Front Row

Classically trained pianist and rapper Chilly Gonzales performs from his new album Gonzo, ahead of his Royal Albert Hall gig, As Hard Times kicks off Radio 4's season of Dickens dramas - what makes a good adaptation? Writer Graham White and Dickens expert Professor Juliet John discuss how the characters and issues like social inequality help to keep the stories relevant to modern audiences. And what is the enduring appeal of horror films? Director Daniel Kokotajlo's folk-horror Starve Acre was inspired by his admiration for 70s classics like The Wicker Man and Anna Bogutskaya's book Feeding the Monster explores how horror films have evolved, and now often explore people's internal trauma and anxieties. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Paula McGrath

John Boorman talks to Samira about his 1974 science-fiction, fantasy film Zardoz as it is screened on its fiftieth anniversary at the BFI and his novel on which it is based is republished. He discusses the craft of film making and reflects on the film he wishes he'd made with Elvis. British artist Anya Gallaccio welcomes us into her London studio as she prepares for three major exhibitions: a major survey at the Turner Contemporary in Margate, a stores she's pained entirely with chocolate in her hometown of Paisley and a permanent AIDS memorial due to be unveiled in London in 2027. And, the folk singer and social media sensation The Halfway Kid, otherwise known as Saeed Gadir, discusses his upcoming album Myths In Modern Life and performs live in the studio. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Ruth Watts

Tom Sutcliffe is joined by Bidisha Mamata and Ben Luke who will be offering their verdicts on body horror film The Substance staring Demi Moore, a major new Michael Craig-Martin exhibition at the Royal Academy in London and The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story by Nobel prize winning author Olga Tokarczuk. Plus BBC National Short Story Award shortlisted author Ross Raisin.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet

Screenwriter Jeremy Brock discusses Amazon's A Very Royal Scandal, the second dramatisation this year of Emily Maitlis' 2019 Newsnight interview with Prince Andrew, which stars Michael Sheen and Ruth Wilson. Mezzo-soprano Rowan Hellier and pianist Jonathan Ware perform from the opening event of the Glasgow Cathedral Festival, an exploration of sexuality and seduction inspired by art from the 1920s. And crime writer Peter May talks about the inspirations behind his latest thriller set on the Outer Hebrides, The Black Loch. Plus an interview with writer Vee Walker, who is shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

David Peace on his new novel, Munichs, about the plane crash that transformed Manchester United. Katie Posner, Co-Artistic Director of Paines Plough theatre company and Daniel Evans, Co-Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company discuss the new plays crisis in theatre. Matt Hemley, Deputy Editor of The Stage, reports on the cancellation of a new production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. Artist and author Edmund De Waal, chair of judges for the Booker Prize 2024, reflects on this year's shortlist. Manish Chauhan on his shortlisted story, Pieces, for this year's National Short Story Award.Presenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Edward Enninful, Vogue Global Creative and Cultural advisor has just made a documentary series, In Vogue: The 90s. He discusses the decade that changed fashion forever. Sue Prideaux has just written the first biography of French post impressionist artist, Gauguin, in over thirty years. She argues it is time to reappraise the way we look at the man and his work. American singer Lady Blackbird has been called 'the Grace Jones of jazz' and she discusses her recent rise to fame and plays a song from her new album Slang Spirituals. And, Will Boast is one of five a finalists for this year's BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University and joins Samira to discuss his entry.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Ruth Watts

Tom Sutcliffe is joined by David Benedict and Catherine McCormack to review Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers, the first exhibition the National Gallery has dedicated to the artist. They also discuss The Critic, which stars Ian McKellen as a fearsomely ruthless drama critic and Small Rain by Garth Greenwell, which focuses on the narrator's time and treatment in hospital after experiencing a sudden piercing pain.Chair of Judges Paddy O'Connell reveals the shortlisted authors for the BBC National Short Story Award 2024 with Cambridge University. The list includes Lucy Caldwell who talks about her short story Hamlet, a love story.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet

Dame Jacqueline Wilson talks about Think Again, the long-awaited adult novel which is the sequel to her much-loved Girls series of books. Actors Alexandra Roach and Joe Cole discuss their roles in BBC One's latest Sunday night drama series Nightsleeper, a thriller in which a night train from Glasgow to London is 'hackjacked'. And on the eve of the publication of The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, the book's two editors talk about dozens of previously unpublished poems.Presenter: Kate Molleson Producer: Mark Crossan

The BBC's Contains Strong Language festival has left British shores for the first time - and Australian arts and culture presenter Michael Cathcart hosts a special Front Row recorded on Gadigal land in Sydney in partnership with ABC and Red Room Poetry. Known as the Aussie Bob Dylan, singer Paul Kelly performs Going To The River With Dad from his forthcoming album Fever Longing Still. First nations poet Jazz Money reads from her latest collection Mark the Dawn - inspired by the stories of her Wiradjuri ancestors and her feelings of respect for the country around her. As Australia prepares to appoint a Poet Laureate, the British poet laureate Simon Armitage reads a sonnet which describes his childhood desire to dig all the way to Australia from his Yorkshire garden. And lawyer Shankari Chandran - whose novel Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens won Australia's most prestigious literary prize, the Miles Franklin Award - reflects on how she draws on her Sri Lankan Tamil heritage to describe the trauma of war and detention of those seeking asylum. Presenter: Michael Cathcart Producer: Paula McGrath

Richard O'Brien and Jason Donovan on 50 years of the Rocky Horror Show, Bella Mackie on her new novel which follows the success her hit book How to Kill Your Family, a look at Chromatica, a new privately funded orchestra and the life and work of lyricist Will Jennings, who died last weekend.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Corinna Jones