Front Row

Stephen Merchant has written and directed the feature film Fighting with my Family, which tells the unlikely true story of a young British woman from Norwich who found fame on the women’s wrestling circuit in America. Merchant discusses going in at the deep end and working alongside former champion wrestler and Hollywood star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. Arifa Akbar reviews new books by Leila Aboulela (Bird Summons), Oyinkan Braithwaite (My Sister the Serial Killer) and 2015 Man Booker winner Marlon James (Black Leopard, Red Wolf).Theatre company Clean Break has been working with women with experience of the criminal justice system for 40 years. In their anniversary year, Front Row talks to joint artistic director Roisin McBrinn and Clean Break member Jennifer Joseph. Jennifer co-created and stars in the company’s latest show, Inside Bitch, which challenges the portrayal of women’s prisons on our screens.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Timothy Prosser

In his new series After Life, Ricky Gervais plays a local journalist who tries to find humour as he struggles in the wake of his wife’s death, with a dog as his closest companion. Gervais discusses how he copes with people’s reactions and offence at his work and the controversy surrounding historical social media posts and celebrity redemption.Tom Walker, winner of this year’s British Breakthrough Act at the Brits, performs his new single Just You and I live in studio. He describes his music as a mix of “hip hop, a tiny bit of blues, a bit of pop with a splash of reggae” and his debut album, What a Time to be Alive, has seen him collaborate with producers such as Naughty Boy and Steve Mac, who has worked with Ed Sheeran.Critic and broadcaster Norman Lebrecht looks at the life of the late composer, conductor and pianist Andre Previn.With the sales of young adult literature falling by a third in the last year, Charlotte Eyre of the Bookseller and publisher Crystal Mahey-Morgan discuss the reasons for the drop and where potential for the future lies for these books.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Harry Parker

Charlotte Rampling discusses her new film Hannah, for which she won Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival playing a woman shunned by her family and society. She also talks about her five decade career, from Georgy Girl to her recent Oscar-nominated performance in 45 Years. Hector Berlioz died 150 years ago next week. Best-known for his Symphony Fantastique - described by Leonard Bernstein as the first musical work of psychedelia, he wrote the first symphony to feature the viola as a solo instrument, and once ascribed a piece to another composer because he thought the critics would take against it if they knew it was his. Conductor Jeremy Summerly discusses the composers legacy. Folk trio Leveret are about to release their fourth album, Diversions. Fiddle player Sam Sweeney and concertina virtuoso Rob Harbron perform a track from the album and explain how they find their material by delving into old manuscripts, archives and music books to reinvent them in their own style.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Julian May

How much should we separate art from the artist’s behaviour? With new sexual abuse allegations concerning Michael Jackson in the forthcoming documentary Leaving Neverland and R Kelly being charged with 10 counts of sexual abuse – writers Anna Leszkiewicz, Ekow Eshun and Dreda Say Mitchell consider the extent to which we should boycott or continue to appreciate an individual’s work in the light of questions over their behaviour.On the eve of his world tour, multi-instrumentalist, singer, composer, and Grammy award-winner Jacob Collier talks about working with an orchestra after his rise to fame as a solo performer. He also plays a composition from his latest record, Djesse Volume 1, live in the studio, the first of a quartet of albums to be released this year. Dorothea Tanning wanted to depict ‘unknown but knowable states’ in her work, flirting with ideas of surrealism and abstraction. Tanning was an American who emigrated with her husband Max Ernst to Paris in the 50s, where she moved away from painting to make sculptures out of fabric. As a retrospective of her work opens at Tate Modern and Virago re-publish her novel Chasm, we assess the life and work of Tanning, and consider if the new Tate show does her justice.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Ben Mitchell

The return of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s black comedy Fleabag: we preview the new series of BBC3's biggest success. The main character continues to battle with her family and her own self-destructive behaviour, but can Fleabag be as fresh and surprising as before? And because it'll be broadcast weekly, one episode at a time (after the news on BBC1) rather than being released as a box set for bingeing), we consider how viewers' watching habits are changing. American glam metal band Mötley Crüe sold more than 100 million albums in the 80s and the members led the ultimate debauched rock and roll lives. Now there's a Netflix biopic - The Dirt. We speak to bassist Nikki Sixx (who overdosed several times and once was even declared dead) and the band's manager Allen Kovac about their reputation and how they reflect on their time as "the world’s most notorious rock band".Each year the Oscars throw up some surprises and there were quite a few raised eyebrows when last night's Best Picture was announced. Did Green Book really deserve to be crowned the best film of 2018? The writer and historian Colin Grant and film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh take us through the events of the night.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Oliver Jones

Award-winning journalist Jonathan Freedland talks about his alter ego, thriller writer Sam Bourne, and his new book To Kill The Truth. With the strap line “read it before it becomes fiction," this fast paced action thriller sees America taken to the brink of a new Civil War as academic and holocaust survivors are found dead, libraries destroyed and Black Live Matter protestors clash openly with slavery deniers. Jonathan Freedland talks to Kirsty about the inspiration behind the novel, the differences in writing fiction compared to journalism and the challenge to both when faced with a “post truth” world.Roma won the BAFTA for Best Film and on Sunday may become the first foreign language film to win at the Oscars, but figures show foreign language films are in decline at the UK box office. Why are foreign films doing less well in cinemas than they were ten years ago? Kirsty is joined by Charles Gant from Screen International and Clare Binns from Picturehouse Cinemas. Phyllida Barlow’s exhibition of entirely new work, entitled cul-de-sac, opens at the Royal Academy’s Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries, and features monumental pieces made from industrial and construction materials. Phyllida tells Kirsty about the importance of scale and fakery in her work.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Hilary Dunn

The Cuban American conductor Odaline de la Martinez talks about this year's London Festival of American Music in which she showcases the music of women and African American composers who are unjustly overlooked. She also tells Samira about the premiere of the third part of her own opera trilogy Imoinda: A story of Love and HateAnna Paquin stars as a disaster PR tasked with clearing up the scandals of high profile celebrities in new drama Flack. Anna Leszkiewicz reviews the show which is UKTV’s first original drama commission.The journalistic bravery of Marie Colvin and photographer Paul Conroy in Syria has recently been depicted on the big screen in the feature film A Private War and the documentary Under the Wire. But now that the witnesses to war can easily publish pictures from their phones in social media and on the news, has the role of the war photographer changed? Samira is joined by Paul and fellow photographer Anastasia Taylor-Lind to discuss the role of modern war photography.Iain Lee looks at the life of Monkees bass player Peter TorkPresenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Harry ParkerMain image: Odaline de la Martinez

Felicity Jones discusses her new film On the Basis of Sex, in which she plays Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the American Supreme Court Judge who rose to prominence as a lawyer in landmark cases against gender discrimination. Vue, one of the UK’s biggest cinema chains, has threatened to boycott the Baftas after the film Roma, which they describe as a ‘made for TV’ film, won four awards including Best Film. John is joined by Vue’s chief executive Tim Richards, who has written an open letter to Bafta,.As Steve Coogan’s awkwardly hilarious creation Alan Partridge returns for a new series called This Time With Alan Partridge, critic Julia Raeside delivers her verdict.Performance artist Marina Abramović presents her new mixed reality artwork, a wearable augmented experience involving VR headsets which produce an image of Marina in the room. John talks to Marina and her collaborator Todd Eckert about the future artistic possibilities of the VR technology. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Timothy Prosser

The directorial debut of Oscar -winning actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor,is The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Airing on Netflix, adapted from a bestselling novel of the same name Ejiofor also stars as the father. This true story follows the young boy William as he races to save his village from a devastating famine, with a wind turbine he was inspired to build after reading a library book.Come From Away is the hit Broadway musical which tells the remarkable story of the thousands of airline passengers diverted to a tiny Canadian town following 9/11 and stranded there for several days. Sam Marlowe reviews the UK premiere.Fashion historian Amber Butchart pays tribute to iconic fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld. Known as “the king” by fashion insiders, Lagerfeld was the Creative Director of the fashion house Chanel for more than thirty years where his artistic flair combined with his business acumen led to sales reaching £7.7 billion in 2017. Two short story competitions - the National Short Story Award and 500 Words - are currently open for submissions. We get an insight from the judges on how to write a great short story. Cynan Jones judge and former winner of the BBC National Short Story Award and Francesca Simon; author of the Horrid Henry books tell Kirsty what Radio 2's short story-writing competition for children and the NSSA are looking for.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Oliver JonesMain image: Chiwetel Ejiofor and Maxwell Simba Photo credit: Ilze Kitshoff, Netflix

9 to 5 is Dolly Parton’s stage musical based on the 1980 film, in which she starred, about three female office workers getting revenge on their misogynist boss. The songs were written by Dolly Parton and she narrates the story via television screens across the stage. Sarah Crompton reviews. Performance artist, comedian, musician and activist Bryony Kimmings talks about her new autobiographical show I’m a Phoenix, Bitch and explains why she chooses to create pieces about taboo and difficult subject matter including STIs, sex clinics, and cancer.Is there more sex than ever on TV, in books and on stage now? Has #MeToo, access to pornography online and a desire to appeal to younger audiences changed how, and how much, sex is represented in culture? Katy Guest considers books, Louis Wise looks at screen and Bryony Kimmings reports on the performing arts.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Edwina Pitman