Front Row

Tom Sutcliffe is joined by David Benedict and Catherine McCormack to review Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers, the first exhibition the National Gallery has dedicated to the artist. They also discuss The Critic, which stars Ian McKellen as a fearsomely ruthless drama critic and Small Rain by Garth Greenwell, which focuses on the narrator's time and treatment in hospital after experiencing a sudden piercing pain.Chair of Judges Paddy O'Connell reveals the shortlisted authors for the BBC National Short Story Award 2024 with Cambridge University. The list includes Lucy Caldwell who talks about her short story Hamlet, a love story.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet

Dame Jacqueline Wilson talks about Think Again, the long-awaited adult novel which is the sequel to her much-loved Girls series of books. Actors Alexandra Roach and Joe Cole discuss their roles in BBC One's latest Sunday night drama series Nightsleeper, a thriller in which a night train from Glasgow to London is 'hackjacked'. And on the eve of the publication of The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, the book's two editors talk about dozens of previously unpublished poems.Presenter: Kate Molleson Producer: Mark Crossan

The BBC's Contains Strong Language festival has left British shores for the first time - and Australian arts and culture presenter Michael Cathcart hosts a special Front Row recorded on Gadigal land in Sydney in partnership with ABC and Red Room Poetry. Known as the Aussie Bob Dylan, singer Paul Kelly performs Going To The River With Dad from his forthcoming album Fever Longing Still. First nations poet Jazz Money reads from her latest collection Mark the Dawn - inspired by the stories of her Wiradjuri ancestors and her feelings of respect for the country around her. As Australia prepares to appoint a Poet Laureate, the British poet laureate Simon Armitage reads a sonnet which describes his childhood desire to dig all the way to Australia from his Yorkshire garden. And lawyer Shankari Chandran - whose novel Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens won Australia's most prestigious literary prize, the Miles Franklin Award - reflects on how she draws on her Sri Lankan Tamil heritage to describe the trauma of war and detention of those seeking asylum. Presenter: Michael Cathcart Producer: Paula McGrath

Richard O'Brien and Jason Donovan on 50 years of the Rocky Horror Show, Bella Mackie on her new novel which follows the success her hit book How to Kill Your Family, a look at Chromatica, a new privately funded orchestra and the life and work of lyricist Will Jennings, who died last weekend.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Corinna Jones

Tom Sutcliffe is joined by academic and critic John Mullan and Elodie Harper, the bestselling author of The Wolf Den Trilogy for the Front Row review show. They discuss Jeff Goldblum as a modern-day Zeus in the series Kaos, Rachel Kushner’s thriller Creation Lake, which has been longlisted for this year’s Booker Prize, and the historical drama Firebrand, staring Jude Law as Henry VIII and Alicia Vikander as his 6th wife Catherine Parr. Plus Jason Solomons reveals his top picks from the Venice Film Festival.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet

Members of Scotland's cultural community discuss the controversy around a cut to vital funding. Ahead of his third year performing at the Lammermuir Festival of classical music, leading American pianist Jeremy Denk talks about his passion for musical maverick Charles Ives, whose 150th birthday he is celebrating with a special concert and a new album of his sonatas. And debut playwright Harry Mould discusses their production The Brenda Line, which inspired by the volunteers who responded to obscene phone calls made to The Samaritans in the 1970s and 80s. The Brenda Line is on at the Pitlochry Festival Theatre. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

Following the international success of SIX the Musical, writers Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss are in the studio to discuss their new work Why Am I So Single? They discuss maintaining their creative momentum after writing a global phenomenon.We hear from the creators of the award winning Australian comedy Colin From Accounts. Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall discuss writing and starring in the hit show as it returns to BBC Two and iPlayer for a second series.And, singer-songwriter Hak Baker performs from his new album, EP Death Act Nostalgia EP Act 1. He discusses his music which he describes as G-Folk, featuring tales of London life and honest lyrics suffused with poetic lyricism. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Ruth Watts

Michael Keaton on his new film Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, coming over 35 years after the original film and which reunites him with director Tim Burton.Tim Minchin, the comedian, actor, musician, and songwriter behind the musicals Matilda and Groundhog Day, talks about how his experiences have shaped his first non-fiction book You Don’t Have To Have A Dream.On the eve of a British and American tour and with the release of Ensoulment, their first studio album in 24 years, The The play live in the Front Row studio and their leader Matt Johnson reveals the reasons for the lengthy absence.And following the Oasis ticket rush at the weekend, we look at dynamic ticket pricing with Kate Hardcastle, Host of the Rock and Roll Business Podcast.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Corinna Jones

Tom Sutcliffe is joined by Leila Latif and Dorian Lynskey to review Kneecap, a debut film from Rich Peppiatt about a trio of Irish language rappers from West Belfast, Ootlin, a memoir from author and poet Jenni Fagan recounting her traumatic childhood in care and Bad Monkey, a television comedy cop drama set in Florida starring Vince Vaughn. George Orwell’s biographer D J Taylor considers the importance, or not, of the author’s archive being sold off.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Harry Parker

Sherwood writer James Graham argues that TV has a problem with working class representation, both in front of and behind the screen, as he delivers this year's MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival. Sherwood Series 2 starts on BBC1 on Sunday. Alexander McCall Smith, best-selling author of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, on his new stand alone novel set in Edinburgh, The Winds from Further West.Kirsty looks at the growing interest in the Scottish artist Wilhemina Barns Graham. She is joined by Scottish art expert Alice Strang and film-maker Mark Cousins, whose documentary about the modernist pioneer, A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things, is at the Edinburgh Film Festival before nationwide release. A new children's book is also published this week: Wilhemina Barns-Graham, written by Kate Temple and illustrated by Annabel Wright. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Timothy Prosser