Front Row

Writer Robert Macfarlane on the world underground as a new documentary, Underland, inspired by his award-winning book of the same name is released in cinemas. The film explores how mankind has often explored some of the spaces miles beneath our feet.

Dancer and choreographer Meryl Tankard on creating a new work, Echoes of '78, which pairs the original dancers of a work created by German choreographer Pina Bausch with their younger selves.

Singer Hak Baker and journalist Ludovic Hunter-Tilney on the evolving nature of the protest song plus a live performance from Hak of his song Windrush Baby.

Translator and judge Sophie Hughes on the International Booker Prize shortlist 2026 which was announced today.

Artist Glen Baxter remembered.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe

Lesley Manville, on appearing in Les Liaisons Dangereuses at London's National Theatre

Art In Space: As Nasa prepares to send people back to the Moon, former astronauts Helen Sharman and Cady Coleman talk us through the books & music they took with them into space.

Do classicists underestimate how difficult it is to read Homer's Odyssey? Ahead of Christopher Nolan's new adaption, we'll discuss with Mary Beard and Professor Emily Wilson about reading and translating one of the oldest surviving works of literature.

Should Russia be readmitted to The Venice Biennale? A public letter signed by dozens of MEPs is calling for EU funding to be suspended if Russia is allowed to participate

Presenter: Samira Ahmed

On this week's review show, critic and broadcaster Rhianna Dhillon and fashion historian and writer Amber Butchart join Tom Sutcliffe to discuss Riz Ahmed's new comedy series Bait, which follows a struggling actor who auditions for the role of James Bond and has to deal with the fallout.

They give their verdicts on Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art at the V&A in London, featuring the work of designer Elsa Schiaparelli.

And they review Two Prosecutors, the new film from Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa, a bleak comedy following a prosecutor as he attempts to help a political prisoner during the Stalinist Purge of 1937.

Plus, the ongoing story of the novel that was pulled by its publisher after allegations that it was partly written by AI. Tom talks to Alexandra Alter, the New York Times journalist who broke the story, and Anna Ganley from the Society of Authors.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe

Actor Forbes Masson on the National Theatre of Scotland's stage musical revival of cult sitcom The High Life in which he starred alongside Alan Cumming as air stewards working the commuter route between London and Scotland.

The writers behind the hotly anticipated whodunnit novel The Ending Writes Itself - billed as being by Evelyn Clarke but in fact written by Cat Clarke and VE Schwab - talk about satirising the publishing industry and about the challenges and pleasures of writing collaboratively.

And as The Coming of Age - a new exhibition at the Wellcome Collection in London - explores experiences and perceptions of ageing, art historian Richard Cork and artist Clare Shenstone reflect on how older people have been represented in art and culture.

Plus why is the V&A Dundee seeking a design team to makeover its galleries less than ten years since it opened? Architect and former editor of The Architects Journal Rory Olcayto explains.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

The much anticipated, Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning medical drama The Pitt finally hits HBO max screens in the UK this week. Samira talks to lead actor Noah Wyle who plays Dr ‘Robby’ Robinavitch, about being back in a high octane emergency department drama decades after making his name as Dr Carter in ER.

The Elizabethan composer John Dowland died 400 years ago this month. Next weekend there will be a celebratory Weekend of his music performed at London's Wigmore Hall. We speak with two musicians who will be celebrating Dowland's music: Counter tenor Iestyn Davies and lutenist Elizabeth Kenny.

Does opera need to be telling new stories? The ENO’s former artistic director John Berry, and playwright Mark Ravenhill join us to discuss.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed

The UK now has its own SNL, 50 years after the US original. But is it funny? Culture journalist Natalie Jamieson gives her verdict.

As the BFI begins a season of boxing films, we explore why the sport has inspired so much influential cinema, with BFI curator Dr Clive Chijioke Nwonka and boxing broadcaster Steve Bunce.

Phil Dunster, best known for his role in Ted Lasso, discusses his new comedy Rooster.

Folk trio Leveret improvise live in the Front Row studio.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe

Writer Alexander Larman and journalist Zoe Williams join Tom Sutcliffe to discuss the film La Grazia - which was written and directed by The Great Beauty’s Paolo Sorrentino, and stars Toni Servillo as a fictional Italian President.

They also review Summerfolk at the National Theatre in London. Brother and sister writers Moses and Nina Raine have adapted this version of Maxim Gorky’s play which centres around a privileged group of friends at a country retreat.

Will Page, industry analyst and former Chief Economist for Spotify, discusses the impact of AI generated fake music as Sony Music requests the removal of more than 135,000 songs impersonating its artists on streaming services.

Finally, Tom reviews The Tribe by Michael Arditti, an epic family drama which spans five decades and three continents.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe

From bellringing to beekeeping - Author Helen Bain talks about the highly detailed research she conducted for the writing of her The Daffodil Days, inspired by Ted Hughes and Sylvia Pllath's year in North Tawton in Devon in 1962, and on why she has told the story in reverse, through the observations of the locals who came into contact with them at the time.

Hue & Cry, who first made their name in the mid 80s and who won the Outstanding Contribution prize at last year's Scottish Music Awards, are back with a new single, a 16th studio album and a UK tour. We speak to brothers Pat & Greg Kane about their four decades in the music business, and about fusing acoustic and synth technologies and the duo perform one of their biggest hits in the Front Row studio.

At the height of the AIDS crisis in the 1990s, American photographer Catherine Opie honoured members of the gay community with portraits inspired by court artist Hans Holbein. Since then she's become known as an "all-American subversive" for her groundbreaking depictions of queer America. A retrospective of her work - To Be Seen - which also features a new commission of a portrait of Sir Elton John and his family - has opened at the National Portrait Gallery in London and she joins us live to talk about it.

Plus the Artistic Director of Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum Theatre, James Brining, and The Scotsman's theatre critic, Joyce McMillan, discuss the theatre's decision not to let critics from UK-wide media in to review the world premiere of the new stage production One Day, adapted from David Nicholls' bestselling book.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

Anne Lister, the 19th century landowner and diarist, better known by her nickname, Gentleman Jack, has inspired folksongs, television dramas, and now a ballet. As Northern Ballet begin a UK tour of their new Gentleman Jack production, Belgian-Colombian choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa explains how she translated Lister's diaries into dance.

As K-Pop super band BTS are set to return with a new album on 20th March and a live streamed concert and a documentary on Netflix, we hear from Julie Yoonnyung Lee from the BBC Korean Service and music journalist Katie Hawthorne about their comeback. We’ll also hear what’s been popular in K-Pop during their absence - including Korean Trot music which is having a resurgence.

New anthology, Banshee, aims to cast a feminist light on the female figures in Irish myths. Editor of the anthology, Ailbhe Malone, and one of the contributing writers, Salma El‑Wardany, discuss reimagining some of Ireland's oldest stories.

And we remember the writer Len Deighton whose death was announced today. He was the author of The Ipcress File along with over thirty other novels, cookbooks, and graphic novels. Fellow crime writer Martin Edwards reflects on Len Deighton's influential career.

Presenter: Nick Ahad

Self Esteem, aka Rebecca Lucy Taylor, performs her new song written for David Hare’s play Teeth 'n' Smiles.

We bring you a roundup of the 2026 Academy Awards.

Ryan Gosling discusses his new sci-fi adventure film Project Hail Mary.

And a look at the BBC's new talk show format, The Claudia Winkleman Show, with Boyd Hilton, entertainment director at Heat Magazine, and Bea Ballard, executive producer on the Jonathan Ross show.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed