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Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at how popstars - and their fans - have been depicted in film and TV over the years.
Mark speaks to record producer and documentary director Jeremy Dylan about some of the most memorable pop idols on screen, from A Hard Day’s Night to Spice World.
And he talks to legendary songwriter Paul Williams about his dual role as both star actor and music composer on Brian DePalma’s prescient 1974 pop fable Phantom of the Paradise.
Meanwhile, Ellen looks at portrayals of pop fans on screen with critic Kayleigh Donaldson, and screenwriter Janine Nabers, who co-created the recent Beyonce-inspired satirical comedy-horror TV miniseries Swarm.
Producer: Jane Long
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode take a deep dive into Spike Lee’s incendiary 1989 drama about simmering racial tension in and around a Brooklyn pizzeria.
We celebrate 35 years of a film that announced itself like a beat box on full blast. Set within a single inner city block in Brooklyn, New York City on the hottest day of the summer, the movie depicts racial tensions that simmer, as things look set to explode.
Ellen speaks to the film's director Spike Lee to find out how this extraordinary, legacy-defining film originated, and his reaction to its initial mixed reception. And we hear from film critic and Spike Lee biographer, Kaleem Aftab - to discuss the impact of the film, and the United States that it depicts.
Meanwhile, Mark meets upcoming film director, Dionne Edwards to find out how the title sequence of Do the Right Thing inspired her own opening scene in the movie, Pretty Red Dress.
Long time Spike Lee collaborator and cinematographer on Do The Right Thing, Ernest Dickerson, joins Mark to share his classical and dramatic visual influences, and how his use of colour palette and lighting rigs created such a scorching viewing experience.
Producer: Mae-Li Evans
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

The Great American Western is having a resurgence - from Yellowstone and Bass Reeves on TV, to Beyoncé's acclaimed country album Cowboy Carter. Kevin Costner is back in the director’s saddle too, with his Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 - the first in a planned series of epic Westerns - recently riding into cinemas.
But has the cinematic Western adapted to the modern age or is it trapped in a one-sided history of the past? Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode examine the enduring popularity of a genre that refuses to die.
Mark speaks to cultural historian and Spaghetti Western obsessive Christopher Frayling about the genre’s 19th century roots, and about the impact of films like The Searchers and The Wild Bunch. And he talks to prolific independent director John Sayles, whose 1996 film Lone Star was nominated by the American Film Institute as one of the Fifty Best Westerns of all time.
Meanwhile, Ellen explores the history of Black cowboys on screen with Mia Mask, author of Black Rodeo: A History of the African American Western. And she speaks to Jeymes Samuel - the galvanising force behind films like recent biblical epic The Book Of Clarence and 2021’s all-Black, all-star Western, The Harder They Fall. Jeymes tells Ellen why he was drawn to the genre - and why Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained might be due a reassessment.
Producer: Jane Long
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

In the past year, triangular love stories have loomed large in cinema - Past Lives, Challengers and Passages all had different angles on the spiky geometry of three-cornered relationships.
Since Casablanca, these complicated love affairs have fascinated filmmakers and audiences alike. They can be the subject of romantic comedies, at the centre of a melodrama or the motive for murder in a thriller - the relationships can be gay or straight and the budgets big or small.
Jean Luc Godard’s iconic new wave robbery tale Bande à part is 60 this year. It seems that each generation has its iconic love triangle movie - The Philadelphia Story, Sabrina, The Graduate, Blood Simple, Y Tu Mama Tambien, The Notebook and My Best Friend’s Wedding - the films could not be more different but the dynamics are always rich and provocative.
Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones ask where love triangles have taken us over the years and how they reflect the sexual politics of the times.
Guest interviews include Ira Sachs, director of the acclaimed Passages, and writer and critic Anne Billson.
Producer: Tom Whalley
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

From early, Oscar-winning roles in The Deer Hunter and Sophie's Choice, through to Mamma Mia! and The Iron Lady, Meryl Streep has earned a reputation as the greatest actress of our times. As the star receives an honorary Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode discuss the remarkable depth, breadth and legacy of her career.
Ellen speaks to writer Michael Schulman, author of Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep, about the actor's beginnings in the 1970s, and the power of a Meryl acceptance speech. And she discusses the actress' breakout comedic role alongside Roseanne Barr in 1989's She-Devil, with the film's director Susan Seidelman.
And Mark speaks to actor Kate Winslet about her decades-long love for Meryl's work, from Angels In America to Death Becomes Her, and about how it felt to beat her heroine to a Best Actress Oscar.
Producer: Jane Long
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore whether films and TV can change the world.
First up, Ellen talks to the award-winning independent filmmaker Eliza Hittman, whose critically acclaimed 2020 drama, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, charts the odyssey of 17 year-old Autumn, played by newcomer Sidney Flanigan from her home town in rural Pennsylvania, to her nearest accessible abortion clinic in New York City. Ellen also meets Caren Spruch, National Director for Arts and Entertainment Engagement at US-based organisation Planned Parenthood. They discuss her activism towards shaping TV and film storylines around abortion.
Mark ponders how two film makers have addressed homelessness in their work - rising star Lorna Tucker who's deeply personal documentary Someone’s Daughter, Someone’s Son has recently brought homelessness back into the spotlight, and film legend Ken Loach who shares how his 1966 BBC TV play Cathy Come Home came to be and alerted the public and politicians alike to the country’s growing housing crisis.
Producer: Mae-Li Evans
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4