Front Row

Strictly Come Dancing Head Judge Shirley Ballas describes her approach as fun, firm, feisty but fair. As one of the couples comes ever closer to raising this year’s glitter-ball trophy she talks about her own background in dance, dismisses the “curse” of Strictly and explains why she thinks the show has such appeal to young, old and everyone in between.Sarah Jenkins, who recently won the BBC Proms Inspire competition for young composers, talks about her new piece, inspired by the winter solstice. And the Sun Stood Still is being premiered by the BBC Concert Orchestra at the Southbank Centre on 5 December and broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. The current criticisms aimed at National Theatre Wales, that neither their productions nor their casts are Welsh enough, echo the criticisms that the National Theatre of Scotland faced a few years ago. Joyce McMillan, theatre critic for The Scotsman, and Dr Emma Schofield, associate editor of Wales Art Review discuss what it means to be a national theatre.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Julian May

Hot on the heels of Disney's successful remake of The Jungle Book, Netflix release a live action/motion capture retelling of Kipling stories, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, directed by Andy Serkis and starring Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and Benedict Cumberbatch. Novelist Katherine Rundell reviews. Samira talks to Dana Gioia, who as Poet Laureate of California recently went on a poetry reading odyssey, visiting all 58 counties in the state. He's also spent the last year choosing the poems for The Best American Poetry 2018 anthology. Earlier this month Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that "arts on prescription" is an indispensable tool in tackling loneliness, mental health and other long-term conditions. To discuss arts and healthcare, Samira is joined by Wellcome Research Fellow Daisy Fancourt, Gavin Clayton, head of the Arts and Minds charity and GP Dr Simon Opher. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Timothy Prosser

Naomi Alderman’s debut novel, Disobedience, has been adapted into a film starring Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams. The women are reunited as Ronit, now living in New York, returns to her Orthodox Jewish community in London after her father’s death, reigniting a forbidden passion with her childhood friend Esti. Briony Hanson, Head of Film for the British Film Institute, reviews. Scottish artist Rachel Maclean discusses her new exhibition, The Lion and The Unicorn, at the National Gallery in London. Scottish identity lies at the heart of much of her work, which includes ornate films and stills, the satirical artist playing multiple roles, and extensive use of make-up, prosthetics, and CGI. The Brazilian writer Julián Fuks talks to Kirsty about his award-winning novel, Resistance. Based very much on his own family story, it deals with his parents’ flight from the military Argentine dictatorship in the 1970s, their adoption of a son before having two further children, and examines identity, family bonds and the different forms exile can take. Julián also discusses how books are being used in Brazil to protest against the new right wing President Elect.Diversity offstage in theatre: we hear about the new BECTU (Broadcast, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union) initiative, which has been backed by more than 90 theatres and wants to increase the number of BAME people in backstage and front of house roles.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Hilary Dunn

The 2018 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award today celebrated its 30th anniversary, and at the awards ceremony the prize was shared between two books for the first time. The two winning authors - Paul D Gibson for The Lost Soul of Eamonn Magee, and Tom Gregory for A Boy in the Water - join the prize's co-founder Graham Sharpe and fellow judge Alyson Rudd to discuss the winning books and reflect on the current state of sports writing.Jim Carrey’s career has been one of the most varied of his generation, spanning over three decades and nearly all genres. He returns to our small screens with comedy series Kidding, which follows Jeff Pickles, an iconic children's entertainer who has been performing for 30 years, as his personal life falls apart. Critic Boyd Hilton reviews both the show and Jim Carrey’s career.With Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks turning 50 this week, music journalist Laura Barton explains why this seminal album continues to evade definition.Presenter John Wilson Producer Jerome Weatherald

Fifty Shades of Grey and The Fall actor, Jamie Dornan, stars in new BBC Two drama Death and Nightingales. Based on Eugene McCabe's modern Irish classic novel of the same name, it’s a story of love across the religious and class divide, set in the beautiful countryside of Fermanagh in 1885.Theatre Royal Plymouth announced today they have commissioned the UK’s largest bronze sculpture, to be installed in front of the theatre in spring 2019. The artist Joseph Hillier discusses his the work, named Messenger, which he’s created using 3D scans from the body of an actor performing in Othello at Plymouth in 2014. With the announcement of the deaths of film directors Bernardo Bertolucci and Nicolas Roeg, Kirsty speaks to film producer Jeremy Thomas, who collaborated with both men; and critic Hannah McGill assesses their work. Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Dymphna Flynn

Golden Globe Award winner Ruth Wilson stars in the new BBC drama Mrs Wilson in a uniquely challenging role: she is playing her own grandmother, Alison Wilson. The drama follow Alison's investigation into the mysterious multiple lives of her husband Alec, which only come to light after his sudden death. TV critic Alison Graham gives her verdict. As veganism gains more popularity in the UK, we consider how it is applied to the art world; both in terms of how animals are represented and how animal products are used in creating work. We speak to novelist cultural academic Alex Lockwood from the University of Sunderland and Aisha Eveleigh who runs a vegan art festival Liberation Arts in Bristol. Plus Nigerian author Akwaeke Emezi on their debut novel, Freshwater, which is about a person inhabited by Igbo spirits. Emezi explains how the book explores ideas of identity using their own life experience and Nigerian mythology.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Hilary Dunn

We reveal this year's Costa Book Awards shortlists. Critics Alex Clark and Toby Lichtig discuss the books chosen in the five categories: novel, first novel, poetry, biography and children's fiction. Category winners will appear on the programme in January and Front Row will announce the overall prize-winner on 29 January 2019.Documentary maker Sean McAllister reveals what has happened in the week after his film, Northern Soul, was shown on BBC Two. He explains what has happened with Steve Arnott's Beats Bus after his crowdfunding page surpasses its target.Shoplifters, a warm-hearted Japanese film about a family of small-time crooks, won the top prize, the Palme d’Or, at this year’s Cannes Festival Film. As it is released into UK cinemas, cultural historian of Japan Dr Chris Harding gives his verdict on the film, its depiction of contemporary Tokyo and the controversy around its success.The Ben Uri Gallery and Museum has seen eleven members of its international advisory panel, including Sir Nicholas Serota – Chair of the Arts Council - resign in protest over the sales of artworks from their collection. David Glasser, the Executive Chair of Ben Uri Gallery and Museum, discusses why he thinks selling works is the only way ensure the establishment’s future.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Ben Mitchell

Kurt Russell, whose credits include The Thing, Escape from New York and The Hateful Eight, discusses his new role as Santa Claus in the new Netflix family film The Christmas Chronicles. Russell looks back over his five-decade acting career, including the time he worked with Elvis and Walt Disney as a child actor.Poet Ruth Fainlight talks about her new collection Somewhere Else Entirely, her first book in eight years and the first since the death of Alan Sillitoe, her husband of 50 years. Several of the works in Fainlight’s collection serve as elegies to him, a meditation on mortality and memory in poetry and prose .Damien Hirst's latest artwork has been unveiled outside a hospital in Qatar - fourteen large bronze sculptures that graphically chart the journey from conception to birth. Layla Ibrahim Bacha, the Art Specialist for the Qatar Foundation who commissioned the controversial artworks, talks to John Wilson from Doha.Presenter John Wilson Producer Jerome Weatherald

Marianne Faithfull released her first record in 1965 and now aged 71 she's releasing her 21st. Titled Negative Capability, the album is inspired by loss, ageing, and love. She discusses being misunderstood, her refusal to live in the past, and why this album is her most honest.Last night Holly Willoughby made her I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! presenting debut in what is the first series not to be hosted by both Ant and Dec since the show began in 2002. Convicted of drink-driving earlier this year, Ant stepped down from all presenting duties alongside his friend and long-time presenting partner Dec. TV writer Louis Wise reviews if Dec and Holly can re-capture that on screen magic.As part of our art and mental health series we talk with digital artist Kirsty Latoya. Diagnosed with depression at the age of 13 she turned to drawing to help express her thoughts and feelings. With her first collection, Reflections of Me, she combines both her passions of art and poetry in the hope to help others also struggling with mental health issues.A tweet from Broadhursts Books in Southport has gone viral since a children's book was sold on Saturday afternoon after sitting on the shelf for 27 years. Joanne Ball, who sold the book, talks about the reaction.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Hannah Robins

Jane Fonda, the two-time Academy Award-winning actress, film producer, political activist and fitness guru, looks back at her 60 year career with Kirsty Lang. The feminist classic film 9 to 5, about three female office workers who take on their chauvinist boss, is being rereleased in cinemas. Jane Fonda, who produced and stars in the film, explains how she came up with the idea, cast Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton in the other lead roles and why it's a comedy. We also speak to Lily Tomlin about her friendship with Jane Fonda. As well as working together on 9 to 5, the two actresses star in the Netflix sitcom Grace and Frankie, and have even co-presented a TED Talk about the importance of female friendships. Plus film critics Helen McGill and Jason Solomons look back at Fonda’s career. From Barbarella to The China Syndrome, from Klute to Monster-in-Law, we examine how this actress reinvented herself on screen and her cultural and political impact beyond cinema.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Kate Bullivant