Advertise on podcast: The Arts Hour

Nikki Bedi talks to Daniyal Mueenuddin, the Pakistani-American author behind one of the year’s most anticipated novels, This Is Where The Serpent Lives. They discuss how it weaves a panoply of different characters with a kaleidoscopic overview of Pakistan’s social upheaval and rural/urban conflicts following independence. Plus Bidisha joins as this week’s cultural critic, discussing Richard Linklater, French New Wave cinema, Albanian folk music, the films of Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi, the photography of Peter Hujar and one of world’s biggest selling genre’s: “romantasy”.

Nikki Bedi is joined by film-maker Akinola Davies Jnr and film critic Larushka Ivan Zadeh to discuss cultural highlights of the week: Oscar winning Mexican director Guillermo del Toro on the influence of a religious upbringing on his films American singer and actor Andra Day on her role in the movie Is This Thing On....and the day Stevie Wonder telephoned her German film-maker Werner Herzog on his survival films US director Paul Feig talks about adapting the bestselling book The Housemaid for the big screen British Nigerian writer director Akinola Davies Jnr tells Nikki about the making of his debut feature film, My Father’s Shadow, set on the day of the 1993 Nigerian elections And British actor Claire Foy discusses training with birds of prey for her role in H is for Hawk.

Nikki Bedi and critic William Lee Adams discuss the cultural highlights of the week: Brazilian actor Wagner Moura and director Kleber Mendonça Filho on their film, The Secret Agent Legendary American photographer Annie Leibovitz on photographing John Lennon just hours before he died Indian musician and composer A. R. Rahman on working with fellow musical titan Hans Zimmer British actor Toheeb Jimoh on the TV series, Industry, and the mentoring skills of Ian McKellen And French pianist Riopy talks about growing up in a cult and the power of singing

Nikki Bedi and Hanna Flint discuss cultural highlights of the week: American director Noah Baumbach on working with George Clooney on the film, Jay Kelly. English-Japanese actor Will Sharpe on portraying Mozart in the TV series, Amadeus. Hollywood stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson on their roles as a Neil Diamond tribute act in Song Sung Blue. Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania tells Nikki about the making her film, The Voice of Hind Rajab. Spanish-born actor Oona Chaplin talks about her work on Avatar: Fire and Ash. And Brazilian-Norwegian singer songwriter Charlotte Dos Santos explains why she likes recording onto tape.

Nikki Bedi talks to Oscar-winning, Chinese director Chloé Zhao, who discusses making her new film Hamnet, starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal. Plus, Timothée Chalamet on table tennis and playing the title role in the movie Marty Supreme. Danish-Norwegian film-maker Joachim Trier talks about his latest film Sentimental Value. And Mexican actor Diego Calva on working internationally as a bilingual South American performer. Nikki is joined by critic Leila Latif to discuss the cultural highlights of the week. (Photo: Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal in Hamnet Crefit: Focus Features LLC)

Nikki Bedi introduces the Arts Hour podcast. Your weekly cultural companion, featuring guests and opinions on what's happening in art, theatre, film, TV, music and more. Find us at bbc.com or wherever you get your podcasts.