Front Row: Archive 2011

With Mark Lawson.Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones star in a new stage production of Driving Miss Daisy, the Pulitzer prize-winning play which inspired an Oscar-winning film. Peter Kemp reports from the opening night. Des O'Connor has worked as an entertainer for over 45 years, including over 1000 appearances on the London Palladium stage. Now - at the age of 79 - he is making his debut in a West End musical, in Dreamboats and Petticoats. He reflects on his career, including the jokes made by Morecambe and Wise. Frank Cottrell Boyce has written sequels to Ian Fleming's children's adventure Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, with the blessing of the Fleming Estate. He discusses the challenges of continuing a children's classic. The Swedish poet Tomas Transtroemer has won the 2011 Nobel Prize for Literature. Writer Anders Roslund reflects on how the news has been received in Sweden. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Actor and director Kenneth Branagh returns to the stage in his native Belfast this week in Sean Foley's adaptation of the French farce The Painkillers, alongside Rob Brydon. In this Front Row special, Kenneth Branagh reflects on returning to Belfast, and looks back over his extensive career on stage, film and TV, which has featured Shakespeare, Chekhov, John Osborne, Hollywood movies and the role of the weary police inspector in the British TV adaptation of Henning Mankell's best-selling Wallander crime novels. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With John WilsonIn a rare interview, singer Johnny Mathis talks about his 55 year career, during which he has sold 350m records. Mathis talks about his operatic vocal training, reveals why he chose music over Olympic high-jumping, and recalls working with the band Chic on a disco album that has never been released. Ewan McGregor and Eva Green star in Perfect Sense, a new film by David Mackenzie, in which a global epidemic begins to deprive people of their sensory perceptions. Critic Kate Muir reviews.Gerhard Richter's work is being exhibited at Tate Modern, in the first major retrospective of the leading German artist in London for over 20 years. The collection spans nearly five decades and coincides with the artist's 80th birthday. Rachel Cooke reviews.Photographer David Bailey revisits the East End of his childhood for his new mixed-media exhibition Hitler Killed The Duck. Bailey has been creating works which mix painting and photography for many decades and these works will be shown in public for the first

With Mark Lawson.The acclaimed literary biographer Claire Tomalin publishes a new life of Dickens this week, ahead of the bicentenary of his birth next year. She discusses the author's contradictions and insecurities and whether they were an essential part of his genius.Rowan Atkinson returns to his role as the spy with no sense of fear but plenty of gadgets, in the film Johnny English Reborn. He talks about the similarities between Johnny English and Mr Bean, the art of pulling faces and the importance of cars in his work.Artist Grayson Perry pays homage to thousands of forgotten and anonymous craftsmen by picking 200 objects from the British Museum's collection to display in his exhibition The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman. At the centre of the show is a decorated cast iron coffin ship, made by Perry himself. Natalie Haynes reviews.Producer: Nicki Paxman.

Mark Lawson meets the Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, as she publishes The Bees - her new collection of poems. They discuss her love of the book as a physical object, how she writes from the body, and why now, when she starts to write a poem she always finishes it. She reflects on the role of the Poet Laureate, and describes the impossibility of writing poetry after the death of her mother and the poem that resurrected her poetic ability. She also talks about her love of football and the deal she's struck with David Beckham. Finally she explodes the myth of the Poet Laureate's "butt of sack".Producer Ekene Akalawu.

With Mark Lawson. Actor and writer James Corden reflects on his career so far, and admits that some of the work he produced after his initial successes was sub-standard. Corden has just published an autobiography, and is touring in the acclaimed National Theatre production One Man, Two Guvnors. Justin Lee Collins and X Factor winner Shayne Ward star in Rock of Ages, a new musical touted as 'Mamma Mia! for men'. The show weaves a narrative around 80s rock anthems. David Quantick reviews.Leeds enjoys a special place in the history of British cinema: it was once the centre for the manufacture of film projectors. This has inspired a new work from Turner Prize nominee Lucy Skaer. She and cinema projectionist Alan Foster give Mark a guided tour in the Lyric Picture House, Armley, Leeds, Producer Georgia Mann.

With Mark Lawson. Film director Lars von Trier hit the headlines with his provocative remarks about Hitler and Nazism at the Cannes Film festival, while promoting his new film Melancholia. It stars Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg as two sisters reacting to the news that the earth is on a collision course with another planet, called Melancholia. Jenny McCartney reviews.The latest novel in Lee Child's best-selling Jack Reacher series arrives in bookshops tomorrow. This is the 16th thriller following the life of former military policeman Reacher, and Lee Child reflects on why he keeps returning to his grizzled hero.Steven Spielberg's latest project is the multi-million dollar television drama Terra Nova. The action takes place 85 million years ago in a prehistoric alternate reality. Naomi Alderman reviews.Paratrooper turned artist Derek Eland asked front-line soldiers in Afghanistan to write about their experiences. The notes are on display in a new installation at the Imperial War Museum North. Eland di

With Mark Lawson, who talks to actor Tim Pigott-Smith as he takes the title role in King Lear at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds.Cultural Historian and Pre-Raphaelite biographer Fiona MacCarthy reviews the new Ford Madox Brown retrospective at Manchester Art Gallery.And novelist Nicholas Royle reviews Hidden, a new BBC One conspiracy thriller starring Philip Glenister.Producer Ekene Akalawu.

With John Wilson, who presents live from the BBC National Short Story Award ceremony, with news of this year's winner of the £15,000 prize, announced by the chair of judges Sue MacGregor. Pink Floyd's drummer Nick Mason reveals some of the untold stories behind previously-unheard tracks by the band, now released for the first time. Jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli played on a version of Wish You Were Here (Yehudi Menuhin declined the invitation), and you can hear the results on tonight's progamme. Helen Mirren stars as a former Mossad agent, brought out of retirement to catch an elderly Nazi, in the new film thriller The Debt. Mark Eccleston reviews. Producer Rebecca Nicholson.

With Kirsty Lang. Martin Scorsese's latest music documentary focuses on the 'quiet Beatle' George Harrison, with contributors including Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Pattie Boyd and Phil Spector. Beatles fan David Hepworth gives his verdict.In February this year a Cultural Olympiad project invited people to contribute a piece of wood with a personal significance to create a 30-foot modern sailing boat. The resulting 7-man boat will sail to the site of the London Olympics next year, and will be a living archive of people's stories and lives. Olympic silver-medalist sailor and boat builder Mark Covell and Gary Winters, the co-founder of the team behind The Boat Project, take Kirsty round the boatyard to see how far the vessel is progressing.Shirley Bassey's rise from poverty to international stardom has been dramatised for BBC Two. The title role is played by rising star Ruth Negga, best known for her role in Misfits, with Lesley Sharp playing Shirley's mother. Music writer Jacqueline Springer assesses this por

With Mark Lawson.Mike Leigh's new play at the National Theatre, Grief, didn't have a title until two weeks ago, but it still sold out months ago, such is the anticipation around a new Mike Leigh work. Secrecy surrounded the project and the cast, including Lesley Manville, Leigh's long-term collaborator, were forbidden to give interviews about it. Will it live up to expectations? Gaylene Gould reviews. Booker prize-winning author A S Byatt describes her life-long fascination with Ragnarok, the Norse mythological story of Armageddon, and explains her approach to re-working ancient gods for modern readers.Nirvana's Nevermind, Primal Scream's Screamadelica and Simply Red's Stars were all released in September 1991. All three albums made a huge impact in the 1990s, but two decades on have they stood the test of time? Caspar Llewellyn Smith and Rebecca Nicholson, music writers from different generations, give their verdict.What does postmodernism mean, and where did it come from? These questions are explored by the

With Mark Lawson.Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times is a new cinema documentary in which the film-makers were given unprecedented access to the newsroom for a year, at a time when this American institution was undergoing a period of great change. Former newspaper editors Kelvin MacKenzie and Andreas Whittam Smith review.Tom Stoppard discusses a revival of his classic comedy Travesties, which depicts a fictional meeting between James Joyce, Lenin and Tristan Tzara. Over 30 years after its original performance, the playwright reflects on which of the jokes are lost to a modern audience. Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong, the writers behind Peep Show, discuss their new TV comedy series Fresh Meat. It follows six ill-assorted student house-mates starting out at university, with a cast including stand-up comic Jack Whitehall. Producer Philippa Ritchie Presenter Mark Lawson.

With Mark Lawson.Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton and Nick Nolte star in Warrior, a new film in which two brothers take each other on in a brutal competition of Mixed Martial Arts fighting. BBC sports correspondent Eleanor Oldroyd reviews.Frank Oz worked on Sesame Street before creating his own animation series The Muppet Show, providing the voice for Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear. He moved on to voice Yoda in Star Wars. As he puts the finishing touches to directing Saul Rubinek's stage play Terrible Advice, Frank Oz looks back over his varied career.Tenor Ian Bostridge talks about his new book A Singer's Notebook - a collection of diary entries, essays and reviews written about the world of classical music, where he has spent two decades working with many leading conductors and specialising in music by Britten, Janacek, Schubert and Weill.Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With John Wilson. Ryan Gosling stars in two contrasting films in cinemas from Friday. In Drive, a thriller based on the cult novel by James Sallis, he plays a Hollywood stunt driver moonlighting as a getaway driver in the criminal underworld of Los Angeles. In the rom-com Crazy, Stupid, Love, he plays a handsome lothario acting as wingman for an older guy returning to the singles scene. Antonia Quirke reviews and discusses Ryan Gosling's career.Mike Scott of the band The Waterboys explains how the Nobel-winning Irish poet W B Yeats has become co-writer on his new album. A selection of Yeats' poems - including September 1913 and An Irish Airman Forsees His Death - have been set to music by Scott on the Waterboys' record An Appointment With Mr Yeats. John Wilson takes a tour of 'Firstsite', the new £28m art gallery in Colchester, Essex, designed by Uruguayan-born Rafael Vinoly. The architect explains how Roman archeaological remains beneath Colchester dictated the form of the single-storey, crescent-shaped buil

Kirsty Lang talks to actors Dominic West and Clarke Peters about working together on the TV series The Wire and appearing in Othello in Sheffield. Also Jocelyn Jee Esien discusses moving from comedy on TV, in her series Little Miss Jocelyn, to performing in the European premiere of Don Evans' stage comedy One Monkey Don't Stop No Show, which tours to Sheffield, London, Ipswich, Manchester and Leeds. And we hear from a group of artists who came together when Britain was suffering widespread racial tensions in the 1980s. Claudette Johnson, Keith Piper and Marlene Smith remember the formation of the Blk Art Group, as the Graves Art Gallery in Sheffield stages a retrospective. Producer Ekene Akalawu.

With Mark Lawson.Pam Ayres won Opportunity Knocks in 1975 and has been working as a writer, broadcaster and entertainer ever since. Best known for her comic poems about everyday life, Pam discusses life before and after fame, as she publishes a memoir. Stephen Merchant, the co-creator with Ricky Gervais of The Office and Extras, has just embarked on his first ever stand-up comedy tour. Detached from his better-known partner and live on stage, how will Merchant fare? Stephen Armstrong saw the show last night and gives his verdict.The Go-Between, L P Hartley's classic novel of a boy caught up in a web of deception, has been set to music in a new adaptation which receives its world premiere at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Novelist Jane Rogers reviews. Canadian author D W Wilson talks about his short story The Dead Roads, in which two old school friends compete for the affection of a free-spirited girl, whilst on a road-trip. The story is one of five shortlisted for this year's BBC National Short Story Award. Th

With Mark Lawson. Jermaine Jackson discusses setting the record straight with You Are Not Alone, his memoir about his brother Michael.Comedian Steve Punt reviews No Naughty Bits, a new play about the Pythons' landmark 1975 court struggle to reinstate material censored by a US TV network.And KJ Orr discusses her short story The Human Circadian Pacemaker, in which a married couple adjust to the shift in their relationship after the astronaut-husband returns from a space trip. This is one of five shortlisted for this year's BBC National Short Story Award. The winning author will be announced live on Front Row on Monday 26 September.Producer Philippa Ritchie.

With John Wilson. A new film of John le Carre's classic novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy stars Gary Oldman as George Smiley, with John Hurt, Colin Firth and Benedict Cumberbatch as fellow spies. Bridget Kendall, BBC diplomatic correspondent and former Moscow correspondent, gives her verdict. A re-print of John le Carre's book has also been brought out - and is available now.We pay tribute to artist Richard Hamilton, whose death at the age of 89 was announced today. Royal Ballet star Lauren Cuthbertson visits the Royal Academy's new exhibition Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement. She reflects on whether a 21st century ballerina has anything in common with Degas' 19th century depictions.Musician Laura Marling discusses about her new album and its literary influences, and performs in the Front Row studio.Jon McGregor talks about his short story, Wires, one of the five shortlisted for this year's BBC National Short Story Award. The award celebrates the best of contemporary British short fiction. The winning a

Mark Lawson talks to Roger Moore as the 70s TV series The Persuaders is released on Blu-ray and DVD. The release marks the 40th anniversary of the cult show, in which Moore starred alongside Tony Curtis.Alison MacLeod discusses her entry for this year's BBC National Short Story Award, as Front Row continues to talk to each of the five authors shortlisted for the 2011 prize, worth £15,000. Oscar-winning writer Christopher Hampton reflects on his very first play, When Did You Last See My Mother?, in the light of a new staging. It first received a West End production more than four decades ago, when Hampton was just 20. Producer: Jack Soper.

Rupert Goold's Headlong Theatre Company, the people who created Enron, have devised Decade - an immersive theatrical experience reflecting on the legacy of 9/11 ten years on. The site-specific production takes place in an old trading hall at St Katherine's Dock in London and is written by a team of authors including Abi Morgan, Alecky Blythe and Mike Bartlett. Jonathan Freedland reviews. Sue MacGregor, chair of the judges for this year's BBC National Short Story Award, announces the shortlisted writers live on Front Row tonight. Following the announcement, Kirsty Lang will interview the first of the successful authors, with the other four writers being interviewed on Front Row next week. The winner of the £15,000 award will be announced live on Front Row on Monday 26 September.Singer-songwriter Mara Carlyle has had an eventful musical career. After being dropped by her record company, her independently-released latest album Floreat, seven years after her critically acclaimed debut, was destroyed in a warehous