Front Row: Archive 2012

With Mark Lawson.Actor John Goodman discusses his latest role in Argo, Ben Affleck's film about a high-risk cinematic solution to the Iranian hostage crisis in the late '70s, which is based on a true story.Secret State is a new TV adaptation of Chris Mullin's novel A Very British Coup. Gabriel Byrne stars as the Deputy Prime Minister thrown into the limelight when his boss disappears. Political journalist Andrew Rawnsley reviews the programme.Orhan Pamuk was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006, recognized for novels including Snow and My Name is Red. Silent House is his second novel and has just been translated into English for the first time. The Turkish writer reflects on what makes his writing political and why Silent House is oddly prophetic.As the Vatican newspaper gives its blessing to the new James Bond movie, Papal expert John Cornwell surveys the history of the Catholic Church's complex relationship with cinema.Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Kirsty Lang.Rust and Bone, Jacques Audiard's follow-up to his award-winning prison drama A Prophet is an earthy romantic fable about the unlikely relationship between a bare-knuckle boxer and a trainer of killer whales. Marion Cotillard, the star of Rust and Bone, talks to Kirsty, and critic Sandra Hebron reviews the film.Steven Tyler and Joe Perry from Aerosmith discuss their album, Music From Another Dimension. The band members talk about working with Julian Lennon and Johnny Depp, and why it's been over a decade since they last released new material.Paper is the subject of a new exhibition, The First Cut, at Manchester Art Gallery. The show features 31 artists from around the world who use this most basic of artistic materials to create their art. Kirsty Lang talks to Rob Ryan, one of the artists involved in the show who is known for his detailed papercuts, and curator Fiona Corridan. As Secret Cinema launch a Secret Hotel, writer Adam Smith acts as our guide on a whistle-stop tour of the great hotels

With Mark Lawson. The film The Master is an impressionistic tale of an American war veteran who drifts into a cult led by a charismatic writer. Paul Thomas Anderson's follow-up to There Will Be Blood is partly inspired by the activities of novelist and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, and the director even invited Scientologist Tom Cruise to a personal screening. Lionel Shriver, author of We Need To Talk About Kevin, delivers her verdict.Seduced By Art is the National Gallery's first major exhibition of photography. Recent photographs by Martin Parr hang next to a painting by Thomas Gainsborough from 1750, as the exhibition explores the relationship between historical painting, early photography and works created by photographers today. Photographer Jillian Edelstein and art critic William Feaver give their reaction.In a rare broadcast interview recorded in New York, composer Thomas Adès discusses his opera The Tempest, which he is currently conducting at Metropolitan Opera. He also reveals why he fled fro

Mark Lawson interviews the American writer Tom Wolfe, as he publishes a new novel, Back to Blood, which is set amidst the wealth, sex and crime of contemporary Miami.It's now 25 years since Wolfe published his first novel, the controversial best-seller Bonfire Of The Vanities, and his new book is also a dissection of racial tension in urban America. The writer reflects on what, if anything, has changed in the intervening years. In a wide-ranging conversation, Wolfe also discusses political correctness, online pornography, his chances of winning a Nobel Prize and why he believes the French ruined American literature.Producer Stephen Hughes.

With Mark LawsonDramatist Jez Butterworth talks about the pressures of following on from the success of his play Jerusalem, which starred Mark Rylance. His new play The River stars Dominic West and is being staged in a very small theatre. Jez Butterworth explains the choice of venue, and the unusual ticketing arrangements introduced to cope with demand. Doctor Who and Sarah Jane Adventures writers Russell T Davies and Phil Ford have created a new action thriller, Wizards vs Aliens. In the CBBC series, a 16 year old wizard and his best friend are the only people who can protect Earth from magic hungry aliens. Novelist Matt Thorne and his young son give the verdict from different generations.The idea of music on the move has inspired two specially-commissioned soundscapes to fit specific journeys. Portishead guitarist Adrian Utley has created a piece of music for the National Trust, to accompany a walk at Croft Castle in Herefordshire, and composer Philip Sheppard has written a score to accompany the Gatwick Ex

With Mark Lawson.Mark Gatiss stars as King Charles I in Howard Brenton's play 55 Days, which focuses on the period culminating in the trial and execution of the monarch, as Oliver Cromwell takes control. Peter Kemp reviews.Cartoonist and writer Posy Simmonds, whose creations include Tamara Drewe, discusses Mrs Weber's Omnibus - a collection of the newspaper comic strips she began in 1977 and continued for more than a decade. The strips centre on three middle-class, middle-aged school friends and their families, and Posy Simmonds reflects on finding inspiration from everyday life, and how she approached the ageing of her characters. At lunchtime today Derry~Londonderry City of Culture 2013 announced its programme of events. Executive Programmer Graeme Farrow reveals what's happening, and the decisions behind his choice. Seal Team Six: the Raid on Osama Bin Laden is a new film to be broadcast on TV in America two days before the Presidential election - and it has prompted controversy following reports that prod

With Mark Lawson. Thomas Keneally, who won the Booker Prize for Schindler's Ark, discusses the inspiration for his new novel The Daughters of Mars. Set in 1915, the book focuses on two Australian sisters who join the war effort as nurses, bringing a guilty family secret with them. Keneally talks about his technique of taking historic subjects and showing them from an individual perspective.Dan Stevens, best known for his role as Matthew Crawley in ITV's Downton Abbey, is making his first appearance on Broadway. He plays the charming suitor Morris Townsend in a revival of The Heiress, a play based on Henry James' novel Washington Square. He reflects on making Broadway history as the first actor to take a break from performing to judge the Man Booker prize. Michael Palin's career after Monty Python has taken him literally around the world. For 25 years he has been making travel documentaries, starting with Great Railway Journeys of the World, and his latest series takes him to Brazil. Rebecca Nicholson and Chri

With Kirsty Lang.When poet Sharon Olds' husband told her he was leaving her, she took out her notebook and started writing. Her new volume, Stag's Leap, charts the death of that marriage in a collection of poems now shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize for Poetry. Sharon Olds is known for being a poet of the personal, and she joins Kirsty to discuss her latest revelations. A black female lead character is a rare sight in television, which is why Scandal - a new drama from the US about political corruption - has attracted attention. It stars Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope, a crisis-management expert in Washington DC, and is loosely based on Judy Smith, former press aide to President George H. W. Bush. Gaylene Gould reviews. Elena, a new film from Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev, won the Cannes Film Festival's Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize earlier this year. Elena is forced to fight for an inheritance from her wealthy husband, in a modern take on the classic noir. Author A D Miller, a former Moscow c

With Kirsty Lang. Sam Mendes, director of the new James Bond film Skyfall, discusses the vital ingredients needed to make a successful 007 adventure, and the art of updating Ian Fleming's classic character for a contemporary audience.Kevin Costner won the Best Actor in a mini-series award at the Emmys this year for his performance in the TV drama Hatfields & McCoys. He's not the only Hollywood star winning acclaim on TV - Claire Danes, Julianne Moore and Jessica Lange all also won Emmys this year for their small-screen work. As Hatfields & McCoys comes to the UK, Sarah Churchwell reviews the programme, and considers the allure of TV for cinema stars. Biographer Tom Reiss discusses the real Count of Monte Cristo: General Alexandre Dumas was an idol of Revolutionary France, famed for his military exploits and physical courage. He inspired the adventure novels The Three Musketeers and The Count Of Monte Cristo, which were written by his son, also called Alexandre. Tom Reiss discusses how General Dumas,

With Kirsty Lang.Ginger & Rosa is a coming-of-age drama set during the Cuban missile crisis about two teenage girls who find that the bomb has brought them together. A heady mix of jazz, love, politics and shrink-to-fit jeans, it's a partly autobiographical tale from director Sally Potter, best known for Orlando. Writer and Spare Rib founder Rosie Boycott delivers her verdict.Ralph Steadman is famous for his illustrations accompanying the work of Hunter S Thompson and his political and social caricatures. His latest project is the book Extinct Boids, a collaboration with film-maker Ceri Levy which aims to draw attention to the risk of extinction faced by many bird species. They explain how what started off as a one off commission became 130 drawings.Lighting designer Patrick Woodroffe has spent the last 30 years creating light shows in the worlds of music, fashion, art, architecture and film. He has done the lighting design for large-scale concerts by the likes of Lady Gaga, Elton John and Michael Jackson

With Kirsty Lang.Rod Stewart, the gravelly-voiced singer, songwriter, and stadium-filling star behind hits such as Maggie May and You Wear It Well - and chart-topping covers including I Don't Want To Talk About It - talks to Kirsty about his passion for art, how his less than perfect harmonica playing opened doors for him, and his only regret.Hebburn is a culture clash TV sit-com about what happens when a Geordie twentysomething brings his Jewish wife home to meet his family. Critic Boyd Hilton delivers his verdict.The Lost Prince at the National Portrait Gallery is an exhibition which focuses on the life of Henry Prince of Wales, son of James I, who was destined to become King Henry IX, but died at the age of 18. The exhibition includes his post-mortem report as well as miniatures, manuscripts and paintings and gives a glimpse into the culturally rich life of the young prince. Historian Suzannah Lipscomb reviews. Singer Lana Del Rey opens her new song with a long spoken section. The track joins an illustriou

With Mark Lawson. Some of the most famous costumes in Hollywood history, including John Travolta's suit from Saturday Night Fever and Judy Garland's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, are on show in a major new exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Curator Deborah Nadoolman Landis and Deborah Scott, costume designer for Titanic and Avatar, discuss the collection.Three new rock documentaries are released this week, focusing on blues legend BB King, the rock group Status Quo, and the former frontman of Queen, Freddie Mercury. Music critics Rosie Swash and David Hepworth compare and contrast the films' styles and content.A vast bronze statue of a pregnant woman by the artist Damien Hirst now stands near the seafront in Ilfracombe, Devon. The 20-metre statue called Verity has been given to the seaside town by Hirst on a 20-year loan. Travis Elborough, writer of Wish You Were Here: England on Sea, went to take a look, and gives his verdict on the work, and its role in the town's life. During the 2008 ele

With Mark Lawson. As Graham Norton prepares for the return of his TV show, he discusses whether the chat show has become sanitized, and also considers if it's right to address rumours which sometimes surround high-profile guests. Beasts Of The Southern Wild is an incantatory, award-winning evocation of a small community precariously positioned near the waterline in a Louisiana bayou. Seen through the eyes of a six year old waif, Benh Zeitlin's magical realist drama follows events as the storms arrive and wash away the ramshackle homes in a tide of mud. Diane Roberts delivers her verdict.Joy Division were one of the most influential bands of the modern era, inspiring books and a feature film, Control. Their bassist Peter Hook has now written his version of the band's story, and he reflects on their troubled career, including the illness and eventual suicide of singer Ian Curtis.Producer Stephen Hughes.

With Mark Lawson. Tim Burton's new black-and-white animated film Frankenweenie tells the story of a young boy Victor, who harnesses the powers of science to bring his faithful pet dog Sparky back to life, with monstrous consequences. Critic Mark Eccleston reviews.David Walliams, the comedian and co-creator of Little Britain with Matt Lucas, has just published his memoir Camp David. The autobiography includes his TV work, his charity fundraising - including swimming the Channel and the Thames - and the difficulties he's faced coping with depression. He reflects on the experience of re-assessing his life for the page. Girls is the latest hit American show to come to British TV screens. It's written and directed by Lena Dunham, who also stars as Hannah, an aspiring writer living in Brooklyn whose parents decide they will no longer fund her income-free lifestyle. Like Sex and the City, Hannah is surrounded by friends who each embody a female archetype. Writer and comedian Viv Groskop gives her verdict. Producer J

With Kirsty Lang. Jack Kerouac's novel On The Road has finally been turned into a film - directed by Walter Salles and starring Garrett Hedlund, Sam Riley and Kristen Stewart - 60 years after he wrote it. The original manuscript, written over three weeks on one long scroll, is currently on view at the British Library. Writer Iain Sinclair discusses whether the book has made a successful trip from scroll to screen The Broadway musical American Idiot, based on the music of rock band Green Day, has just begun a British tour. It follows the fortunes of three young friends, finding their way in post 9/11 American suburbia. Music critic Kate Mossman reviews. The Cold War has fascinated artists Jane and Louise Wilson ever since they established themselves with two works, Gamma, about the Greenham air force base, and Stasi City, examining the secret police HQ in East Berlin. They tell Kirsty about their latest show, the culmination of a three year project looking at the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster Sup

With Mark Lawson.Comedy performer David Mitchell, best known for his role in Peep Show, discusses his autobiography, Back Story. The book charts events in Mitchell's life through a series of walks through London. He reflects on whether comedians need misery to be funny, his partnership with Robert Webb and his first sketch at a student comedy night.The Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded to Chinese writer Mo Yan, whose work has been described as combining "hallucinatory realism" with folk tales, history and contemporary life. John Freeman, the editor of Granta magazine, who recently spent time with the new Nobel laureate in China, assesses his work.Bertie Carvel stars in a new National Theatre production of Damned by Despair, a 17th century Spanish morality tale by Tirso de Molina. Playwright Frank McGuinness has written a new version of the play, which follows the intertwining fates of two strangers. Writer Kate Saunders gives her verdict.Recent screen roles for British actors Damian Lewis and Emma W

With Kirsty Lang. When The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour was broadcast on BBC One on Boxing Day in 1967, it marked what some saw at the time as their fall from grace and others saw as an audacious countercultural moment. As the BBC prepares to screen the film again, and it's released on DVD, poet Paul Farley decides whether the trip is worth a detour. Actress Anne-Marie Duff first reached a wide audience playing Fiona in the acclaimed TV drama Shameless. She discusses her latest stage performance, in the title role in Jean Racine's Berenice, and also reflects on her interest in writing, and her love of a particular long-running Radio 4 drama serial. Artist David Shrigley is about to open his second major exhibition of the year, and is also publishing his version of a self-help book. His exhibition How Are You Feeling? features drawings, paintings, sculpture, videos and live performance in his humorous deadpan style. He reveals why he wants to help us cope with "an increasingly crazy and poorly signposted worl

With Mark Lawson. Roy Hattersley, former Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, gives his verdict on James Graham's new play This House. Philip Glenister, Phil Daniels and Vincent Franklin star as Labour whips who will do anything to win the vote in the hung parliament in 1974.The best-selling Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø was a footballer, stockbroker and the singer in one of Norway's biggest rock bands, before turning his hand to crime fiction in 1997, when he started a series of books featuring Detective Harry Hole. As his debut book in the series - The Bat - is published in English for the first time, he discusses turning crime clichés into crime gold.The influential and reticent musician Prince remains something of an enigma. A new biography aims to shed light on a performer who was a chart star in the 1980s, but has steered his own idiosyncratic course ever since. Its author Matt Thorne joins Mark to discuss how Prince's life informs his music. Producer Nicki Paxman.

Musician Pete Townshend reflects on the highs and lows of a career which spans almost half a century, in conversation with John Wilson.Townshend remembers his motivation for writing songs such as My Generation and I Can't Explain for The Who in the mid-1960s. He also recalls how his father, a dance-band saxophonist, did not encourage his musical ambitions. In the light of his new memoir, Townshend examines his troubled childhood, and how it shaped him. He also looks back to the events surrounding his caution by the police in 2003, after entering his credit card details on a website which hosted pornographic images of children. And after the deaths of band members Keith Moon and John Entwistle, he reflects on how he feels about taking to the stage with The Who now, including this year's performance at the Olympic closing ceremony. Producer John Goudie.

With Mark Lawson.Ruby Sparks is the new film from the directors of the Oscar-winning Little Miss Sunshine, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. It explores the writer's fantasy of having a character come to life. Novelist Meg Rosoff reviews. Alan Sillitoe's classic story, The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner, has been adapted for a new touring stage production by the playwright Roy Williams. He has swapped Sillitoe's 1950s Nottingham setting for London in 2012 just after the Olympics. Mark talks to Williams, director Marcus Romer and the star of the new production, Elliot Barnes-Worrell, about re-imagining the story for a contemporary audience - and the art of running on stage. The Plane Crash is a TV documentary which delivers what the title says: scientists, pilots and aviation experts deliberately crashed an airliner in a remote Mexican desert, to find out what actually happens in such situations. Writer Henry Sutton, whose novels include Flying, set on a plane, gives his verdict.The photographer and f