Front Row: Archive 2014

With John Wilson.

George Clooney directs and stars in The Monuments Men, a drama set in the Second World War. Based on a true story, he plays a member of a group of curators and scholars attempting to rescue art works from the Nazis. The film co-stars Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett and John Goodman. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews for Front Row.

Tennessee Williams spent much of his later life living in hotel rooms, inspiring his 'hotel plays' which open this week in performance at London's Langham Hotel. John meets the director, set designer and cast from Defibrillator theatre to talk about the logistics of staging three plays in three different rooms on three floors of the grand hotel.

Grammy-winning singer songwriter Enrique Iglesias began his career as a Spanish language artist before crossing over to the English market with hits like Bailamos and the global number one single Hero. Now releasing his tenth album, he talks to John about keeping his record contract secret from his father Julio Iglesias, and why he sees concern over sexualised music videos as hypocritical.

Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

With John Wilson.

Armistead Maupin discusses The Days of Anna Madrigal, the ninth (and possibly final) instalment of his celebrated Tales of the City series of novels. Madrigal is reunited with the former tenants of 28 Barbary Lane, San Francisco, as they prepare to spend time at Burning Man, the avant-garde festival in Nevada. Transgender Anna is now 92, and determined 'to leave like a lady', and embarks on a road trip to the desert - to the brothel where she lived as a teenage boy.

Her is the romantic tale of a man (played by Joaquin Phoenix) who falls in love with the voice of his computer's operating system (the voice provided by Scarlett Johansson). Complications ensue when his feelings are reciprocated. Novelist Toby Litt delivers his verdict on this latest idiosyncratic movie from Being John Malkovich director Spike Jonze.

The inaugural shortlist of The Folio Prize was announced today. Chair of Judges, Lavinia Greenlaw, discusses the eight shortlisted books in the running for the £40,000 prize, which celebrates the best English-language fiction from around the world, regardless of form, genre, or the author's country of origin.

Cellist Raphael Wallfisch discusses his new CD of Jewish music, including Schelomo by Bloch, which he has dedicated to his grandparents who died in the Holocaust, and to his mother Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who survived Auschwitz by playing the cello in the Auschwitz Women's Orchestra.

Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With John Wilson.

Wilko Johnson and Roger Daltrey of The Who have teamed up for a new project. Since he was diagnosed with terminal cancer last year, Wilko has been collaborating with Daltrey on an album, Going Back Home. They talk about their shared musical interests and Roger explains why Wilko reminds him of a young Pete Townsend.

John talks to first time actor and former limo driver Barkhad Abdi, whose extraordinary performance as a Somali pirate in the film Captain Phillips opposite Tom Hanks has earned him Oscar, Golden Globe and Bafta nominations.

Salamander is the latest Euro-thriller to arrive on British TV - this time from Belgium, and in Flemish. Disguised as builders, a gang rob a top Belgian bank - but the burglars only target a small handful of the vaults, the ones belonging to the country's industrial, financial, judicial and political elite. These stolen safe-deposit boxes contain secrets that could bring down the nation. Crime writer Dreda Say Mitchell reviews.

Hans Haacke and David Shrigley will be the next two artists to display their work on Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth. Haacke's sculpture of a horse's skeleton will go up in 2015, followed by Shrigley's giant thumbs up in 2016. Both artists discuss developing an idea for one of London's busiest civic spaces and explain why humour is important in public art.

Producer: Olivia Skinner.

With Kirsty Lang.

Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong, writers of the comedy series Peep Show and Fresh Meat, discuss their new TV drama, Babylon, in which they've joined forces with Danny Boyle. It focuses on the people and politics of the Metropolitan Police - both in the command rooms and on the streets - as they struggle to keep law and order under the constant scrutiny of social media.

The Mistress Contract, a book written by an anonymous couple, has been adapted for the stage by Abi Morgan. Morgan, who is best known for her screenplay for the Thatcher biopic, The Iron Lady, documents the couple's relationship over the decades after they agreed to sign a "mistress contract." Sarah Dunant reviews.

English National Opera is the latest opera company to start screening their productions live into cinemas around the country and worldwide. ENO's Artistic Director, John Berry, and Kasper Holten, Director of Opera at the Royal Opera House, talk about the creative challenges of making an opera production that can simultaneously fill an opera house and a cinema screen.

The Night Guest is the first novel by Australian writer Fiona McFarlane. Ruth, an elderly widow, lives in a secluded house on the coast of New South Wales when she receives an unexpected visit from a woman who says she has been sent by the government to help out. Fiona McFarlane discusses the themes of confusion and mental disintegration that lie at the heart of the book.

Producer: Rebecca Nicholson.

With Kirsty Lang

David Bailey is one of the best known British photographers. He is perhaps most celebrated for his distinctive 1960s portraits but he has also worked in fashion, music and documentary in a career that has spanned five decades. A new exhibition of his work at the National Portrait Gallery, Bailey's Stardust, explores Bailey's diverse work from photographs taken in the East End in the 1960s, a self-portrait with Salvador Dali, to a series taken in the Naga Hills in Southern India. Charlotte Mullins reviews.

Hanif Kureishi, celebrated for both his novels and screenplays, speaks to Kirsty about his latest book The Last Word. It follows the relationship between an elderly writer and his young biographer, who is commissioned to tell the story of the former's life. Having just sold his own diaries and manuscripts to the British museum, Kureishi talks about the complexities of looking back on one's life, collaborating on his latest film Le Weekend, and whether this new novel will indeed be his own last word.

Mark Eccleston reviews The Patrol, the first British feature film about the war in Afghanistan, written and directed by ex-Army officer Tom Petch.

Actress and model Isabella Rossellini is best known for films such as Blue Velvet but she is now writing, staring and directing a series of award winning short films, about the sex lives of insects and marine animals. The success of these films has led to the "Green Porno" stage show. Rossellini discusses the show, becoming a student again and how her admiration for David Attenborough affected her work.

Producer Claire Bartleet.

With Mark Lawson.

The League of Gentlemen and Psychoville's Reece Shearsmith discusses his new TV series, co-written with Steve Pemberton. Inside No. 9 tells darkly comic stories from six separate settings, with guests including Gemma Arterton.

The Dulwich Picture Gallery is holding an exhibition of David Hockney's printmaking, which will coincide with the 60th anniversary of Hockney's first print. The exhibition includes more than 100 works dating from etchings made when Hockney was an art student to more recent graphic works created using a computer. Richard Cork reviews.

Harvard business professor, Anita Elberse, joins Mark to discuss her book, Blockbusters, an economic scrutiny of the entertainment business. She explains why there are no batting averages in the entertainment industry, the business link between Spiderman and Lady Gaga, and what she means by The Blockbuster Trap.

The number of incidents relating to graffiti fell by 63 per cent between 2007 and 2012 according to a report from the British Transport Police. Kid Acne, a former Graffiti artist who now works in design and print making, discusses why CCTV, the threat of a custodial sentence and the fact that aspiring artists can find a bigger audience for their work online may have led to less graffiti on British streets.

Producer: Gabriella Meade.

Mark Lawson talks to Dame Angela Lansbury, who returns to the West End stage after 40 years to play Madame Arcati in Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit. She discusses her mother, an actress, her wish to return to Murder She Wrote, and her ambivalence about Hollywood.

Philip Seymour Hoffman's death was announced yesterday. Anton Corbijn - who directed him recently in A Most Wanted Man - pays tribute to the actor, whose films include The Master, Doubt, Happiness and Capote, for which he won an Oscar.

Mark talks to the Turner Prize-winning artist Richard Deacon, whose exhibition of sculptures and drawings is about to open at Tate Britain. For more than four decades he has used materials ranging from laminated wood and polycarbonate to leather, cloth and ceramic.

Jonathan Lethem talks about his latest novel Dissident Gardens. It's an epic family novel criss-crossing generations from the '50s to the present day, focussing on Rose, an American Communist. Based on his own upbringing and radical grandmother, Lethem describes how even as a youngster he guessed he'd never be able to stand for President, as there surely would have been a 'problem with my files'.

This weekend the final two episodes of The Bridge are screened on BBC4. The series, which has spawned many international remakes, follows a Swedish and a Danish detective working on a case together, and explores the cultural differences that inform their relationship. Sofia Helin and Kim Bodnia, aka detectives Saga Norén and Martin Rohde, discuss the surprise popularity of the show and the challenges of acting with someone who is speaking a different language.

This week a crisps manufacturing company admitted they had used a photograph of the late Welsh poet R.S. Thomas to advertise a competition on their packets, without knowing who he was. Thomas's biographer Byron Rogers reflects on the strange case of the poet and the crisp packet.

Many of this year's Oscar contenders claim to be 'based on a true story', among them 12 Years a Slave, Philomena, Saving Mr Banks, Captain Phillips and The Wolf of Wall St. Adam Smith has been digging around and begs to take issue with the veracity the film-makers claim.

Producer Stephen Hughes.

With Mark Lawson.

Ralph Fiennes discusses his latest film The Invisible Woman, about the relationship between Charles Dickens and his mistress, which Fiennes stars in and directs.

In his latest novel, the American author E L Doctorow takes us on a journey into the mind of a man who, more than once in his life, has been the cause of disaster, albeit inadvertently. In Andrew's Brain he thinks and talks about the various events of his life that have lead him to this point in time. E L Doctorow describes how he came up with this particular character, and the novel-writing process.

This week sees the return of Channel 4's topical comedy series The Last Leg. The show became a hit when it was first broadcast during the 2012 Paralympics and this new series will provide an offbeat take on the forthcoming Sochi Winter Olympics and Paralympics. Presenters Adam Hills and Josh Widdicombe discuss the surprise popularity of the format and the appetite for representations of disability on television.

Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson.

Matthew McConaughey is Oscar nominated for his starring role in Dallas Buyers Club. He lost 47 lbs to play Ron Woodroof, a Texas electrician who became an unlikely AIDS activist after being diagnosed with HIV in the mid-1980s. He discusses the physical endurance of the part and his recent career renaissance.

Nathan Filer, a registered mental health nurse, has won the Costa Book of the Year award with his debut novel The Shock of the Fall, a story about loss, guilt and mental illness. A surprise win, Filer beat the favourite Kate Atkinson with her novel Life after Life, and other award winning writers Lucy Hughes-Hallett for The Pike, an account of the life of Italian poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, and poet Michael Symmons Roberts for his collection Drysalter. Nathan Filer tells Mark about what the award will mean for his writing.

In the week that Rory Kinnear won twice at the Critics Circle for best actor and most promising playwright, David Edgar muses on the long tradition of the actor/writer, from Shakespeare to Pinter.

Grammy winning singer/songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter discusses her new album Songs from the Movie, a re-working of 10 of her songs, recorded with a full orchestra and 15 voice choir. She reveals what inspires her new songs and the emotional pain of revisiting old material.

Producer: Ellie Bury.