Front Row: Archive 2014

Phyllida Lloyd talks to Samira Ahmed about her all-female Henry IV and the importance of casting women in plays about political power. Professor Griselda Pollock reviews The Sensory War, a new exhibition in Manchester which reflects on how artists have tried to capture the impact of military conflict between 1914 and 2014. Photographer and official war artist Robert Wilson discusses Helmand Return, a new series of 59 billboards across the UK of his photos which capture the daily life of British troops in Afghanistan in their final tour of duty. And tomorrow is Super Thursday, the day when more than 300 books will be published on the same day. We ask why this has evolved, and what it means for the books market.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed

In tonight's Front Row, John Cleese talks to John Wilson about his memoir, So, Anyway - an account of the influences that shaped his comedy - and singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran considers song-writing as revenge and explains why so many of his lyrics are about drinking.

Also in the programme, Tracey Emin makes it clear why she feels motherhood and a career as an artist are incompatible.

Presenter: John Wilson

Clive James talks to Samira Ahmed about his new publication Poetry Notebook 2006-2014, in which he presents a distillation of all he's learned about the art form that matters to him most; Sarah Dunant reviews Emma Thompson and Dakota Fanning in new film Effie Gray about the life of the Victorian art critic and painter John Ruskin; playwright Brad Birch on his new production, Selfie, an update on Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray; and Niven Govinden on his novel All the Days and Nights

Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks of Genesis discuss a new documentary about the band and Sarah Churchwell reviews David Mamet's Speed the Plow starring Lindsay Lohan. Also on the programme Jude Kelly and Stella Duffy explain how this weekend they're hoping to fulfil Joan Littlewood's vision of making art and science available to all through the Fun Palaces initiative and Victoria Hislop reveals the real history behind her new novel.

Presenter: John Wilson

Rosamund Pike talks to Kirsty Lang about her emotionally and physically demanding role in the much-anticipated screen adaptation of the crime thriller Gone Girl.

Many operatic heroines die at the end - but not Minnie, the gun-toting heroine of Puccini's opera, The Girl Of The Golden West. Director Richard Jones and conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson talk about this "wild west" opera at the ENO.

21 year-old Aisling Fahey has just been appointed Young Poet Laureate For London; she describes her beginnings in poetry using magnets on the fridge.

And Sarah Crompton reviews ITV's upcoming 1950s mystery drama Grantchester, starring James Norton as clergyman turned sleuth Sidney Chambers alongside Robson Green as a police investigator.

Presenter: Kirsty Lang

Stephen Fry discusses his memoir, More Fool Me; the writer and political commentator Polly Toynbee reviews Tony Benn: Will and Testament, a new autobiographical documentary about Britain's longest-serving Labour MP; Kei Miller talks to Kirsty about winning the Forward Poetry Prize; Curator Tim Pye takes Kirsty round the British Library's new exhibition, Terror and Wonder: the Gothic Imagination, and shows her exhibits including a Victorian vampire slaying kit and a stage version of Dracula handwritten by Bram Stoker.

In a special edition of Front Row live from the BBC Radio Theatre, John Wilson and guests celebrate the short story. He'll be joined on stage by Hilary Mantel and Laura Dockrill. And chair of the judges Alan Yentob will be announcing the winner of the BBC National Short Story Award 2014 from the all female shortlist of Tessa Hadley, Rose Tremain, Francesca Rhydderch, Zadie Smith and Lionel Shriver.

Kristin Scott Thomas and director Ian Rickson discuss reuniting for a new stage production of Sophocles's Greek tragedy Electra, which has music by PJ Harvey. Mackenzie Crook tells John Wilson about Detectorists, a new BBC comedy about people who go in search of buried treasure with their metal detectors, which he has written and directed and also stars in alongside Toby Jones. Critic Rachel Campbell-Johnston reviews the work of the four shortlisted artists for the Turner Prize 2014, on show at Tate Britain. George Harrison's widow Olivia Harrison discusses a new CD set of his tracks both as a Beatle and solo artist. Plus, a tribute to poet Dannie Abse whose death was announced on Sunday.

Presenter : John Wilson

A new exhibition by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei at Blenheim Palace will be his biggest UK show to date, which Craig Clunas reviews with Kirsty Lang. Eimear McBride, who won the Bailey's Women's Prize for her debut novel A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing, and theatre director Annie Ryan discuss adapting McBride's experimental and challenging book for the stage. Playwright Roy Williams talks about putting Sophocles's Greek tragedy Antigone in a contemporary setting, and as Prince releases two new albums on the same day, Matt Thorne asseses whether the Minneapolis singer-songwriter still has the power to thrill and surprise.

Presenter: Kirsty Lang

Bernard Sumner, one of the founding members of Joy Division and the lead singer of New Order, discusses his autobiography "Chapter and Verse: New Order, Joy Division and Me" which charts his part in the Manchester music scene since the late 1970s, author Lionel Shriver discusses her short story Kilifi Creek, which has been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award, as two plays about youth activism open, playwrights James Graham and Tim Price discuss portraying political protest on stage and What We Did On Our Holiday, a comedy starring David Tenant, Rosamund Pike and Billy Connolly, reviewed.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe