Front Row

Getting butterflies is something many performers admit to, and although some thrive off it, others are often more badly affected. Professor of Performance Science, Aaron Williamon and West End psychologist Dr Anna Colton discuss the power of stage fright and how to overcome it.This week Channel 4 airs a true crime drama about Tony Martin, the Norfolk farmer who in 1999 shot dead a burglar at his Norfolk farmhouse. His actions and subsequent murder trial sparked a national debate about householders' rights to protect their property. The drama, however, does not focus on the furore surrounding the case, instead the script is taken verbatim from police interviews with Tony Martin. Crime writer Dreda Say Mitchell gives her verdict. Joel and Ethan Coen discuss their latest feature The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, a six-part anthology film made up of tales about the American frontier, starring a plethora of big names including Liam Neeson, Tom Waits and James Franco. Each of the stories, which were written over a 25 year period, pay homage to a different subgenre of movie about the American West, in the Coen Brothers’ characteristic style.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Kate Bullivant

Helena Bonham Carter discusses how she drew on her own experience of depression for her new film 55 Steps which is based on the life of Eleanor Riese. Riese was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 25 and successfully sued a hospital in San Francisco for the right to refuse anti-psychotic medication. At the time of her court case in 1989 Riese was 44, and had been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for several years. This interview is part of Front Row’s occasional series exploring the way in which mental health issues are represented across the arts.What ho! Ben Schott talks about taking on PG Wodehouse’s beloved characters Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves in his new novel, Jeeves and The King of Clubs. Schott argues that the pair becoming spies in pre-war London and taking part in car chases is all in the spirit of their creator.11-11: Memories Retold is the first full-length video game to come from Wallace and Gromit creators, Aardman Animations. Set in the final days of WWI it follows a young Canadian photographer and German soldier who, uniquely for a wargame, never fire a shot. Gaming expert Jordan Erica Webber reviews.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Hilary Dunn

To mark Armistice Day, Marin Alsop will be conducting Brahms's A German Requiem this weekend, with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and in a break from tradition, she will be introducing the work from the podium. Marin discusses the reasons behind this move, and also reveals the various ways in which this requiem also broke from tradition.Russell Howard makes comedy out of political issues such as the tampon tax, junior doctors and the housing crisis, and is hugely successful with younger audiences who watch him on TV, social media and in his sell-out stand-up world tours. The comedian discusses his show, The Russell Howard Hour, how much he wants to politically engage his audience, and finding the funny in what can be bleak political times. A whinge – that’s the collective noun for a group of cartoonists, and this evening a whinge of some of the best-known, including Steve Bell of the Guardian, Matt of the Daily Telegraph and Banx of the FT, will gather to judge the Young Cartoonist of the Year Competition. But with newspaper circulation in decline and, conversely, the appetite of the internet for images, what is the outlook for those young winners? Tim Benson, editor of Britain’s Best Political Cartoons, 2018, and the cartoonist Andy Davey discuss the future of the political cartoon in the digital age.Presenter Nikki Bedi Producer Rebecca Armstrong

On Folkestone beach, film-maker Danny Boyle discusses Pages of the Sea, his Armistice Day tribute to the servicemen and women who left these shores in the First World War, many never to return. Members of the public will be invited to visit a number of beaches around the country to pay their respects, and will be given a specially-commissioned poem The Wound in Time, by Carol Ann Duffy.Zadie Smith’s White Teeth gets a musical makeover, we review the new theatrical production put on in the same district of north London where the novel is set.Continuing Front Row's Arts and Mental Health series, John Wilson meets singer-songwriter, composer and poet Emily Maguire who discusses how music making and writing have helped her deal with bipolar disorder. She is about to embark on a nationwide tour playing music and reading from her new collection of poetry, Meditation Mind, which was inspired by her latest battle with bipolar, and is a testimony to how her Buddhist practice of meditation has helped her recovery.Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu's famous painting, Tutu, has gone on public display in Lagos, prompting a search for the subject, an Ife princess called Adetutu Ademiluyi. The novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie speaks about the power and significance of the painting known as 'the African Mona Lisa'.Presenter John Wilson Producer Julian May

Steve McQueen discusses his return to the big screen with Widows, an adaptation of the Lynda La Plante thriller. Set this time in Chicago, the widows must learn to survive after their husbands die in a botched heist leaving debts that need to be repaid in a city rife with professional crime and political corruption.Romeo and Juliet is more relevant to our young people than ever according to the RSC deputy director Erica Whyman. She's directed a new production which involves local young people throughout the tour and swaps the gender of some key roles including Mercutio and Prince Escalus. She explains her approach to the text.Many theatre productions in recent months have featured roles reimagined for a different gender, including Marianne Elliott's revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical Company at the Donmar Warehouse, Troilus and Cressida at the RSC and Theatr Clwyd's Lord of the Flies. Theatre critics Dominic Cavendish and Lyn Gardner discuss the merits and pitfalls of gender-swapping on stage.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Hannah Robins

As Boy George releases his first new album with Culture Club in almost 20 years – simply called Life - he talks about being a changed man and contrasts making music today with the band’s heyday in the 80s.Academy award winning director Peter Jackson has added colour to archival footage from WWI for the first time in his new film They Shall Not Grow Old. But how is this colourisation achieved and how does changing its colour affect the way we experience the film? BFI National Archive Curator Bryony Dixon and film historian Ian Christie discuss.John Cooper Clarke, the razor-sharp poet with the rapid-fire delivery, is one of the defining figures of the late 70s. Over the years he’s been variously referred to as The Bard of Salford, The Godfather of Punk Poetry and more recently, perhaps to his own surprise, as a National Treasure. Now 69, he joins Front Row to perform and talk about his first new collection for decades, The Luckiest Guy Alive.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Sarah Johnson

Best-selling Irish novelist Cecelia Ahern discusses her new short story collection, Roar, which features 30 stories about 30 different women.India has unveiled the world's tallest statue, which cost £330 million to build. The 182m high structure in the western state of Gujarat is a bronze-clad tribute to independence leader Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Pratiksha Ghildial in the BBC’s Delhi bureau reports on reactions within India. Lecturer in Korean Studies, Dr Anna Yates-Lu, explains the origins of pansori, a traditional form of Korean opera, and why legendary pansori singer Ahn Sook-Sun, currently in the UK, is its leading exponent.Julia Roberts stars in the television adaptation of the hit drama podcast series, Homecoming. The series looks back at her work as a counsellor at a mysterious company assessing the mental health of returning soldiers as they rehabilitate into society. TV critic Sophie Wilkinson reviews.Presenter: Janina Ramirez Producer: Edwina Pitman

Published in 2005, The Book Thief was an international bestseller that went on to become a successful Hollywood film. Now more than a decade later its author, Markus Zusak, is back with a new story, Bridge of Clay, about how five brothers deal with the disappearance of their father.American playwright Sarah DeLappe discusses her award-winning debut play, The Wolves, as it transfers to the UK. Played out through conversations that happen between the players of an American high school girls' soccer team, it paints a portrait of young womanhood today.As the centenary approaches of the death of the poet Wilfred Owen on the Western Front, just a week before the end of hostilities in WW1, writers Philip Hoare and David Charters discuss two projects they’ve been working on that focus on his life and work. David’s play A Dream of Wilfred Owen forms part of the Wilfred Owen Commemoration on the Wirral, while Philip’s short film I Was a Dark Star Always pays tribute to the poet, part of which was shot at the French canal where Owen died.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Ben Mitchell

Actor, comedian and opera fan Chris Addison discusses his role in La Traviata: Behind the Curtain, a new series of talks exploring the historical and social context of Verdi’s opera La Traviata for this year’s Glyndebourne Tour. He’s joined by musicologist Flora Willson, who explains why this 19th century work is the most-performed opera in the world.Dark Heart is the new ITV police procedural by Unforgotten writer Chris Lang, in which troubled detective DI Wagstaff takes on a case involving a series of gruesome vigilante murders. TV critic David Butcher considers if the series brings anything fresh to the genre.Presenter Kirsty Lang Producer Jerome Weatherald

A six part adaptation of John le Carré’s 1983 spy thriller The Little Drummer Girl has begun BBC One. Florence Pugh and Alexander Skarsgård discuss their roles playing young actress Charlie who is sucked into the shadowy world of espionage amid rising tensions in the Middle East, and Becker, the Israeli intelligence officer who recruits her.As the clocks go back we investigate the affect the darkening days has on writers, particularly those with mental health issues. Poet Helen Mort and novelist Matt Haig examine how the character of their work, their productivity and their routine changes during the winter months. Back with his third studio album, Jubilee Road, BRIT award and Ivor Novello winner Tom Odell talks about his inspiration, shying away from fame and performs his latest single, Half as Good as You.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Hannah Robins