Front Row

Author of the Year was announced today at the British Books Awards. Tom speaks to the winner, Richard Osman, game show host and author of the hugely successful crime novel The Thursday Murder Club.In the middle of the forest sits an abandoned toy shop. It appears to be a fairy tale house, but as you inch closer you see that it is defaced and decaying. Inside there are rows of upside down dolls. Upside Down Mimi is artist Rachel Maclean’s first permanent outdoor commission, an installation combining both architecture and animation and a replica will be touring Scottish city centres. She joins us to explain this artistic commentary on consumer culture and the decline of the high street.As the news of a possible 50% cuts to Higher Education Arts funding is met by a robust response from musicians, artists and actors as well as higher education organisations and bodies, BBC Education Editor Branwen Jeffreys joins Front Row to explain what these proposed cuts really mean.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Sarah Johnson

From next Monday theatres in England will legally be allowed to reopen with social distancing and strict capacity restrictions. We find out what it will be like for audiences and staff as they return to venues. We also hear from one theatre director in Scotland who's not reopening and ask why. The Cultural Recovery Fund has provided a lifeline for some arts organisations who would have gone under as well as some individuals but how are the millions of pounds of public money being spent? We speak to Louise Chantal CEO and Director of the Oxford Playhouse, and Nica Burns, CEO of Nimax Theatres which operates several commercial theatres in London. And we talk to Amanda Parker, Founder and Director of Inc Arts about those who didn't get any money from the Culture Recovery Fund.Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap will be the first play to reopen in the London's West End, with its first performance on Monday night. What else can we look forward to in the coming months, and how will the theatrical experience change? Theatre critic Sarah Crompton tells us what to expect. A brothel in Pompeii is at the centre of Elodie Harper’s new novel, The Wolf Den. She talks to Kirsty about telling a story of women’s lives in the Roman Empire, and how she wanted to show that there was more to everyday life for ancient people than togas and baths.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Julian May

It was after the death of George Floyd that television writer and producer Travon Free, and filmmaker Martin Desmond Roe came together to create a response to this traumatic event. The result was Two Distant Strangers which won Best Live Action Short Film at this year’s Oscars. Travon and Martin join Elle to talk about making art out of tragedy. NBC has dropped the 2022 Golden Globes Award ceremony and Tom Cruise has returned his three Golden Globes in protest at the lack of diversity at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The Oscars were more diverse this year, but the televised award ceremony had its lowest ever audience. Rhianna Dhillon talks about what is happening with awards.Resident Evil Village is the eighth instalment from the hugely popular horror game franchise. Games journalist Louise Blain reviews and discusses the appeal of the genre as a whole. Are you missing the joy of musicals? The BBC World Service has create a brand new one, U.Me: The Musical, entirely under lockdown, lavishly arranged for a 40-piece orchestra. In 53 minutes it tells the story of two people falling in love over the internet during lockdown. Professor Millie Taylor reviews.Producer: Timothy Prosser Presenter: Elle Osili-Wood

David Hockney has captured the unfolding of Spring during the pandemic, creating 116 new works on his ipad which have been blown up for a new exhibition at London’s Royal Academy. Art critic Ben Luke reviews the prolific 83 year old’s new work. He also discusses the shortlist for this year’s Turner Prize; for the first time, no one on the list is an individual artist: they are all artist collectives. A new BBC TV drama, Three Families, is set in Northern Ireland looks at the controversial and divisive subject of abortion. Northern Ireland was exempted from the UK’s 1967 Abortion Act and had some of the most restrictive policies in Europe. 2 years ago when the Stormont Assembly was dissolved and decision-making powers transferred to Westminster, MPs in London voted overwhelmingly to change the law and ease access to abortion. This series fictionalises the stories of three women and their personal involvement in the campaign to liberalise the law. We speak with the writer of the 2 part series, Gwyneth Hughes.Irish writer Rónán Hession, author of Leonard and Hungry Paul, discusses his second novel, Panenka, about 50-year-old former footballer who has spent 25 years unable to escape from one critical and very public error which made him an exile in his home town. Main image: David HockneyPresenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Oliver Jones

The actress and writer Emily Mortimer discusses her directorial debut The Pursuit of Love, her 3-part adaptation of Nancy Mitford's novel starring Lily James, Emily Beecham and Andrew Scott, which centres on two women born into privilege, trying to seize life and love with both hands but constrained by societal expectations. Today sees the release of Rag ‘n’ Bone Man’s second album Life by Misadventure, the follow-up to 2017's Human, which was the decade's fastest-selling album by a male artist. The singer/songwriter, whose real name is Rory Graham, discusses the changes in his life, his new musical approach, and why he went to Nashville to record it.Sarah Crompton discusses the government's new fast track visa system for the winners of elite arts prizes such as Oscars, Tonys and the Nobel Prize for Literature. Jupiter’s Legacy drops on Netflix tonight. Based on Mark Millar’s original comics, this domestic drama looks at the family dynamic as one generation of superheroes attempts to hand over to the next, following the characters over a century, from the Wall Street Crash to today. Film critic Amon Warmann and geek culture expert Claire Lim review.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Timothy Prosser

Don Warrington stars as the head of a family, united and divided by grief in Sian Davila’s debut play for Radio 4, Running with Lions. We speak to both Sian and Don about the play and its particular significance now.Last Sunday, the doyenne of radio criticism, Gillian Reynolds CBE, wrote her final column for the Sunday Times. She joins Front Row to discuss a career that dates back to the late 1960s and shares her thoughts on the future of radio.Durham-born novelist Benjamin Myers has made it his mission to explore the places and people of northern England in his fiction. He came to prominence in 2017 with The Gallows Pole, a novel about a band of 17th century Yorkshire money counterfeiters, which won the Walter Scott Prize. He talks to John about his latest release, his debut collection of short stories, Male Tears, a multifaceted exploration of what it means to be a man featuring some very brutal, troubled characters. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Simon Richardson Studio Manager: Sue Maillot

A mother and father struggling to come to terms with their trans child are at the centre of Anna Kerrigan’s new film, Cowboys. She talks to Samira about creating a family drama set in the woodlands of Montana.After Liverpool took part in a Covid recovery pilot scheme testing live events over the weekend - including an open-air film screening, a comedy gig and a club night - we talk to the city's Director of Culture, Claire McColgan, about how the events went and what happens next.Sunjeev Sahota was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for his last book - The Runaways and his writing attracted praise from Salman Rushdie. He discusses his new novel, China Room, which tells a dark story from family legend about his great grandmother, and interweaves it with a modern day narrator who returns to his ancestral farm in Punjab to recover from heroin addiction and to escape racism in the UK. Main image: Sasha Knight as Joe (Left) and Steve Zahn as Troy in Cowboys Image credit: Blue Finch Film ReleasingPresenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Jerome Weatherald

This year sees a number of writers we know primarily as poets or novelists releasing collections of essays - from Jeanette Winterson to Lucy Ellman and Karl Ove Knausgaard. Tom talks to two of them: Kei Miller, whose latest collection is called Things I have Withheld, and Rachel Kushner, whose new collection is called The Hard Crowd.Dreda Say Mitchell reviews new Sky TV series, Bloods. Samson Kayo and Jane Horrocks star in this six-part comedy series as paramedic partners in the South London ambulance service. When tough-acting loner Maleek is paired with over-friendly divorcee Wendy, their partnership looks dead on arrival. But before long they’re acting as each other’s life support. An ensemble comedy, set within the fast-paced, never-ending rush of 999 call-outs, Bloods also stars Adrian Scarborough, Lucy Punch and Julian Barratt. Writer and video games editor Jordan Erica Webber talks us through the long-awaited New Pokemon Snap. The original game came out in 1999 on the Nintendo 64. Now, its release comes after a huge wave of lockdown sales of the Nintendo Switch gaming device and as part of a new wave of games focussing on gentler storytelling, photography and the natural environment.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Oliver Jones

The National Covid Memorial Wall on the bank of the Thames opposite the Houses of Parliament is an unofficial site of remembrance and reflection for the 150,000 or so individuals who've died from Covid.Artists and writers consider the role and design of memorials in the 21st century, from the poppies at The Tower of London in 2014 which toured the UK, to the recent controversy of the toppling of the Edward Colston statue in Bristol, and the proposed memorial to enslaved Africans and their descendants.Iraqi-American artist Michael Rakowitz discusses his new statue 'April is the Cruellest Month' which has just been unveiled in Margate, which he describes as both a memorial and a monument. Anne McElvoy and historian Kate Williams consider the changing culture and significance of memorials. Oku Ekpenyon recounts her struggle to create a new memorial to slaves whose labour brought wealth to the UK, and writer Spencer Bailey considers how architects across the world have responded to recent and historic tragic events in the last four decades.Presenter John Wilson Producer Jerome Weatherald

Adapted from Paul Theroux’s bestselling book, The Mosquito Coast follows a family on the run from the US government and seeking escape in Mexico, where they hope to build a simpler life away from American consumerist culture. Critics Tanya Motie and Kohinoor Sahota join Tom to discuss the new TV series and to share their cultural picks of the week.Royal Blood is a 2 piece rock band from Brighton whose new album - Typhoons - looks set to top the UK charts like their previous two. They’ve toured internationally supporting Iggy Pop and Foo Fighters and played most of the big festivals including Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage. Unusually they’re a drums and bass guitar duo creating catchy funk heavy riffs Tom speaks with Mike Kerr about creativity and the pressures of rock and roll life.As the first nightclub, under the Government’s pilot events scheme, prepares to open its doors in Liverpool this evening, Front Row talks to Andrew Miller, the Government’s first Disability Champion for Arts and Culture, who fears that people with disabilities are being left behind by the Government’s plans.To mark the 70th anniversary of The Royal Festival Hall, former Young People's Laureate for London Theresa Lola performs her specially commissioned poem, Offerings and Exchange.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Sarah Johnson