With John Wilson.

Elton John reflects on his return to musical basics on his forthcoming album The Diving Board, to be released later this year. He also considers the impact of early fame on young performers, the continuing influence of soul and classical music on his own songs and the effect of his two young sons on his performing career.

Producer John Goudie.

With Mark Lawson.

Natalie Haynes reviews the new West End stage musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, directed by Sam Mendes, and starring Douglas Hodge as Willy Wonka.

The Chancellor George Osborne today announced a 7% cut in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport's budget, and a 5% cut to budgets for arts organisations, as part of the government's spending review. Broadcaster Janet Street-Porter, music commentator Norman Lebrecht and Richard Mantle of Opera North suggest areas of the arts which they believe should receive less funding.

The playwright and screenwriter Lee Hall selects his Cultural Exchange. He explains why Briggflatts, an autobiographical poem by Basil Bunting, has revealed new layers of meaning over the 30 years that he has been re-reading it.

The concert promoter AEG has been warned by the Advertising Standards Authority after they described a Kanye West gig as a "one off" London show, only to announce more dates. Lawyer Duncan Lamont discusses the legal issues around advertising "one offs" and "farewell tours."

Producer: Olivia Skinner.

With John Wilson.

Marc Chagall's paintings filled with colour, floating figures and Jewish motifs are among the most distinctive in art. A new exhibition at Tate Liverpool traces the creation of Chagall's style by following his early years as an artist in Paris and his native Russia. Jackie Wullschlager, author of the biography Chagall: Love and Exile, reviews.

St Colmcille, the patron saint of Derry/Londonderry, returns for a public pageant on a city-wide scale, starting this evening. Frank Cottrell Boyce, the writer behind the London 2012 Opening Ceremony, discusses how he created the story for this weekend's events in the UK's City of Culture. Many aspects of the city's history are celebrated, culminating in a showdown on the river front between St. Colmcille and his monstrous nemesis.

Singer-songwriter Laura Marling reflects on her new album Once I was an Eagle, and explains why she has chosen to base herself in Los Angeles. She also brings her guitar to the Front Row studio, to perform.

And the Irish writer Colm Tóibín makes his selection for the Cultural Exchange: Poem by Elizabeth Bishop, a reflection on a small painting of a scene in rural Nova Scotia, where the poet spent time as a child.

Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson.

Writer and comedy performer Miranda Hart reflects on her career so far, as her book Is It Just Me? appears in paperback.

Martin Amis discusses his 13th novel Lionel Asbo: State of England, a black comedy about a very violent and not very successful criminal and his nephew Desmond Pepperdine.

Playwright and actor Kwame Kwei-Armah, currently Artistic Director of Center Stage in Baltimore, Maryland, selects his Cultural Exchange: Joe Turner's Come and Gone by August Wilson

Producer Jerome Weatherald.

John Wilson charts the progress of artist Jeremy Deller, as he creates a range of new work for the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. The journey begins in Jeremy's flat, and includes visits to a recording studio and a record pressing plant, before the final unveiling of the works in Venice.

Producer Ekene Akalawu.

With Mark Lawson.

Award-winning documentary maker Norma Percy's latest series, The Iraq War, investigates the events that led Britain and America to go to war with Iraq, with testimony from major players including Tony Blair, Jack Straw and key figures in the Iraqi government. Chris Mullin and Richard Ottaway MP discuss whether the series give us a new insight into how the war came about.

To celebrate the centenary of Stravinsky's controversial ballet The Rite of Spring, dancer and choreographer Akram Khan has created a new interpretation of the piece with an original score by Nitin Sawnhey, Jocelyn Pook and Ben Frost. Akram Khan discusses his new work ITMOi (In the Mind of Igor) and explains how he went about following in Stravinsky's footsteps.

In Cultural Exchange, in which leading creative minds share a cultural passion, historian Antonia Fraser champions J M W Turner's painting The Fighting Temeraire.

Producer Olivia Skinner.

With Mark Lawson.

TV and film producer Tony Garnett's work includes Cathy Come Home, Kes, Cardiac Arrest and This Life. The British Film Institute is now marking his 50 year career with a retrospective season. In this conversation, he explains why he has generally refused to do interviews, and how personal tragedies have been reflected in films such as Up the Junction.

Although he started his career as an actor, appearing in Dixon of Dock Green, Garnett discusses the appeal of being a producer and the resultant battles to make hard-hitting films tackling difficult or controversial issues - including back-street abortions and the welfare state.

Producer Claire Bartleet.

With John Wilson.

The photographer Rankin is known for his cutting-edge fashion and advertising images, and his celebrity portraits. His new show at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool is called ALIVE: In The Face Of Death, where he has turned his attention to death and mortality. He talks to John about his experience of photographing people as they face the prospect of death.

Actor Terence Stamp chooses The Razor's Edge (1946) for Cultural Exchange. Based on Somerset Maugham's novel, it tells the story of an American pilot played by Tyrone Power who, traumatized by his experiences in World War I, sets off to India in search of transcendent meaning in his life. Terence talks about the huge impact this film has had on his own life.

Brilliant Adventures is a new play by Alistair McDowall. which won the Judges' Award in the 2011 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting. Set on a Middlesbrough council estate, the play focuses on the relationship between two brothers, one of whom has built a time machine. Writer Charlotte Keatley reviews.

The new Daft Punk album, Random Access Memories, is the French duo's fourth long-player after a seven year silence. Regarded as dance music pioneers, on this record Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo are joined by other luminaries of the music world including Nile Rodgers and Giorgio Moroder. Writer and DJ Dave Haslam gives his verdict.

Producer Ekene Akalawu.

With Mark Lawson.

Baz Luhrmann's much-anticipated film version of The Great Gatsby stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire. F Scott Fitzgerald's glittering Jazz Age world of 1922 is combined with Luhrmann's screenplay, co-written with Craig Pearce, which aims to make the story relevant to a modern audience. Sarah Crompton reviews.

This year's Eurovision Song Contest comes from Malmö, Sweden. Bonnie Tyler performs the British entry, competing against a varied field of performers. Front Row's Jukebox Jury, Rosie Swash and David Hepworth, deliver their verdicts on this year's contenders.

The French government is considering levying a "culture tax" on technology giants such as Google and Apple, to fund the arts in France. A report from businessman Pierre Lescure, commissioned by Francois Hollande's government, suggests a 4% tax on hardware, including smartphones and tablets, to fund content. The Independent's Paris correspondent John Lichfield discusses the protection of arts funding in France and whether this radical tax proposal can succeed.

Cultural Exchange: writer Anne Tyler shares her passion for a self-portrait by photography pioneer Charles R Savage.

Producer Claire Bartleet.

With Mark Lawson.

A diamond ring given by King Charles I to his young wife is one of the highlights of a new exhibition opening this week at the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace. In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion aims to show how much clothes, jewellery and armour told us about their wearers and their status. A N Wilson gives his verdict.

In the latest episode of Cultural Exchange, in which creative minds select a favourite art-work, Germaine Greer nominates the The Getting of Wisdom, a novel by the Australian writer Henry Handel Richardson, published in 1910.

Benedict Cumberbatch and Simon Pegg star in J J Abrams' return to the Star Trek film franchise. Captain Kirk and crew embark on a mission to Earth, now a war zone, to capture a one-man weapon of mass destruction in Star Trek Into Darkness. Naomi Alderman reviews.

The Vulcan bomber takes centre stage in James Hamilton-Paterson's new novel Under the Radar, about the lives of British aircrew at the height of the Cold War. The writer discusses the book which is set in 1961, as the aircrew brace themselves for an imminent Soviet nuclear attack.

Producer Stephen Hughes.