Front Row

Ralph Fiennes' third film as director is The White Crow, the story of how Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev came from a peasant upbringing to be one of the greatest dancers, and how whilst on tour in Paris in 1961 he defected to the West from the Soviet Union. Critic Sarah Crompton reviews.Last week dozens of well-heeled American parents, including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, were charged with involvement in a scheme to fabricate academic and athletic credentials to get their children into prestigious universities. And last week Joshua Harmon’s play ‘Admissions’ opened here. It’s about a woman who, devoted to improving diversity at her elite school, finds herself somewhat challenged when her son doesn’t get into Yale - but his mixed race best friend does. And this week another American play, ‘Downstate’ by Bruce Norris, opens at the National Theatre. This is set in a group home where four men, convicted of sex crimes against children and tagged, live. A man comes to confront his abuser, but our sympathies are not only with him. With Samira Ahmed the two playwrights discuss how and why, far from being escapist, the theatre is where contentious issues are imaginatively examined today. Presenter : Samira Ahmed Producer : Dymphna Flynn

Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges discuss their new film Ben is Back, in which a mother faces difficult challenges when her drug-addicted son returns to the family home from rehab unexpectedly for Christmas.We consider the art of internet memes as the World Wide Web turns 30. Elise Bell, co-founder of Tabloid Art History, explains how they make memes that go viral on Twitter and Instagram, and art historian Richard Clay explains where the term comes from, and considers their place in our wider cultural landscape.Actress Jessica Hynes, perhaps best-known for her BAFTA-winning performance as marketing guru Siobhan Sharpe in BBC comedy satires Twenty Twelve and W1A, discusses putting comedy aside to make her film directorial debut. The Fight tells the story of a middle-aged woman who takes up boxing to help her face her family problems, and sees Jessica take on the roles of writer, director, and lead actor, and even take up boxing.Presenter Stig Abell Producer Jerome Weatherald

Jordan Peele talks about Us - his new film about a family terrorised by their doppelgängers. Having upturned the horror genre with his Oscar-winning racial satire Get Out, Jordan takes aim at the American dream in this follow up, starring Lupita Nyong’o.The artist Christian Marclay is best known for The Clock - a 24-hour long film composed of nearly 12 000 clips, taken from films depicting time references across a full day. Critic Sarah Crompton assesses his latest two 'collage' video works on show in a new exhibition about to open at the White Cube Gallery in London. The UK contemporary country music scene has grown rapidly over recent years, and this week Bauer Media announced that they will be launching a new radio station, Country Hits Radio. Next month also sees the release of new film Wild Rose where a Glaswegian singer dreams of becoming a Nashville star. The film writer, Nicole Taylor, and Gary Stein of Bauer Media discuss the rise in popularity of the genre here in the UK.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Hannah Robins

Briony Hanson reviews the Golden Globe nominated film, Girl, which tells the story of a trans teenage girl who, training to be a ballerina is struggling to adapt to dancing “on pointe” during her transition from male to female.Two long lost episodes of The Likely Lads have recently been discovered and are coming out on DVD and Blu Ray. Dick Clement who, with Ian La Frenais, wrote the television comedy series tells John Wilson how tapes of what now be considered classic programmes were wiped. He discusses, too, the groundbreaking qualities of these stories about Terry and Bob, two working class Geordie lads, one with aspirations, the other more content with his lot. The Windham-Campbell prize at $165,000 is one of the biggest literary prizes in the world despite being relatively unknown. The prize is judge anonymously and the writers don't even know they’ve been nominated. We announce this year’s winners and speak to two of them. How did they received the news and how they plan to spend their winnings.The London Book Fair is underway and to its Director, Jacks Thomas, talks about what research into the UK’s favourite book genres reveals - who reads what, where - the health of the publishing business, and the book deals and highlights of the fair so far.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Julian May

Idris Elba has a new Netflix comedy series: Turn Up Charlie. He plays a struggling DJ and eternal bachelor, who is given a final shot at success when he reluctantly becomes a ‘manny’ to his famous best friend's problem-child daughter, Gabby. Julia Raeside reviews.25 years ago the Fisherman’s Friends were just a crew of friends in Port Isaac, Cornwall. Some of them were fishermen. They sang sang shanties, nautical and Cornish songs, for fun to locals and holidaymakers. In 2010 they signed a record deal and since then the Friends have performed at the Royal Albert Hall, the main stage at Glastonbury and they've had a Top 10 single. Now there's a lightly-fictionalised feature film telling their story. Fisherman’s Friends will sing live in the studio. Also Tuppence Middleton tells us about her role in the film and how it deals with the dilemmas of gentrification, second home ownership in Cornwall, identity, opportunity and loyalty.The cheeky chappy is a staple of TV comedy- Arthur Daley, Del Boy Trotter - a little bit dodgy but basically a good bloke; always trying to bend if not break the rules, with an ability to believe passionately in third rate projects. You wouldn't want these qualities in most professions you encounter, but they're TV gold. Stephen Armstrong is a fan. A demo recording of David Bowie singing a very early version of Starman has been unearthed and eagerly seized upon by his fans. How significant is this tape and why do we seem perpetually fascinated by Ziggy Stardust/ The Thin White Duke/ his towering musical genius? Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Oliver Jones

In 2016 Waitress made history as the first Broadway musical with an all-female creative team. Millie Taylor reviews the new West End production, with music and lyrics by the American singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles. Sadie Jones, author of the Costa-winning The Outcast, discusses her fourth book, The Snakes, which is a tale of power, greed, secrets and shame that ends in tragedy.As the internet turns 30 next week we consider how the world wide web has affected how artists create work by connecting them directly with fans, bypassing traditional gatekeepers and using new platforms like YouTube and Instagram. Gavia Baker Whitelaw considers screen and fan culture, Tom Rasmussen looks at the drag scene and Mik Scarlet discusses the impact on music and disabled artists.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Sarah Johnson

Maggie Gyllenhaal discusses her new film The Kindergarten Teacher, in which she plays a teacher who believes one of her students is a child prodigy and begins to pass his poems off as her own. She also talks about having an intimacy director on the set of The Deuce, and her upcoming directorial debut - an adaptation of an Elena Ferrante novel.This week Akwaeke Emezi became the first non-binary author to be long-listed for the Women's Prize for Fiction. Critic Vic Parsons discusses the consequences of this for women's prizes. The BalletBoyz dancers have dispensed with a traditional choreographer to create a new work themselves, called Them. Front Row goes backstage at Sadler's Wells with dancers Matthew Sandiford and Bradley Waller, artistic director Michael Nunn and composer Charlotte Harding. Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Timothy Prosser

In ITV’s new psychological thriller Cheat, a university lecturer accuses a student of cheating in her essay, sparking a series of retaliations which threaten to spiral out of control. Film and TV lecturer James Walters reviews the show which stars Katherine Kelly and Molly Windsor.Photographer Richard Billingham, dubbed the 'pioneer of squalid realism', won a Turner Prize nomination for his images of his parents’ alcoholic and troubled life in a Black Country tower block. He discusses his return to those roots with his first feature film Ray & Liz, an unflinching portrait of growing up in poverty and on the margins of society.The late editor and memoirist Diana Athill, who died in January aged 101, agreed to be the subject of a long one-to-one interview, which had the premise of it only being broadcast after her death. Eddie Morgan, the man behind Diana Athill: Final Say - which goes out on Sky Arts tonight - discusses the background to the project.As London club Fabric hits 20 this year, despite other clubs closing across London and the UK, we look at the changes and challenges in clubbing today, the value of club culture, and what it takes to be successful. John speaks to journalist and DJ Kate Hutchinson and to Bill Brewster, author of Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey.Presenter John Wilson Producer Jerome Weatherald

The career of Hollywood superstar Samuel L Jackson was recently revealed to have made him the highest-grossing actor of all time. He joins Samira to discuss the new Marvel superhero film, Captain Marvel; in which he reprises the role of Nick Fury... This time around he's playing a Nick Fury who is twenty years younger than before, as the film is set in the 90s. He reveals how he de-aged himself for the part and also talks to Samira about The Oscars, why he chooses “popcorn” films to star in, and which of the 120 films in which he's appeared is his favourite.Amy Ng’s new play, Under the Umbrella, opens tonight at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry. The story is about Wei, a Chinese PhD student researching human fertility, enjoying life with her English flatmate in the city. But family pressure to return home and get married grows intense. Her grandmother survived famine, her mother the Cultural Revolution and the one-child policy, so while this is a highly entertaining comedy, it's a dark one, exploring the dilemmas and traumas of three generations of contemporary Chinese women. There are ghosts, too. Samira Ahmed talks to Amy Ng and unpacks the issues.There's a new classical music station available on your DAB radio. Scala Radio launched on Monday with a morning show hosted by Simon Mayo. It's being pitched as a rival to Classic FM and BBC Radio 3. The Sunday Times' radio critic Gillian Reynolds has been listening to it for us and will let us know whether she thinks it'll be a serious rival.Presenter, Samira Ahmed Producer, Oliver Jones

When The Specials released their new album Encore recently, their first new music with Terry Hall since the classic Ghost Town in 1981, it went straight to Number One. Nearly four decades on from their split, the Coventry band’s lead singer Terry Hall discusses the new album and how he found himself back in the recording studio with his long-term collaborators Lynval Golding and Horace Panter after all these years.This year is the 25th anniversary of the first universal democratic elections in South Africa which resulted in Nelson Mandela becoming President of the new rainbow nation. Athol Fugard’s plays dramatise the injustices of apartheid and were part of the struggle that led to those elections. Now two of his plays are about to open in the UK, 1961’s Blood Knot, and, A Lesson, which was first performed in 1978. Directors Janet Suzman and Matthew Xia discuss the importance of Fugard and how, 25 years after the end of apartheid, his plays speak to us today. As the National Gallery's newly acquired self-portrait by Artemisia Gentileschi begins a grand tour of the UK starting at the Glasgow Women’s Library, curator Letizia Treves discusses the significance of this early 17th Century painting and Gentileschi's extraordinary career as one of the leading artists of the Baroque. Music journalist Dorian Lynskey looks at the life of Keith Flint, lead singer of dance band The Prodigy.Presenter, John Wilson Producer, Dymphna Flynn