Front Row

Actor Jessica Lange discusses her latest film, an adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize winning play Long Day's Journey Into Night, in which she plays Mary Tyrone, a woman with a morphine addiction at the centre of a dysfunctional family, and a role for which she previously won a Tony Award on Broadway. Welsh National Opera's new joint CEOs Adele Thomas and Sarah Crabtree talk about their plans for the organisation. And acclaimed artist Alison Watt talks about her latest exhibition, From Light, inspired by 19th century architect Sir John Soane and showing in his former home, Pitzhanger Manor in London. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

A new exhibition at London's National Gallery hopes to shed light on artists in 14th Century Siena, who have often been overshadowed by their Tuscan neighbours in Florence. Samira is joined in the studio by one of the curators, Imogen Tedbury, and by Maya Corry, a Renaissance expert from Oxford Brookes University to discuss the astonishing colours and use of gold by artists like Duccio, the Lorenzetti brothers and Simone Martini. The death has been announced of Bill Dare, the creator of Radio 4's The Now Show and Dead Ringers. He nurtured new writers and performers including David Baddiel, Rob Newman, Hugh Dennis and Steve Punt, of The Mary Whitehouse Experience as well as the comedian Jon Holmes, who explains how they first met. Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck, best-known for his Oscar and BAFTA nominated documentary about James Baldwin 'I Am Not Your Negro', discusses his latest film 'Ernest Cole: Lost and Found', about the brief life of a young South African photographer who had to flee his homeland in 1968 to publish his book of photos which exposed the horrors of apartheid to the world.The Booker and Oscar-nominated writer Colum McCann discusses his thrilling new novel Twist, a dive in to the dark depths of the modern human condition set on board a ship repairing the fragile cables which connect us on the ocean floor. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Claire Bartleet

Sean Baker made Oscar history, becoming the first person to win four Academy Awards for directing, editing, writing and producing a single film, Anora. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh joins Samira to look at this year's Oscar winners and what they say about cinema today. The RSC's co-artistic director Daniel Evans discusses playing Christopher Marlowe's Edward II. Filmmaker Laura Carreira talks about her award-winning debut feature On Falling, about the social isolation and the injustices faced by a Portuguese woman working in the gig economy in Scotland. And, we look back at the work of late artist Jack Vettriano with Rachel Campbell Johnson. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Ruth Watts

Tom Sutcliffe and his guests the film critic Ryan Gilbey and art critic and author Charlotte Mullins review the week's latest cultural releases including Tate Modern’s exhibition on the unconventional artist and performer Leigh Bowery, the Greek film featuring gay romance, The Summer With Carmen and Michael Amherst’s first novel, The Boyhood of Cain. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Corinna Jones

Kirsty Wark talks to Anjelica Huston about playing a magnificent matriarch in the adaptation of Agatha Christie's Towards Zero, which begins on BBC One this weekend. The director of the British Museum, Nicholas Cullinan, talks about the appointment of an architectural firm who will be redeveloping the Museum's galleries, about the pressures of running a national cultural institution and about recent controversies. And actors Tim Roth and Koki discuss their roles in the opening film at the Glasgow Film Festival, director John MacLean's reinvention of the samurai movie tradition, Tornado. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

As the Oscars hove into view this weekend, the news is the women are coming - Stacey L Smith from the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative on their research showing more women leading Hollywood box office hits.Berlin ER is the new medical drama from Apple set in a run down A&E department in the German capital. Creator and former doctor Samuel Jefferson on swapping his medical scrubs for television scripts.Berlin-based arts and culture journalist Catherine Hickley on the impact of the German federal elections on the country's creative sector.Writer Santanu Bhattacharya discusses Deviants, his new novel set in India which explores three gay love stories against the backdrop of anti-homosexuality legislation introduced by the British.Presenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu

We look back at the quarter century in performing arts, exploring the changes in live stage performance and asking how the theatrical landscape has changed over those years. Samira Ahmed hears about some of the big trends that have changed the experience - such as immersive theatre and discusses the challenges the sector has faced. She is joined by playwrights Mark Ravenhill and Lolita Chakrabarti, who is also an actor, by the producer and CEO of Nimax Theatres, Nica Burns and by the critic Sarah Crompton. Plus we hear from Felix Barrett, founder of Punchdrunk Theatre and Nikolai Foster the artistic director of the Leicester Curve.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Ruth Watts

John Mullan and Caroline Frost join Tom to review Steven Knight's new historical drama A Thousand Blows, Nicolas Hytner's production of Richard II staring Jonathan Bailey and novel Perspectives by Laurent BinetPresenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

Kirsty Wark and guests discuss how visual art and architecture have evolved over the last 25 years. In the latest of our special series reflecting the changing cultural landscape since the start of the millennium, Kirsty Wark discusses the significant shifts in visual art and architecture in the 21st century with Director of Exhibitions and Programmes at Tate Modern Catherine Wood; Sunday Times art critic Waldemar Januszczak; Katrina Brown of The Common Guild in Glasgow; and founder of architectural practice Studio Gil, Pedro Gil. What did the boom in museum and gallery building in the early 2000s say about the public appetite for art? How has programming of exhibitions changed to reflect greater diversity? Is the auction market for contemporary art out of control? And is AI making an impact on contemporary art? Featuring an interview with Turner Prize winning artist Jeremy Deller. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

Playwright Ishy Din on his new play, Champion inspired by the 1977 visit of celebrated boxer, Muhammed Ali, to South Shields. Art historian Frances Spalding and curator Eleanor Bradley on artist Sheila Fell - the subject of a major exhibition at Tullie Museum and Art Gallery. As a new biography of concert pianist Dame Myra Hess is published, its author Jessica Duchen, and Adam Gatehouse, artistic director of the Leeds International Piano Competition, discuss Dame Myra's distinctive playing style and how it compares to playing styles of today.Presenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu