Front Row: Archive 2014

As he celebrates his 70th birthday, composer Michael Nyman reveals for the first time the inspiration for his new cycle of symphonies, playwright James Graham and director Josie Rourke discuss their new play Privacy which examines how our personal data is collected and what governments are doing with it. Also tonight Catherine Bray reviews Johnny Depp in sci-fi spectacle Transcendence.

Presenter: Kirsty Lang

In a special edition of Front Row, John Wilson talks to the writers of two of the biggest stage musicals of all time - Miss Saigon and Les Misérables. Composer Claude-Michel Schönberg and lyricist Alain Boublil discuss their working process and how they bring a French sensibility to a modern American artform, as their musical, Miss Saigon - now in its 25th anniversary year - is reinvented for a new production.

Producer Ella-mai Robey.

Kirsty Lang presents a Front Row special celebrating the big screen's love affair with the Biblical epic.

It's a genre that defined the golden age of Hollywood, but it's undergoing something of a resurrection in 2014 thanks to the release of Darren Aronofsky's Noah starring Russell Crowe, a film soon to be joined in cinemas by Ridley Scott's Exodus, and the long awaited prequel to The Passion of The Christ - Mary. And whilst general audiences seem hungry for the bible on screen, churches across America are showing Son of God, a faithful retelling of the life of Jesus Christ. In the company of Hollywood's hottest directors, Life of Brian's Michael Palin, and the British actor who played Jesus Christ himself, join Kirsty as she sets off on her own pilgrimage in search of the roots of the biblical epic.

Presenter: Kirsty Lang

Martin Freeman, star of The Hobbit, talks about acting in sub zero temperatures for his latest role in the television adaptation of cult Coen brothers film Fargo. And from the snow to the stage: he discusses his next project - playing Richard III.

Singer-songwriter Paolo Nutini is a platinum selling artist who's now released his third album. He talks to John about his journey from 'New Shoes' to this darker, more serious work. He reveals the influence of his opera loving Italian grandfather on his career and performs for Front Row in the studio.

Glasgow artist Andy Scott talks about his largest creation yet- two giant horse heads based on the mythical Celtic creatures Kelpies. The sculptures, which are in Falkirk's new Helix park, are being unveiled and illuminated as part of an inaugural festival dedicated to conservationist John Muir.

The latest film from cult Swedish director Lukas Moodysson is a coming-of-age drama about three young girls in Stockholm in 1982. Klara, Bobo and Hedwig are ignored by their parents and seen as misfits by everyone else - so they decide to form a punk band.

Presenter: John Wilson

Kirsty Lang discusses a new film adaptation of John Banville's Man Booker prize winning novel The Sea. With Rachel Cooke.

House of Cards writer Keith Huff talks about his play A Steady Rain. A hit on Broadway in 2009 starring Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman, it receives its UK premiere at the Theatre Royal Bath.

Is it ok to steal a Banksy? Lawyer Karen Sanig, from Mischon de Reya, offers legal advice.

Poet Patience Agbabi on her new collection Telling Tales, an updating of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, with the pilgrims travelling on a Routemaster bus.

And TV critic Boyd Hilton reviews Trying Again, the new sitcom from Thick of It duo Chris Addison and Simon Blackwell, about a couple stuggling after an affair.

Presenter: Kirsty Lang

Kirsty Lang discusses a TV adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's Jamaica Inn with novelist Sarah Dunant.

Chart topping classical guitarist Milos Karadaglic talks about reinterpreating Rodrigo's famous guitar concerto, which he is touring around the country.

Dr Jason Dittmer reviews Andrew Garfield in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

And The Flame Throwers author Rachel Kushner on her debut novel Telex from Cuba, which is being published in the UK for the first time.

John Wilson discusses Tate Modern's Matisse: The Cut-Outs with Matisse biographer Hilary Spurling and curator Nicholas Cullinan. Also in the programme: Val McDermid is renowned as a crime-writer, but Jane Austen isn't - so what attracted Val to the idea of updating Northanger Abbey?

Plus reviews of the film Locke, starring Tom Hardy - and of two new Broadway musicals: Woody Allen's stage version of his film Bullets Over Broadway, and a new show about Billie Holiday, Lady Day.

Presenter: John Wilson

With Razia Iqbal.

Actor Mark Strong and director Ivo van Hove discuss their new production of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge. Mark Strong explains why this play, and the role of Brooklyn longshoreman Eddie Carbone, persuaded him to return to the stage for the first time in a decade.

Bernadette Peters is one of Broadway's most critically acclaimed performers, known as a key interpreter of Stephen Sondheim's musicals. In London to perform at the Olivier Awards, Bernadette Peters discusses her relationship with Sondheim and the resilience needed to maintain a long career.

Best-selling author Harlan Coben talks about his latest thriller, Missing You. He discusses creating his protagonist Kat Donovan, an NYPD cop, the current "golden age" of crime writing and the impact that the internet and online dating sites have had on the police thriller.

The Lunchbox, an Indian film from director Ritesh Batra, explores a mistaken delivery in Mumbai's famously efficient lunchbox delivery system that connects a young housewife to an older man. Anil Sinanan reviews.

We remember the author Sue Townsend, who has died aged 68. In a Front Row interview from 2012 she discusses her unusual sense of humour and what she wants next for Adrian Mole.

Emma Thompson and Celia Imrie discuss their new film comedy The Love Punch; choreographer Chris Wheeldon, composer Joby Talbot and principal ballerina Lauren Cuthbertson look ahead to tonight's opening of The Winter's Tale, the Royal Ballet's first original full-length Shakespeare ballet in 50 years; Gaylene Gould reviews Simon Stephens' play Birdland starring Andrew Scott; and actor Sam West on a new arts funding campaign.

Award-winning actor Chiwetel Ejiofor talks to John Wilson about his new film Half of a Yellow Sun and his journey from filming in Nigeria to 12 Years A Slave in Louisiana. Daily Telegraph Arts Editor Sarah Crompton makes her wish-list for the new Culture Secretary, Sajid Javid. The musician Ben Watt, half of Everything But The Girl, discusses waiting 31 years to release his second solo album, falling out of love with song-writing and the events that drew him back in. And the thriving writing scene in South Korea that is taking centre stage at the London Book Fair.

Producer Elaine Lester.