Front Row

Jonathan Coe talks about Middle England which has won the Costa Novel Award 2019. Set in the outskirts of Birmingham where car factories have been replaced by pound shops and in a London beset by riots and Olympic fever, it’s a state of the nation novel that tries to make sense of our times, with characters from both sides of the EU referendum divide. Pop megastar Selena Gomez releases her 3rd studio album Rare. She’s been through an emotional rollercoaster in recent years, including an emergency kidney transplant, mental health struggles and public break-ups with Justin Bieber and The Weeknd - all inspiration for the album, which she describes as her most honest yet. Sophie Harris reviews.Johnny Flynn was nominated for an Olivier Award for his performance in Jerusalem and won acclaim for his score for the BBC 4 series Detectorists. For BBC Radio 3 he has co-written the strange tale of a tax adviser’s struggle to uncover Russian tax fraud, his imprisonment by the authorities, and an American financier’s crusade for justice. Flynn tells us about Magnitsky The Musical, which tells the story of the origins of the Magnitsky Act which allows governments to sanction those whom they see as offenders against human rights. And as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex indicate that their roles will be changing, Jan Dalley comments on royal patrons in the arts. Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Sarah Johnson

A teenage sex therapist on a high school campus is the premise of the hit Netflix series Sex Education. Starring Asa Butterfield and Gillian Anderson, its first season attracted 40m viewers in the first weeks of streaming and it’s back for a second series. Writer and creator Laurie Nunn discusses balancing serious sexual content with humour, why it’s hard to pin down the location and era of the series, and the debt it owes to the American high school movies of the '80s and '90s.All this week Front Row is talking to the winners of the different categories of the Costa Book Awards. Tonight Samira hears from the poetry winner, Mary Jean Chan. Chan was a competitive fencer, representing Hong Kong, and her first collection takes its title, Flèche, from an offensive technique in the sport, but it also suggests the vulnerability of the body.At the end of last year came news that podcasts will now be eligible for the Pulitzer Prize for Audio Reporting. What does this mean about the status and quality of podcasts and what are the trends in their consumption, whether streamed or downloaded via Apple, Spotify, BBC Sounds and others? Podcaster and critic Caroline Crampton joins us to discuss this along with Kate Hutchison, co-fouder of Lasso Audio, a new podcast talent agency based in New York.Presenter Samira Ahmed Producer Jerome Weatherald

Freddie Fox discusses his role as Jeremy Bamber in ITV's White House Farm drama, while critics debate theatre ticket pricing strategies. Jasbinder Bilan shares about her Costa Children's Prize-winning book, blending adventure with magic.

We discuss the controversy over this years BAFTA nominations. The most prominent categories - Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress – remain predominantly white. There’s not a woman on the Best Director shortlist and all the Best Film nominees are stories about men. John Wilson asks the critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh why this is and what it means for such awards. Do they have any meaning anymore?Adam Sandler on his new film Uncut Gems in which he plays a charismatic New York jeweller who makes a high-stakes bet that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime. Directed by Josh and Benny Safdie and filmed in a relentless handheld style with a soundtrack to match, Uncut Gems charts Ratner's failing attempts to balance business, family and adversaries on all sides in pursuit of the ultimate win.The Confessions of Frannie Langton has won the Costa First Novel Award. We speak to its author Sara Collins about her gothic novel that puts a mixed race woman centre stage in this page-turner about a double murder in Victorian London.American composer David Lang’s new opera is Prisoner of the State, a contemporary take on Beethoven’s only opera Fidelio, with its strong message about political oppression and freedom. David talks to John ahead of the shows premiere. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Oliver Jones

Suzannah Lipscomb (Chair of Costa Biography Award) announces the category winners of the five 2019 Costa Book Awards exclusively on Front Row and Stig talks live to the winner of the Best Biography.Twenty years after the success of his debut film American Beauty, Sam Mendes has once again taken the top prize at the Golden Globes with his First World War epic 1917. He explains how his grandfather’s experience as a messenger on the Western Front inspired the film, which is filmed as if it’s one continuous shot. Presenter Stig Abell Producer Simon Richardson

Hugh Grant and Matthew McConaughey discuss working with Guy Ritchie on his new gangster film The Gentlemen, but never actually sharing a scene.Television writer Daisy Coulam, whose credits include Grantchester, Humans and Lost in Paradise, talks to Nikki Bedi about Deadwater Fell, her new crime drama for Channel 4 starring David Tennant, which explores the impact the murder of a mother and her three children has on the small Scottish town where they lived.The American writer Bill Bryson discusses his love of the aesthetics and culture of English churches, and Australian photographer Cameron Newham describes his project to photograph in detail every one of the more than 10,000 parish churches in England. Presenter Nikki Bedi Producer Jerome Weatherald

Taika Waititi’s new film Jojo Rabbit is a satire about a 10-year-old budding Nazi who falls under the spell of his imaginary friend Adolf Hitler, played by the New Zealand writer and director. Jason Solomons reviews the film which also stars Scarlett Johansson, Stephen Merchant and first-time child actor Roman Griffin Davis who has been nominated for a Golden Globe. Alex Michaelides is the author of The Silent Patient, a twisty thriller that has become the biggest selling fiction debut of 2019 internationally and has been optioned by Brad Pitt’s film company. He discusses his love of Agatha Christie, the influence of psychology and Greek myth on his story, and the silencing of women.Damage to artworks, photographs and documents from exposure to light is something to which galleries and archivists have to give serious consideration. Samira visits The National Archives at Kew to find out how they measure and assess the fragility of individual works, and speaks to Dr Lora Angelova, Head of Conservation Research, and Conservator Emilie Cloos about how best to protect and display vulnerable artefacts. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Hannah RobinsMain Image: Jojo Rabbit featuring Taika Waititi and Roman Griffin Davis. Photograph: Kimberley French / Twentieth Century Fox

A celebration of Ludwig van Beethoven, marking the composer's 250th anniversary year. To discuss what sets Beethoven apart from other composers, John Wilson is joined by pianist Stephen Hough, poet Ruth Padel, Oxford Professor of Music Laura Tunbridge and conductor Sir Simon Rattle, who says of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony: "It is too much of everything!... this is a composer inventing the music of the next one hundred years"Throughout 2020 Simon Rattle will be conducting Beethoven with the London Symphony Orchestra, starting in January with Symphonies 7 and 9 and the rarely performed Oratorio, Christ on the Mount of Olives. Stephen Hough's recording of the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos will be released later this year, as will Laura Tunbridge's major biography of the composer. Ruth Padel's collection Beethoven Variations: Poems on a Life is published at the end of January. Radio 3 is celebrating Beethoven’s 250th anniversary with a year-long series, Beethoven Unleashed, launching on 13 January with Composer of the Week.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Timothy Prosser

Writer Juno Dawson, critic Sarah Crompton, comedian Ayesha Hazarika and folk musician Matthew Crampton battle it out to see who'll be crowned champion in our cultural quiz of the year. Plus, as it's wassailing season, Matthew discusses the history of drinking songs and plays some examples.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Simon Richardson

How has TV changed in the last decade, from what we watch to how we watch it. Critics Boyd Hilton and Eleanor Stanford discuss, alongside contributions from screen writers Mark Gatiss, Amanda Coe and Mike Bartlett.Male ballet dancers Ty Singleton and Tom Rogers on how they hope their podcast, Ty and Tom Talk, will change perceptions of ballet. Chinese film Long Day's Journey into Night is reviewed by actor and filmmaker Daniel York Loh.Rock critic David Hepworth pays tribute to former Bonzo Dog Doo Dah band member Neil Innes who was also in Monty Python films and The Rutles.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Harry Parker