Screenshot

Ahead of Jamaican Independence Day, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode immerse themselves in one of the island’s greatest exports, The Harder They Come, marking the film’s 50th anniversary.The Harder They Come was a sensation, but it took a while for its vibrations to be heard around the world. In 1972, the premiere in Kingston brought the area to a complete standstill. Outside of Jamaica, the film helped introduce reggae music to millions, thanks to its Jimmy Cliff-driven soundtrack.Exploring the film’s continuing legacy, Ellen hears from one of its stars, Carl Bradshaw, and the film’s publicist Barbara Blake-Hannah, for whom the movie was so life-changing that she left the UK and moved to Jamaica where she later became a Member of Parliament. Mark speaks to DJ, broadcaster, musician and filmmaker Don Letts, whose film Dancehall Queen is a homage to The Harder They Come. Mark also talks to music supervisor Ed Bailie who worked closely with Steve McQueen on his Small Axe films, including Lovers Rock which also owes a great debt to this cult classic.Ellen and Mark also look at what The Harder They Come did, or did not do, for the Jamaican film industry, and the films that followed it - including Rockers, Countryman, and Babylon.Producer: Tom Whalley A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen and Mark discuss the enduring screen presence of Elvis Presley, from Love Me Tender to Wild at Heart. One of the most hotly anticipated films this summer is Elvis - director Baz Luhrmann’s biopic chronicling the singer’s career and complicated relationship with manager Colonel Tom Parker. Committed Presley fan Mark discusses Elvis’ prolific acting career with a couple of fellow obsessives - the actor Sanjeev Bhaskar, and journalist and screenwriter Ray Connolly.And Ellen explores how The King has lived on via film and TV in the 45 years since his death. She’s joined by comedian and pop culture devotee Greg Proops and filmmaker Jeanie Finlay, whose 2015 documentary Orion: The Man Who Would Be King told the bizarre story of a masked Elvis soundalike.Also, movement director Polly Bennett talks about what she watched to help prepare actor Austin Butler for his starring role as Elvis in Luhrmann's film.Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore big budget flops, from Ishtar to Cats.Ishtar – writer and director Elaine May's huge budget comedy starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman – was released in May 1987. The film, about a pair of incompetent singer-songwriters who become entangled in a CIA plot in north Africa, tanked at the box office and ultimately put paid to May's directing career. In the process the word Ishtar became a joke - that title alone symbolising Hollywood hubris at its worst. But, as May put it, "If all the people who hate Ishtar had seen it, I would be a rich woman."Thirty five years on, Mark asks culture critic Lindsay Zoladz and comedian and director Richard Ayoade whether Ishtar is ripe for reappraisal. And Ellen draws up a set of rules to help Hollywood studio bosses avoid box office bombs in 2022, running them past Film Stories founder Simon Brew and Hollywood super-producer Lynda Obst. Also, controversial director Gaspar Noe shares his Viewing Notes. Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode celebrate one of the great doyennes of Hollywood in what would have been her centenary year. Cultural historian Christopher Frayling joins Mark to revisit the rare career retrospective interview he conducted with Day in 1989. And Ellen speaks to Queer cinema expert Emma Smart and singer Rufus Wainwright about the importance of both Doris Day and Judy Garland, who would also have turned 100 in 2022, to LGBTQIA+ communities.Plus actor and writer Tracy-Ann Oberman shares her favourite Doris Day film in Viewing Notes. Screenshot is Radio 4’s guide through the ever-expanding universe of the moving image. Every episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode journey through the main streets and back roads connecting film, television and streaming over the last hundred years.Producer: Hester Cant A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore the history of indigenous and native people on screen.In 1922, silent film Nanook of the North was released. Written, directed and filmed by a white man, the docudrama claimed to show the daily life of an Inuit hunter and his family in the Canadian Arctic - but all wasn't quite as it seemed. A century on, Screenshot explores the representation of indigenous people on screen, and who gets to tell their stories, with film critic Jesse Wente who founded the Indigenous Screen Office. Ellen also talks to director Leah Purcell about reimagining the Australian classic, The Drover's Wife, as an Indigenous, feminist Western. And Mark speaks to the producers of Waru, Kerry Warkia and Kiel McNaughton, about their quest to bring Maori and Pasifika stories to a wider audience.

Producer: Marilyn Rust
 A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore cinema's steamiest genre - the erotic thriller - 30 years on from the release of Basic Instinct. Mark reappraises recent best director Oscar-winner Jane Campion's oft-overlooked 2003 erotic thriller In The Cut, with the help of the film's author and co-screenwriter Susanna Moore and the film critic Maria San Filippo. And Ellen speaks to film historian Karina Longworth and intimacy coordinator Ita O'Brien about the highs and lows of the erotic thriller, and how we're dealing with sex on screen in the 21st century. Also, Basic Instinct 2 star David Morrissey shares his Viewing Notes.Screenshot is Radio 4’s guide through the ever-expanding universe of the moving image. Every episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode journey through the main streets and back roads connecting film, television and streaming over the last hundred years. Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore the influence of David Simon and The Wire, as the Baltimore-set opus celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.Beginning his career as a police reporter for the much respected Baltimore Sun, David Simon eventually became disillusioned with changes being made at the paper and spent a year embedded with the Baltimore Police Department’s Homicide Unit. That resulted in the book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, which became the basis for the TV show Homicide: Life On The Street. Simon followed that with another book, The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood, which was adapted for TV as The Corner, and then created The Wire, which changed television forever. Simon has since been behind the shows Generation Kill, Treme, The Deuce and The Plot Against America. His latest project We Own This City sees him return to Baltimore, this time to tell the true story of the rise and fall of the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force and the corruption surrounding it.Ellen looks at the influence of David Simon’s work with a focus on unconventional casting - Simon repeatedly casts non-actors, and people with first hand experience of the subjects he explores. She speaks with casting director Pat Moran, who has worked alongside Simon on several projects. She also talks to Ronan Bennett and Gerry Jackson. Ronan is the creator and writer of Top Boy and Gerry is the series’ story consultant. Gerry is a fitness trainer but his knowledge of Hackney and connection to the local community helped Ronan to write Top Boy, and to find local talent to feature in the show, in an echo of The Wire. And Mark goes back 20 years to speak to someone who was there when The Wire began. Actor Clarke Peters was on the show for all five seasons, playing fan favourite Detective Lester Freamon and delivering some of the show’s greatest lines. Mark also talks to Professor Liam Kennedy, editor of The Wire: Race, Class, and Genre - a series of essays exploring the show's portrayals of race, drug war policing, deindustrialisation, and the inadequacies of America’s civic, educational, and political institutions.Also, Top Boy star Ashley Walters shares what he’s been watching. Screenshot is Radio 4’s guide through the ever-expanding universe of the moving image. Every episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode journey through the main streets and back roads connecting film, television and streaming over the last hundred years.   Producer: Tom Whalley A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones explore Christianity on screen, from faith films to nunsploitation.Mark speaks to priest Father Peter Malone and controversial director Paul Verhoeven about two very different cinematic depictions of the crucifixion - Pasolini's Gospel According to Matthew and Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. And Ellen takes a look at nuns in the movies, from The Bells of St Mary's to The Devils, with the help of film critics Sister Rose Pacatte and Pamela Hutchinson. Screenshot is Radio 4’s guide through the ever-expanding universe of the moving image. Every episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode journey through the main streets and back roads connecting film, television and streaming over the last hundred years.Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode jump on board to explore the role of trains on our screens.This week sees the release of Compartment No 6 - a strange and touching romance set on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Trains have played a recurring role in film, right from the inception of the genre. Mark is joined by silent film specialist Bryony Dixon and composer Neil Brand to talk about the appeal of the railway for the pioneers of cinema.And Ellen talks to Compartment No 6 director Juho Kuosmanen and critic Anna Smith about the cinematic opportunities for connection, contemplation and romance while riding the rails. Screenshot is Radio 4’s guide through the ever-expanding universe of the moving image. Every episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode journey through the main streets and back roads connecting film, television and streaming over the last hundred years. Producer: Freya Hellier A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore hoaxes, fakes and pranks on screen for April Fool's Day.Mark is joined by documentarian Morgan Neville and Anna Bogutskaya for a deep dive into Orson Welles’ 1973 docudrama about forgers and fakery, F for Fake.And Ellen looks back at small screen hoaxes, from the 1970s sci-fi mockumentary Alternative 3 to the terrifying BBC1 Halloween drama Ghostwatch via a sprinkling of Noel's House Party, with the help of writers David Ambrose and Mark Gatiss.Also, critic and filmmaker Mark Cousins shares his Viewing Notes.   Screenshot is Radio 4’s guide through the ever-expanding universe of the moving image. Every episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode journey through the main streets and back roads connecting film, television and streaming over the last hundred years.   Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4