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Front Row

Latest episodes

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Dec 12, 2024 • 42min

Review: The Devil Wears Prada, 100 Years of Solitude, The Universal Theory

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 Producer: Corinna Jones
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Dec 11, 2024 • 42min

Jesus and Mary Chain, The politics of pantomime & Video games of the year

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 Producer: Mark Crossan
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Dec 10, 2024 • 42min

Daniel Craig and Luca Guadagnino, Public Service Broadcasting perform live

Daniel Craig and Luca Guadagnino talk about their new film Queer, which is based on the William S. Burroughs novella about a love affair between an aging alcoholic and a young discharged serviceman in post-war 1950s Mexico City.Public Service Broadcasting perform The South Atlantic from their latest album The Last Flight, which is themed around the pioneering American pilot Amelia Earhart who disappeared in 1937 whilst attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world.Could the late Agatha Christie soon be heard narrating her own audio books? The audio publishing industry is currently wrestling with the creative, ethical and regulatory implications of the increasing using artificial intelligence. Samira explores the issues with Jon Watt, Chair of the Audio Publishers Group and Audio Director at Bonnier Books UK and Dr Kerry McInerney from Cambridge University and co-host of the Good Robot Podcast. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Claire Bartleet
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Dec 9, 2024 • 42min

Kelsey Mann on Inside Out 2, Humphrey Bogart documentary, Susan Chardy

Disney's hit Inside Out 2 film explored youthful emotions to incredible success as the film is not only the highest grossing film of 2024 but it's also the most successful animated film of all time. Director Kelsey Mann explains how they made it.Humphrey Bogart remains one of Hollywood's most iconic screen stars and new the new documentary Bogart: Life Comes In Flashes looks at his life and career through the five women who had the greatest impact on him, including the equally iconic Lauren Bacall. The film's director Kathryn Ferguson and the film historian Pamela Hutchinson explore Bogie's enduring appeal.Tom talks to Susan Chardy, the star of new Zambian comedy-drama On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, who won Breakthrough Performance at last night's British Independent Film Awards.And the Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw talks about today's Golden Globe nominations, which celebrates the best in film and television.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Ruth Watts
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Dec 5, 2024 • 42min

Review: Rumours, The Importance of Being Earnest, Grand Theft Hamlet

Tom Sutcliffe is joined by Naomi Alderman and Mark Ravenhill to review a new production of The Importance of Being Earnest at the National Theatre, starring the current Doctor Who Ncuti Gatwa, W1A’s Hugh Skinner and Sharon D Clarke. Plus comedy horror Rumours starring Cate Blanchett, and Grand Theft Hamlet – a documentary film which was shot inside the GTA game during the 2021 lockdown. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet
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Dec 4, 2024 • 42min

New Makar, future of musical theatre, arts funding in Scotland

Scotland's new Makar (National Poet) Peter Mackay, whose appointment was announced this week, talks about how he intends to shape the role over the next three years. Elizabeth Newman of Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Jon Gilchrist of Birmingham Hippodrome discuss new initiatives to boost the production of musical theatre around the UK. Plus Jacob Rees-Mogg on his reality TV series Meet the Rees-Moggs. And as the Scottish Budget is delivered, will arts organisations finally get some clarity on their funding? Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan
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Dec 3, 2024 • 42min

Richard Curtis's new film, Purple Heart Warriors audio drama, Turner Prize announcement

Tom Sutcliffe hears from the Love Actually writer and director Richard Curtis about how much he's obsessed by Christmas - and how he's now moved into animation for his latest film That Christmas, based on his trilogy of children’s books. There's advice on the best books to buy this Christmas from the literary critic Alex Clarke and Toby Lichtig, Fiction and Politics editor at the Times Literary Supplement. Tom also talks to the Oscar-nominated screenwriter Iris Yamashita about her new audio drama Purple Heart Warriors, which tells the extraordinary story of a Japanese-American unit in World War Two.And art critic Zarina Muhammad is in the studio to assess this year's Turner Prize artists, just as the winner is announced this evening. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Paula McGrath
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Dec 2, 2024 • 42min

Reopening of Notre-Dame, Jacob Collier, Marshall Brickman, King Winter's Birthday

In 2019 fire destroyed the much of the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. As the restoration is completed, Agnes Poirier describes the work of skilled artisans that she has watched over the past five years. Her documentary series for the World Service In the Studio programmes can be heard on BBC Sounds. Jacob Collier discusses and plays from his new Grammy nominated album, Djesse, Volume 4. The novelist Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz was interned as an "enemy alien" on the Isle of Man during World War Two, where he wrote a children's story recently unearthed in archive 80 years later. Writer Jonathan Freedland and illustrator Emily Sutton discuss breathing new life into King Winter's Birthday. And we remember the late screenwriter, Marshall Brickman, who worked with Woody Allen on Annie Hall. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Ruth Watts
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Nov 29, 2024 • 42min

Review: Beatles 64, Electric Dreams @ Tate Modern, The Agency

Samira Ahmed's joined by this week's critics - Louisa Buck and Matt Everitt - to review Beatles '64, documenting the fab four's first trip to America with previously unseen footage shot by pioneering brothers Albert and David Maysles. They've also been to see Tate Modern's new exhibition Electric Dreams, exploring how artists were inspired to use machines and algorithms to create mind-binding art before the internet. Plus the star-studded new TV spy drama The Agency - starring Michael Fassbender, written by Jez Butterworth and produced by George Clooney - and we hear about this year's Deep Time music festival, taking it's inspiration from an imagined meeting between Jean-Michel Basquiat and John Cage in Edinburgh. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Sarah Jane Griffiths
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Nov 27, 2024 • 42min

Donny Osmond, Orhan Pamuk, Puccini's centenary

Nobel Prize winning Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk talks about the publication of his illustrated journals, Memories of Distant Mountains. As he takes on the role of Pharaoh in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Playhouse Theatre in Edinburgh, Donny Osmond talks about his career in music. And in the week that marks the centenary of his death, artistic director of English National Opera Annilese Miskimmon and music critic and broadcaster Flora Willson discuss the perennially popular - but somewhat problematic - composer Giacomo Puccini. Presenter: Kate Molleson Producer: Mark Crossan

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