Front Row

Hugh Jackman on his film The Front Runner, in which he plays Democratic contender Gary Hart, who in 1987 was ahead in the polls before an alleged affair shot down his chances of becoming US President.The winner of the Costa Biography Award, announced on Front Row this week, is The Cut Out Girl by Bart van Es. The author discusses his book which tells the story of a 9-year-old Jewish Dutch girl, Hesseline – or Lien – who was handed by her parents to Bart van Es’s grandparents in 1942 to be fostered and kept safe during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Lien is now 85 and living in Amsterdam, and together they recount a remarkable story of tragedy and survival.As Italy decides not to lend three Leonardo Da Vinci paintings to the Louvre in Paris for their blockbuster exhibition of the old master's work, art journalist Anna Somers Cocks reports on how much loans of this kind are used as symbolic political gestures.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Hannah Robins

The comedian Nish Kumar on why his latest stand up tour is his most political yet, and the challenge of keeping his satirical topical news television show, The Mash Report, fresh in these febrile times.The look of a building has always been an essential element in architectural design, but less conspicuous are its acoustic properties. Specialists in acoustic design are frequently engaged to enhance the aural experience of people in a room or a building. Their work ranges from blocking out unwanted noise, such as from passing trains, to providing the optimal sound for the audience and musicians in a concert hall. Stig Abell visits a virtual sound laboratory, and hears from Trevor Cox, professor of acoustic engineering, about the history and importance of sound in building design.The winner of the 2018 Costa Children’s Book Award is Hilary McKay. She talks to Stig about her novel, The Skylarks’ War. This is set during the First World War and follows three children growing up at a time when girls had to fight for an education and boys, as soon as they were able, went off to fight.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Julian May

Keira Knightley discusses her new film about the celebrated French Belle Epoque author Colette, whose bestselling Claudine novels explored teenage sexuality and were inspired by her own life. Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan return with the BAFTA award-winning comedy series Catastrophe on Channel 4. Since becoming pregnant after a fast-moving romance in the show's first episode, the couple's life together has continued to spiral out of control, culminating at the end of series three with Rob succumbing to his alcoholism and being involved in a drink-driving incident. The pair discuss what it's like to star in and write the dark comedy.Front Row has announced the winners of the Costa Book Awards 2018 this week. J.O. Morgan talks about Assurances, winner of the poetry category, his single long poem which runs through the Cold War, depicting the airborne nuclear deterrent in which his father, an RAF officer, was involved. It features passages in verse and others in what the poet calls not prose but unverse, and it is told through several voices – communications experts, civilians and even the atomic bomb itself. Presenter : Samira Ahmed Producer : Dymphna Flynn

Charlie Brooker discusses his ground-breaking interactive film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, where the viewer chooses multiple storylines. As Netflix's first adult live action interactive experience, does this herald the start of a new genre for entertainment?Sophie Raworth (Chair of Judges) announces the category winners of the Costa Book Awards (2018) exclusively on Front Row and John talks live to the Best Novel winner. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Timothy Prosser

Forrest Gump, Back to the Future and Castaway director Robert Zemeckis returns with new film Welcome to Marwen. Based on real-life events and starring Academy Award nominee Steve Carell, the film charts the unconventional way one man copes with losing his memory after a violent attack.As Carol Ann Duffy comes to the end of her ten year stint as the Nation’s Poet Laureate - the first woman in its 350 year history - the Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright has convened a panel of experts to select her successor. Poet Helen Mort and Judith Palmer, Director of the Poetry Society look back at Carol Ann Duffy’s tenure and the particular demands placed on the holder of this prestigious royal appointment, whilst also considering the Laureate’s changing role in a society facing political turmoil.In new BBC2 series The Victorian House of Arts and Crafts, six crafters go back to Victorian times to live out William Morris’s utopia of the Arts and Crafts movement. Living as Victorians in an artists’ commune in Wales, they take on a different room to decorate each week. Embroider Niamh Wimperis and judge and mentor Keith Brymer Jones explain what they learnt from the process.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Sarah Johnson

Brexit: The Uncivil War stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Rory Kinnear as the leaders of the Leave and Remain campaigns. Written by James Graham, the one-off Channel 4 drama follows the campaigns as they compete for public attention and votes. TV critic David Butcher reviews.The Catcher in the Rye, narrated by 16-year-old Holden Caulfield, is perhaps the classic coming-of-age text of the 20th Century. Why did the book have such an impact and what are the merits of JD Salinger’s other work? Literary critic Erica Wagner and American cultural commentator Michael Carlson discuss the writing of this hugely talented and complicated man, to mark Salinger's centenary. Tracy-Ann Oberman, perhaps best known as Chrissie Watts in EastEnders, discusses her new roles in the Harold Pinter plays Party Time and Celebration. They are being performed as part of a six month season at the Pinter Theatre in London where they are bringing together all of his one-act productions.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Ben Mitchell

Olivia Colman is winning major awards for her portrayal of Queen Anne in The Favourite, Yorgos Lanthimos’ film about a scandalous love triangle between the monarch, the Duchess of Marlborough and her cousin Abigail Masham. Olivia Colman discusses the difference between playing Queen Anne and her other role as our present Queen Elizabeth in the forthcoming series of The Crown. Luther is back. Dreda Say Mitchell reviews Idris Elba’s return as the maverick police detective as the BBC airs an episode a night this week.Roger Kneebone, Professor of Surgical Education, and embroiderer Fleur Oakes, artist-in-residence in the vascular department of Imperial College London, discuss the role of embroidery and 'thread management' in helping surgeons become more proficient when they perform vascular surgery. Presenter Janina Ramirez Producer Jerome Weatherald

Actress Keeley Hawes has long been a household name and seems to have an uncanny ability to pick parts that place her in the most talked about TV shows of their moment. In this extended interview we look back on her career, considering those key roles including the Home Secretary in the hugely popular Bodyguard, working on cult lesbian drama Tipping the Velvet, MI5 agent Zoe in spy thriller Spooks, playing a cop sent back to the 80s in Ashes to Ashes, a policewoman under investigation in Line of Duty and a mother of four starting a new life on Corfu in The Durrells. We'll also hear how Keeley got started as an actress, how she chooses her roles and what changes she's seen in TV over the last 20 years.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Hannah Robins

How much were you paying attention to arts and culture in 2018? Critics Boyd Hilton, Katie Puckrik and Sarah Crompton, Raifa Rafiq from the Mostly Lit podcast, and actress Maureen Lipman battle it out to see who'll be crowned champion in our cultural quiz of the year. Plus what is your favourite cultural depiction of New Year's Eve? Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Hannah Robins

Journalist and novelist Jonathan Freedland remembers the Israeli author Amos Oz who died today.Tim Robey, Susannah Clapp and Laura Barton - film, theatre and music critics - look ahead to the notable arts events of the upcoming year.The legendary comic book creator and Marvel figurehead, Stan Lee, died earlier this year. Today, on what would have been his 96th birthday, we pay tribute to his life and work. Comic book artist Dave Gibbons, film critic Gavia Baker-Whitelaw and comic book writer Kieron Gillen discuss.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Harry ParkerMain image: Amos Oz. Credit: Jason Kempin / Getty Images.