Front Row

As Scottish indie pop legends Belle & Sebastian prepare to celebrate 30 years of musicmaking, they look back at what got them here. Plus they help ring in the new year with a Rabbie Burns classic.

Jamaica’s former Poet Laureate Lorna Goodison reflects on her recent residency at Ellisland Farmhouse, where Robert Burns wrote Auld Lang Syne.

Award-winning Scottish poet and spoken word artist Michael Mullen brought their debut collection Goonie in to the world this June. Now they share a poem written specially for Front Row, about the joys of Hogmanay.

Kirsty celebrates the life of Scottish comedian and impressionist Stanley Baxter, who passed away earlier this month aged 99. His productions became staples of Christmas and New Year television, as broadcaster and cultural historian Matthew Sweet discusses with actor Juliet Cadzow.

Director Joachim Trier on his latest film Sentimental Value, which is nominated for eight Golden Globes, including Best Picture and Best Director.

We take a look at the late Brigitte Bardot's three most important films, with critic Muriel Zhaga

Writer John Lloyd on the 42nd anniversary release of The Meaning of Liff, the book he co-wrote with Douglas Adams.

Ahead of a memorial concert for the late great pianist Alfred Brendel, Samira is joined by his son, the cellist Adrian Brendel, and the pianist Dame Imogen Cooper.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed

In 1776, the Founding Fathers of America signed the Declaration of Independence, embarking on a new experiment in how to build a nation.

On the eve of the 250th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence, Tom Sutcliffe and guests explore the founding fathers – and mothers – of American culture: the key figures who shaped American literature, music, visual art, and theatre and created a distinctively American voice.

With the literary historian Sarah Churchwell, the art historian Erin Pauwels, the musicologist Glenda Goodman, the music critic Kevin Legendre, and the theatre historian Heather Nathans and critic Matt Wolf.

Producer: Eliane Glaser

Scott Bryan and Rhianna Dhillon join Tom Sutcliffe to discuss sports drama Marty Supreme which stars Timothée Chalamet as a table tennis hustler who dreams of becoming a world champion in 1950s New York.

They also discuss Stephen Sondheim’s fairytale production Into the Woods which is at London’s Bridge Theatre.

Plus they review Sentimental Value – Joachim Trier’s film which stars Stellan Skarsgård as a film director trying to mend his family through the camera.

Finally, classicist and writer Natalie Haynes gives her verdict on the growing trend for Immersive Exhibitions about the Ancient World.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe

As a new adaptation of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus begins on Sky, actor Will Sharpe speaks to Front Row about he researched the role of Mozart, and music historian Flora Willson and Music Director of the Dunedin Consort John Butt discuss how recent research helps us better understand the man and his music.

Baroness Margaret Hodge - whose review into Arts Council England was published this week - tells us about her findings and recommendations.

And with just a week to go until Christmas, broadcaster Bex Lindsay delivers her recommendations of books for children this festive season.

The books discussed were:

How To Grow A Reindeer’ written by Rachel Morrisroe, illustrated by Steven Lenton

Robin by Sarah Ann Juckes

Elle McNicoll’s Role Model

Presenter: Kate Molleson

Jane Austen is often seen as an isolated genius who appeared from nowhere, or she is treated with a simplistic cult-like reverance which overlooks the complexities of her work. In this special edition of Front Row, marking 250 years since Austen's birth, we take a close critical eye to a writer who innovated the novel as a form and revolutionised a literary style rarely seen before.

Fellow novelists Tessa Hadley and Kamila Shamsie join Samira, alongside academics Professor John Mullan and Dr. Sophie Coulombeau, to deeply delve into the texts themselves, revealing a witty writer herself steeped in the literature of her day, discussing how she contsantly evolved her craft and why her status has fluctuated with trends across the last two centuries.

With readings by Dame Harriet Walter

Presenter: Samira Ahmed

Hollywood giant Rob Reiner was found dead alongside his wife Michele at their Los Angeles Home this morning. Telegraph film critic Robbie Collin joins to discuss the life and career of the famed director of such classics as This Is Spinal Tap, When Harry Met Sally and The Princess Bride.

Roland Gift, the lead singer of the hit 80s band Fine Young Cannibals, is live in session, playing one of the group's biggest hits and talking about the 40th anniversary of the release of their self-titled debut album.

It's pantomime season once again, but what do modern audiences actually want from the panto, and how do we balance modern sensitivities with frivolity and fun? We hear from theatre producer Emily Wood, currently putting on numerous pantos across the country, and actor Abdullah Afzal, who's the founder of the Muslim Panto Theatre company.

Actor and Wrexham FC Director Humphrey Kerr talks about co-writing and starring in Sherlock Holmes & the 12 Days of Christmas

Following news that best-selling author Joanna Trollope has died at the age 82, we've dug into the BBC archive to find a 2010 interview with Joanna.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed

Film producer Jason Solomons and literary journalist Suzi Feay join Tom Sutcliffe to discuss the contemporary thriller Lurker which shows what happens when the line between popstar and fan gets blurred.

They also talk about The Pelican Child a short story collection by Pulitzer Prize-nominated author Joy Williams.

And the film Ella McCay is reviewed; a political comedy-drama that follows an idealistic woman juggling being state governor with a complicated family life.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe

Actress June Squibb on her lead role in Scarlett Johansson's debut feature Eleanor the Great, in which a woman in her 90s moves back from Florida to Manhattan and forms a friendship with a young journalism student - the film explores themes of grief, the Holocaust, truth and lies.

Jenny Colgan pays tribute to her fellow bestselling novelist Sophie Kinsella, whose death was announced today.

From the daring heist on the Louvre in Paris in October to the theft of Matisse artworks from Brazil's second-largest library just this week, we discuss 2025's spate of museum heists with investigative journalist Riah Pryor and with Sunna Altnoder of UNESCO, who have recently opened a Virtual Museum of Stolen Cultural Objects.

Artist Michael Fullerton discusses the symbolism in his portraits of asylum seekers, painted during his time working in the kitchen of a hotel in Carlisle, and which are on display at Edinburgh's City Art Centre until March.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

Tonight, the winner of the 2025 Turner Prize will be announced in Bradford, this year’s City of Culture. Joining Nick to discuss the runners and riders is arts journalist at the Yorkshire Post, Yvette Huddleston.

The death of the photographer Martin Parr was announced over the weekend. His reputation was established with his colourful1980s seaside holiday pictures. To remember his life and legacy, we hear from photographer Stephen McCoy who currently has a show at the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol.

Egyptian Queen Nefertiti is rumoured to have been one of the most desirable women in the ancient world but could things turn ugly over the location of the bust of Nefertiti? With the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, there have been renewed calls for it to be returned to Egypt from the Berlin’s Neues Museum where it’s currently on display. Heba Abd el Gawad, Senior Curator of Anthropology at London’s Horniman Museum, and Professor Sebastian Conrad, who has written extensively on Nefertiti, discuss the issues.

Arts journalist Yvette Huddleston reflects on Bradford’s year in the spotlight.

Presenter: Nick Ahad