Front Row

London Grammar's debut album in 2013 won an Ivor Novello Award for Best Song. Their follow up four years later topped the album charts. Singer and songwriter Hannah Reid talks about their latest album Californian Soil, about sexism in the music industry, and using lockdown as a chance to learn to read music.Craig Easton was last week announced as Photographer of the Year at the Sony World Photography Awards. He discusses his project Bank Top, a photographic celebration of the residents of a mixed community in Blackburn, for which he won the award. Domhnall Gleeson and his brother Brian have paired up for the new Channel 4 sitcom Frank of Ireland - the first episode aired last last week which Brian has described as “a physical, slapstick comedy about an arrogant fantasist called Frank Maron who’s in his thirties at home with his mother.” Comedian and co-host of the Tellybox podcast Emma Doran reviews the new Channel 4 series.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Timothy ProsserMain image: London Grammar Image credit: Alex Waespi

Director Deborah Warner discusses her new production of Benjamin Britten’s opera Peter Grimes, which opens at the Teatro Real in Madrid on Monday. The staging of this multinational co-production has become significantly more difficult in the wake of Brexit and more recently she has had to adapt to the numerous challenges posed by Covid. The death was announced today at the age of 52 of Helen McCrory, whose credits included Peaky Blinders, The Queen, Harry Potter and many highly-praised stage roles including Medea and The Deep Blue Sea. Theatre critic Susannah Clapp reflects on her contribution to stage and screen. Cybercrime is a lucrative source for fraudsters; companies’ customer accounts, personal bank details, and pension funds, presenting regular targets for the digital criminals. Now it seems that the world of publishing is attracting the online scammers. Heloise Wood, Deputy News Editor of The Bookseller, shares her latest scoop.Mare of Easttown is a new HBO/Sky Atlantic series starring Kate Winslet as a small-town Pennsylvanian detective investigating a local murder as life crumbles around her. Lanre Bakare (Guardian arts and culture correspondent) and Jen Chaney (New York Magazine’s Vulture TV critic) discuss the drama with KirstyPresenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Jerome Weatherald

Paul Theroux talks to Tom Sutcliffe about his latest novel “Under The Wave At Waimea” set in Hawaii where he now lives. Published just as he’s celebrated his 80th birthday - it uses surfing as an allegory for consideration of ageing, contemplation, writing, reading and reflecting on his professional and personal life. The conversation ranges across Theroux's long and successful career as a writer of fiction and of travel books.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Oliver Jones

Rapper and writer Testament discusses his new work Orpheus in the Record Shop which fuses spoken word and beatboxing with players from the Orchestra of Opera North in an new collaboration that gives the Greek myth of Orpheus a contemporary Yorkshire twist.Festivals this summer are still in doubt as organisers can't secure insurance commercially. Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, CEO of UK Music, discusses how likely it will be that the government will step in to provide an indemnity. British nature writing remains overwhelmingly white, despite its continuing popularity. With the recent establishment of new prizes and literary journals for diversity in nature writing things are starting to change - but slowly. John talks to two authors bucking the trend: Anita Sethi, author of a new memoir called I Belong Here about reclaiming the countryside for people of colour and Paul Mendez, who contributed an essay to the new collection, In the Garden, about the gardens of his Windrush grandparents. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Sarah Johnson Studio Manager: Bob Nettles and Donald McDonaldMain image: Testament in Orpheus in the Record Shop Image credit: Anthony Robling

Ammonite tells the story of fossil hunter Mary Anning and a young woman sent to convalesce by the sea who develop an intense relationship, altering both of their lives forever. Set in 1840’s England and starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan. The British Council's Director of Film, Briony Hanson reviews. In his early 20s, the actor and producer Jack Holden volunteered for the LGBT+ helpline, Switchboard. A decade on, his experiences there form the foundation of his new play, Cruise, which explores the impact of the 1980s AIDS crisis on the gay community in Soho.Poet and performer Mark Gwynne Jones discusses his celebration of the landscape of Britain’s first National Park as it marks its 70th anniversary, in Voices from the Peak, a journey through the Peak District in word and sound, featuring the atmospheres, wildlife and stories of a land rich in contrasts.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Timothy Prosser

Leila Latif reviews Too Close, ITV’s new psychological thriller starring Emily Watson and Denise Gough, which will be broadcast on consecutive nights this week.On the day that commercial art galleries are allowed to re-open in England, Rachel Whiteread discusses her new exhibition Internal Objects at the Gagosian gallery in London. The exhibition features new resin sculptures, and the gallery's two main rooms are occupied by two new works - large sheds made of found materials and painted in white household paint. As the BAFTA winners were announced over the weekend, Chloe Zhao’s film Nomadland won four prizes including best film, best actress for star Frances McDormand and best director. Film critic Leila Latif joins Kirsty to tell us more about the exciting young director, and her first feature film Songs My Brothers Taught Me which has just been released for the first time in the UK. Novelist Rosa Rankin Gee joins Kirsty to talk about her new novel, Dreamland, set in a dystopian future where rising tides and political extremism have left one coastal community, and one small family, to fend for itself.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Simon RichardsonMain image: Emily Watson as Dr Emma Robertson in Too Close Image credit: ITV.com

Taylor Swift, who recently won Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards, has today released a new album called Fearless (Taylor's Version), which is an exact remake of her 2008 breakthrough album, Fearless. Music critic Sophie Harris explains why Taylor is repeating herself and reviews the new record. Tom Sutcliffe discusses HRH the Duke of Edinburgh's interest in art and literature with Jonathan Yeo, who painted his portrait, and Ian Lloyd, author of The Duke: 100 Chapters in the life of Prince Philip. Skellig author David Almond discusses his new novel Bone Music. Set in the forests and fells of Northern England, it's about a young girl who connects with a spiritual ancestor from the stone-age.Critics Jan Asante and Kohinoor Sahota discuss the provocative new Amazon drama, Them. Does it offer something new in the politicised American gothic horror genre or is it just a Jordan Peele rip off?Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Timothy Prosser Production Co-ordinator: Hilary Buchanan Studio Manager: Matilda MacariMain image above: Taylor Swift. Image credit: Francis Specker/CBS via Getty Images

Peggy Seeger has just released her latest album, The First Farewell, at the age of 85. She tells us about the pleasures of working on it with her family, her worries about the post-Covid music scene, getting older - and getting younger.Liverpool is about to take part in a pilot scheme testing live events. There will be an open-air film screening, a comedy gig and a club night. We talk to Liverpool's director of culture, Claire McColgan, about how it will work and the scientific questions behind it.Francis Spufford is the author of Golden Hill which won the Costa First Novel Award. Hafsa Zayyan's novel We Are All Birds of Uganda is on Radio 4 this week and won the Merky Books New Writing Prize. The two authors discuss what it means to be a writer of faith in 21st century Britain.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Jerome Weatherald Studio Manager: Emma Harth

Katherine Parkinson is best known as an actress – she won a BAFTA playing Jen in The IT Crowd and warm praise for her performance on stage in Laura Wade’s play Home, I’m Darling. But she has also written a play, Sitting, an interwoven set of three monologues first performed at the Edinburgh Festival and now on BBC4 as part of BBC Lights Up. It is inspired by her own experience sitting for a portrait painter when she was a student and like the work of the actress herself spans from sharp comedy to raw emotion. She talks to John about performing in the play for the first time.Louise Kennedy discusses her new collection of short stories, The End of the World is a Cul de Sac, which focus on the rugged landscapes and tough characters of north-west Ireland, just south of the border, where she lives. Secrets, lies, cruelty and history lie at the heart of many of the 15 stories, infused with the country’s folklore and politics.The band Years and Years released a snippet of their new single on TikTok before any other platforms and set a challenge to fans to make the most interesting video with lead singer Olly Alexander. Music Journalist Zoya Raza-Sheikh discusses how bands use TikTok to interact with fans and promote their music.As he founds a new organisation dedicated to improving Muslim representation on screen, Muslim Film UK, we talk to actor and producer Sajid Varda.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Simon Richardson

Riz Ahmed stars in Sound of Metal as a rock drummer who loses his hearing. The actor and rapper discusses learning American sign language, working with culturally Deaf actors as well as learning about addiction for his Oscar nominated performance.So far, 2021 has seen a large number of novels with a climate change theme being published. Toby Lichtig, Fiction Editor at the Times Literary Supplement, reports on some of the new releases and shifting attitudes in publishing towards avowedly-politicised fiction.Concerts and plays with a live audience have been taking place in Israel for over a month now, with audience members required to show a vaccination certificate known as a “green pass”. Allison Kaplan Sommer from the Haaretz Newspaper in Tel Aviv reports. Paul Ritter has died aged 54. Perhaps best known for playing the dad Martin in Friday Night Dinner, we speak to the show's writer Robert Popper about Paul's life and career.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Oliver Jones Sound Engineer: Matilda Macari