Front Row

The death of Sir Peter Hall was announced today, at the age of 86. Friends and colleagues look back on his life. We'll be hearing from those who lived and worked with him including the Opera singer Maria Ewing, who was married to Sir Peter Hall for eight years and who was directed by him many times. We'll also speak to former heads of the National Theatre Sir Nicholas Hytner and Sir Richard Eyre, the director Sir Trevor Nunn, playwright David Edgar and theatre critic Michael Billington.Peter Hall, whose career spanned more than six decades, was a director of theatre, opera and film. As well as founding the Royal Shakespeare Company, running the National Theatre for 15 years, working as artistic director at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and setting up the Peter Hall Company, he will be remembered for his extensive work which ranged from Shakespeare and the Greek classics to Pinter and of course Peter Shaffer's Amadeus with Paul Scofield and Simon Callow. Presenter Samira Ahmed Producer Helen Fitzhenry.

This week sees Judi Dench reprise the role of Queen Victoria, in Victoria and Abdul a film about the friendship between the queen and a young Indian clerk. John talks to director Stephen Frears and the actor Ali Fazal, who plays Abdul, about making the film which comically takes on a the unlikely and forgotten friendship. Pears' Cyclopaedia has announced that the recently published 126th edition will be its last. With the Encyclopaedia Britannica heading online in recent years, as well as the explosion in popularity of sites such as Wikipedia, the way we access knowledge is changing. What does this mean for the future of reference books? And what has their significance been over the years? Historian Kathryn Hughes and QI researcher Andrew Hunter Murray discuss.John speaks to BAFTA award winner Jeff Pope (The Moorside, Philomena, Mrs Biggs) about turning his TV drama of Cilla Black's life into a new stage musical. By the age of just 25 Priscilla White was recognised as international singing star Cilla Black and by the age of 30 she had become Britain's favourite television entertainer. Jeff explains why he wanted to focus on Cilla's early years and tell the story of her rise to fame. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Rebecca Armstrong.

Joanne Froggatt was taken to the nation's hearts when she played Anna Bates, the lady's maid in Downton Abbey. One of the storylines which had a huge impact, and won her a Golden Globe, showed the aftermath of her being raped. Now she takes on similar territory but a very different character in Liar, a new ITV thriller in which she plays Laura, a woman who says she's been raped. She talks to Samira about her choice of roles and not shying away from difficult subjects. Black Swan and The Wrestler director Darren Aronofsky discusses his controversial new film Mother! The film, which stars Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem, was booed, and cheered, when it premiered at Venice Film Festival this week, and the reviews have been similarly divisive with some hailing it as a masterpiece and others a hyperbolic mess.As Classic FM celebrates its 25th anniversary, Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail and The Spectator's Kate Chisholm consider what influence it has had on the coverage of classical music on the radio, and the impact its arrival had on BBC Radio 3.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Jerome Weatherald.

Marian Keyes discusses her new novel The Break, in which Amy's husband announces he is leaving her for six months to travel the world. A portrait of a family in contemporary Ireland, the novel explores blended families, caring for parents with Alzheimer's, and unwanted pregnancies.A favourite of Quentin Tarantino, Tim Roth has played Mr Orange in Reservoir Dogs and stole the opening scene of Pulp Fiction. His three-decade-long career has included blockbusters, indie films and TV drama, often playing sinister or near-psychotic characters. The actor and director discusses his latest role as a British detective who moves his family from London to become Police Chief in a Canadian mountain town in new Sky Atlantic thriller Tin Star. Comedian Joe Lycett talks about his innovative approach to writing stand-up, how he tackles the problems of modern life via email and how it all comes together on stage, as his 2018 UK tour I'm About To Lose Control And I Think Joe Lycett is announced.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Hannah Robins.

Roddy Doyle talks to John Wilson about his new novel, Smile. 30 years since he wrote The Commitments, Smile is his 11th novel, in which a middle-aged man looks back over his unfulfilled life, as dark and disturbing memories of being taught by the Christian Brothers begin to surface.Head of BBC Drama Piers Wenger has said he would like to see fewer dark dramas on TV and more inspiring stories, specifically programmes that examine heroism. We ask TV critics Chris Dunkley and Caroline Frost whether the golden age of television has left viewers swamped in anti-heroes and whether they would like to see more heroes on screens.Matt Thorne reviews IT, the latest film to be adapted from a Stephen King horror novel. It stars Bill Skarsgård as the demonic entity of evil which shapeshifts into Pennywise the clown. Matt also describes his own relationship with the story - and Pennywise - since first reading King's novel aged 12.Plus, as veteran football commentator John Motson announces his retirement, Alex Clark examines the art of sports commentary.Presenter John Wilson Producer Dymphna Flynn.

The Woman's Hour Craft Prize saw 1500 applicants whittled down to just 12 finalists whose work goes on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London this week. Samira takes a look round the exhibition, which features a handmade bicycle and a dissolving fountain made from raw clay, and discusses the £10,000 prize with Woman's Hour presenter Jane Garvey, along with Alun Graves of the V&A and Annie Warburton of the Crafts Council, who were involved in the judging process.Businessman and arts benefactor Lloyd Dorfman reveals what motivates his support of the Royal Academy and sponsorship of cheap seats at the National Theatre. From the archive, the late American poet John Ashbery talks about his approach to work and how he views his back catalogue.And the contemporary British poet Karen McCarthy Woolf talks about her technique, including the use of 'found' words in composing her poems, and reflects on nature in her new collection Seasonal Disturbances.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Harry Parker.

As Doctor Foster returns to BBC One this week, Suranne Jones discusses reprising her BAFTA Award-winning title role.We remember Walter Becker, guitarist, bassist and co-founder of Steely Dan, who has died at the age of 67. Stephen Sondheim's rarely-staged musical Follies opens this week at the National Theatre in London. John Wilson speaks to director Dominic Cooke, actress Janie Dee and veteran soprano Dame Josephine Barstow about the demands of the show - a tale of lost youth, romance and nostalgia for a bygone showbiz era. Front Row goes on the road with Harriet Riddell, a textile performance artist who is cycling a 22-mile stretch of the Leeds to Liverpool canal as part of the Fabrications Festival, exploring textiles through the eyes of artists. We follow Harriet as she uses her portable sewing machine to make a record of the places and people she meets.

As news breaks of a new all-female film version of William Golding's classic Lord of the Flies, the novelist Joanne Harris and film critic Karen Krizanovich join Andrea Catherwood to discuss whether it's a good idea. Patti Cake$ stars Danielle Macdonald as an unlikely rapper with talent but little opportunity. It's the first film for writer-director Geremy Jasper and won a warm reception at the Sundance Film Festival. Critic Mark Eccleston reviews.The American writer Nicole Krauss' books include The History of Love, which became an international bestseller, and Great House - both were shortlisted for the Orange Prize. Ten years ago she was chosen as one of Granta's Best Young American Novelists. Now her first book for 7 years, Forest Dark, is published: a contemplation of identity and shaking off the stories we tell about ourselves. She talks about the novel's characters including 68-year-old former New York lawyer Epstein... and a novelist called Nicole. The Market Theatre is bringing its award-winning production of The Suitcase from Johannesburg to Hull and the northeast. It's about a young couple who leave their village hoping for a better life in Durban. It doesn't work out and when the husband steals a suitcase - with no idea what's inside - life really unravels. It is, says director James Ngcobo, very different from the anti-apartheid, oppositional theatre that made the Market famous around the globe in the years of struggle. Presenter: Andrea Catherwood Producer: Sarah JohnsonImage: Jheri (played by Siddharth Dhananjay) and Patti Cake$ (played by Danielle Macdonald). Credit: Twentieth Century Fox.

Following speculation as to who might play Nigel Farage in a forthcoming film about Brexit, actor Brian Cox, who recently played Winston Churchill, and casting director Leo Davis, who cast Michael Sheen as Tony Blair, discuss the challenges for actors in playing non-fictional characters; what sort of preparation is required, how important are physical characteristics and what advice would they offer to actors on portraying "a real life" character?The fantasy series Game of Thrones has been of the most successful TV shows worldwide in the last decade. But it hasn't just caused a stir on our screens; it's also transformed the film industry in Northern Ireland where much of the mega series is filmed. Richard Williams, Chief Executive of Northern Ireland Screen, explains whether the burgeoning business can be sustained after GoT airs its next and final season.English-Egyptian writer Omar Robert Hamilton's debut novel, The City Always Wins, has been released to acclaim by writers including Philip Pullman and JM Coetzee. His story is set during the Arab Spring of 2011, and follows a group of young activists in Cairo. The book mirrors Omar's own involvement in the revolution. Kirsty asks him what it was like to experience the hopeful fervour at the beginning of the uprising and what became of their aspirations.Film critic Jason Solomons reports from the opening of the Venice Film Festival, including the showing of Downsizing with Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig.

Twelve year-old composer, pianist and violinist Alma Deutscher tells Kirsty Lang about her new piano concerto and her opera Cinderella, which was performed in Vienna to rave reviews. Critics Stephen Armstrong and Lucy Mangan discuss the return of The Great British Bake off, now on Channel 4.Games critic Jordan Erica Webber reviews Last Day of June, a new videogame in which players time travel to try and avoid the tragic death of the protagonist's wife. Following on from the controversy surrounding the removal of Confederate statues in the US, what is the role of the artist in commemorating our past? Afua Hirsch and Griselda Pollack debate the ethics of celebrating historical figures in stone. Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Timothy Prosser.