Front Row

Review: Christopher Nolan's film The Odyssey with Matt Damon and Zendaya 16.07.2026 42min

Tom Sutcliffe is joined by film critic Tim Robey and classicist Edith Hall to discuss:Christopher Nolan's much anticipated film version of Homer's epic The Odyssey, shot with IMAX cameras and with a stellar cast which includes Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya and Samantha Morton.A new production of The Oresteia directed by acclaimed Australian director Simon Stone at the Bridge Theatre, London. Updated to the contemporary world, the play stars David Morrissey and Mary-Louise Parker.Booker-shortlisted for her novel Burnt Sugar, author Avni Doshi's new book The First House focuses on the impact of a disintegrating marriage. Also, theatre critic Matt Wolf talks to Tom about the state of Broadway musicals after Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats: The Jellicle Ball announced it will be closing early.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Lucy Collingwood

Heartstopper creator Alice Oseman 15.07.2026 42min

The coming-of-age series Heartstopper has been a phenomenon with young readers and viewers in recent years. Its creator Alice Oseman joins us as the film Heartstopper Forever lands on Netflix, and as the final graphic novel in her series is published. JD Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is one of the all-time greats of American literature and has inspired many writers including George Saunders, Dave Eggers and Sally Rooney. On the eve of the 75th anniversary of the book's publication, the author's son Matt Salinger talks to us about the universal appeal of the novel, the protagonist Holden Caulfield and his father's reputation as a recluse. And prog rock gets the Proms treatment! As a Prom this Saturday evening at the Royal Albert Hall sees work by Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Genesis, Jethro Tull, Mike Oldfield and Renaissance performed by a full-scale orchestra, Stuart Maconie, who is hosting the concert, and founder member of ELP Carl Palmer discuss prog rock's significance and legacy. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

Christopher Nolan on his film The Odyssey, Little House on the Prairie, novelist Candice Carty-Williams 14.07.2026 42min

British director Christopher Nolan discusses his biggest cinematic blockbuster yet: The Odyssey, which stars Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland and more, in his retelling of Homer’s epic poem about the warrior Odysseus’s battles with ancient Greek monsters like the Cyclops, Circe and the Sirens on his quest to return to his family after the Trojan War.We talk with Tom Kiehl, CEO of the industry body UK Music, about the government’s recent announcement of plans ‘to turn up the music business,’ with new powers and investment. Is it something new or a rehash of old ideas? A new adaptation of Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder has just been released on Netflix. Samira is joined by author Tracy Chevalier and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s biographer Pamela Smith-Hill to discuss the series and the enduring appeal of the stories.Candice Carty-Williams' breakthrough 2019 novel Queenie became a bestseller, made the publishing industry sit up and was adapted into series for Channel 4. Now she is back with her trademark blend of comedy and politics with Queenie is Working on It, a sequel which explores topics of fertility, sex and body image for a young black woman in contemporary Britain. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Andrea Kidd

Diane Morgan on playing a robot in TV comedy Ann Droid. 13.07.2026 42min

Diane Morgan on her BBC TV comedy series Ann Droid, in which she stars as the eponymous robot helper to Sue Johnston. We pay tribute to actor Sam Neill, who has died at the age of 78. His screen work stretched from blockbusters like Jurassic Park to small independent New Zealand releases.Anna Reynolds, Surveyor of the King's Pictures, on the rehang of Buckingham Palace Picture Gallery. Reopened recently, it has doubled the number of stunning works on display to the public; from Vermeer to Stubbs to Canaletto.Saxophonist Emma Rawicz won UK Jazz Act of the Year at 2026 Jazz FM Awards. She's currently touring with a range of projects, which includes her 20-piece Jazz Orchestra, which she manages as well as composing and arranging original music.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe

Review Show: The Rolling Stones album Foreign Tongues 09.07.2026 42min

Critic and columnist Dr Kate Maltby and author Michael Donkor join Tom Sutcliffe to review Robota, the inaugural large-scale production at the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities in Oxford. The production explores what happens to humanity when the line between human and machine blurs. They also discuss Country People by Pulitzer Prize nominated author Daniel Mason. The novel explores a year in the life of a family as they strike out into the unknown. And talk about Foreign Tongues the 25th studio album by the Rolling Stones. Plus, as the 2016 global hit Moana is turned into a live action film, critic Larushka Ivan- Zadeh assesses why Disney remakes films and whether they are any good.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet

Lynval Golding of The Specials on the band's swansong album 08.07.2026 41min

Lynval Golding of two-tone and ska legends The Specials , on the band’s final album, Live from the Cathedral, which was recorded in Coventry Cathedral. and which pays tribute to the band's late frontman Terry Hall. Photographers Tish Murtha and Sandra George, whose work represented disadvantaged and marginalised communities in Newcastle and Edinburgh respectively, were not given the recognition they deserved in their lifetimes. Now with major exhibitions at Baltic Gateshead and City Art Centre in Edinburgh, we discuss the significance of their work. David Thomson is renowned as the doyen of film criticism, but his latest book - A Sudden Flicker of Light - is billed as a revisionist history of the movies and asks us whether the film industry has given us false expectations of life. He speaks to us from California. And we're joined live in the studio by the artist who's won an international competition to create a permanent memorial to author Dame Muriel Spark in Edinburgh, the city of her birth. Presenter : Kirsty Wark Producer : Mark Crossan

Ai Weiwei in Manchester 07.07.2026 42min

Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei has just created his largest site-specific exhibition - Ai Weiwei: Button Up! - which has now opened at Aviva Studios in Manchester. Xiaowen Zhu, Director of esea contemporary art gallery, has been to see the monumental works on show and shares her thoughts on whether in this case bigger is truly better. Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour on his ground-breaking play, White Rabbit Red Rabbit. He's joined by the actor Lucian Msamati who has taken on one of the performances in the latest run of the play in which neither the actor or the audience know what the play is about until the actor opens an envelope on stage.Journalist Stephen Armstrong reflects on the Jackass phenomenon as Jackass: Best and Last, the final film in the franchise, is released. As Discofoot, a fusion of dance and football, premieres in the US as part of the country's World Cup celebrations, visual artist Alina Akbar, winner of this year's Football Art Prize with her video piece - Footwork - discusses why football and dance make great partners.Presenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Madonna's Confessions II album, Daphne du Maurier, Sky buying ITV 06.07.2026 42min

Confessions II is Madonna's first album in 7 years. Novelist Matt Cain and journalist and broadcaster Miranda Sawyer discuss going back to the dancefloor.Sky TV has offered £1.6 bn pounds for ITV's free to air channel and its streaming platform ITVX. Jake Kanter, journalist for the screen industry website Deadline, considers what it will mean for British television. With a new play about Daphne du Maurier - Daphne, The Secret Lives of Daphne Du Maurier - at the Northcott Theatre in Exeter, the playwright Rosie Race joins Samira Ahmed, along with Helen Taylor, author of a detailed biographical guide to her work, The Daphne du Maurier Companion to discuss her life and work. And with last weekend’s 4th of July celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of US independence from Britain, actor and filmmaker Tara Gadomski looks at the impact of the cultural events taking place across the country.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Andrea Kidd

Review Show: Penélope Cruz in The Invite, Pride the Musical 02.07.2026 42min

Tom Sutcliffe is joined by critics Bidisha and David Benedict to review:The Invite, a new film directed by Olivia Wilde about two couples who join each other for dinner, starring Seth Rogan and Olivia Wilde as hosts and Edward Norton and Penélope Cruz as their guests.Pride the Musical, created by the same team as the hit 2014 film, which tells the true story of a group of LGBT activists who support a Welsh mining community during the 1980's miners' strikes. And the novel Trouble Was by Charlotte Edwardes which is told from the perspective of young schoolboy Frank whose family leaves their home to move in with their aunt in her farmhouse, during the 1976 heatwave.Tom also talks to journalist William Lee Adams about the news that Canada is joining Eurovision.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Lucy Collingwood

Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro on his passion for films featuring trains 01.07.2026 42min

The acclaimed novelist Kazuo Ishiguro talks about how he went about curating a season of films featuring trains for the BFI - from classics such as Shanghai Express by Josef von Sternberg and Sidney Lumet's Murder on the Orient Express to lesser known gems - and about how trains have inspired his own work - including songs, and his forthcoming novel, Miss Lambert Steps Aboard Danger. Actresses Maureen Beattie and Tracy-Ann Oberman discuss why they've changed the gender of popular roles for stage productions which are opening soon - Lear at Pitlochry Festival Theatre which sees one of Shakespeare's greatest tragic figures portrayed as a matriarch in decline, and at the Theatre Royal Bath, Garry Essendine in Noel Coward's comedy about the perils of celebrity Present Laughter is now Gerri Essendine, an ageing actress desperately clinging on to her youthful beauty. Author Stuart Cosgrove hails Village People frontman Victor Willis (whose death has just been announced) as one of the finest soul voices of his generation, whose talents were perhaps overlooked due to the novelty reputation which came to be associated with the group. And Dr Sonke Prigge tells us why - and how - he has preserved the sound of the clattering mill, traditionally used in Germany to scare away birds from cherry orchards, for the British Library's sound archive. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

Dave Eggers on his new novel Contrapposto and Supergirl director Craig Gillespie 30.06.2026 41min

Author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and The Circle, Dave Eggers is back with a new novel about a young aspiring artist. Contrapposto follows Cricket, an insular smalltown boy, enchanted by drawing, as well as an older girl, and in part draws on Eggers’ on experiences of the art world. Visiting the UK for the first time in over a decade, he speaks to Samira Ahmed in a rare interview.As an officially licensed AI Michael Caine narrated audiobook The Odyssey has recently been released, Media and AI lawyer Kelsey Farish and Guardian Film Editor Catherine Shoard discuss why a number of high profile actors, or their estates, have signed up to have their images and voices cloned for use by AI and what it means for the future of the industry.Jamir Nazir has won this year's Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Called The Serpent in the Grove, he explains how his childhood observations of rural life in his native Trinidad inspired the story, and describes the impact of winning on him and his family.Craig Gillespie talks about his new film Supergirl, a space adventure starring The House of Dragon actress Milly Alcock as Superman's mighty cousin. The I, Tonya and Cruella director reveals how this movies was inspired by the western True Grit and why he wanted to make the last daughter of Krypton a more complex and flawed character than has been shown on screen before.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Andrea Kidd

Penelope Keith tribute, Russell Tovey, Katherine Rundell on fairy tales 29.06.2026 42min

We mark the passing of actress Dame Penelope Keith, speaking with John Lloyd and Mel Giedroyc about her long career. Actor Russell Tovey plays a troubled police officer dealing with a late night emergency in The Guilty at The Donmar Warehouse in London.Katherine Rundell on updating Cinderella for a contemporary audience, as part of Radio 4's Once Upon a Time series. We discover the photographic genius of Jacques Henri Lartigue, whose work spanned almost the entire 20th century. An exhibition of his colour photographs has just opened in Milton KeynesPresenter: Samira Ahmed

Review Show: Frida Kahlo, Mads Mikkelsen in The Last Viking, Museum of the Year 25.06.2026 42min

Writer Charlotte Mullins and author Viv Groskop join Tom to discuss the Frida Kahlo exhibition at Tate Modern in London. It's the highest pre-selling exhibition in Tate's history, and contains 30 significant works, has her clothes on display, and looks at the artist's life and impact on contemporaries and later generations.They also offer their verdict on the Danish black comedy The Last Viking, which is the 6th film by director/actor trio Anders Thomas Jensen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Mads Mikkelsen. Finally, they talk about Lisa Owens' novel Natural Disaster which dissects the last 24 hours before a mother goes back to work after maternity leave. Plus The Box in Plymouth is revealed as the winner of the UK Museum of the Year, with Chair of Judges Jenny Waldman. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet

Lauren Child on 25 years of Charlie & Lola 24.06.2026 42min

25 years since she published her first Charlie and Lola book, former Children's Laureate Lauren Child returns with a new friendship-focused series featuring best-friends Lotta and Lola. She joins us to talk about her approach to writing for children and about the importance of reading together as a family. Refik Anadol, one of the creative team behind Dataland, a vast new museum dedicated to AI art which opened this weekend in Los Angeles, tells us about the multi-sensory experiences visitors walk through on their journey through the building and how the Museum embraces and celebrates digital art while finding solutions to energy usage and volumes of data. Turner Prize winning artist Jasleen Kaur's new trail of sculptures on the banks of the River Clyde in Glasgow take the form of weather vanes and question the city's links to trade and colonialism. She tells us more about this commission to mark Glasgow 2026, the cultural festival which complements this summer's Commonwealth Games. And as an exhibition of theatrical portraits of stars of stage and screen by Cecil Beaton go on display at Harewood House in Yorkshire, curator Bryony Smith and design historian Stephen Bayley explain why everyone who was anyone wanted to sit for the legendary photographer, and how his photographs also changed public perceptions of the monarchy. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

Bill Nighy on acting, podcasting and style tips 24.06.2026 42min

Bill Nighy joins to talk about his new family drama 500 Miles, where he plays a reclusive painter on the west coast of Ireland who gets an unexpected visit from his two Sheffield-based grandsons. He also discusses his early days in acting, his famous role in Love Actually, and why he's become an agony uncle in a new podcast. Today, the Carnegie Medal for Writing was awarded to Beth O’Brien for her debut YA novel Wolf Siren, and Kate Rolfe won the Carnegie Medal for Illustration for her book Wiggling Words. Both join Front Row to discuss their books Hold To This Earth: Works by Contemporary Indigenous North American Artists from Tia Collection is the new show at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Art critic Veronica Simpson reviews. Merky Books Prize-winning writer, and filmmaker, Sufiyaan Salam, on the inspiration behind his debut novel, Wimmy Road Boyz, which follows three young males pushed to the limits of their masculinity during a life-altering night out. Presenter Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Linda Perry sings live, and we celebrate Mel Brooks' 100th birthday 22.06.2026 42min

Linda Perry came to fame as lead singer of the all-female band Four Non-Blondes. She went on to be a hugely successful songwriter and producer, writing hits for the likes of Pink and Christina Aguilera, and collaborating with Dolly Parton. She's now released her first solo album for 27 years - Let It Die Here - and a documentary film of the same name. Linda came to perform for Front Row and explain why she’d stepped back into the limelight.Mel Brooks is the filmmaker who gave us such comedies as Blazing Saddles and The Producers. He turns 100 on Sunday so we're celebrating it with his son Max Brooks, and the writer and culture journalist Hadley Freeman.James Burrows, who died at the weekend at the age of 85 directed more than a thousand episodes of many classic American sitcoms – such as Friends, Will and Grace and The Big Bang Theory. The writer and TV Critic Scott Bryan remembers James Burrow's life and career.And Glenn Tillbrook from Squeeze tells us about The Everywhere At Once Festival, a special music event this weekend that’s celebrating grassroots venues around the UK.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Andrea Kidd

Review: Anish Kapoor, Virginia Woolf's Night and Day, Toy Story 5 18.06.2026 43min

Writer Stephanie Merritt and Telegraph film critic Robbie Collin join Tom to review Anish Kapoor’s immersive exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London, which includes huge red sculptures, black holes and boundless mirrors that challenge perspectives. They also discuss The End Of Everything by M. John Harrison, a post-apocalyptic novel where the nature of the crisis remains unclear. And they review Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day – a film adaptation of her novel with a cast including Haley Bennett, Timothy Spall, Jennifer Saunders and Lily Allen. Plus, Toy Story 5 director Andrew Stanton talks about the latest film in the franchise, and as a co-writer for all the films in the series he talks about how they've changed over the years.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet

Katherine Hepburn novel, plus the Obama Presidential Center opens 17.06.2026 41min

Priya Parmar's novel The Original tells the story of how actor Katharine Hepburn set out to become one of the true movie icons of the 20th century and succeeded. She's joined to talk about Hepburn's life and career by film historian Pamela Hutchinson. As the Obama Presidential Center opens later this week in Chicago, we hear how its architecture is being viewed in the city, how it compares with other presidential libraries and what it might do for the people of Chicago. As the National Library of Scotland's new exhibition showcases how artists, filmmakers and poets across the centuries have been inspired by rain, poet Don Paterson and head of collections at the library Alison Stevenson join us to discuss why we're conditioned to think about rain in particular ways and about the best creative responses to a weather condition we know all too well. Presenter: Kate Molleson Producer: Mark Crossan

A new Brian Epstein biography and how Estonia is protecting its cultural treasures from potential attack 16.06.2026 42min

The Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, is widely regarded as the man who helped the band break through. He's inspired plays, films, and even an artistic installation by the Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller. He's now the subject of a new biography, Mr Moonlight, by Philip Norman.A Unesco-listed cathedral in Kyiv went up in flames on Sunday night after an intense Russian bombing attack. The Ukrainian government sees the attack on the historic Pechersk Lavra monastery complex as part of a sustained campaign to destroy the nation’s cultural landmarks and identity. And in Kharkiv, workers at the state art museum have just moved its collection after a bombing raid caused fires. The Baltic republic of Estonia, which has an Eastern border with Russia, say it is planning for such attacks too. Samira Ahmed talks to its culture minister, Merilin Piipuu.Tributes have been pouring in for the Oscar-winning special effects pioneer Brian Johnson, who’s died at the age of 87. He worked on the British television shows Thunderbirds and Space:1999, the latter taking him to Hollywood, and The Empire Strikes Back. One of those who has been influenced by his craft is the visual effects designer and filmmaker Paul Franklin, who explains why Brian Johnson changed the sci-fi landscape.What is it like to grow up in a town which lost its industry decades before you were even born? That’s the story of Effie o Blaenau, Effie in Blaenau, a Welsh language film about a young woman looking for love to escape her weekly routine of unemployment and drinking. Lead actor Leisa Gwenllian joins Samira in the Front Row studio to discuss her role. When the Barbie film was released in 2023, it made over a billion dollars in just 17 days – making director Greta Gerwig the first ever woman to reach that milestone as a solo director. Now an exhibition charting the evolution of Barbie from her creation in 1959 to the present day is opening in Glasgow. It was first shown at London’s Design Museum, where it proved one of the venue’s most popular ever shows. Senior curator Danielle Thom and writer and fan Sara Sheridan discuss Barbie as art. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Andrea Kidd

David Hockney special 15.06.2026 42min

Tom Sutcliffe presents a special edition of Front Row on the art of David Hockney. The artists Maggi Hambling and Tacita Dean and Andrew Marr speak to Tom about Hockney's career and innovations.Tom also speaks to art critic Rachel Campbell-Johnston and the art critic and author James Cahill, author of The Beverley Hills Housewife: Hockney’s Californian Muse and the World Beyond the Pool, published later this year.The programme also features excerpts from interviews with Hockney.Producer: Eliane Glaser