Front Row

Actress Claire Foy talks about returning to play Queen Elizabeth II in series two of Netflix's hugely successful TV series The Crown. Tenor Bryan Hymel, famous for his high Cs, is in performing in both Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci in the same evening at the Royal Opera House, Covemnt Gardens. He talks about the challenges of this, and he sings live in the Front Row studio.As Powell and Pressburger's 1946 masterpiece film A Matter of Life and Death returns to the big screen round the UK, we ask film writers Ian Christie and Rosemary Fletcher : How do we pass on our film heritage to a new generation ?

Jake Gyllenhaal stars in Stronger, a true story of Jeff Bauman who lost both of his legs when a bomb exploded at the Boston Marathon in 2013. Ellen E Jones reviews the film that charts his recovery.Douglas Henshall discusses his role as journalist and TV news director Max Schumacher in the stage version of the 1976 Oscar-winning film Network at the National Theatre, alongside Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston who plays the troubled news anchor Howard Beale who is famously 'mad as hell' and 'not going to take this anymore!'Performing live Tokio Myers, the pianist who fuses classical piano pieces with pop tracks. Myers came to prominence earlier this year when he won Britain's Got Talent and has just released his debut album. He discusses studying at the Royal College of Music and supporting Amy Winehouse and Kanye West on tour.Shashi Kapoor has died today. We look at the life and work of the Bollywood star with Asian Network's Ashanti Omkar.

Italian Soprano Cecilia Bartoli and Argentinian cellist Sol Gabetta come together for an album of baroque arias, in which the voice and cello intertwine in a way they describe as Dolce Duello, a sweet duel. Founding editor Nick Logan, writer and editor Sheryl Garratt, and Paul Gorman, author of The Story of The Face, look back at the era-defining youth music and culture magazine.I Love You, Daddy is a new film by US comedian Louis CK. Due to go on general release in the US today, the film was dropped after allegations of sexual misconduct by the comedian were reported and admitted. Alexandra Schwartz of the New Yorker reviews the controversial film we might never see.And we open the first window of the Front Row advent calendar with a festive celebration of the year's special moments on the programme. Today, Stormzy.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Sarah Johnson.

Sir Michael Parkinson discusses his love of jazz and big-band music, and the choices he made for a collection of his favourite songs: Our Kind of Music: The Great American Songbook. He also reflects on his years spent interviewing the showbiz A list. Hull is rounding off its year as UK City of Culture with a new adaptation of 'A Christmas Carol' by Deborah McAndrew who sets it in the port. The Royal Shakespeare Company has a new version by David Edgar, who adapted their world-famous 'Nicholas Nickelby', and The Old Vic has one, too, by Jack Thorne, famous for writing the stage version of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Front Row gathers all three to discuss the enduring appeal of Dickens's story, and how to make it new.R J Palacio's award-winning book, Wonder, about a young boy with facial differences, has just been made into a film starring Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson and Jacob Tremblay. Lisa Hammond reviews.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Rebecca Armstrong.

Amy Sherman-Palladino, the screenwriter and director who found fame with hit show Gilmore Girls, discusses her latest TV comedy drama The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Set in 1950s New York, it's about an Upper West Side housewife who becomes a stand-up comic when her life takes an unexpected turn.As the Film Awards Season gets into full swing with Spielberg's drama The Post winning at the National Board of Review, how will the sex scandals engulfing Hollywood impact on the films lauded this year, and the awards ceremonies themselves? Are costume workers undervalued and underpaid? Gaylene Gould is joined by Catherine Kodicek, Head of Costume at the Young Vic, and Nicole Young from BECTU, to discuss the pay and conditions of costume and wardrobe professionals in theatre, film and television.

We discuss the portrayal of Chinese characters on TV with Shin-Fei Chen, co-creator of BBC Three's Chinese Burn, and writer and theatre director David Tse Ka-Shing. The William Hill Sports Book of the Year, the world's richest and longest-running prize for sports writing, was awarded earlier today to Andy McGrath for Tom Simpson: Bird on the Wire. Kirsty reports from the ceremony where she talked to the authors of the seven books on the shortlist - whose subjects include 'swimming suffragettes', Muhammad Ali and the cyclist Tom Simpson - and speaks to the winner of the £29,000 prize. James Franco on why he stayed in character throughout directing and starring in The Disaster Artist, which tells the story of 2003 cult film The Room - often described as "the Citizen Kane of bad films" - and its enigmatic filmmaker Tommy Wiseau.

Yesterday saw the announcement of the death Rodney Bewes, the actor most fondly remembered playing the aspirational Bob in the BBC sitcom The Likely Lads. His co-star from the series James Bolam talks about working with Bewes in one of sitcom's most famous double-acts and the supposed feud between the two.As Gilbert & George celebrate 50 years of living and working together, Kirsty visits them at their Spitalfields home and studio to discuss their career, a new exhibition called The Beard Pictures and a new book, What is Gilbert & George?Marnie, the book by Winston Graham that inspired Hitchcock's thriller of the same name, has now inspired composer and opera wunderkind Nico Muhly to create his third opera, also called Marnie. Music critic Alexandra Coghlan attended its world premiere at English National Opera and reviews. Plus we ask music critic Norman Lebrecht to discuss whether opera has become a derivative art form, and we pay tribute to Russian opera bass-baritone, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who has died at the age of 55.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Julian May.

Soprano Joyce DiDonato on tackling the vocal pyrotechnics of Rossini and why she's bringing opera to the inmates of Sing Sing, New York's maximum security prison.Puppets are currently centre stage in three theatrical productions in the UK - Pinocchio at the National Theatre, The Grinning Man in the West End and The Tin Drum on tour. We speak to Toby Olié, in charge of puppetry on Pinocchio and Tom Morris, director of The Grinning Man who, as co-director of War Horse, changed the way puppets are regarded. Kirsty also hears from from actors Sanne den Besten and Louis Maskell about how they work with puppets to show them falling in love. Plus, as the European Commission announce that the UK will no longer be able to take part in the 2023 European Capital of Culture as planned, we look at the impact this has on the bidding cities and what it signifies for the arts industry as Britain continues the process of leaving the European Union.

Benjamin Clementine performs live from his second album I Tell a Fly. He tells us why an experimental concept album felt like the right way follow up to his Mercury Prize winning 'At Least For Now'.Dominic Dromgoole on his year long Oscar Wilde season in London's West End, and Franny Moyle on the influence of the women in Oscar Wilde's life.David LaChapelle is the celebrity photographer of choice for leading fashion magazines. His first job was working as a photographer for Andy Warhol in New York. He discusses his hyper-realistic style, nudity, and how some of the biggest names in the world from Hillary Clinton to Kim Kardashian beat a path to his door.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Helen Fitzhenry(Main photo: Benjamin Clementine Credit: Craig McDean).

Inua Ellams on his acclaimed play Barber Shop Chronicles, which explores masculinity from the perspective of the barber's chair, both in London and Africa. Tennis champion Billie Jean King's show match against notorious chauvinist Bobby Riggs in 1973 is the subject of a new film Battle of the Sexes, starring Emma Stone and Steve Carell. Mark Eccleston reviews.Briony Hanson discusses Godless, Netflix's first western miniseries, starring Jack O'Connell, Jeff Daniels and Michelle Dockery, in a role that is a far cry from Downton Abbey. This year marks the centenary of the birth of the Cornish poet Charles Causley, whose work was influenced by ballads, hymns and his love of jazz and dance bands. Cahal Dallat, the first Charles Causley Trust musician in residence, poet Rory Waterman and singer Jim Causley discuss his legacy. Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Timothy Prosser.