Front Row: Archive 2012

With Mark Lawson, including an interview with the The Angel Of The North sculptor Antony Gormley as a new exhibition, Still Standing, opens in London and a project about Beckett called Godot Tree is unveiled in Enniskillen.In an exclusive interview the creator of chat show host Angelos Epithemiou, Dan Renton Skinner, reveals for the first time the inspiration behind his comedy character.Jason Manford is currently starring as an Italian barber in Sweeney Todd yet despite having presented The One Show briefly, the programme does not appear in his credits. Actor Michael Simkins reflects on the art of crafting an actor's CV.Art crime investigator Dick Ellis reveals what measures can be taken against the theft of sculptures in the wake of the disappearance of a Henry Moore sundial from the grounds of a Hertfordshire museum Producer Stephen Hughes.

With Mark Lawson. James Fenton reflects on how his years as a war reporter fed into his poetry, and why it moves him so much to hear that his poem For Andrew Wood is popular at funerals. And he reveals how the words of the Roman poet Catullus happily fit the Archers theme tune. Author Nicola Barker is known for her distinctive dialogue and unpleasant characters. She discusses her new novel and explains why she wanted to set it in Luton.Bank Of Dave is a Channel 4 documentary which follows the fortunes of Dave Fishwick, who sets up his own small bank. Dave is also the name of a TV channel. David Quantick - David rather than Dave - charts the Daves and Davids in popular culture.Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan were set to be reunited in a huge concert in Hyde Park this evening. But along with many other summer music events it has been cancelled due to the wet weather. Insurance expert Jeff Park explains how our increasingly wet summers will affect festival prices.Producer Ellie Bury.

With John Wilson.Jazz musician Wynton Marsalis discusses his approach to the history of jazz, his feelings about hip-hop, and the rhythms of Congo Square, New Orleans, which have inspired a major composition.Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is a new film from director Lorene Scarfaria, starring Keira Knightley and Steve Carrell. With three weeks to go before the apocalypse, a man decides to take a road trip to reunite with his high school sweetheart. Rachel Cooke reviews.Philippe Halsman was a celebrity photographer who often used to get his subjects to jump - arguing that, in jumping, they drop their "mask" and reveal their true personality. The little-known story of his life - which included a false charge of murder - has been turned into novel, by Austin Ratner. He and Joanna Pitman, photography critic for The Times discuss Philippe Halsman's life, influence and legacy.The Joseph Rowntree Foundation's Minimum Income Standards report says that a family with two children needs an income of nearly £3

With Mark Lawson. Matthew McConaughey and Channing Tatum star in Magic Mike, the latest film from Traffic and Ocean's Eleven director Steven Soderbergh. The film explores the world of all-male dance shows with Channing Tatum as the young stripper who dreams of something more. Antonia Quirke reviews.As John Morton's mockumentary Twenty Twelve - about the challenges facing the team charged with staging the 2012 Olympics - reaches its climax in three final episodes, he discusses the difficulty of making comedy just to the side of reality, and why he had no time to buy tickets to the real Olympic Games.Italian writer Andrea Camilleri, winner of this year's Crime Writers' Association International Dagger Award for the best crime novel translated into English, reflects on his famous creation - the food-loving Sicilian detective, Inspector Montalbano. Niall Leonard - the husband of E.L.James, creator of the best-selling 50 Shades of Grey series - also has a book deal. Professor John Sutherland joins Mark to discuss

With Kirsty Lang. Singers Amy Winehouse and Katy Perry are the focus of two new documentaries. Katy Perry: Part of Me follows the American performer on tour, as her marriage to Russell Brand was ending. Amy Winehouse - the Day She Came to Dingle includes footage of the late singer performing in a small Irish church in 2006. Mark Frith reviews. Singer Sam Lee gave up being a visual artist, a teacher of wilderness survival skills and a burlesque dancer, to learn folk songs. He talks about collecting material from gypsy and traveller communities for his CD, Ground of its Own, and the sounds - including birdsong and drones - that he has added to his interpretations.As Damien Hirst announces plans to erect a 20-metre statue of a pregnant woman in Ilfracombe, and London City Airport unveils what is claimed to be the UK's tallest bronze sculpture, art critic Rachel Campbell-Johnston considers the continuing appeal of large-scale art. Salman Rushdie has described the American writer Joseph Mitchell as a 'buried treas

With Kirsty Lang.Leading bass-baritone Bryn Terfel talks about the intrinsic character of Welsh music, as his four day BrynFest takes place with a 500 strong male voice choir and an open air Big Sing which anyone can join.Arabian Nights hero Sinbad the Sailor gets a modern makeover in a new TV series, from the production company behind Primeval. Critic Bidisha discusses Sinbad's contemporary appeal.As part of a major Hitchcock season, the BFI have restored his nine surviving silent films which will be given gala screenings with brand new scores. Composers Neil Brand, Nitin Sawhney and Mira Calix discuss the art of creating a signature Hitchcock sound for the 21st Century.The Shard is Western Europe's tallest building and tonight celebrates its official completion with a light show. Architect Renzo Piano's 72 level tower near London Bridge has been 12 years in development. Architecture writer Hugh Pearman reflects on the role of the skyscraper and its future. Producer Nicki Paxman.

With Mark Lawson.Julian Barnes reviews The Players (Les Infidèles), the new film by Jean Dujardin, the writer and lead actor of Oscar-winning movie The Artist. The film is a series of vignettes by different directors on the theme of infidelity, starring Jean Dujardin and Gilles Lellouche. Designing 007: Fifty Years of Bond Style is a new exhibition which charts the design and fashions of the James Bond films, half a century after Thunderball arrived in our cinemas. The golden gun, the flick-knife shoes, costumes, vehicles and set design are all on display. Writer Anthony Horowitz reviews. Writer and actor Ray Cooney pays tribute to Eric Sykes, whose death at the age of 89 was announced today. Nick Hewer, who found fame alongside Lord Sugar on The Apprentice, now moves onto agriculture. In The Farm Fixer he applies 40 years of business experience to aid struggling farms, starting close to his roots in Northern Ireland. He reflects on his TV career so far. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark LawsonMark reports from Bexhill on Sea, as artist Richard Wilson recreates the final scene of the film The Italian Job, balancing a full-sized replica coach on the roof of the De La Warr Pavilion. Wilson discusses his inspiration, and the practical problems it poses. Aaron Sorkin, creator of The West Wing and Oscar-winning writer of The Social Network, returns to TV with a new drama series, The Newsroom. This behind-the-scenes look at a TV news programme stars Jeff Daniels and Emily Mortimer. Former BBC news editor Mark Damazer reviews. The Trinidad-born author Monique Roffey was shortlisted for the Orange Prize in 2010 for her novel The White Woman on the Green Bicycle. Her new book, like her last, is set in the Caribbean and tells the story of a man devastated by the loss of his wife in a flood. In an attempt to escape, he sets off from Trinidad on a boat voyage with his six year old daughter and elderly dog for crew, aiming for the Galapagos Islands. Monique Roffey explains how she herself made j

With Mark Lawson.In the new three-part TV thriller Blackout, Christopher Eccleston plays a disillusioned, heavy-drinking local politician, who is dealing with the consequences of an alcohol-fuelled fight. Author and former MP Chris Mullin reviews.The new stage version of Chariots of Fire has just transferred to the West End, with the actors put through their paces on a running track which extends five rows out into the stalls. Mark puts on his running shoes and tries out the track for himself, alongside the set designer Miriam Buether. A new film Ping Pong follows a group of eight pensioners from different corners of the globe as they compete in the over-80s category of the World Table Tennis Championships in Inner Mongolia. Three-time Commonwealth table tennis champion and two-time Olympian Matthew Syed reviews.Photographer Stuart Roy Clarke has spent 20 years with his focus on football, taking over 100,000 photographs at more than 4000 matches around the world. As an exhibition of his work opens at the new

With John Wilson. Veteran soul singer Bobby Womack talks to John about surviving serious illness and a 50 year career that started in gospel and included writing hits for the likes of Janis Joplin and The Rolling Stones, and working with Damon Albarn on his new album.Matthew McConaughey is cast against type in his new film, Killer Joe, as a police detective who moonlights as a hit man. This controversial thriller comes from William Friedkin, best known as the director of The Exorcist, and is based on a play by the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Tracy Letts. Briony Hanson, Director of Film at the British Council, reviews. Jake Arnott talks about his new book The House of Rumour, which weaves stories of the occult, science fiction and espionage from the Second World War to the present day. It enlists real people - Ian Fleming, Aleister Crowley, Rudolf Hess, L Ron Hubbard - and places them in a cast of fictional science fiction writers, spies and actors. Jake reveals how Fleming met Crowley in real life, and how

With Mark Lawson Grammy-award winning singer-songwriter Macy Gray talks about her latest disc, Covered, her own take on the cover album. The songs come largely from the indie scene of the last decade, with versions of tracks by Arcade Fire, Radiohead and My Chemical Romance - as well as a special appearance by actor Idris Elba.Culture Minister Ed Vaizey discusses why he's optimist about the future of library services in England, and why he believes giving responsibility for library development to the Arts Council will help individual libraries stay relevant to their local communities. Composer Michael Berkeley and writer Adam Mars-Jones discuss the many attempts by novelists over the years to replicate the condition of music in their prose, from James Joyce to Anthony Burgess to the latest example, Sound by T.M. Wolf. The British Museum is re-opening a gallery dedicated to its extensive collection of money, at a time when the global economic system is in extraordinary focus. The Citi Money Gallery gives a his

With Mark Lawson. The Amazing Spider-Man is the latest summer blockbuster, a reboot of the tale of nerdy teenage Peter Parker, who acquires superpowers after he's been bitten by a spider. This time Andrew Garfield takes the title role, with Martin Sheen as his uncle Ben, and Rhys Ifans as an evil genius. Natalie Haynes gives her verdict. Joe Penhall on how watching his wife going through labour gave him the inspiration for his new play Birthday, why it had to star a pregnant man instead of a pregnant woman, and the audiences reaction to Stephen Mangan's prosthetically enhanced full-frontal.American academic and author Elaine Showalter and playwright Marcy Kahan pay tribute to Nora Ephron whose death was announced today. The Robben Island Bible is a copy of The Complete Works of Shakespeare, smuggled into South Africa's Robben Island prison, disguised as a religious text. Many political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela, read and annotated the book. Writer Matthew Hahn has written a play based on this, and t

With Kirsty LangZoe Williams, critic and author of What Not To Expect When You're Expecting, reviews the film Friends With Kids - a new comedy starring many of the cast of Bridesmaids, about a couple of friends who decide to have a child together, but not a relationship.A new exhibition of the art of Edvard Munch aims to make us look again at the artist best known for The Scream. It reveals his obsession with the rise of photography, film and stage production, features around sixty paintings and fifty photographs - and also includes his lesser-known filmic work. Critic Jackie Wullschlager of the Financial Times gives her verdict.The Poetry Parnassus is a London 2012 project which has worked to bring together the poetry from all two hundred and four nations competing in the Olympics. Simon Armitage discusses the project and introduces Audrey Brown-Pereira of the Cook Islands and Zeyar Lynn of Burma - who reflect on their involvement in the project.Author Clare Clark talks to Kirsty about her latest novel, Beau

With Mark Lawson. Terry Pratchett has teamed up with science fiction author Stephen Baxter to write The Long Earth, the first book in a projected series, which centres around a string of alternate earths accessed via a low-tech portal powered by electricity from a potato. They discuss why they decided to work together, what they argue about and who writes what.Emily Blunt and Rosemary Dewitt star in Your Sister's Sister, a romantic comedy about love, grief and sibling rivalry. Director Lynn Shelton is known for her improvised dialogue and indie sensibility. Gaylene Gould reviews.Jed Mercurio, writer of the TV medical dramas Cardiac Arrest and Bodies, talks about his new series Line Of Duty, which focuses on a corrupt police officer. Mercurio, who trained as a doctor, discusses the similarities and differences between TV drama's two favourite genres, and explains why the changes in modern policing make it perfect for his brand of gallows humour and unnerving realism. Producer Dymphna Flynn.

With Kirsty Lang.The Handspring Puppet Company, the creators of the award-winning War Horse horses, have turned to Ted Hughes' sequence of Crow poems for their new show, combining puppetry, music, dance and extracts of the verse. It's part of the London 2012 Festival. Bidisha reviews.In the week that Jimmy Carr has apologised for taking part in tax avoidance schemes, the comedy critic Stephen Armstrong explains why successful comedians have always been rich and why they've always needed to hide it.Turner Prize-winning artist Mark Wallinger has a large-scale solo show Site opening at the Baltic in Gateshead this week, to be followed next month by a film commission at Turner Contemporary in Margate, and a collaboration with the Royal Opera House and the National Gallery in London on a new ballet based on paintings by Titian. In his studio Wallinger takes stock of his workload and has the latest news on his plan to erect a 50-metre high statue of a white horse in the Kent countryside.Gordon Ramsay goes to Brixto

With Mark Lawson. On the eve of her 80th birthday, Prunella Scales discusses acting roles from Basil Fawlty's wife Sybil in the British comedy Fawlty Towers, to Queen Elizabeth II in the British film A Question of Attribution, and reveals secrets of family life with fellow thespians husband Timothy West and elder son Samuel West.Steve Coogan returns to TV in a one hour special, Alan Partridge: Welcome to The Places of my Life, and his occasional writing partner Armando Iannucci launches Veep, a new TV political sitcom about a woman senator - played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus from Seinfeld - who unexpectedly becomes vice-president (Veep) of the United States. Both are reviewed by Boyd Hilton.Artist Jenny Saville became known in the mid-1990s for monumental and distorted paintings of nude women - after Charles Saatchi bought up her entire post-graduate show. Saville discusses about her first ever solo exhibition in a UK public gallery, which opens at Modern Art Oxford this week and includes works inspired by Leonar

With Mark Lawson. Julie Walters returns to the stage playing an old hippie, in The Last of the Haussmans, a debut play by Stephen Beresford. The play also stars Helen McCrory and Rory Kinnear as Judy's grown-up children and the victims of a rackety 60s upbringing. Valerie Grove reviews.A new exhibition at the Science Museum celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Alan Turing, the wartime codebreaker and pioneering computer scientist. Actor Ed Stoppard, who played Turing in a recent TV docudrama, reviews. Actor Adrian Lester, star of hustle on BBC One, discusses his career and takes questions from a group of young would-be actors in a session recorded in Hackney at the Radio 1 Academy. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson.Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes is the executive producer of a series of Shakespeare's history plays, filmed for TV. He discusses why he believes in bringing Shakespeare to the small screen, and also considers the similarities between the Bard and his next film project, the new James Bond film Skyfall. In the new film Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, the 16th President of the United States discovers blood-thirsty vampires are planning to take over his country. The action horror film imagines Lincoln's secret identity as a vampire-hunter. Elaine Showalter reviews the film whose cast includes Rufus Sewell and Benjamin Walker.Lord Smith, former Culture Secretary, announces the winner of the £100 000 Art Fund Prize for museums and galleries, following the deliberations of his judging panel. Producer Philippa Ritchie.

With Kirsty Lang, A major Yoko Ono exhibition called To The Light opens this week with art installations, films with soundtracks by John Lennon, a maze and a room in which you're invited to record your smile. Writer Iain Sinclair gives his verdict. Rebecca Hall, Bruce Willis and Catherine Zeta Jones star in Stephen Frears' new film comedy, Lay the Favourite, set in the world of Las Vegas sports gambling. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews. The British Paraorchestra has been founded by conductor Charles Hazlewood to showcase disabled musicians, aiming to end the limitations placed on them, not by their physical ability but by lack of opportunity. Kirsty attended a rehearsal, to meet members of the orchestra. Pia Juul is a leading Danish literary author whose new book The Murder of Halland opens with a woman answering the door to be greeted with the words 'I am arresting you for the murder of your husband...'. Pia Juul discusses her crime-novel-with-a-difference, and her portrayal of one woman's grief as she comes to

With Kirsty LangGatz is a unique adaptation of The Great Gatsby, requiring an actor to read all 49,000 words of the novel as the rest of the cast bring it to life, in a production that lasts almost 8 hours. But is this more than just a feat of memory? Andrew Dickson delivers his verdict.Olympic gold medal winner Denise Lewis reviews Fast Girls, a new British drama about a women's relay team, and considers whether fiction can ever compete with the real drama of sport.In the last of FRONT ROW's reports on the four shortlisted contenders for this year's £100,000 Art Fund Prize, Kirsty visits Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery, in Exeter - to see the results the results of their multi-million-pound redevelopment.Helene Hegemann's novel, Axolotl Roadkill, published when she was 18, was a literary sensation in her native Germany. A grim tale of drugs, sex and mental illness, it features 15 year-old Mifti, an abused child in freefall. When claims of plagiarism were made its author was pilloried in the pres