Front Row: Archive 2013

With Mark Lawson.

Novelist William Boyd has taken two short stories by Chekhov and turned them into his first stage play, called Longing. Starring Tamsin Greig, Iain Glen and John Sessions, Longing contains many Chekhovian themes, including long-buried emotions and a yearning for Moscow. Peter Kemp reviews.

Hilary Mantel has added the David Cohen Prize for Literature to her recent success in the Man Booker Prize and the Costa Award. The biennial award celebrates an author's entire career rather than one work. The author of Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies considers her success, and gives her unapologetic reaction to the media storm which followed her recent thoughts about the Duchess of Cambridge.

Marianne Faithfull, Soweto Kinch, Paul Heaton and conductor André de Ridder reflect on music inspired by the Seven Deadly Sins. Jazz saxophonist Soweto Kinch reveals why he became the voice of temptation on his latest album, The Legend Of Mike Smith, and Paul Heaton explains why he added an eighth sin.

Producer Nicki Paxman.

With John Wilson.

Tony Parsons, Miranda Sawyer and La Roux's Elly Jackson discuss David Bowie's music and influence, in the light of his new album The Next Day.

As the Victoria and Albert Museum prepares for a major David Bowie retrospective exhibition, John visits the Museum's store-rooms to see sketches, costumes and instruments, drawn from Bowie's personal archive. John's guides are designer Jonathan Barnbrook, who is involved in the exhibition and the new album artwork, and curators Victoria Broackes and Geoffrey Marsh.

John also draws on his own archive of interviews with David Bowie, including a recording from 2002 where Bowie discusses his influences, the experience of growing older, and how writing can sometimes be a traumatic experience.

Producer Claire Bartleet.

With Mark Lawson.

Actor Mark Strong is familiar from TV dramas including Our Friends in the North, Prime Suspect and The Long Firm, and feature films such as Green Lantern, Sherlock Holmes and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. He now co-stars in Welcome To The Punch, playing a notorious criminal alongside James McAvoy's embittered cop. He reflects on playing villains, acting in slow motion and the art of wearing wigs.

Author Tash Aw discusses his new novel, Five Star Billionaire. Set in Shanghai, the story is told from the perspective of five migrant Malaysian workers.

Sketch comedy duo Anna Crilly and Katy Wix have a new TV series starting this week, which showcases their comic creations and satirizes well-known TV formats. They discuss their new characters and continuing the long tradition of comedy double acts.

Producer: Olivia Skinner.

With John Wilson.

Side Effects is a new psychological thriller from director Steven Soderbergh. He claims that it is his final film for cinema, in a career which began with Sex, Lies and Videotape in 1989. Rooney Mara stars as a woman who suffers unexpected side effects from medication prescribed by her psychiatrist, played by Jude Law. Antonia Quirke reviews.

The American artist Chuck Close discusses his highly-detailed portraits, created from hundreds of smaller images. He explains why his inability to recognise faces, a consequence of a disability, has led to his focus on portraiture.

A new TV series, Bluestone 42, covers unusual ground for a comedy as it follows the fortunes of a bomb disposal squad in Afghanistan. Writers James Cary and Richard Hurst discuss how they researched the storylines with the help of army advisors, and consider the moral dilemmas involved in getting laughs from a war in which soldiers are still serving.

The video game icon Lara Croft is making a comeback, five years after the last Tomb Raider game was released. Written by Rhianna Pratchett, the new game explores Lara Croft's origins as a young archaeologist. Helen Lewis reflects on the significance of Lara Croft for a generation of female gamers.

Producer Rebecca Nicholson.

With Mark Lawson.

Sam Raimi's film Oz The Great and Powerful is an imagined prequel to L. Frank Baum's novel The Wizard of Oz. James Franco stars as Oscar Diggs, a circus magician from Kansas who encounters three witches, played by Michelle Williams, Rachel Weisz and Mila Kunis in the land of Oz. Writer Sally Gardner reviews.

Composer George Benjamin and playwright Martin Crimp reflect on their new opera, Written on Skin, receiving its UK premiere at the Royal Opera House this week. Based on a medieval folk tale of love and violence, the opera is directed by Katie Mitchell and features Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan in the pivotal role of Agnes.

Author Julia O'Faolain discusses Trespassers: A Memoir, the story of her own life and her relationship with her father, the acclaimed writer Sean O'Faolain, who was also Director of Publicity for the IRA during the Irish Civil War.

Producer Nicki Paxman.

With Mark Lawson.

Haydn Gwynne, Nathaniel Parker and Paul Ritter reflect on the experience of playing Margaret Thatcher, Gordon Brown and John Major respectively in Peter Morgan's new play The Audience. Helen Mirren returns to the role of Queen Elizabeth II as the play imagines the meetings between the monarch and the prime ministers who have served during her reign.

As the first major UK show dedicated to the work of Yinka Shonibare opens at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the artist discusses the importance of humour in art, the impact of the success of his Trafalgar Square fourth plinth artwork, Nelson's Ship In A Bottle, and his love of opera.

The British Board of Film Classification has today launched a survey asking people about their choice of viewing, their attitudes to topics such as strong language, and their views about current film certificates. So how will the BBFC use this information? BBFC Assistant Director David Austin talks about how their guidelines relate to public opinion.

Producer Ellie Bury.

With John Wilson.

Robbie Williams first came to prominence in the boy-band Take That, and went on to become Britain's most popular solo male artist, selling over 60 million albums worldwide with hits including Angels and Millennium.

He reveals that he still wants to be a pop star and create the soundtrack to people's lives, admits that he is thin-skinned when it comes to criticism, and claims that he reveals too much about himself in his lyrics.

Producer Claire Bartleet.

With Mark Lawson.

Director Joe Wright, whose film credits include Atonement and Anna Karenina, makes his stage debut with a new production of Pinero's Trelawny of the Wells. Described as Pinero's love letter to theatre, the play pokes fun at the cliches associated with life on the stage. Writer and comedian Viv Groskop gives her verdict.

Broadchurch and Mayday are two new TV thriller series starting next week. In Broadchurch, David Tennant and Olivia Colman star as detectives in a small coastal town trying to understand what lay behind the death of a young boy whose body was found at the foot of a cliff. Mayday has a similar theme, as a small community tries to find out what happened to a 14 year old who vanished without trace. Crime writer Dreda Say Mitchell and crime fiction specialist Jeff Park review the two series.

Veteran American short story writer Edith Pearlman has received great acclaim for her new collection, Binocular Vision. The stories span 40 years of writing, with settings including tsarist Russia and London during the Blitz. Edith Pearlman discusses the appeal of the short form.

As Pope Benedict XVI enjoys his last full day in office before retiring on Thursday, writer Peter Stanford considers the papacy in fiction from Morris West's bestseller The Shoes Of The Fisherman to the bio-pics of the short life of Pope Joan.

Producer Ellie Bury.

With John Wilson.

Claire Foy stars with James McAvoy in a new production of Macbeth, set in a post-apocalyptic Scotland riven with war and climate disaster. She reflects on the challenges of bringing something new to the role of Lady Macbeth.

Artist Dinos Chapman discusses his latest project - an album of electronic dance music named after a Norwegian chocolate bar, Luftbobler. Dinos explains why Kylie Minogue has made a guest appearance without her knowledge and why he may form a musical duo with his brother Jake.

The Bay is an eco-horror film, loosely based on actual events, about mutant parasites that attack fish and humans alike in the waters off a holiday resort. Critic Ryan Gilbey delivers his verdict

Comedian Beppe Grillo and his Five Star Movement have made an unexpected impact on the Italian elections. Correspondent Annalisa Piras discusses Grillo's brand of comedy.

Producer Stephen Hughes.

With Mark Lawson.

Sue Perkins is the writer and star of the new TV sitcom Heading Out about a gay vet who is struggling to come out to her parents. She reflects on the process of creating a character for herself to play.

Richard Gere's new film is the thriller Arbitrage. He plays a hedge-fund magnate whose world falls apart on his 60th birthday, when a deal goes wrong and he desperately needs $400m to cover his losses. Susan Sarandon co-stars as his wife. Rachel Cooke gives her verdict.

Twenty years after their eponymous debut album and a decade after their last recording, Suede have finally returned to the studio with Bloodsports. Lead singer Brett Anderson discusses Britpop, reunions and comebacks.

Most struggling writers long for the book that will make them a literary star, but how many consider the danger of writing a book so good they can never escape from its shadow? Erich Kästner is best known for Emil and the Detectives. As Going to the Dogs, one of his less famous titles, is republished, Professor John Sutherland reflects on the dangers of creating a classic.

Producer Dymphna Flynn.