Front Row: Archive 2014

Hugh Bonneville discusses his role as Mr Brown in the new Paddington film; Mary J Blige on self doubt, soul music and making an album inspired by London; Michael Palin stars in BBC drama, Remember Me - a contemporary ghost story set in Yorkshire. Chris Dunkley joins John to review it. And two of the biggest comedy hit films of the year have been Bad Neighbours and 22 Jump St, but Adam Smith warns the films' stars not to take too much for granted, because as history shows, comedy can be cruel to its once high-earning, all-conquering funnymen.

The shortlisted authors for the 2014 Costa Book Awards are announced. Critic Stephanie Merritt comments on the authors chosen in five categories: novel, first novel, poetry, biography and children's fiction.

Meera Syal discusses her latest stage role in Behind the Beautiful Forevers, based on the book by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Katherine Boo, about life in the shadow of Mumbai's luxury hotels.

The final part of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay, has been split in two for the film version. Sophia McDougall reviews Mockingjay: Part 1.

Peter Bazalgette, Chair of Arts Council England, discusses his campaign to raise the profile of arts in the UK as the political parties write their manifestos for the General Election next May.

Tonight's Front Row reviews The Homesman - a western directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones - and Dave Grohl talks about Foo Fighters' new album, Sonic Highways.

Tom Hardy and the late James Gandolfini star in the thriller The Drop, reviewed by Jenny McCartney. Saxophonist Jan Garbarek and David James discuss the Hilliard Ensemble. Quentin Blake on Paula Rego and Honoré Daumier: Scandal, Gossip and Other Stories at the House of Illustration. And Assaf Gavron on the reality of life in Israel in the 21st century in his new novel, The Hilltop.

Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Celebrated American writer Richard Ford discusses his new novel Let Me Be Frank With You - which continues the story of his much loved character Frank Bascombe.

A notebook of Dylan Thomas's poetry has been rediscovered after 70 years. It offers a unique insight into the creative workings of Dylan during one of his most creative periods. Sotheby's manuscript expert Gabriel Heaton brings the book into the Front Row studio and discusses its importance.

Queen Forever is a new album out this week. It's produced by William Orbit who describes creating a track using previously unheard vocals by Michael Jackson as well as a new mix of an unreleased Queen song.

Theatre director Kate Hewitt discusses her new production of Caryl Churchill's Far Away, funded by her receipt of the James Menzies-Kitchin award for young directors of thrilling promise.

The Oscar-winning writer and producer Aaron Sorkin, acclaimed for The Social Network and The West Wing, talks to Kirsty Lang as the final season of The Newsroom airs.

Kirsty visits Leighton House in London as paintings from The Pérez Simón Collection, the largest private collection of Victorian art outside the UK, go on display there, including some significant works by Lord Frederick Leighton now returning to the house where they were painted.

We speak to Ali Smith, author of How to be Both, the winner of the Goldsmiths Prize 2014.

And crime writer Dreda Say Mitchell joins Kirsty to talk about her new thriller, Vendetta - which features an undercover cop who falls in love with one of the members of the criminal gang that he has infiltrated.

John Wilson talks to Chadwick Boseman, who plays soul singer James Brown in the Hollywood biopic Get on Up.

Sculptor Allen Jones on his retrospective at the Royal Academy.

Artist Jonathan Yeo on portraits in the age of the selfie.

And Hannah Price from Theatre Uncut on generating dozens of productions of the same 5 new plays in different places around the world this month.

Bryan Ferry talks to Kirsty Lang about his 14th solo album, Avonmore. Professor Chris Rapley, one of the UK's leading climate scientists, has written his first play, 2071, which focuses on climate change, and Molly Davies has drawn on her years working as a teaching assistant to write God Bless the Child in which a group of eight-year-olds rebel against the school system. They discuss how they turned their professional experiences into theatre. Crime writer Stella Duffy reviews BBC crime drama The Fall, which stars Gillian Anderson as a detective on the hunt for a killer in Belfast, and Richard Cork discusses a new exhibition of work by Peder Balke, a Norwegian artist who was one of the pioneers of modernist Scandinavian painting.

Producer Olivia Skinner.

Benedict Cumberbatch talks to John Wilson about his role in The Imitation Game. He plays pioneering computer scientist and Bletchley code breaker Alan Turing.

22-year-old Sumia Sukkar discusses her debut novel The Boy from Aleppo who Painted the War, the story of a teenage boy with Asperger's Syndrome, growing up in Syria which has now been dramatised for Radio 4.

As concerns over the raiding of Syrian artefacts grow, Front Row hears from academics, investigators and Unesco about how objects are making their way onto international art markets and whether anything can be done about it.

And Pink Floyd release a new album, The Endless River. Based on outtakes from their earlier album The Division Bell, it's intended as a tribute to keyboard player Richard Wright who died in 2008. Mark Ellen reviews.

Presenter: John Wilson

Tonight's Front Row reviews the stage-musical version of the film, Made In Dagenham, starring Gemma Arterton, and Samira Ahmed is given a guided tour around Gold - a new exhibition at Buckingham Palace.