Front Row

Alison Balsom, Britain's leading trumpet soloist, talks about her new album Royal Fireworks, a collection of Baroque pieces by Bach, Telemann, Handel and Purcell, played on the "natural" trumpet, a baroque instrument without any valves, which means that each note is made by the shape of the lips. The inaugural Drake YolanDa British Producer and Songwriter Prize has been won by the jazz musician Fez, who had to compete against other producers to write and record a new song in front of the judges in 45 minutes! Writer Robert Macfarlane and artist Stanley Donwood talk about their new work Ness, which is part novella, part prose poem and part mystery play, about the land reclaiming a place which once threatened its very existence, an atomic weapons test centre. Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Timothy Prosser

With a reported budget of $160m, Martin Scorsese returns to the familiar territory of The Mob and organised crime in America in his new Netflix film The Irishman. The three-and-a-half-hour-long drama spans 50 years and reunites Scorsese with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci for the first time in 24 years, alongside Harvey Keitel and Al Pacino. Briony Hanson has been to see if for Front Row and can tell us whether or not it's vintage Scorsese.Abomination: A DUP Opera, which opens Belfast’s Outburst Queer Arts Festival at the Lyric Theatre this week, is an incendiary composition. For the libretto, composer Conor Mitchell uses verbatim statements about homosexuality made by DUP MPs. Front Row talks to Conor and Ben Lowry, Deputy Editor of the Belfast News Letter. The Scena Mundi Theatre Company is marking the 850th anniversary of the murder of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral with a new production of TS Eliot’s verse drama, Murder In The Cathedral, that tells the story. They will perform it in cathedrals, starting in Southwark and Guildford, with plans to take it all around the country next year. We visited a rehearsal and spoke with director Cecilia Dorland, Jasper Britton, who plays Becket, and the chorus of the women of Canterbury all reflecting on the significance of the story - the clash of strong men, political violence and martyrdom - today. Fireworks: good or bad? We help you to decide. Are they noisy, dangerous, frightening, and a waste of time and money? Or are they egalitarian free beautiful art – gorgeous to look at, taking place in the open, anyone can see them and they’re a communal experience. Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Oliver Jones

New Amazon Original docudrama The Report sees an idealistic Washington staffer played by Adam Driver tasked by his senator boss to lead an investigation of the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program, which was created in the aftermath of 9/11. His relentless pursuit of the truth leads to explosive findings that uncover the lengths to which the nation’s top intelligence agency went to destroy evidence, subvert the law, and hide a brutal secret from the American public. Kirsty Lang talks to The Report’s writer and director Scott Z Burns.Anyone over 16 can enter an unperformed play to the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, have it judged by theatre experts, with the possibility of winning part of the £40,000 prize fund and a chance of working with the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester towards its production. This year there were 2,561 entries, whittled down to a shortlist of 15. Today the winner will be announced and Kirsty Lang will talk to that lucky that playwright and one of the judges, also a previous winner, Anna Jordan. In her poems Katrina Porteous has explored nature, place and time through the local, writing about the coast of Northumberland and its fishing communities, often in their dialect. But in the past few years she has been inspired by the work of research scientists, space telescopes and the Large Hadron Collider. In her new collection, Edge, she concerns extend beyond the human scale. She writes about the tiny - sub atomic particles - and the vast, the moons of Saturn and the workings of the sun. Katrina Porteous talks to Kirsty Lang about how, with no background in science approach particle physics and cosmology, she writes poems about them, poems that the general reader can understand.Presenter: Kirsty LangProducer: Julian May

Patti Smith, legendary musician and poet, looks back at a troubled year, 2016, in a new memoir, Year of the Monkey. Director Tom Harper discusses his new film The Aeronauts set in 1862, starring Eddie Redmayne as a pioneering meteorologist and Felicity Jones as a balloon pilot, who attempt to advance knowledge of the weather and fly higher than anyone in history.As a horror film The Shining is a hard act to follow but Doctor Sleep attempts to do just that. Ewan McGregor stars as Danny, the psychic little boy from the 1980 film, now grown up. Kim Newman assesses the revisit to the hotel. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Sarah Johnson

Screenwriter Jack Thorne discusses his new HBO/BBC adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, said to be the BBC's most expensive drama yet. Ken Loach’s new film Sorry We Missed You concerns a parcel delivery driver and his carer wife as they try to make ends meet, and the effect of that struggle on their family. Scottee reviews this portrayal of the gig economy on working lives.The 19th century British mathematician Ada Lovelace, cited as the first person to publish a computer programme, is the inspiration for a concert of world premieres this weekend. Professor Emily Howard has curated the evening and is the composer of one of the new works. She discusses why Lovelace’s belief in the creative power of mathematics makes her an important reference point for understanding how 21st century technology is shaping our world.The Colombian artist Doris Salcedo, known for her monumental sculptural installations on trauma, has just been awarded the inaugural Nomura Art Award. She receives $1m which has to go towards the making of a new artwork. Art critic for the Evening Standard and The Art Newspaper Ben Luke talks about her work and the prize.Presenter Kirsty Lang Producer Jerome Weatherald

In their new film, The Good Liar, Ian McKellen plays Roy Courtnay, a con artist who when he meets Betty McLeish, a well-to-widow played by Helen Mirren, can't believe his luck. Sir Ian talks to John Wilson about this role, which involves playing someone who is himself acting. Guilt, a new 4-part BBC Two drama set in Edinburgh, stars Mark Bonnar and Jamie Sives as two very different brothers who find themselves having to join forces when they run over and kill a man. As they cover their tracks they begin to discover they can trust no-one, including each other. Critic Hannah McGill reviews the contemporary black comedy drama.The Observer’s theatre critic Susannah Clapp said of Sarah Frankcom, artistic director of the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, that she was 'creating England’s first mainstream feminist theatre'. Now Frankcom is directing her final production there, Light Falls by Simon Stephens. She talks about this drama of a northern family, her collaborations with Stephens, who has written several plays for the Exchange and, especially, Maxine Peake, whom she cast as Hamlet. Frankcom's next job will be running the drama school LAMDA and she tells John Wilson of her concern about the training of actors because of the expense and the decline of drama teaching in schools. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Julian May

Recorded in front of an audience at the Barbican Theatre in Plymouth, Sarah Gosling introduces and showcases the artists and performers making a name for themselves in Devon, in collaboration with BBC Music Introducing. Grace Lightman is an electropop singer whose debut album Silver Eater is about an alien stranded on earth. BBC Music Introducing artist Grace performs her lead track Repair Repair with her band. 17 year old writer Jonny Hibbs has created a comic audio drama about young farmers and a rural dating app called CattleGrid! He was commissioned by the New Creatives talent scheme run by BBC Introducing Arts and Arts Council England, which gives emerging artists aged 16-30 the chance to have their works broadcast. Kimwei McCarthy is a poet and musician who has recently been appointed the Grand Bard of Exeter. He talks about how climate activism and trans activism influences his work, and performs a poem about Devon, Because You Invited Me. Scratchworks Theatre Company are an all-female ensemble who are creating original comic plays retelling history from a woman's perspective. Laura Doble, Alice Higginson Clarke and Sian Keen perform a song from their new plays Hags, about the witch trials of Bideford. Presenter Sarah Gosling is the BBC Music Introducing Presenter for Devon and Cornwall and hosts evening shows on BBC Radio Devon. Producer: Timothy Prosser

David Baddiel has had a varied career. He's been a (Wembley Arena-filling) stand-up comedian, a chart-topping performer (3 times with the same song Three Lions), a TV chat show presenter, a prize-winning children's author, creator of highly-acclaimed shows about his family, prolific twitter presence and now he's a playwright with his first production God's Dice opening at London's Soho Theatre.Apple TV+ which launches this week is the latest arrival on the UK’s streaming landscape. What will they be offering us and how will it affect the future of TV in the UK with the likes of Disney, Britbox, HBO Max and NBCUniversal waiting in the wings with their new services. Heat Magazine’s Boyd Hilton joins Kirsty to discuss what's coming our way.The Wellcome Collection and Audible are launching a new original fiction podcast with short stories from award-winning writers, each short story inspired by a curiosity, oddity or artefact on display in the Wellcome Collection’s permanent exhibit. Novelist Laura Purcell and Wellcome Collection curator Julia Nurse join Kirsty to explain further.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Oliver Jones

Harry Hill's Clubnite is a new cabaret TV show from the comedian featuring his choice of comic entertainers. Harry talks to Stig about what he looks for in comedians, what makes him laugh and the nature of surrealism. The greatly renowned theatre director Peter Brook is 94 and has just written a book, Playing by Ear, reflecting on sound and music. He talks to Front Row about the flow of a Shakespeare play, the power of an empty space and the significance of silence.Podcaster Caroline Crampton gives her pick of the film podcasts you should be listening to, featuring a deep dive into the craft of acting, stories from Hollywood outsiders who made it big and insights into the art of writing music for film.

Multi BAFTA-winning writer Jack Thorne returns to our TV screens tonight with the latest in his trilogy exploring life in modern Britain. "The Accident" on Channel 4, starring Sarah Lancashire, is set in a small Welsh town in the aftermath of a industrial disaster. We talk to the writer about anger, blame and justice as the community faces up to some difficult truths.2020 looks to be a vintage year for child performances at The Oscars. Leslie Felperin joins us to discuss whether The Academy ought to reintroduce the Juvenile Academy Award, last given to Hayley Mills, one day shy of her 15th birthday for her performance in the 1960 film Pollyanna.Comedian and actor Jillian Bell stars in Brittany Runs a Marathon, a film about a lost young woman who takes back control of her messy, unfulfilling life by entering the New York City Marathon. The film is based on a true story and Jillian goes through a complete physical transformation as the story unfolds on screen. Kirsty talks to Jillian about body shaming and why it’s a good time to be a funny woman in Hollywood.Before he became an artist James Dodds was an apprentice shipwright, and boats remain the focus of his attention. For his new exhibition, Wood to Water, at the National Maritime Museum, Cornwall, Dodds has painted a series of large – some very large – pictures of the traditional boats of the region, but these are not the usual views of the vessels at sea, with wind, waves and weather. Dodds is concerned with boats as sculptural shapes and with the details of their construction. The Cornish maritime historian, John McWilliams, reviews.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Simon Richardson