Only Artists

The poet Tony Walsh meets the actor Julie Hesmondhalgh.

Tony performs under the name Longfella, which describes his 6ft 5in frame. His first collection of verse, Sex & Love & Rock&Roll, was published in 2015. He came to worldwide attention in May 2017 when he recited his poem This is the Place at the vigil following the Manchester Arena bombing.

Julie played Hayley Cropper on Coronation Street for 16 years, and has appeared in acclaimed TV series including Broadchurch and Happy Valley. On stage she recently took the title role in Brecht’s Mother Courage at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. She runs a theatre company, Take Back, which stages performances of short scripts written in response to current events.

Producer: Clare Walker

The writer Tracy Chevalier meets the ceramicist Edmund de Waal. Tracy Chevalier has written eight novels including the international best-seller Girl with a Pearl Earring. Her latest book 'A Single Thread' is set in Winchester Cathedral. Edmund de Waal is a ceramicist and author. His book 'The Hare with Amber Eyes' is a family biography about the loss and survival of art objects through time. His porcelain installations often respond to history, museum collections and archives.

Producer: Clare Walker

The industrial designer Marek Reichman meets the graphic artist and designer Peter Saville.

Marek Reichman has designed cars for some of the world's best-known marques and is currently chief creative officer at Aston Martin. Born in Sheffield, he graduated from Teesside University with a degree in industrial design and continued his studies in vehicle design at the Royal College of Art.

Peter Saville was in his mid-20s when he created renowned album covers for Factory Records' bands including Joy Division and New Order. Since then he has worked with leading fashion designers and musicians and was appointed creative director of the city of Manchester.

Producer: Paula McGinley

The artist Nina Mae Fowler meets the animator Nick Park.

Nina Mae Fowler finds inspiration in the cinema past and present. She has created large scale pencil and graphite drawings of stars from Hollywood’s Golden age, and her portraits of leading British film directors are on show at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Nick Park is an Oscar-winning animator, writer and director best known as the creator of Wallace and Gromit, Creature Comforts and Shaun the Sheep.

Producer: Clare Walker

The photographer Nick Knight meets the architect David Chipperfield.

Sir David Chipperfield has created prize-winning buildings around the world. In Britain, his most notable works include the River and Rowing Museum in Henley, the Hepworth Wakefield gallery, and the Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate. One of his earliest commissions was a house for Nick Knight – where they met for this conversation.

Producer: Clare Walker

The folk singer Karine Polwart meets the artist Jen Frankwell.

Karine Polwart is Scottish songwriter and musician. She was BBC Radio 2’s Folk Singer Of The Year in 2018.

Jen Frankwell is a visual artist and leatherworker, handcrafting sporrans and kiltbelts . She has created artworks for Karine’s latest album, The Scottish Songbook, in which she re-interprets Scottish pop songs from the past 50 years.

Producer: Clare Walker

The writer Kamila Shamsie meets the choreographer Akram Khan.

Kamila Shamsie was born in Pakistan, and has published seven novels. Last year she won the Women’s Prize for Fiction with Home Fire, the story of two British Muslim sisters, and their jihadist brother - who wants to come home.

Akram Khan first danced professionally as a young teenager, and formed his own company almost 20 years ago. He appeared in the London 2012 opening ceremony, and last year he gave his final performance dancing in a full-length piece. His latest work Outwitting the Devil is inspired by a newly discovered fragment of the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the world’s earliest surviving works of literature.

Producer: Clare Walker

The actor Tom Hiddleston talks to the composer Nicholas Britell.

Tom Hiddleston's screen credits include The Night Manager on television, and the Thor and Avengers films in the cinema. On stage he has played Coriolanus to great acclaim, and is currently starring in Betrayal by Harold Pinter.

Nicholas Britell received Academy Award nominations for his scores for the films If Beale Street Could Talk and Moonlight. He also wrote the music for Vice, the recent film about Dick Cheney.

The composer Debbie Wiseman meets the film director Peter Kosminsky.

Peter Kosminsky’s BAFTA winning fact-based dramas include No Child of Mine, about sexual abuse, and Warriors, which focused on the first British peacekeeping forces in Bosnia. More recently he has directed the multi-award winning TV series Wolf Hall, based on the novels by Hilary Mantel.

Producer: Clare Walker

The theatre director Iqbal Khan meets the poet Benjamin Zephaniah.

Iqbal Khan was born in Birmingham. His productions include innovative stagings of Othello and Much Ado About Nothing for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Benjamin Zephaniah is also from Birmingham. He's written more than a dozen books of poems, as well as novels, plays and children's books.

Producer: Clare Walker