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Rating
4.4from
This podcast has
2001 episodes
Language
EnglishPublisher
BBC Radio 4Explicit
No
Date created
2006/03/17
Latest episode
2026/02/09
Average duration
43 min.
Release period
2 days
Description
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
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Check latest episodes from Front Row podcast
Kristen Stewart on her directorial debut, The Chronology of Water
2026/02/09
Hollywood star Kristen Stewart talks about her directorial debut, The Chronology of Water, which is a searing portrait of childhood abuse and redemption that’s based on the life story of author Lidia Yuknavitch.
Seurat and the Sea is a new exhibition opening at London’s Courtauld Gallery.
It features 26 paintings and sketches - many of which haven’t been seen together since they were created - that show the pointillist painter’s love for depicting the coast of northern France.
Bad Bunny has made headlines in the last week for his outspoken political comments following his victory at the Grammys, as well as his historical performance at last weekend’s Super Bowl. Radio 1xtra’ s Fee Mak explains what it is about Bad Bunny’s music that makes him Spotify’s most streamed artist in the world.
Here There are Blueberries is a play inspired by the discovery of an album of snaps of workers relaxing and enjoying time off. But these are the staff of Auschwitz. Writer and director Moises Kaufman explains why and how he and co-writer Amanda Gronich created their extraordinary and timely drama.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Julian May
Review: Mark Haddon's memoir - Leaving Home, Twinless film, Mackenzie Crook's Small Prophets
2026/02/05
Tom is joined by reviewers Tristram Fane Saunders and Natalie Jamieson to discuss...
Mark (The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-time) Haddon's autobiography Leaving Home.
The dark comedy film Twinless about two men who lost their respective twin brothers and develop a growing friendship after meeting in a support group.
And Mackenzie Crook's new TV series Small Prophets, which stars Michael Palin.
Also Saturday Night Live has announced its UK line-up, and the return of The Muppets.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Musician Martin Carthy on retiring from performing live
2026/02/04
Folk musician Martin Carthy speaks about his long career and about his recent decision to retire from live performance following a diagnosis of late-onset Alzheimer's Disease;
As a major retrospective of the work of Gwen John goes on display at National Museum Cardiff, the exhibition's curator Lucy Wood and historian of visual culture Becca Voelcker discuss this formidable and fascinating modernist.
77-year-old curator Alison Luchs of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC has gone viral with her social media videos in which she speaks to Gen Z in their own language. She speaks to Front Row about slaying as an online phenomenon.
And ENO's new Music Director Designate, German conductor André de Ridder, speaks to us about his plans for the opera company and about the forthcoming production of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny by Kurt Weill and Bertold Brecht, a piece which he has described as "frighteningly relevant".
Presenter: Kate Molleson
Producer: Mark Crossan
Jared Bush, head of Walt Disney Animation Studios, on his record-breaking film Zootropolis 2
2026/02/03
Jared Bush, head of Walt Disney Animation Studios, on his record-breaking film Zootropolis 2.
Alex Tadros, owner of Mars Tapes, the last cassette shop in the UK, and culture writer Sian Pattenden on the resurgence of the cassette tape.
Oliver Royds, co-founder and joint CEO of Troubadour Theatres, on his company's plans to create London's biggest theatre venue in Greenwich.
Debris Stevenson on her new play My Brother's a Genius, and how rap battles helped her to co-create the RSC's new production of Cyrano de Bergerac which will be heading to London's West End.
Presenter: Nick Ahad
Producer: Ekene Akalawu
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - on stage
2026/02/02
Author Rachel Rachel Joyce and musician Passenger discuss the new musical based on Rachel's hit book The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.
Eric Schlosser’s book Fast Food Nation has been republished after 25 years as a Penguin Classic. Samira Ahmed talks to the author about the impact of the book.
Emily Itami and comedian Iszi Lawrence review the British Museum's new exhibition "Samurai".
Critic Tim Robey on the work of Catherine O'Hara, following news of her death.
Reviewing Is This Thing On? Guess How Much I Love You? and George Saunders
2026/01/29
Tom Sutcliffe and guests Viv Groskop and Dorian Lynskey, review Bradley Cooper's film Is This Thing On? - about a marriage in crisis and a comedian on the rise.
Guess How Much I Love You? is the new play by Luke Norris at London's Royal Court Theatre, which deals with starting a family, enduring love and impossible choices
And George Saunders' new book, Vigil, set in the living world and the world of the dead and the in-between.
Also how successful is British soft power in China?
Presenter Tom Sutcliffe
John Carter Cash on his musical production The Ballad of Johnny & June
2026/01/28
John Carter Cash on how the lives of his famous parents - Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash - have inspired a stage musical which tells the story of the couple's long love story but also tackles addiction head on.
As a long-lost portrait of poet Robert Burns by the acclaimed artist Henry Raeburn goes on display, art historian Bendor Grosvenor and art journalist Melanie Gerlis discuss how experts go about attributing a painting to a great artist. While technology can show us detail far beyond the paint on the canvas, will human expertise and discernment always be necessary in cases such as this?
And author Benjamin Wood talks about his atmospheric novel Seascraper, which centres the story of a young shrimper in a coastal town in the north of England who dreams of becoming a folk singer, and which has won the Nero prize for fiction.
Presenter: Kate Molleson
Producer: Mark Crossan
Michael Sheen, Laurel & Hardy, writer Patrick Charnley
2026/01/27
Michael Sheen on the first production of his newly-formed Welsh National Theatre, Thornton Wilder’s 1938 play Our Town seen through a Welsh lens.
Film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reacts to the Bafta nominations announced today and how they compare with last week's Oscar's list.
100 years since Laurel and Hardy united for their first film, Neil Brand discusses the comedy duo with film historian Pamela Hutchinson.
And writer Patrick Charnley discusses his Cornwall-set novel This My Second Life, which came out of his experience being clinically dead for forty minutes, and his subsequent recovery from a life changing brain injury.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Lucy Collingwood
Richard Linklater on Nouvelle Vague
2026/01/26
Richard Linklater speaks to Samira Ahmed about his new film Nouvelle Vague.
Robbie Williams has beaten the Beatles' record for the most UK album chart number ones - we ask former Spotify exec Will Page how he's done it.
Daughters of Donbas is a musical project, created by Ukrainian musicians to bring the world’s attention to the kidnapping by Russian authorities of Ukrainian children. Samira speaks with two of its members - Marichka and Liza – about what they hope it could achieve
Why is there a wave of children’s authors turning to writing fiction for adults? We talk to Francesca Simon MBE - bestselling author of the Horrid Henry Books and now the Welsh-myth inspired Salka - as well as Liz Flanagan who has written her first historical novel for older readers, When We Were Divided.
Presenter Samira Ahmed
Producer Harry Graham
Review of films No Other Choice, The History of Sound and Julian Barnes' final novel
2026/01/22
Tom Sutcliffe is joined by film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and novelist Lawrence Norfolk to review:
Korean auteur Park Chan-Wook's redundancy revenge thriller No Other Choice.
Julian Barnes' Departure(s) which he's said will be his last book.
Oliver Hermanus' film The History of Sound starring Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor in a folk music love story.
And they discuss the Oscar nominations which were announced today.
And the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have announced that they will be investing £1.5 billion in cultural organisations, but is it enough and is it going to the right place. Georgia Luckhurst, news editor with Art Professional magazine, is on to discuss.
Actor Claire Foy on her role in H Is For Hawk
2026/01/21
Actor Claire Foy on her role as a grieving academic who finds solace in falconry in the film adaptation of Helen Macdonald's award-winning memoir H Is For Hawk.
As it goes on display for a period of three months, Chris Cassells of the National Library of Scotland, Ashleigh Hibbins of Perth Museum and playwright and poet Liz Lochhead discuss the cultural significance of the last letter of Mary Queen of Scots, written hours before her execution in 1587.
Two of the creative team behind Trolleydarity, a National Theatre of Scotland-backed project which transports hospital patients and staff on multi-sensory micro-adventures talk about their innovative approach to taking art and theatre into NHS settings.
And as the Music Venue Trust publishes a report about the fragile ecology of small music venues around the UK, we hear whether there might be hope on the horizon.
Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Mark Crossan
Comedian John Bishop on his life story inspiring a Hollywood movie
2026/01/20
Comedian John Bishop on how his life story inspired Bradley Cooper's new movie, Is This Thing On? starring Will Arnett and Laura Dern.
Hull Truck Theatre has just won the Innovation prize at the Stage Awards for their new training scheme for GPs. Associate Director Tom Saunders and GP Dr Eman Shamsaee discuss why drama classes are helping doctors treat patients.
Writer Jamila Gavin on winning the Children's Fiction category of the Nero Book Awards with her World War One-set novel My Soul, A Shining Tree.
Poet Karen Solie discusses scooping this year's TS Eliot Prize - at £25,000 it's the biggest prize in the British poetry world.
Presenter: NIck Ahad
Producer: Ekene Akalawu
Beryl Cook at 100
2026/01/19
Artist Beryl Cook would have been 100 this year - famed for her cheeky paintings of large ladies and people having fun, there's a new exhibition opening in Plymouth.
Cole Escola is the man behind the stage musical sensation, Oh Mary, which has been hailed in some circles at The Next Hamilton.
Washington National Opera is leaving their base for more than half a century. They have cited a slump in ticket sales since Donald Trump became chair of the Trump Kennedy Center in America's capital, as well as "shattered" donor confidence.
The Voice of Hind Rajab is a harrowing film from Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, based around a real emergency call from a 5 year old Palestinian girl under fire in Gaza.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Oliver Jones
Reviewing Heated Rivalry, novel Jackson Alone, and the British Museum's Hawai'i exhibition
2026/01/15
In the Front Row review programme, author Emily Itami and critic Tim Robey assess the steamy Canadian drama Heated Rivalry, which has caused a sensation in North America. Also, The British Museum's new exhibition Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans, and Jose Ando's novel about racial and sexual identity in Japan, Jackson Alone.
Are contemporary art prizes favouring identity politics over artistic quality? Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones and artist/editor Veronica Simpson are on to discuss.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Wayne McGregor and Emmylou Harris
2026/01/14
Sir Ian McKellen talks about performing Laurie Slade's one-man play Equinox - about an older man wrestling with his past and conflicting desires - at the inaugural Out in the Hills LGBTI+ culture festival at Pitlochry Festival Theatre.
One of the world's most renowned and influential choreographers Wayne McGregor on his book We Are Movement, an exploration of "physical intelligence" which also asks what it means to be human in the age of AI.
Ahead of a European farewell tour, country and Americana legend Emmylou Harris discusses her incredible six-decade career in music.
And UK Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy on the first ever UK Town of Culture competition
Presenter: Kate Molleson
Producer: Mark Crossan
Podcast reviews
Read Front Row podcast reviews
SuckeredByItunes 2019/03/02
Great Arts Podcast
They cover a wide variety from theater to TV to art museums to books, sometimes the interviews are with creators/actors authors and sometimes with cri...
USkaren 2018/12/11
BBC Front Row
Great hosts and guests. The conversation is always intelligent without being pedantic or pretensions.
#never Viking 2019/02/01
Leftist elitist from BBC
Ultra left wing political views interfere with reviews. Elitists just cannot help but offend a large swath of people. I will download different podcas...
NotSatisfiedScience 2018/03/13
Best interviews and insights
The BBC interviewers get amazing responses from their guests - true insights into the creative process and artistic life.
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