Front Row

BBC Radio 4

4.3 (302)
SOCIETY & CULTURE
UPDATED DAILY

Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music

4 HR AGO

Daniel Day Lewis on his return to the big screen

On this week's Front Row review, we discuss a new production of Othello with David Harewood as the Moor and Toby Jones as Iago. Tom speaks with Daniel Day Lewis about his return to the big screen in a film directed by his son Ronan: Anemone. And The Choral; a new film written by Alan Bennett, directed by Nicholas Hytner and with a stellar cast, how good is it? Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe

42 min
1 DAY AGO

Benedict Cumberbatch on The Thing with Feathers

Benedict Cumberbatch speaks to Kate Molleson about the new film adaptation of Max Porter's Grief Is the Thing with Feathers, an exploration of loss and berievement. On Tuesday night, the winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2025 was announced. They join Kate to dicuss their work, and the significance of taking home the prize. 100 years ago, one of the best viola players of her generation – Rebecca Clarke – gave a sold-out concert at London’s Wigmore Hall. All of the music on the programme she had written herself. A new album of her works and a series of events will mark the centenery. Tenor Nicholas Phan and writer and broadcaster Leah Broad discuss. And composer and songwriter Anna Appleby reflects on the music of Catalan star Rosalia, whose fusion of pop and monumental classical sounds is making waves in the music industry.

42 min
2 DAYS AGO

Sarah Snook, Riz Ahmed and return of Play for Today

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. As Shiv in Succession, the scheming daughter of the Logan Roy dynasty, Sarah Snook was an integral part of one of the most critically acclaimed TV ensembles of recent years. But Snook has gone back to the small screen- in All Her Fault, Snook plays Marisa Irvine, a mother who faces her worst nightmare when her four year old son goes missing. Between 1970 and 1984, BBC1’s experimental drama strand Play for Today created what is now regarded as classic British drama. It helped launch the careers of many celebrated writers, directors and actors including Helen Mirren, Alison Steadman, Ray Winstone and more. Play for Today has now been revived, with four new dramas being broadcast in the coming weeks by Channel 5. We hear from Paul Testar, the commissioner of the new Play for Today strand; Tom May who made Play for Today the subject of his PhD and Margaret Matheson, a producer of the strand in the 1970s. Presenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu

42 min
3 DAYS AGO

Zadie Smith and Brenda Blethyn live in studio

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 Producer: Harry Graham

42 min
30 OCT

Review Show: Bugonia, Salman Rushdie stories, The Line of Beauty

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

42 min
29 OCT

Live from Derry: two of the stars of police drama Blue Lights

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 Producer: Caitlin Sneddon

42 min
28 OCT

Prunella Scales, Palestine 36 film, Making Documentaries with World Leaders

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 Producer: Julian May

42 min
27 OCT

Reese Witherspoon on her novel and Colin Farrell on his new film

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 Producer: Harry Graham

42 min

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John Wilson

Host
Kirsty Lang

Host
Mary Beard

Host
Samira Ahmed

Host
Stig Abell

Host
Guillermo Del Toro

Guest

4.3

out of 5

302 Ratings

Pretty impressive

20 Jan

MarkoB1111

Despite a recent drift into the lowbrow with 80s pop nostalgia segments, this is a really useful and enjoyable listen. And the Friday review show takes me back to those happy years when Saturday Review was still being commissioned.
Front Row

4 Mar

Izzyissi

Love this podcast! Varied and up to date. All presenters very well prepared! ☺️
Let the guests speak

14 Feb

Foxtrot Lightning

It's got a good mix of guests on the show but some of the hosts are constantly interrupting the guests which is frustrating to listen to, they often can't finish a sentence without being interrupted by the host giving his answer to his own question. Despite this it's good to have a round up of new films & exhibitions.
Great to hear

03/06/2021

Sequeira119

Although I rarely go to a theatre, it’s nice to have a wonderful word of mouth or a second opinion on shows. It’s good to have an arts show for books and theatre, to see what’s out there.