The Arts Hour

Nikki Bedi is on stage at Teatro Italia in Rome with leading creatives and a live audience, to explore the impact of the country’s colossal cultural history on its new wave of artistic talent.

Creative powerhouse Margherita Vicario reveals the inspiration for her film Gloria!, about rebellious women musicians in a convent in 1800 Venice.

Horror maestro Paolo Strippoli explains the meaning of his film, The Holy Boy, set in a village that depends on the miraculous healing powers of a teenage boy.

There is live comedy from Luca Ravenna.

Live music comes from singer songwriter Levante and poetic rapper Mecna.

And Daniele Tinti is Nikki’s insider guide to Rome’s revealing locations

Photo credit: Marco Ponzianelli

This edition has been updated since originally published to clarify a location detail.

Nikki Bedi and film critic Guy Lodge discuss cultural highlights of the week.

(Photo: Bing Liu. Credit: MetFilms)

Nikki Bedi speaks to film-maker Neeraj Ghaywan about his film Homebound, which is India’s entry for the Best International Feature category at the Oscars.

She also talks to the director Shih-Ching Tsou about Taiwan’s entry for the same category, the Taipei-set film Left-Handed Girl.

Plus a chance to hear about Australia’s entry, The Wolves Always Come at Night from the film-maker Gabrielle Brady.

The creators of Stranger Things, the Duffer Brothers talk about the series genesis and the 1980s themes.

Nikki Bedi is joined by cultural critic Zing Tsjeng to discuss all of this and more.

(Photo: Neeraj Ghaywan. Credit: Dharma Productions)

Nikki Bedi talks to director Nia DaCosta about her film Hedda starring Tessa Thompson and is joined by cultural critic Hanna Flint.

Oscar winning British actor Daniel Day-Lewis and his director son Ronan, discuss working together on their film Anemone.

Australian actor Sarah Snook, of Succession fame, talks about her latest series All Her Fault.

And Puerto Rican guitarist Carlos Alomar on collaborating with David Bowie.

Main image: Tessa Thompson as Hedda

Audio for this episode was updated on 2nd December 2025.

Director Jon M Chu talks about Wicked: For Good - the themes, working with Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, and he reveals his favourite scene in the film.

Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul creator Vince Gilligan and star Rhea Seehorn discuss their new series Pluribus.

British actor Riz Ahmed on being a man of few words in the thriller Relay.

And Nikki Bedi is joined by cultural critic, Larushka Ivan- Zadeh

Photo Credit: Universal Pictures

In a special edition of The Arts Hour, Nikki Bedi talks to two of the judges on this year's Booker Prize for Fiction, Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ and Chris Power, before Roddy Doyle announces the winner. We hear from fellow judges Sarah Jessica Parker and all of the writers on the shortlist:

Flashlight by Susan Choi

Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

Photo Credit: David Parry for the Booker Prize Foundation

Oscar winning, Swiss Austrian film-maker Edward Berger and Irish actor Colin Farrell travel to Macau for their new casino thriller.

And American film director Sarah Friedland talks about her debut feature film Familiar Touch.

Nikki Bedi is joined by cultural critic Bidisha.

(Photo: Dolores Fonzi (2L) and actors Julieta Cardinali (L), Camila Plaate (2R), and Laura Paredes (R). Credit: Juan Herrero/EPA/Shutterstock)

Nikki Bedi speaks to Italian screen writer and show runner Leonardo Fasoli about his new true crime TV series The Monster of Florence, which deals with a serial killer in Tuscany, who – over decades - murdered courting couples. The case was never solved.

Main image: Leonardo Fasoli

Nikki Bedi speaks to Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos about his latest film Bugonia, starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons.

We hear from triple Oscar-winning Mexican director Guillermo del Toro about breathing new life into Frankenstein.

Actor and star of The Morning Show, Karen Pittman, discusses women led workplaces and the politics of news media.

Serbian performance artist Marina Abramović reflects on her most personal and perhaps most ambitious artwork to date, Balkan Erotic Epic.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson reveals how his background as a pro wrestler failed to fully prepare him for playing Mark Kerr, the UFC mixed martial arts pioneer whose life is depicted in new film The Smashing Machine.

And Chinese pianist Lang Lang introduces a life changing live performance with his father.

Joining Nikki to navigate these cultural riches is the critic Arifa Akbar.

Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

Nikki Bedi talks to international film-makers taking part in this year's London Film Festival.

American writer-director Kelly Reichardt takes us back to the 1970s with her heist film The Mastermind starring Josh O' Connor.

French Moroccan film-maker Robin Campillo shares how he continued the work of his late friend and collaborator Laurent Cantet with coming-of-age drama Enzo.

Oscar-winning documentary-maker Laura Poitras talks about her latest film Cover-Up, which looks at the work of the Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersch.

(Photo: Josh O'Connor in The Mastermind. Credit: Mastermind Movie Inc)