Front Row

Tate Liverpool's arts handler Ken Simons has just retired after working there since its opening 30 years ago. To mark his retirement, Tate have allowed him to curate his own exhibition, Exploring the Unseen, using works from the Tate collection. He explains how he chose the 30 works - one for each of his years at the gallery.As Audible launches three new podcasts featuring original short stories written exclusively for audio, Ben Okri, Booker prize-winning writer of The Famished Road, joins bestselling author of Chocolat, Joanne Harris, to discuss the particular challenges and joys of writing to be read aloud, and to consider the impact of the increasing availability of audio content on the popularity of short-form fiction. Fortnite Battle Royale, the online game which puts 100 players onto an island to battle it out, has become one of the world's biggest games attracting over 45 million players since launching six months ago. Games journalist Louise Blain accounts for its appeal.A new compilation EP that features versions of traditional wedding songs for same-sex couples has been released. Universal Love features six tracks that have been given a same-sex twist , including Bob Dylan who has re-recorded the 1929 song She's Funny That Way, changing it to He's Funny That Way and Bloc Party's Kele Okereke who sings The Temptations' My Girl (Guy). Singer-songwriter Tom Robinson explores the problem of pronouns in love songs.Presenter Stig Abell Producer Edwina Pitman.

To mark 20 years of Front Row Kirsty Lang and John Wilson host a celebratory extended edition live from the Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House in London.Liz Carr, Bob Geldof, Lionel Shriver and Testament make their case for what they think is the most significant art work of the last 20 years.Neil MacGregor, the former director of the British Museum and familiar voice to Radio 4, considers cultural developments and diplomacy since 1998.There's a live performance from singer-songwriter Rae Morris. She'll join Caleb Femi, the Young People's Laureate for London, and Liv Little, founder and editor-in-chief of gal-dem - a magazine for young women of colour - to consider the scene for young emerging artists and to look ahead to what the next 20 years might bring. Kate Fox, our poet-in-residence for the day, writes a rapid-response poem.And Mary Beard pops in to tell us about the new series of Front Row Late which starts later tonight on BBC2. Presenters: Kirsty Lang and John Wilson Producers: Rebecca Armstrong and Hannah Robins.

Actor David Morrissey, well known for his roles in TV dramas like State of Play, The Deal, Red Riding, The Walking Dead and Britannia. He talks about his latest role is as Inspector Tyador in BBC Two's adaption of the China Miéville's novel The City and The City. The drama is a speculative science-fiction meets police procedural, set in two cities which share a geographical location but whose residents are trained to "unsee" the other city. Claude Monet had a fascination with buildings in his paintings throughout his life, from the bridges and streets of Paris and its suburbs in his early years to the renowned architecture of Venice and London in later life. Architect Jo McCafferty and art critic Jacky Klein discuss Monet & Architecture, a major new exhibition at the National Gallery in London.The Rapid Response Unit is an art installation in Liverpool where leading artists respond to global events and world stories as they happen. Mark Dunne, leader of the project, and graphic artist Patrick Thomas explain how the process works and what art can bring to the world of news, with reference to Turner prize-winning Jeremy Deller who produced 2000 original printed posters relating to Facebook and the process of deleting Facebook accounts. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Hilary Dunn.

Cuba Gooding Jr is taking to the stage in the new West End production of one of the world's most successful musicals - Chicago. He talks to Stig Abell about his role as the lawyer Billy Flynn and his career; starring in Boyz n the Hood, playing OJ Simpson, the impact of winning an Oscar for Jerry Maguire, and how Hollywood is changing its attitude to black actors. Bob Honey who Just Do Stuff is a new novel. Its author is Sean Penn. He's not the only film star to feel, after coming to fame reciting other people's words, the urge to write stories of their own. Tom Hanks has published a collection of short stories, James Franco, Lauren Graham and Pamela Anderson have all written novels. Ethan Hawke has three to his name. Cathy Rentzenbrink of The Bookseller discusses this phenomenon, what these books reveal and whether they, Penn's in particular, are any good. Love, Simon is a new American High School coming of movie but with a twist - Simon is struggling with coming out as gay rather than finding a date for Prom. Tim Robey considers if this film marks a breakthrough moment for mainstream cinema. In February on Front Row we heard from two women - Louise Allen and Maude Julien - who'd written books about being severely abused in their childhood and teens by the adults responsible for their care, and how art and literature provided a lifeline for them. We joined them when they met, for the first time, a few days ago. Dr Martin Luther King was assassinated 50 years ago today. Maya Angelou, who worked with him, would, had she lived, be 90 today. We hear her read a poem she wrote for him.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Julian May.

Prize-winning author Aminatta Forna on the many different ingredients that make up her new novel, Happiness, a multi-layered story set in modern London, seen from the perspective of those passing through.The Alpha male sweeping a woman off her feet has long been a common trope in romantic fiction but can it survive in a world where the #MeToo movement has transformed the debate around gender politics?The Hollywood sign, on Mount Lee in Los Angeles, is one of the world's most famous cultural icons. The original 45-feet tall sign sat on Hollywood Hills from 1923 until 1978, before it fell into disrepair and was replaced. Sculptor and collector Bill Mack bought the original sign. He talks to Front Row about its history and explains why he is taking the H on tour around the world. And we hear about Blackpool's plans to open a museum celebrating its past as Britain's first mass seaside resort. Aided by a grant from the government's Northern Cultural Regeneration Fund, the museum will form part of the legacy of the Great Exhibition of the North.

Ever since the legendary heroic outlaw Robin Hood first stole from the rich to give to the poor, Nottingham has had a tradition of political defiance, addressing social injustice and encouraging free expression. Sandeep Mahal, Director of Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature, assesses to what extent that still holds today in the city's rich cultural landscape, and talks to writers, poets, singers and actors about the challenges Nottingham has faced over the years. Samantha Morton discusses her time as a teenager at the city's celebrated Television Workshop, where Jack O'Connell and Vicky McClure also started their acting careers, as well as a number of young, promising hopefuls often seen in the Nottingham films of director Shane Meadows.Presenter: Sandeep Mahal Producer: Jerome Weatherald.

This year marks the centenary of Leonard Bernstein's birth and to celebrate the occasion Front Row explores his life and music. John Wilson is joined by his son, Alexander Bernstein, who remembers his father composing at home, and who attended many of his Young People's Concerts; by his friend and biographer, Humphrey Burton, who discusses Bernstein's multiple talents as a conductor, composer and educator; and by his pupil, the conductor Marin Alsop, who was inspired by Bernstein to take up the baton. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Rebecca Armstrong.

David Mamet, the American playwright, director and novelist, talks to Stig about his new novel, Chicago, set amongst the gangster rivalry of the 1920s. He explains his fascination with that era in the city of his birth, discusses the writers who have inspired him and explains the importance of imagination, inspiration and dialogue in the storyteller's craft.Meghan Markle's final season in US drama Suits is currently being broadcast on Netflix, last year the actress revealed she was retiring from the show and from acting following her engagement to Prince Harry. TV critic Emma Bullimore gives her verdict on Markle's performance in the glossy legal drama. This year is the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement which marked a significant step forward in the peace process in Northern Ireland. To mark the anniversary a Poetry Jukebox has been placed on a street in Belfast, allowing people to listen to a selection of 20 poems which reflect on that momentous event. Stig discusses bringing poetry to the streets with Poetry Jukebox creator Ondrej Kobza and Maria McManus who is the organiser of the jukebox in Belfast. Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Kate Bullivant.

Wes Anderson discusses his film Isle of Dogs, including working with stop-motion animation and drawing inspiration from Studio Ghibli director Miyazaki for the Japanese setting for the film.What makes a great sports theme tune? As the 2018 Formula 1 season kicks off with a specially composed anthem, we speak to its composer Brian Tyler and consider the essential components of an iconic sports theme tunes with former BBC sport correspondent Adrian Warner.Seven publishers were in a bidding war to secure AJ Pearce's debut novel Dear Mrs Bird. The author comes in to talk about the book in which a young woman dreams of becoming a lady war correspondent during the Blitz but instead is employed as the assistant to a formidable agony aunt at a failing women's magazine.The winner of the National Poetry Competition is announced this evening, we hear from the winning poet, who will read one of their poems.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Hannah Robins.

Steven Spielberg, director of films like The Post, The BFG and Bridge of Spies, returns to the science fiction genre with an action adventure set in a virtual-reality game world sometime in the future. Julia Hardy reviews the film and tells Samira whether it is a classic of the genre like Close Encounters of the Third Kind or Back to the Future.The York Realist is a play set in 1963 when John, up from London and working as assistant director on a production of the York Mystery Plays, falls for local farm-worker, George, who is also a gifted actor and capable of a brilliant career - if he could bring himself to leave. Robert Hastie comes in to talk about the play which, after an acclaimed run in London, he is taking to Yorkshire where he is Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres. The Church of England has just appointed a "Pioneer Minister of the Arts" who will look to use art as a way of reaching out to different communities. For centuries religion and art have had a close relationship, with many artists drawing inspiration from their faith - from religious composers to Renaissance paintings. To discuss exploring faith through art we speak to Reverend Betsy Blatchley, the new Pioneer Minister of the Arts and Reverend Peter Gardner, who has been the Church of Scotland's Pioneer Minister to the Arts Communities of Glasgow since 2016. Steven Soderbergh's new film Unsane stars Clare Foy as a young woman involuntarily committed to a mental institution. But how are mental institutions and hospitals usually presented in films? Novelist and journalist Matt Thorne takes a look - from the German silent horror The Cabinet of Dr Caligari in 1920 to the supernatural slasher film Cult of Chucky released last year.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Kate Bullivant.