Front Row

For our Queer Icons series, director Sir Nicholas Hytner chooses the Rodgers and Hart song Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, which he reveals was written by Lorenz Hart with a gay subtext. Northern Irish writer Bernard MacLaverty returns with his first novel in 16 years, Midwinter Break: the small details of a retired couple's trip to Amsterdam build into a portrait of ageing, alcoholism, faith and love.The new Postal Museum in London features the art and artefacts which have shaped the British postal service. Samira and Trainspotting Live presenter Tim Dunn ride the 100-year-old Mail Rail, the small train that runs on miles of subterranean track linking the capital's main railway stations which used to carry millions of letters and parcels across the city.The Californian company SciFuture are commissioning science fiction writers to help corporations cope with change. Scientist Susan Stepney explains the interplay between science fiction and the future.Presenter : Samira Ahmed Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

David Walliams has just notched up his 100th week as the UK's best-selling children's author. Among his most popular books is Gangsta Granny, and a stage version is about to open at the London's Garrick Theatre. David Walliams tells Samira Ahmed why he thinks the play is better than the book, and how his career as a children's author developed out of the comedy sketch show he created with Matt Lucas - Little Britain.Cultural commentator Agnès Poirier reflects on the life of Jeanne Moreau, the French film actress and leading light of the Nouvelle Vague, whose death was announced today; and New York Times London theatre critic Matt Wolf remembers the American Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and actor Sam Shepard, who has died aged 73.Debut novelist Zinzi Clemmons was brought up in the USA, with roots in South Africa and Trinidad. She discusses her fragmentary book What We Lose, which was inspired by her own experiences nursing her mother through terminal cancer and explores motherhood, race and grief.Ever since Mamma Mia! burst onto the West End stage in 2001, the jukebox musical - using a popular artist's back catalogue of music to tell a theatrical story - has become a phenomenon. But why do some make millions and some spectacularly flop? Are they a great way of bringing theatre to the masses, or simply a lazy ploy by producers to guarantee a cash cow?Presenter Samira Ahmed Producer Harry Parker.

For our Queer Icons series, Mary Portas champions Donna Summer's classic disco track, I Feel Love.The lexicographer Susie Dent pulls the stops out to tell John about words and phrases in the English language that have their origins in music, painting, the theatre or literature. The poet Michael Symmons Roberts describes his creation of a city that's rooted in Manchester, but isn't quite the real thing, for a new collection of poetry, Mancunia.And as the film Howard's End, starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, celebrates its 25th anniversary, a new technically improved version of it is being released in cinemas. To get an unusual insight into the film-making process, Front Row brought together the film's cinematographer, Tony Pierce-Roberts, and colourist, Steve Bearman to discuss how they upgraded the visual quality for the digital age. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Sarah Johnson.

A family secret inspired novelist Patrick Gale's first TV screenplay Man in an Orange Shirt. Part of the BBC's Gay Britannia season, the drama focuses on gay relationships in two interlinking episodes set during the '40s and in the present day.The Man Booker Prize 2017 longlist has just been announced and includes big names including previous winner Arundhati Roy, as well as Zadie Smith and Sebastian Barry, and Colson Whitehead and his Pulitzer-prizewinning The Underground Railroad. There are a few surprises there too including debut novelist Fiona Mozley's Elmet. Literary critic Alex Clark and Toby Lichtig of the Times Literary Supplement join John to talk about the significance of this year's choices.The 12 Albums of the Year nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize were announced earlier today. From pop to jazz to grime, the diverse shortlist includes some of the UK's biggest acts, and then some you may never have heard of - we'll be discussing it with BBC Radio 6 music presenter Tom Ravenscroft.For our Queer Icons series, Olly Alexander - lead singer of the band Years & Years - talks about Anne Carson's verse novel Autobiography of Red, and his identification with its central character, a red winged monster. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Harry ParkerMain Image: Michael (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), and Thomas (James Mcardle) in Man in an Orange Shirt. Image Credit: BBC / Kudos / Nick Briggs.

The films 47 Metres Down, Wish Upon and Hounds of Love are all out this week and all play on familiar tropes in horror. Samira Ahmed asks horror fan Kim Newman and horror sceptic Isabel Stevens if these movies have anything new to say, and take a wider look at the genre.In 1997 Kathy Reichs made her crime-writing debut and introduced the world to Dr Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist whose powers of observation and logic lay at the heart of what would become a bestselling series of 18 novels. But Reichs' latest novel, Two Nights, is a departure with a new and very different type of investigator seeking to escape her past and unravel the clues.As actor Michelle Terry is appointed Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe in London, we explore the tradition of actor-managers from Garrick to Olivier with actor Robert Hastie, who became the Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres in November 2016, and former actor, now theatre critic, David Benedict. What can actors bring to the role of artistic director and what are the pitfalls?For our Queer Icons series, journalist and LGBT YouTuber Ben Hunte champions Jonathan Harvey's 1996 film Beautiful Thing. Ben is also presenting the Gay Britannia Season on BBC Radio 4 Extra. Presenter Samira Ahmed Producer Marilyn Rust.

Daniel Mays, the actor who came to prominence for his roles in Vera Drake, Line of Duty, Life on Mars and Mrs Biggs, discusses his new BBC drama Against The Law. He plays Peter Wildeblood, a man imprisoned for homosexual acts in the 1950s, who then went on to campaign for a change in the law. Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett Smith star in Girls Trip, a film where four old friends reunite for a wild weekend away. It has had a strong opening weekend at the US box office, which the director Malcolm D Lee ascribes to 'black girl magic'. Dreda Say Mitchell gives her verdict. Asifa Lahore, the UK's first out Muslim drag queen, chooses Dana International's Eurovision-winning song Diva for our Queer Icons series.Helen Mort has been described by Carol Ann Duffy as 'among the brightest stars in the sparkling new constellation of British poets'. But she first came to prominence in 1998 as one of the winners of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award. Helen Mort tells Samira Ahmed why young people should enter the competition this year. Presenter Samira Ahmed Producer Kate Bullivant.

Jack O'Connell, who starred in the TV series Skins, and on the big screen in Starred Up, '71 and Unbroken, discusses his latest role as Brick in Tennessee Williams's classic play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.Tomorrow the conductor Jules Buckley will perform the first of his two BBC Proms 2017. Buckley - who founded The Heritage Orchestra and in 2015 performed The Ibiza Prom in conjunction with Radio 1's Pete Tong - discusses this year's works which will be taking their inspiration from Scott Walker and Charles Mingus. For our Queer Icons series, best-selling novelist Emma Donoghue champions Patricia Rozema's film, I've Heard the Mermaids Singing.Plus, Ashley Gething is the producer/director of the much talked about television film Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, in which Princes William and Harry give a rare interview about their mother Diana Princess of Wales who died 20 years ago. Ashley explains how the programme came about, and the insight it gives into how the Princes coped with her death.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Jerome Weatherald (Main Image: Jack O'Connell as Brick in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Photographer credit: Johan Persson).

Kate Muir explains the unexpected appeal and popularity of Love Island. Is it just another television reality show or has it got something extra?The first season of Top of the Lake was garlanded with praise and won an Emmy for its cinematography and a Golden Globe for Elisabeth Moss; season 2 is about to begin on BBC2. The action moves away from New Zealand to the brothels and backstreets of Sydney, Australia. Celebrated director Jane Campion is the co-writer and co-director and she's joined by her daughter, Alice Englert, who stars along with Nicole Kidman. They talk to Kirsty about creating the unique atmosphere of the series and how to ensure more opportunities for women directors. For our Queer Icons series, E.M. Forster's novel Maurice is championed by Chris Smith, the former Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, who in 1984 became the first MP to come out publicly. Lucy Kirkwood discusses her new play Mosquitoes which focuses on two sisters played by Olivia Colman and Olivia Williams. One sister works for CERN on the Large Hadron Collider and the other in a call centre. Kirsty asks the playwright about the appeal of physicists as characters, increasing scepticism about expert opinion and whether scientists are really trying to play god.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Harry Parker.

It's 50 years this summer since the artist Richard Long took steps across a Wiltshire field to create A Line Made By Walking, now regarded as a classic piece of conceptual art. John meets him in a rare interview in his studio near Bristol.Theatre director Marcus Romer and former arts funder and marketing consultant Roger Tomlinson discuss the holy grail of arts funding bodies: how to measure the quality of art that the public is paying for. For our Queer Icons series, Stella Duffy champions the novel Carol, Patricia Highsmith's love story set in fifties New York. And Radio 4's Poet in Residence, Daljit Nagra, comes in to tell us about the poetry of Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo, who died earlier this month.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Sarah Johnson.

Mark Rylance discusses his role in Christopher Nolan's new film Dunkirk, in which he plays the civilian captain of a small vessel commandeered for the rescue of some of the hundreds of thousands of British and Allied troops stranded on the French beach in 1940 as the enemy closes in.Critic Alex Clark and broadcaster and literary programmer Rosie Goldsmith give their recommended reads for this summer, including a selection of best books in translation from France, Italy and Russia. The seventh season of Game of Thrones began this week, and the television series has now overtaken the George RR Martin book series the show is based on. We ask TV critic Sarah Hughes, who has written The Guardian's Game of Thrones Blog since the first season, how she thinks the show will fare without the influence of the books.Presenter Kirsty Lang Producer Jerome Weatherald.