Front Row

Riz Ahmed is one of his generation’s great British actors. He starred alongside Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler, before landing roles in big budget films from Jason Bourne to Rogue One. For his latest role, Ahmed has teamed up with director David McKenzie to play a man who works as a broker between whistleblowers and the companies who want their secrets returned.

Presenter: Nick Ahad

Zadie Smith talks about the art of the essay, as she publishes a non-fiction collection, Dead and Alive.

Brenda Blethyn discusses her new film Dragonfly, for which she's just been nominated for Best Joint Performance at the British Independent Film Awards along with her co-star Andrea Riseborough.

In the last of Front Row's interviews with the authors shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Samira talks to Andrew Miller about his novel The Land in Winter, set in the Big Freeze of I962-3.

Film scholar Ian Christie discusses the work of the experimental British documentary filmmaker Peter Watkins, who has died at the age of 90.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed

Tahmima Anam and Tristram Fane Saunders join Tom Sutcliffe to review The Eleventh Hour, a collection of five short stories from Salman Rushdie in his first return to fiction since he was attacked in 2022. Director of Poor Things and The Favourite Yorgos Lanthimos brings more strangeness to cinema screens with Bugonia, a thriller with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons. And Alan Hollinghurst's Booker Prize-winning novel The Line of Beauty is adapted for the stage by Jack Holden. Plus they discuss censorship in Eastern Europe as the board of the Belgrade International Festival of Theatre blocks director Milo Rau from bringing his work about the Gisele Pelicot trial to the festival.

Producer: Tim Bano

Live from Derry.

As the climax of the current series approaches, actors Dearbháile McKinney and Martin McCann, two of the cast of hit police series Blue Lights, talk about their roles.

Writer John Morton talks to us about his play Denouement, a darkly comic tale set in the run-up to apocalyptic events in 2048 and which is receiving its world premiere at the Belfast International Arts Festival.

And as Europe's largest Halloween Festival opens in Derry, writer Jan Carson and Kate Byrne, who teaches literature at Ulster University, discuss why writing about the supernatural is proving so popular with readers today and give their recommendations for the best horror writing past and present.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

In tribute to Prunella Scales, whose death was announced today, Front Row rebroadcasts an interview with the Fawlty Towers star from 2012, recorded on the eve of her 80th birthday.

Samira talks to two documentary makers who gained extraordinary access to world leaders for their films. Tommy Gulliksen followed Nato Chief Jens Stoltenberg for his film Facing War, and Petra Costa followed several Brazilian Presidents for her films Apocalypse in the Tropics and The Edge of Democracy.

Annemarie Jacir talks about her historical epic feature film, Palestine 36.

And we hear from the two joint winners of this year's Forward Prize for Poetry, Best Collection: Vidyan Ravinthiran and Karen Solie

Presenter: Samira Ahmed

Actor Reese Witherspoon on why she's teamed up with thriller writer Harlan Coben to write a novel called Gone Before Goodbye, about a struck-off army surgeon who uncovers a global conspiracy.

Colin Farrell discusses his new film Ballad of a Small Player, about a gambler on the verge of losing everything, which is directed by Oscar winner Edward Berger.

What is the best amount of time to look at a work of art? Professor Jennifer Roberts from Harvard University has the answer.

Today University Academic Richard Taylor was awarded "substantial damages" after a court ruled the portrayal of him in a Steve Coogan film about the discovery of a Richard III's remains did have a defamatory meaning. We talk to Richard about his win.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe

Tom Sutcliffe and guests review the Bruce Springsteen film, Deliver Me From Nowhere, which tells the story of his recording of the album Nebraska

Bestselling thriller writer John Grisham on his latest book, The Widow, in which a smalltown lawyer from Virginia finds himself accused of a serious crime after he develops a professional relationship with a wealthy woman who may not be all that she seems.

We hear from writer-director Kelly Reichardt and from actor Josh O'Connor who plays an art thief in her latest film The Mastermind.

Dutch art historian and detective Arthur Brand gives an update on the real-life robbery of France's crown jewels from The Louvre in Paris at the weekend, and tells us about the broader spate of museum thefts across Europe right now.

And as arts organisations come together in Glasgow for a State of the Nation culture summit, we ask why now, and what might it achieve?

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

Comedy giant Steve Martin on making new bluegrass music with pioneering banjo player Alison Brown with their new album, Safe, Sensible, and Sane.

Filmmaker Nia DaCosta on her cinematic retelling of Ibsen's classic play, Hedda Gabbler.

Sharon Heal, Director of the Museums Association on British industrial heritage emerging from the cultural shadows.

Senior curator at the Horniman Museum, Heba Abd el Gawad, and Egyptologist Dr Campbell Price on the enduring influence of Egyptology on culture.

Presenter: Nick Ahad

Cathy Tyson stars in the Leicester Curve Theatre production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee. She talks about the demanding, drunken role of Martha.

Jewellery expert Joanna Hardy discusses the robbery of France's Crown Jewels from the Louvre Museum in Paris.

As AI becomes an increasingly powerful tool, we speak to two artists who are experimenting with technology in music production, Todd Rundgren and Holly Herndon.

And Samira talks to the Booker shortisted author David Szalay about his novel, Flesh.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed