Front Row

Yesterday saw the announcement of the death Rodney Bewes, the actor most fondly remembered playing the aspirational Bob in the BBC sitcom The Likely Lads. His co-star from the series James Bolam talks about working with Bewes in one of sitcom's most famous double-acts and the supposed feud between the two.As Gilbert & George celebrate 50 years of living and working together, Kirsty visits them at their Spitalfields home and studio to discuss their career, a new exhibition called The Beard Pictures and a new book, What is Gilbert & George?Marnie, the book by Winston Graham that inspired Hitchcock's thriller of the same name, has now inspired composer and opera wunderkind Nico Muhly to create his third opera, also called Marnie. Music critic Alexandra Coghlan attended its world premiere at English National Opera and reviews. Plus we ask music critic Norman Lebrecht to discuss whether opera has become a derivative art form, and we pay tribute to Russian opera bass-baritone, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who has died at the age of 55.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Julian May.

Soprano Joyce DiDonato on tackling the vocal pyrotechnics of Rossini and why she's bringing opera to the inmates of Sing Sing, New York's maximum security prison.Puppets are currently centre stage in three theatrical productions in the UK - Pinocchio at the National Theatre, The Grinning Man in the West End and The Tin Drum on tour. We speak to Toby Olié, in charge of puppetry on Pinocchio and Tom Morris, director of The Grinning Man who, as co-director of War Horse, changed the way puppets are regarded. Kirsty also hears from from actors Sanne den Besten and Louis Maskell about how they work with puppets to show them falling in love. Plus, as the European Commission announce that the UK will no longer be able to take part in the 2023 European Capital of Culture as planned, we look at the impact this has on the bidding cities and what it signifies for the arts industry as Britain continues the process of leaving the European Union.

Benjamin Clementine performs live from his second album I Tell a Fly. He tells us why an experimental concept album felt like the right way follow up to his Mercury Prize winning 'At Least For Now'.Dominic Dromgoole on his year long Oscar Wilde season in London's West End, and Franny Moyle on the influence of the women in Oscar Wilde's life.David LaChapelle is the celebrity photographer of choice for leading fashion magazines. His first job was working as a photographer for Andy Warhol in New York. He discusses his hyper-realistic style, nudity, and how some of the biggest names in the world from Hillary Clinton to Kim Kardashian beat a path to his door.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Helen Fitzhenry(Main photo: Benjamin Clementine Credit: Craig McDean).

Inua Ellams on his acclaimed play Barber Shop Chronicles, which explores masculinity from the perspective of the barber's chair, both in London and Africa. Tennis champion Billie Jean King's show match against notorious chauvinist Bobby Riggs in 1973 is the subject of a new film Battle of the Sexes, starring Emma Stone and Steve Carell. Mark Eccleston reviews.Briony Hanson discusses Godless, Netflix's first western miniseries, starring Jack O'Connell, Jeff Daniels and Michelle Dockery, in a role that is a far cry from Downton Abbey. This year marks the centenary of the birth of the Cornish poet Charles Causley, whose work was influenced by ballads, hymns and his love of jazz and dance bands. Cahal Dallat, the first Charles Causley Trust musician in residence, poet Rory Waterman and singer Jim Causley discuss his legacy. Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Timothy Prosser.

A new Modigliani exhibition at Tate Modern shows the most extensive display of the Italian Jewish painter and sculptor's work yet seen in the UK, including 12 of his famous nudes. Sarah Crompton reviews.Front Row reveals this year's Costa Book Awards shortlists. Critics Alex Clark and Toby Lichtig comment on the writers chosen in the five categories: novel, first novel, poetry, biography and children's fiction. The overall prize-winner will be announced on Front Row on 30 January 2018. Actor John Lithgow discusses his latest film Daddy's Home 2, and talks more broadly about his wide-ranging career and why he's as happy playing an alien as he is a serial killer or Winston Churchill.Presenter Samira Ahmed Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Priscilla Presley talks about life with Elvis and 40 years of looking after his legacy, as she takes part in a concert tour with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, who accompany Elvis Presley's voice live. Cate Blanchett plays 13 characters each reciting a different artist's manifesto in her new film, Manifesto. We talk to Cate and director Julian Rosefeldt about translating what was an art installation to a traditional linear film. But, what is an art manifesto? Art critics Richard Cork and Jacky Klein explain, select the strangest and the most convincing - and consider if they helped or hindered artists to produce work.Presenter : John Wilson Producer : Dymphna Flynn(Photo: Cate Blanchett as Tattooed punk in Manifesto. Credit: Manifesto).

Fenella Fielding's most famous moment is in Carry on Screaming as she reclines seductively on a couch in a red velvet dress, asks Harry H Corbett "Do you mind if I smoke?" and steam billows. The line gives the title to her memoir, co-authored with Simon McKay. On her 90th birthday, she reminisces about playing Hedda Gabler, being a foil to Morecambe and Wise... and that Carry On moment. The painter Gluck (1895-1978) is now regarded as a trailblazer of gender fluidity, famous for her fashion as well as the portraits of herself and her lovers. Front Row discusses Gluck's life and art with biographer Diana Souhami and Amy de la Haye, curator of a new exhibition at the Brighton Museum. A player of the new Call of Duty video game, set in the |Second World War, could assume the role of a black female Nazi. Yet its makers claim it is historically accurate. Front Row discusses how video games depict war and how close to the truth can they really be.It's Children in Need day and throughout it poets have been appearing on Radio 4 reading poems which recollect childhood. On Front Row we hear from Mona Arshi. Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Julian May.

Noel Gallagher, former songwriter and guitarist for Oasis, discusses his new album Who Built The Moon? He tells us why he chose to go solo after the break-up of the band and discusses his ongoing estrangement from his brother Liam. There are tanks on the streets of Harare, from there Togara Muzanenhamo talks about the life, and role, of the poet in Zimbabwe today. He reads poetry inspired by the farm where he lives and works.Surrealism is very much thought of as a European art movement but a new exhibition at Tate Liverpool, Surrealism in Egypt: Art et Liberté 1938 - 1948, calls that into question. Anna Somers Cocks, founding editor and current chairman of The Art Newspaper, reviews.Tiger Bay, written by Daf James and Michael Williams, is a new musical set in Cardiff's multi-ethnic docks in the early 20th Century, staged by the Wales Millennium Centre in conjunction with Cape Town Opera. Could this be the Welsh Les Mis? Jude Rogers gives her verdict.Presenter: Stig Abel Producer: Helen Fitzhenry.

Robert Pattinson on his new film Good Time, set in the streets of Queens as the consequences of a bank robbery entangle his character Connie in a violent web of swift, provocative responses and lies. It's a million miles from Twilight and he talks about his choice of films since his role in the hugely successful franchise.Poet Ian McMillan has written libretto for the first opera to be performed in a South Yorkshire accent, including local dialect. We speak to Ian and the tenor Nicholas Sales, of Heritage Opera, about the challenges of singing in the cadences of a Barnsley voice. With Paddington back in cinemas, and the bear's voice once again being provided by Ben Whishaw - a far cry from that of Michael Hordern in the TV series in the '70s - Adam Smith considers the importance of the voice of an animated character, and what happens when the familiar tones are replaced by the voice of another actor. The Goldsmiths Prize is awarded annually and celebrates inventive writing. Previous winners include Eimear McBride and Ali Smith. As the 2017 prize is awarded this evening, we'll be announcing the result and talking to the winner from the ceremony.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Rebecca Armstrong.

Dee Rees talks about her new film, Mudbound, which explores the racial divide in 1940s Mississippi.As questions continue to be asked of The Old Vic's theatre board in light of the Kevin Spacey allegations, we discuss the role of the board in British theatre with Rt Hon Ed Vaizey MP, former Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries and current board member of the National Youth Theatre plus Malcolm Sinclair, President of Equity, and theatre critic Lyn Gardner. Pussy Riot's Maria Alyokhina made headlines five years ago when she and two other members of the protest group were arrested following a performance of their Punk Prayer in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Alyokhina was jailed for two years and sent to a penal colony. Samira meets the Russian activist and artist at the Saatchi Gallery in London where an exhibition dedicated to Post-Soviet protest art in Russia opens this week. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Hannah Robins.