Front Row

Samira talks to Steven Spielberg about his new version of the musical West Side Story, along with Ariana DeBose who plays Anita.Following the recent demolition of the Dorman Long Tower at the former steelworks in Redcar and the auction of George Harrison’s childhood home in Liverpool, we consider how working class cultural heritage is defined, valued and protected. Joining Samira in discussion are Historic England’s Chief Executive Duncan Wilson, who advises the Government on heritage status and writer and broadcaster Lynsey Hanley, author of Estates: An Intimate History. We’ll also hear from Catherine Croft, Director of the 20th Century Society, a charity campaigning to save British buildings from 1914 onwards.Will Sharpe on directing Landscapers, a new drama starting on Sky which tells the story of film fanatics Susan and Christopher Edwards who were arrested for the murder of Susan’s parents.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Simon Richardson

Britain’s foremost writer of political drama, James Graham, has written a new play ‘Best of Enemies’, about the television debates in the US in 1968 between the right wing thinker William Buckley Jr. and Gore Vidal, the left wing writer. When they began yelling at each other ratings soared - and political coverage changed. Graham talks to presenter Tom Sutcliffe about his play and the striking parallels between what happened in 1968 and what’s going on today, in politics and on social media.Lamb is a new Icelandic movie about a farming couple, María and Ingvar, who are shocked to learn that one of their pregnant sheep has given birth to a bizarre human/sheep hybrid. The film is directed by Valdimar Jóhannsson, who also co-wrote the screenplay with author, Sjón. Lamb, which stars Noomi Rapace, was selected Iceland’s entry for the Best International Feature Film at this year’s Oscars. Briony Hanson reviews.Earlier this year Front Row covered the imprisonment of members of the Belarus Free Theatre. Now, the entire company has left the country. As the ensemble works on a play that will be staged at the Barbican in the spring, Front Row visits their rehearsal room to hear the experiences of some of the cast. Svetlana Sugako, the theatre’s managing director, joins us live in the studio to discuss why they are determined to carry on making theatre. Front Row remembers the actor Antony Sher, who has died aged 72. Sher was best known for his Shakespearian roles, including Richard III for which he won an Oliver award. In an interview from Front Row’s archives, Antony Sher discusses why playing a New York drag queen in Torch Song Trilogy by Harvey Fierstein meant so much to him. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Olivia Skinner Photo: James Graham

Paolo Sorrentino’s film The Great Beauty won an Oscar. Now he has returned to his home city of Naples to make a film based on his own autobiography, The Hand of God, which shows how his passion for the footballer Maradona saved his life. At the National Gallery a new exhibition, Dürer’s Journey: Travels of a Renaissance Artist, looks at how the Nuremberg artist had links with the artistic flowering happening all over Europe, and how that shaped his own work and identity. The artist Bob and Roberta Smith and the literary editor Thea Lenarduzzi review the film and exhibition and give their thoughts on the week’s cultural happenings.Aaron Sorkin, who has won Oscars as screenwriter for The Social Network and Molly’s Game, is also a director. In his latest film, Becoming the Ricardos, Nicole Kidman plays Lucille Ball, one of the most famous and powerful television stars ever, with an audience of 60 million. Off screen she is also Lucille Ricardo, a woman in a troubled marriage, longing for a home. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Sarah JohnsonPhoto: A scene from The Hand of God, directed by Paolo Sorrentino Photo credit: Gianni Fiorito

Front Row is live from the 2021 Turner Prize Ceremony at Coventry Cathedral. Samira Ahmed hears from Turner Prize judges actor Russell Tovey and curator Zoe Whitley, and the director of Tate Britain Alex Farquharson, about why they chose artists' collectives for this year's shortlist. Pauline Black reflects on what it means to Coventry to host this year's Turner Prize exhibition as part of the City of Culture celebrations and curator Hammad Nasar explains how he put together an exhibition of work that's not usually shown in galleries. And the winner of this year's Turner Prize is announced live on air. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Olivia Skinner

As the debate over the Parthenon Marbles has resurfaced in recent weeks, we take a deep dive into this decades old dispute. Alexander Herman, Assistant Director of the Institute of Art and Law joins presenter Tom Sutcliffe to provide insight and analysis. Renowned folk musician Eliza Carthy reviews Peter Jackson's Beatles documentary series Get Back.We meet the Turner Prize nominated neurodivergent artist collective Project Artworks in Hastings.And who determines the literary canon? Kadija Sesay, co-author of This Is The Canon: Decolonize Your Bookshelf In 50 Books, and Henry Eliot, author of The Penguin Modern Classics Book, join Tom to discuss.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Simon RichardsonPhoto: Marble horses on the West Frieze of the Parthenon Sculptures in Room 18 of the British Museum, photographed in 2009 Photo credit: BBC

The electronic musician Kelly Lee Owens won this year’s Welsh Music Prize for her album Inner Song. She tells Samira Ahmed about her inspiration - and her collaborations with John Cale, Björk and Michael Sheen. This evening theatres in the West End dim their lights in honour of the great composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, who wrote the words for the songs in West Side Story, and the musicals Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Company, Assassins, and more. From Front Row's archive we hear Sondheim himself talking about matching words to music, and his biographer, David Benedict, looks closely at one song, explaining how it demonstrates his remarkable skill. Throughout his life Rowan Williams, who was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 until 2012, has written poetry. Now his previous collections have been gathered with new pieces in a single volume, his Collected Poems. He talks about his work, which ranges from poems inspired by the landscape of West Wales to a sequence of sonnets inspired by Shakespeare's plays, another commissioned to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Aberfan disaster, and translations from German, Russian and Welsh and, his latest poem set in a vaccination centre in Splott. The nominees for this year’s Turner Prize are all artists’ collectives and Front Row has been hearing from them in the run up to the announcement of the winner. Tonight, we hear from Black Obsidian Sound System, a London based collective who use their sound system to organise events that connect communities. They tell Samira how their collective works and explain why being nominated for the UK’s biggest art prize hasn’t been a totally positive experience.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Julian May Production Co-ordinator: Lizzie HarrisPhoto: Kelly Lee Owens Photo credit: Sarah Stedeford

The designer Henry Holland and writers Stephanie Merritt and Tahmima Anam review House of Gucci, The Every by Dave Eggers and Adele's new album 30.In the run up to the Turner Prize, Front Row is hearing from the artists’ collectives nominated for the award. Tonight, we hear from Array, a Belfast based collective who use their art to draw attention to social and political issues in Northern Ireland. Array tell Marie-Louise Muir what the nomination means to them.Sound and music from Array Collective’s Turner Prize installation The Druthaib's Ball including 'The Hard Border' Poem by Seamus O' Rourke and music by Cleamairí Feirste, activist storyteller Richard O'Leary and performance of The Mother Within by Dani Larkin. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Laura Northedge

As her first major retrospective in the UK opens in Manchester, the distinguished American artist Suzanne Lacy discusses a career which has seen her standing at the junction of aesthetics and activism, filmmaker Camille Griffin on her Christmas comedy horror - Silent Night, and a postcard from Bishop Auckland as the town undergoes a philanthropic arts transformation.Presenter: Nick Ahad Studio Engineers: Phillip Halliwell and Jonathan Esp Production Co-ordinator: Lizzie Harris Producer: Ekene AkalawuPhoto: Presenter Nick Ahad outside the Spanish Art Gallery in Bishop Auckland

During the pandemic Andrew Lloyd Webber has been more of a campaigner than a composer. He talks to Samira Ahmed how to keep theatres open now, taking his show Cinderella to Broadway and his latest ambition - to write a musical about the refugee crisis. The Costa Book Awards (formerly the Whitbread) celebrate their 50th anniversary this year. Front Row announces the shortlists for the 2021 awards tonight across all categories: First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children’s Book. Literary critic Alex Clarke will be on hand to offer analysis of this year’s choices.The nominees for this year’s Turner Prize are all artists’ collectives and, in the run-up to the prize ceremony, Front Row will be hearing from them. Tonight it’s the turn of Gentle / Radical, a collective based in Riverside in Cardiff. Rabab Ghazoul and Tom Goddard explain the community based ethos behind their work and how they feel about the nomination.

Jane Campion is famous for The Piano and a baby grand plays a crucial role in her new film The Power of the Dog, in which Benedict Cumberbatch plays a heavy smoking, unwashed and deeply troubled rancher in 1920s Montana. Briony Hanson reviews the film for Front Row and considers the lengths to which actors will go to create a character. All the nominees for this year’s Turner Prize are artistic collectives. In the run-up to the award ceremony, Front Row will hear what the prize means to each of them. This evening, we hear from Cooking Sections, an artistic duo who reflect on the climate emergency and how we can make the food we eat more environmentally friendly. When he accepted the Booker Prize earlier this month for his novel The Promise, South African author Damon Galgut said: ‘This has been a great year for African writing and I’d like to accept this on behalf of all the stories told and untold, the writers heard and unheard from the remarkable continent that I’m part of. Please keep listening to us, there’s a lot more to come…’ Tonight we shine a spotlight on contemporary literature from his home country of South Africa and bring Damon together in conversation from Cape Town with the award-winning debut author of Scatterlings, Rešoketšwe Manenzhe.PRESENTER: Tom Sutcliffe PRODUCER: Olivia SkinnerPHOTO: BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH as PHIL BURBANK and GEORGE MASON as CRICKET in THE POWER OF THE DOG. PHOTO CREDIT: KIRSTY GRIFFIN/NETFLIX