Front Row

Tom Sutcliffe is joined by the critics Bidisha and Peter Bradshaw to review the highlights of the week:

Nosferatu - Robert Eggers' remake of F.W Murnau's 1922 silent vampire classic, which was itself based on Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula.

Nickel Boys - the Golden Globe nominated adaptation of Colson Whitehead's novel about two African American boys sent to reform school.

Lockerbie - Sky's miniseries about the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and the subsequent search for truth, starring Colin Firth.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe

Samira Ahmed presents Front Row's contribution to Radio 4's New Year's Day celebration of the Shipping Forecast, marking a century since the BBC began broadcasting it. This edition of the arts programme explores how the Shipping Forecast inspires musicians, writers, artists of all kinds, and how it has become a powerful presence in the psyche of the nation, even among people with no connection to the sea. There is an irony here: the forecast is factual, devoid of metaphor, yet it moves millions emotionally.

Recorded in front of an audience at Britain's most famous ship, the Cutty Sark, Samira's guests are novelist Meg Clothier, author of The Shipping Forecast: Celebrating 100 Years; musicians Lisa Knapp and Gerry Diver; poets Sean Street and Zaffar Kunial; and Paddy Rodgers, Director of Royal Museums, Greenwich. They discuss the inspirational quality of the Shipping Forecast - the litany of names of sea areas, its rhythms, the factual yet evocative vocabulary of atmospheric and sea states, and how this vital information, demanding attention, has become a national lullaby.

Sean Street, Britain's first Professor of Radio and author of several books about sound, considers the Shipping Forecast as a sound work, and reads his poem, Shipping Forecast, Donegal. Lisa Knapp performs, accompanied by Gerry Diver, her song 'Shipping Song' and 'Three Score and Ten', written by William Delf, a Grimsby fisherman, after a disastrous storm in 1889. There are two world premieres, commissioned by Front Row, an audio piece by the sound designer, Ross Burns, and a poem by Zaffar Kunial. And some quirky Shipping Forecast moments such as Alan Bennett reading it and Charlotte Green assaying the Forecast - in Arabic.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed

Kirsty Wark hosts a Hogmanay edition live from Glasgow. Featuring performances by The Bluebells and piper Malin Lewis. Plus Alan Cumming; Scotland's new Makar, Peter Mackay; and an exploration of representations of New Year in cinema, literature and poetry.

As Bradford limbers up for its year as UK City of Culture, in a special edition of Front Row, Nick Ahad meets:

Steven Frayne, the award-winning Bradford-born magician formerly known as Dynamo. Frayne's magic skills have brought him success in arenas and television studios worldwide and his biography Nothing is Impossible: My Story became a bestseller. He returns to Bradford in the ultimate homecoming gig as co-creator of RISE - the opening show for Bradford's year as UK City of Culture.

The 2022 documentary film, A Bunch of Amateurs, charmed critics and audiences alike. This portrait of one of the oldest amateur film societies in the world, Bradford Movie Makers, was the work of filmmaking duo Kim Hopkins and Margareta Szabo. On the set of their latest project, The Local, about another Bradfordian institution, the Jacob's Well pub, one of the oldest Beerhouses in Bradford, they discuss capturing the spirit of the community who walk through the pub doors.

Shanaz Gulzar is the Creative Director of Bradford 2025 and she's also the curator of one of the year's public art events, Wild Uplands. She talks about her vision for celebrating culture in her home city, and the four visual artists that she's selected to create work in the moors landscape she grew up with.

RISE co-creator and theatre director Kirsty Housley is known for the innovation that she brings to the stage in a wide variety of acclaimed productions including for the National Theatre. In poems such as BFD, poet, playwright, and cultural mentor Kirsty Taylor, has turned her home city into alluring verse. Kirsty H and Kirsty T talk about their work on RISE to create an opening show that reflects Bradford to its people and the rest of the world.

Presenter: Nick Ahad

Boyd Hilton and Arifa Akbar join Tom to review:

Better Man, the Robbie Williams biopic with a twist – he’s depicted as a Monkey.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, the Almeida theatre’s new production of Tennesee Williams' play with Daisy Edgar-Jones and Kingsley Ben-Adir.

And How to Make Millions before Grandma Dies, a new film from Thai director Pat Boonnitipat about family relationships, memories, death and inheritance.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe

Fresh from his success as the winner of Strictly Come Dancing, comedian and actor Chris McCausland joins us to talk about his new TV film Bad Tidings, his forthcoming solo tour and of course triumphing in TV's biggest dance contest.

Singer Lauren Mayberry, best known as the frontwoman of Scottish synth pop band Chvrches, talks about her debut solo album, on which her songs examine themes societal pressures, the mother-daughter relationship and her experiences as a female musician in a band alongside two men.

And the Oscar-winning director of Moonlight, Barry Jenkins, speaks about his experiences making Mufasa, the prequel to Disney's hugely popular Lion King, which is in cinemas from this weekend.

Presenter: Kate Molleson

The actor Simon Russell Beale speaks about playing the poet and scholar A. E. Housman in Tom Stoppard's play 'The Invention of Love', as well as discussing his memoir.

The singer, songwriter and composer Rufus Wainwright was inspired to write a Requiem by his love of the composer Giuseppe Verdi and the loss of his dog, named Puccini. He speaks about the project and the involvement of Meryl Streep.

And Kate Garner performs songs from the music halls, alongside the historian and writer Oskar Jensen discussing the stories behind the songs.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed

Call The Midwife creator Heidi Thomas talks to Front Row about writing the drama's Christmas special, Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham discuss co-directing the new Wallace & Gromit film, Vengeance Most Fowl, and ahead of the Royal College of Organists' new initiative - Play The Organ 2025 - organists David Pipe and Claire M Singer join Nick to discuss updating perceptions of the "king of instruments".

Presenter: Nick Ahad

Samira is joined by novelist Linda Grant and critic Jason Solomons to review the musical version of The Devil Wears Prada with music by Elton John.

We also review the new TV dramatisation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s classic novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, which is released today – how did they manage the magic realism? 

And The Universal Theory, a German mystery thriller film about parallel universes.    

And we take a look at the use of Rudyard Kipling's 1903 poem Boots, in a new trailer for a new Hollywood blockbuster zombie film.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed

Brothers William and Jim Reid of The Jesus and Mary Chain talk to Kirsty Wark about the ups and downs of their career in music.

Plus a discussion on the politics of pantomime,

And the video games of the year.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark