Thatcher on stage in The Audience, reflect on the ways that the former Prime Minister has been represented in culture.

And two exhibitions by leading women artists open in London this week. In her new show Detached, Rachel Whiteread continues her exploration of casting the inside of objects including sheds, doors and windows. And sculptor Elisabeth Frink, who died twenty years ago, has an anniversary retrospective which celebrates the four decades of the artist's life in sculptures, drawings and paintings. Rachel Cooke reviews.

Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Writer and poet Maya Angelou, who has just celebrated her 85th birthday, reflects on her life and career, in conversation with Mark Lawson.

She discusses her six volume autobiography, which began with I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, a book which is now taught in schools around the world. Dr Angelou is frank about her extraordinary life, family and the issue of race in modern America.

Producer Penny Murphy.

With John Wilson.

Sarah Brightman became a household name when her group Hot Gossip had a number 1 hit with I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper. She went on to perform in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals Cats and The Phantom of the Opera, eventually marrying Lloyd Webber. Aptly enough her latest project is a trip into space, and she discusses her plans for the journey and the album it has inspired.

The Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado has just opened his new exhibition, Genesis, at the Natural History Museum in London. Like his two ambitious earlier projects - Workers and Migrations - Genesis is a long-term exploration of global issues, in a series of large-scale monochrome prints which on this occasion celebrate nature and examine the balance of human relationships with the planet. In a rare interview Sebastiao Salgado discusses the challenge, which was eight years in the making, and which took him to 32 countries and some of the remotest and most inhospitable locations in the world.

The Gatekeepers is a documentary telling the story of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service. Directed by Dror Moreh, the film includes interviews with six former heads of the service, none of whom had ever spoken on camera before. The BBC's security correspondent Gordon Corera reviews the film which was nominated for an Oscar.

Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With John Wilson.

Tamara Rojo is the artistic director of the English National Ballet. This is her first season in charge of a company, after years as principal ballerina at the Royal Ballet, where she danced all the major roles. She talks to John about her vision for the ENB.

The film The Place Beyond The Pines, an epic story of fathers and sons, crime and punishment, stars Ryan Gosling as a motorcycle rider and bank robber whose sins are visited upon his only child. Antonia Quirke delivers her verdict.

James Blake was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2011 for his self-titled debut album of melancholy electronica, largely made in his bedroom while still at university. His second album Overgrown is released today. He explains how the success of his first release has informed the new record.

On the first day of the MIP TV programmes sales conference at Cannes, TV buyers from around the world are out in force looking for the next drama, format or documentary most likely to prove a global hit. Peter White from Broadcast magazine reports live on the trends coming through so far.

Producer Ellie Bury.