Stephen Poliakoff talks to Mark Kermode about the themes he explores and his status as an auteur. With contributions from leading actors including Sir Michael Gambon, David Walliams, Rupert Penry-Jones, Ruth Wilson and Kelly Reilly.
Not long before the anticipated release of their movie, and after celebrating the 400th episode and 20 years, The Culture Show paid homage to the great success of The Simpsons with this special half-hour documentary about them. Hosted by Lauren Laverne (who co-hosts Culture Show along with the great film critic Mark Kermode), this programme basically looked back from their first appearance on The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987 and episodes gone by to see why everyone loves this cartoon sitcom so much. This included the key and supporting characters, the jokes, the celebrity appearances, the writers, the mocking of everyday things, and much more, a great one-off documentary with plenty of clips, information and opinion to keep you interested. With contributions from creator Matt Groening, Ricky Gervais, Nick Park, Stephen Hawking, Phill Jupitus, Helen Fielding and Johnny Vegas.
A Culture Show special from the London Film Festival, presented by Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo. They review the festival highlights and talk to actor David Morrissey about his directorial debut, and comedian Michael Palin discusses his life in films and his new book. Toby Young examines the future of the critic and talks to Cosmo Landesman and Peter Bradshaw as he eagerly awaits the first reviews of his latest television film. Miranda Sawyer explores the Frieze contemporary art fair.
Lauren Laverne presents from the Glasgow School of Art, which is celebrating the centenary of the opening of its remarkable home. Matt Collings is in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which is showcasing 120 letters and over 300 paintings, drawings and sketches by Van Gogh and other artists. Andrew Graham-Dixon reviews The Sacred Made Real exhibition. Plus there's an interview with Harold Evans, whose new autobiography My Paper Chase: True Stories of Vanished Times is just out.
Andrew Graham-Dixon presents from the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology in Oxford, which is about to re-open after a multi-million pound makeover. Andrew explores the 39 new galleries, home to the Ashmolean's greatest treasures. Michael Smith takes a wider look at Oxford, exploring the 'town and gown' divide in the city. As a new film about the life of Keats called Bright Star opens, director Jane Campion and Keats biographer Andrew Motion talk about what his poetry means to them.
Lawrence Pollard presents a packed show from Nottingham. When it opens on 14 November, the Nottingham Contemporary will be one of the biggest art centres in the UK. Tom Dyckhoff explores the new building designed by award-winning architects Caruso St John. There's a review of the opening exhibition at the new Nottingham gallery - 60 works by David Hockney from 1960-1968. And in a rare TV interview, crime-fiction writer James Ellroy talks to Miranda Sawyer about his fascination with crime and with 1950s Los Angeles.
Mark Kermode presents from Aardman studios in Bristol to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Wallace and Gromit's first outing. A mix of high profile fans including Terry Wogan, Jonathan Ross and Ian Hislop tell us how and why they fell in love with this one man and his dog. Lauren Laverne also traces the Aardman story and Mark Kermode talks to Nick Park about his creative inspirations.
Lauren Laverne is joined by writers and thinkers for a discussion on the past, present and future of the British pub. Sting visits the Cumberland Arms, the heart of Newcastle's folk scene, and performs from his new album If on a Winter's Night. Carol Ann Duffy performs a special poem for this pub-themed edition. Plus a rare TV interview with John Cale, Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo discussing films with apocalyptic themes, and Martha Wainwright singing a song from her new album.
Tonight's Culture Show, presented by Mishal Husain, comes from the new medieval and Renaissance Galleries at London's Victoria and Albert Museum. Andrew Graham-Dixon picks out his favourites from the collection. He also meets up with John Lydon, who is performing exclusively with the re-formed Public Image Ltd. Plus Josie Long on online comedy, Mark Kermode at a special premiere of Me and Orson Welles and Clemency Burton-Hill talking to opera director Graham Vick about his production of Othello.
This edition of The Culture Show features a rare extended interview with actor Daniel Day Lewis on the release of his latest film Nine. Andrew Graham Dixon also looks back at the highlights of The Culture Show's year including Danny Boyle on the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire, Robert Carlyle reading Robert Burns on his 250th anniversary, and some of the best performances from the 2009 Manchester and Edinburgh Festivals.
The Culture Show is back and will be featuring many of the highlights from the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. In this episode, Mark Kermode meets film director David Cronenberg and his lead actor Robert Pattinson to talk about their new movie Cosmopolis. Martin Amis discusses class, character and his latest novel, while Yoko Ono makes a bid to get the whole world smiling. There is a a performance from the acclaimed Pina Bausch dance company, and Andrew Graham-Dixon joins Michael Landy and Bob and Roberta Smith to discover what happens when a gallery is transformed into a classroom and the artists take charge of the lessons.
In this episode, comedian Alexei Sayle joins art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon at Tate Liverpool for an exhibition of later works from three of the greatest painters of the last 150 years: Turner, Monet and Twombly. Mark Kermode interrogates director William Friedkin about his new blackly comic film Killer Joe. Miranda Sawyer travels to the Eden Project in Cornwall to talk Matilda, musicals and megalomania with Tim Minchin. We have an exclusive extract from a lovingly restored print of Alfred Hitchcock's debut feature film with live music specially composed by Daniel Patrick Cohen; and James Runcie meets Richard Ford to explore the borderline between the ordinary and the criminal in his haunting new novel Canada.
This week The Culture Show comes from London's East End, where Andrew Graham-Dixon takes a photo tour of a changing landscape with Newham's famous son and legendary snapper David Bailey. Alan Yentob has a rainy encounter with controversial architect Renzo Piano, the mastermind behind Britain's tallest skyscraper The Shard. Mark Kermode meets the actor with over seventy films to his credit, Willem Dafoe, to talk about his latest movie The Hunter. Ground-breaking all-male dance company Tomorrow's Men perform; and Sarfraz Manzoor tees off with Booker prize-shortlisted author Nicola Barker whose new comic novel The Yips unearths the giddy world of golf.
Mark Kermode is in Bexhill-on-Sea, the setting for a new sculpture from artist Richard Wilson which recreates the final scene in cult movie The Italian Job. Miranda Sawyer meets Plan B to talk about his latest album, and Brooklyn-based choreographer Elizabeth Streb rehearses with her dancers for a pop-up performance around London's landmarks. Tom Dyckhoff takes a tour of London's Olympic architecture, and we join thousands as they witness Stonehenge brought to life by a spectacular installation of fire.
Mark Kermode takes part in a movie marathon of short film screenings, Hansel of Film, a relay race of short film screenings taking place around the UK. Alastair Sooke looks at the transformation of disused oil tanks into a sleek new art space at Tate Modern. Also, Cerys Matthews shares her passion for poetry with Fiona Shaw and gets a sneak preview of Peace Camp, a series of unique living artworks across the UK coastline from Northern Ireland to Cornwall.
Mark Kermode meets Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan to talk about his take on the caped crusader. Blur are back and Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon talk about their new songs and how they feel about headlining at Hyde Park - the closing ceremony for the Olympics. Mat Fraser explores our desire to be Superhuman with a new exhibition at The Wellcome Institute. And, no strings attached - why puppets are back in a very big way.
Andrew Graham-Dixon explores the new Bronze exhibition at the Royal Academy. Clemency Burton-Hill reports on The People Speak, a dramatized book reading curated by Colin Firth and Anthony Arnove, which tells an alternative and inspiring history of Britain and features actors including Juliet Stevenson, Celia Imrie and Rupert Everett. Also, Mark Kermode talks to Oliver Stone about his latest crime thriller Savages.
Mark Kermode reviews award-winning French comedy film Untouchable in the company of Goldie. Tim Samuels looks at the odds on this year's Man Booker Prize shortlist and Alastair Sooke surveys the first edition of Frieze Masters - a selection of work, old and new, from over 90 of the world's leading galleries.
The first TV interview for over a decade with reclusive music icon Scott Walker - a hero to both 1960s contemporaries such as David Bowie and modern pop pioneers including Alison Goldfrapp and Jarvis Cocker. What does Walker's first album for over ten years have in store? Plus Matthew Sweet assessing Merchant Ivory's contribution to period film drama, a profile of influential children's author Allan Ahlberg , and an examination of the modernist credentials of the fitted kitchen. With Andrew Graham-Dixon .
A special edition of The Culture Show that looks at the life and career of Stephen Spielberg, one of the most famous and commercially successful film directors in the world. Marking the occasion of his sixtieth birthday, Spielberg discusses the full range of his work, from Oscar-winning hits to occasional flops, and reveals his own favourite from the films he's made. With contributions from many who've worked with him, including George Lucas, Sean Connery and Harrison Ford.
Lauren Laverne presents highlights from the opening weekend that launches Liverpool's year as the European Capital of Culture. Awarded the title in 2004, the city will put on musicians, singers, dancers and special effects. Friday's artists include Ringo Starr and indie band the Wombats. Saturday's events come from the city's Liverpool Echo Arena and feature the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic with Dave Stewart, No Fakin DJs, Echo and The Bunnymen and Ian Brodie.
Superstar comic Chris Rock gives a rare interview to Lauren Laverne. Mark Kermode gets another coup: an equally rare interview with Johnny Depp and director Tim Burton about their film version of Sweeney Todd. The Coen brothers talk about their acclaimed new film No Country for Old Men, a modern Western. Andrew Graham-Dixon spends a night at the House of the Future, with a talking fridge, mood-based lighting and robotic furniture.
The Oscar nominees have been announced. Mark Kermode talks to Tom Hanks about his many Oscars and his latest film, Charlie Wilson's War. Cult actress Laura Linney talks about her new film, The Savages, released in the UK this week. Radio 1 DJ Nihal travels to Ghent in Belgium to meet Soulwax. They've re-worked songs by Kylie, Robbie Williams and the Klaxons for their new album. Best-selling author Conn Iggulden performs at the Galway story-telling festival.
Lauren Laverne meets 20 year-old Ellen Page, star of the surprise US box office hit Juno. The Hayward Gallery is staging an exhibition of 'funny' art works. Karl Pilkington and Noel Fielding visit to see if it will make them laugh. Director Julian Schnabel's talks to Mark Kermode about his film the Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Tim Samuels meets songwriter Jeffrey Lewis. Includes music from !!!, the Moldy Peaches and Canadian singer Feist.
JG Ballard gives a rare interview to Mark Kermode about his autobiography, Miracles of Life. Sebastian Horsley visits the Dulwich picture gallery to see Guido Reni's paintings of St Sebastian. We review the show The Magic Flute-Impempe Yomlingo: a South African version of the opera using drums and township percussion. Tim Samuels meets his childhood hero, Morrissey. Verity Sharp interviews KD Lang.
Mark Kermode wants to set up a movie premiere at Britain's smallest cinema before it closes down after 54 years. We meet Giles Deacon, a designer at his own label Giles, Bottega Veneta, Gucci, Mulberry and creator of a sell-out range at New Look. A new series of That Mitchell and Webb Look is about to start, so we quiz the double act on their friendship. Moby takes the Culture Show busking challenge: how much can he make in 15 minutes?
Mark Kermode announces who he thinks deserves an Oscar. Cycle couriers have the highest insurance rates in the UK, is it because of their secret drag races? Andrew Graham-Dixon meets designer Moritz Waldemeyer, whose musical curtains and mood sensitive chairs are making him a big name. Fashion designer Henry Holland does his first catwalk show. Features music from cellist Josephine Knight, Frank Black and Duffy.
Mark Kermode delivers a happy ending to a tiny cinema by giving their last opening a red carpet world premiere. New Orleans brass ten piece Hot 8 do the busking challenge. Andrew Graham-Dixon learns more about the late Marcel Duchamp, Godfather of conceptual art. Brighton rockers British Sea Power perform a secret gig on Canvey Island. Architecture critic Tom Dyckhoff visits Liverpool, European Capital of Culture 2008. With music from the Eels
In celebration of the 150th anniversary of London Underground, Alastair Sooke presents a cultural history of the oldest tube network in the world.
Lauren Laverne steers us through another packed Culture Show, which covers poetry, architecture, film, music and TV. The work of Scotland's greatest living poet Edwin Morgan is celebrated, while Tom Dyckhoff travels to Basel for an exclusive interview with superstar architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron - the brains behind the conversion of Bankside Power Station into Tate Modern. Meanwhile, Grace Dent goes on a pilgrimage back home to Carlisle to look at the past, present and future of regional news and Mark Kermode gets to meet his secret crush, Eric Bana, star of Hulk, Munich and Troy. Music in the Culture Show bar come from Brit Nominated band, Editors.
James Corden and Ruth Jones, acclaimed actors and writers of Gavin and Stacey, put their friendship to the test by answering questions about each others' foibles. Louis de Bernieres finds out what people really think of his latest book, A Partisan's Daughter, by secretly eavesdropping on as a Norfolk book group dissect and discuss it. Will they be as opinionated when introduced to the man himself? We join Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella on the set of his latest film, an adaptation of best-selling novel The No. 1 Ladies Agency and the first film to be made in Botswana. New Orleans brass band Hot 8 swap steamy Louisiana for cool Hoxton to undertake the busking challenge. Plus music from Laura Marling, the 18-year-old singer whose debut album Alas, I Cannot Swim looks certain to make a huge splash.
Verity Sharp talks to Goldfrapp about their new album. We staged and filmed a series of flash mob dance events in Liverpool to celebrate its year as capital of culture: including a shopping-mall waltz, hip hop street sweepers and commuter dancing in the station. Mark Kermode meets Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith, who made movie Son of Rambow. Tim Samuels goes to the world's biggest music industry festival. With music from Roisin Murphy and the Cave Singers.
100th edition of the arts magazine with Lauren Laverne. Naomi Watts talks about her role in Michael Haneke's new film Funny Games. Mark Kermode talks to playwright Martin McDonagh about his first feature film, In Bruges. Verity Sharp meets Hofesh Schechter, the choreographer of the dance in Skins. Photographer Ari Versluis and stylist Ellie Uyttenbroek try to prove that we all conform to certian style tribes. Supergrass perform a track from their new album Diamond Hoo Ha.
Lauren Laverne and co-presenter Mark Kermode are back with a summer run of The Culture Show. This week The Culture Show is on set in America with Ricky Gervais as he directs his first ever feature film - This Side of the Truth. Cult podcaster and thinker, Karl Pilkington, finds out what it's like to play an extra in such a metaphysically profound film. Art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon goes to Vienna to attempt a Freudian analysis of the work of Gustav Klimt. The Kiss adorns millions of bedroom walls and the biggest show of Klimt's works ever staged in the UK opens at Tate Liverpool on May 30th. Simon Armitage is one of our most acclaimed contemporary poets, but in his new book, Gig he's come out as a frustrated rock star. Mark Kermode accompanies Simon to the ordeal of his first ever gig as the lead singer of the Scaremongers, in super cool Shoreditch. Find out what happens when a 40-something poet tries to become a pop star.
Lauren Laverne and Mark Kermode present an edition of The Culture Show which tonight includes classical music, land art in Scotland, Ricky Gervais's first feature film as director, plus a review of the week's biggest films and music from Elbow and Richard Hawley. Verity Sharp meets the 27-year-old Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel. Like his fellow members of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, Dudamel is the product of El Sistem - free musical education for some of the poorest young people in Venezuela. Plus, Andrew Graham-Dixon takes to the Scottish skies in a helicopter to look at beautiful and baffling land art; Karl Pilkington continues his American adventure on the set of Ricky Gervais's directorial debut This Side of the Truth; and Mark Kermode gives his view on the week's cinema releases including The Incredible Hulk starring Ed Norton, and The Happening directed by M Night Shyamalan.
With the summer solstice on June 21st, Lauren Laverne and Mark Kermode preside over an edition of The Culture Show, with a special summer, seaside feel. The first ever Folkestone Triennial launched on June 14th, previewing new works by artists like Tracy Emin and Mark Wallinger. For The Culture Show, local Kent resident and contemporary art fan Vic Reeves goes to find out whether this inaugural Triennial can breathe new life into Folkestone. Tom Dyckhoff is in Morecambe for the re-opening of the newly restored modernist gem, The Midland Hotel. Bought by developers Urban Splash in 2003, it's taken five years and 11 million pounds to restore the hotel to its former glory. To celebrate in style, The Culture Show host an evening of music at the hotel with the BBC's Big Band accompanied by 26-year-old blues singer Beth Rowley. John Maybury's film The Edge of Love about Dylan Thomas opens on June 20th. In a special tribute to the poet, residents of Laugharne and Swansea re-create some of Thomas's most iconic poems. The star of the film Matthew Rhys pops into The Culture Show's bar to talk to Mark and Lauren about portraying Dylan Thomas. Plus Mark Kermode previews the upcoming Edinburgh International Film Festival, which runs from 18th to 29th June. Music this week comes from Neon Neon, the electro pop collaboration between Gruff Rhys and Boom Bip, which resulted in the surprise hit album of the year, Stainless Steel
Comedy, cinema, music and possibly the best of the best literature are all in the week's line up of The Culture Show presented by Lauren Laverne and Mark Kermode. Nic Roeg, director of the films Performance, Don't Look Now and The Man Who Fell to Earth gives a rare inteview to Mark Kermode. The director celebrates his 80th birthday in August and with his new film Puffball (based on the novel by Fay Weldon) due for release on 18th July, he remains as controversial as ever. Starring Kelly Reilly, and with an appearance by Donald Sutherland there are echoes of Don't Look Now, but the film has so far met with a critical roasting. The writing talent behind cult hit Peep Show Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong tell us about the writers and performers who have influenced their own work, from Charlie Kaufman and Woody Allen to Alan Partridge and Terry and June. Tim Samuels floods the village of Comrie in Perthshire with hundreds of copies of the novels shortlisted for the best ever Booker Prize. What happens when locals in the rural community have to decide on who they think deserves the title Best of the Booker, choosing from the likes of Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie and Pat Barker's The Ghost Road? Will their favourite be the same as the actual winner which is announced on 10th July? Music is from Brazilian disco funk band CSS, who are set to blaze a trail at this year's festivals. They'll be playing a track from their new album Donkey, out in July.
Celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of George Orwell's 1984, we form a book group consisting entirely of ex Big Brother contestants to discuss the work, chaired by literary critic and ex Celebrity Big Brother housemate Germaine Greer. The panellists, including 'nasty' Nick Bateman, ex-Tory candidate Derek Laud and Aisleyne Horgan Wallace, discuss the parallels between the Orwellian nightmare and their own experiences in the house. Also, London DJ and musician Bishi, whose unique sound fuses English, Bengali and Bulgarian music, gives us behind -the -scenes access to rehearsals for her most audacious collaboration yet - with the London Symphony Orchestra. Fellow DJ Nihal talks to Bishi and members of the LSO about the collaboration which is part of UBS Soundscapes: Eclectica, a project which brings together artists from vastly different styles and backgrounds. Plus tightrope walker Phillippe Petit joins Mark and Lauren in the studio to discuss the extraordinary new documentary Man on Wire, which tells the story of Petit's audacious wire walk between New York's twin towers back in the 1970s. The gripping tale of how it was planned and carried out won the film the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at this year's Sundance Festival. Petit himself is an extraordinary autodidact who taught himself magic, drawing, fencing, horseback riding, bullfighting, five languages and finally tightrope walking, after being legally emancipated by his parents while in his teens. Music comes from The Raconteurs, the band formed by Detroit neighbours Jack White and Brendan Benson, who will be in the studio to perform a track from their new album, Consolers Of The Lonely, and to talk to Lauren in the studio.
Lauren Laverne and Mark Kermode present a mix of classical music, contemporary art and show the first iconic buildings of the 21st century. Mark Kermode meets with Turner prize winning artist Steve McQueen to discuss his latest exhibition at the Barbican - Queen and Country, a series of facsimile postage stamps commemorating those who have died in the Iraq conflict. He also talks about his new film Hunger which focuses on the last days of Irish Republican hunger striker Bobby Sands and picked up the prestigious Camera d'or at Cannes earlier this year. Verity Sharp marks the 50th anniversary of musician Vaughan Williams's death ahead of the upcoming Proms, which features many of his key works. Verity explores his music and his most famous work, The Lark Ascending. And with the Beijing Olympics just a month away, Tom Dyckhoff is in China to witness the biggest building boom in history. He previews the Beijing National Stadium, or the Bird's Nest, which will be hosting many of the Olympic events, and the mammoth CCTV building, the new headquarters of Chinese Central Television. Constructed on an awesome scale, the CCTV tower is set become one of the most recognisable buildings in the world. Mark Kermode will also be giving his views on the week's movie releases, including Mamma Mia starring Meryl Streep and directed by Phyllida Lloyd. Plus there is music in the studio from Extra Golden, who have combined rock with Kenyan benga music on their second album, Hera Ma Nono. And in this extended edition, more music when Glasgow band Attic Lights take up the show's Busking Challenge this week performing on the streets of Largs, plus more new animation.
A packed programme this week, presented by Lauren Laverne and Mark Kermode. Lauren Laverne gets an exclusive TV interview with David Simon creator, executive producer and lead writer of HBO's cult TV series The Wire. David has been hailed as "America's great tragedian. Lauren conducts a cop style interrogation about why Simon insists of breaking all the rules of television writing. To mark the 500th anniversary of work beginning on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon is in Rome to marvel at and decode Michelangelo's ultimate Renaissance work of art. Andrew tells the story of Michelangelo's four year long struggle to complete this vast fresco cycle, the battles the artist had with his patron Pope Julius II, and tries to explain the layers of meaning behind the swooping, heavenly, iconic figures. Mark Kermode reviews the week's biggest film releases including the predicted smash of the summer the new Disney Pixar animation Wall E, Nic Roeg's Puffball and City of Men, the follow up to City of God. Comedian Chris Addison, star and writer, of new series Lab Rats joins Mark and Lauren in the studio to talk about his new series, starting on July 10th - "a big, stupid, cartoony new studio sitcom about a bunch of idiots trying to run a lab", according to Chris's website.
Lauren Laverne and Mark Kermode present a mix of cinema, super-size sculpture and great music. Mark takes director Terence Davies back to his native Liverpool. Davies's latest work, Of Time and the City, features his return to the city of his birth to examine its influence on his childhood and work, where he talks about his views on Liverpool past and present and how places shape us all. Lauren meets legendary Nigerian drummer Tony Allen to discuss the power of Afrobeat. Emerging in Nigeria in the late 60s, the heady mix of highlife melodies, jazz and yoruba drumming has influenced artists from James Brown and Brian Eno to more recently, Damon Albarn, Coldplay and Franz Ferdinand. With a contribution too from Tony Allen admirer, Damon Albarn. Andrew Graham Dixon takes to the skies in the second part of his tour of land art in Scotland and the north of England. His tour includes visits to Little Sparta, the garden of the late artist Ian Hamilton Finlay, in the Pentland Hills south of Edinburgh. He also flies by Britain's first permanent off shore sculpture, Couple by Sean Henry, and aerially reviews the Angel of the North. Plus Mark delivers his verdicts on the biggest films of the week, including the new batman film The Dark Knight, and Lauren talks to Bobby Gillespie and Mani of Primal Scream, who provide music in the studio.
Andrew Graham-Dixon and Mark Kermode lock horns over the Cy Twombly exhibition at Tate Modern. Twombly is one of the most highly regarded artists in the world, whose highly distinctive style - scribbles and vibrantly daubed paint - has critics in raptures. To a lot of people though, Twombly's works look like scratchy doodlings on a canvas - the sort of thing a child could do. Can art critic Andrew persuade sceptical Mark to see any merit in these huge, baffling paintings? Mark also talks to controversial theatre director Katie Mitchell, whose new play Some Trace of Her, opens at the National Theatre on July 30th. Focused on a murderous love triangle at the heart of Dostoevsky's The Idiot, this new production adopts an innovative visual style based around screens, cameras and live broadcasting of the dramatic action. Critics will either love or loathe it. Paul Weller, the unlikely statesman of British music, drops by to talk about turning fifty and his acclaimed new album, 22 Dreams.
Miranda Sawyer and Tom Dyckhoff visit the mega-cities of Shanghai and Beijing to meet the artists, musicians, photographers and architects who are shaping the fastest changing culture in the world. Tom examines the building boom that has changed the face of the two cities. Starting off with Norman Foster's epic Beijing Airport, he previews the Beijing National Stadium, or the Bird's Nest, which will be hosting many of the Olympic events. He also takes a look at the mammoth CCTV building, the new headquarters of Chinese Central Television by Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren, which is set to become one of the most recognisable buildings in the world. Tom then looks at how a young but flourishing design sector is taking the country away from its reputation as being the factory of the world and is now producing consumer goods for a population already demanding western designer products. Miranda attends a penthouse dinner party hosted by socialite and gallery owner Pearl Lam. While there she meets some of China's leading contemporary artists, writers and designers, including fashion designer Han Feng, famous for her haute couture and ready-to-wear lines. We sample Chinese music of all types, from Chinese hip-hop and underground DJs, to one of the country's most respected classical composers and conductors, He Zhanhao. China's new wave of young artists and designers are living and working under a regime never far from controversy. We hear from the artists who are relishing working in a country that is in the throes of reinvention
The Culture Show presents an international flavour with reports from Bergen, Florence and Jerusalem. Verity Sharp gets behind the scenes access to rock behemoths Metallica on tour in Norway. Having sold close to 100 million albums, Metallica are probably the biggest and most influential heavy metal band ever, and are now about to release their long-awaited ninth studio album. Verity joins the band in Bergen, sitting in on the late night rehearsals and pre-gig rituals. Featuring interviews with lead singer James Hetfield, the ultimate reformed rocker, and Lars Ulrich, drummer and fellow founder of the band, Verity turns the volume up to 11 in this revealing rockumentary of a unique band. Andrew Graham-Dixon is in Florence for a rare foray into the Vasari Corridor. Normally closed to visitors, this unique corridor, three kilometres in length, provides stunning views across Florence and is home to the world's most important collection of self-portraits by the greatest artists of the 16th to the 20th centuries including Bernini, Guido Reni, Salvator Rosa, Rubens, Canova, Corot, Ingres and Delacroix. The BBC's Middle East correspondent Tim Franks reports on a very special concert in Jerusalem. Tim follows a young Israeli horn player and a Palestinian oboeist as they take part in a unique series of rooftop performances by young musicians from both sides of the city, in an attempt to promote peace. As a metaphor for their hopes and prayers, the concert is intensely moving. Music comes from electro-popstars Goldfrapp, with their song Eat Yourself from the latest album Seventh Tree.
The series kicks off with a mix of classical art and music, a masterpiece of British cinema and a rock diva. Andrew Graham-Dixon is in a campaigning mood as he launches himself into the controversial debate about the future of two works by Titian in the National Gallery of Scotland, currently on loan from the Duke of Sutherland. The Duke has offered the first painting, Diana and Actaeon, to the National Gallery of Scotland for 50 million pounds. If they can't raise the money by the end of this year, the painting may be sold abroad. Mark Kermode celebrates another kind of masterpiece. It is 25 years since the film Local Hero came out, telling the story of a village tempted by millions of dollars from a US oil company in exchange for the development of their idyllic coastline. Mark brings together the cast and crew of one of the best loved British films of all time to examine the enduring appeal of this bitter-sweet, prophetic film. Mark also reviews the pick of the week's new movies including Ridley Scott's Body of Lies starring Russell Crowe, and Waltz with Bashir - an animated documentary into the horrors of the 1982 Lebanon war. Also, Lauren Laverne meets Grace Jones. A style icon, a musical innovator and always a diva, Grace is back with her first new album in 19 years, Hurricane. All that plus a stunning performance of the Revolutionary Etude by Chopin from the virtuouso, maverick organist Cameron Carpenter.
Angelina Jolie gives a rare interview to the Culture Show. She talks to Mark Kermode about her varied film career and her film Changeling - which some critics say is her best work yet - directed by Clint Eastwood. Photographer and artist Tom Hunter is among the top artists campaigning to raise 50 million pounds to buy Titian's Diana and Actaeon for the nation. To highlight the supreme beauty of this painting, Tom recreates the masterpiece in a modern-day setting with a surprising cast playing Diana, Actaeon and the scantily clad nymphs. There's a surprise starring role for Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall. The actor Martin Freeman - a Motown devotee - travels to Detroit to meet Motown's house band, the Funk Brothers. Althought they played on hundreds of hits and were the heart of the Motown sound, they have only recently received recognition. And Sir Paul McCartney joins Lauren Laverne in the studio in the week his album Electric Arguments is released, a surprising genre-hopping album consisting of thirteen tracks - each one written and recorded in the space of a day.
The Culture Show is host to five very different, high-achieving stars - the actor Michael Sheen; singer Tom Jones; poet Mick Imlah, Oscar winning animator Nick Park and producer, performer Kanye West. Michael Sheen talks about his forthcoming role as David Frost in Ron Howard's film Frost/Nixon. Sheen shot to fame with his uncanny portrayal of Tony Blair in The Deal and The Queen. He's also played Kenneth Williams, HG Wells, Mozart and Emperor Nero. Sheen talks about how he becomes a character and also how he's tackled his next project, becoming football manager Brian Clough for the film version of David Peace's novel The Damned United. We preview Sir Tom Jones takes on The Culture Show's busking challenge. Internationally famous he might be but how much money can he raise on the streets, busking for just 15 minutes? We profile the work of Scottish poet, Mick Imlah. His new volume of poetry The Lost Leader, his first for twenty years, garnered extraordinary critical acclaim, won the Forward Poetry Prize, and is now shortlisted for the prestigious TS Elliot prize. We join controversial and influential music producer and performer Kanye West at the O2 stadium. His fourth studio album, 808s and Heartbreak, has just been released and we join him on the road in Paris to sample life on stage, on tour and on the press and publicity circuit. An outspoken talent, West was also active in the US Presidential election campaigning on behalf of President-elect Barack Obama. In the week he turns 50, we celebrate the work of four times Oscar-winner Nick Park. Nick joins Mark and Lauren in the studio to talk about his new Wallace and Gromit film, A Matter of Loaf and Death.
Lauren Laverne, Mark Kermode and Andrew Graham-Dixon look at back at the highlights of the Culture Show in 2008. It is another chance to see the touching and powerful interview with Anthony Minghella, who died in March. The Culture Show had accompanied the Oscar-winning director to Botswana and been on set with him during the filming of The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency. Verity Sharp meets with the inspirational Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel, product of El Sistema - free musical education for some of the poorest young people in Venezuela. Simon Rattle has called Dudamel and El Sistema, 'the most important thing happening in classical music today'. We show again Mark Kermode's one-man campaign to give a special send-off to the tiny 24-seat cinema, La Charrette, in Gorseinon, South Wales. Faced with closure, Mark decides to stage the world premiere of Danny Boyle's film Alien Love Triangle. Star of the film Kenneth Branagh joins the Gorseinon villagers for a red carpet night in the converted rail carriage cinema. In an unusual encounter, Andrew Graham-Dixon 'interviews' French artist Marcel Duchamp. Famed for his influence on modern art and works such as the men's urinal re-named 'Fountain', Duchamp died in 1968. Sir Tom Jones takes on the Culture Show's busking challenge. With a combination of classics and material from his brand new album, 24 hours, can Tom oust the Fron Male Voice Choir, from the current top spot in the busking league table? Music comes from the band of the year, Mercury Prize winners Elbow, accompanied by Richard Hawley.
In this Culture Show special marking the 50th anniversary of Motown Records, actor and Motown fan Martin Freeman takes the trip of a lifetime. Visiting both Detroit and LA, he encounters the men and women, from the world famous to the unsung, who played a part in the massive success story that was Motown. In Detroit he meets, amongst others: Duke Fakir of the last surviving member of the Four Tops; Sylvia Moy, who wrote the lyrics for Stevie Wonder's Uptight; Motown producer Clay McMurray, who used to work in Quality Control for the label and pushed for the release of Stevie Wonder's My Cherie Amour; former DJ Scottie Regan whol played early Motown on white radio stations. Martha Reeves, lead singer of Martha and the Vandellas, now a Detroit councillor. Plus three of the original Funk Brothers, the backing musicians who were so key to the development of the Motown sound in the Sixties: guitarist Eddie Willis, bass player Bob Babbitt and drummer Uriel Jones. From Detroit, Martin travels to Los Angeles, following the same path that Motown itself took when the record label moved West in 1972. Here he meets more of the Motown stars: three of The Jackson 5 - Marlon, Tito and Jackie Jackson; Mary Wilson of The Supremes and Otis Williams of The Temptations. Songwriters Lamont Dozier and Brian and Eddie Holland talk to Martin about their string of hits for the label, including Where Did Our Love Go and Reach Out. With musical interludes throughout, this is the Motown story from a real fan's perspective.
Lauren Laverne and Mark Kermode are back with another packed, wide-ranging edition of the show. In the week that Danny Boyle's acclaimed and Oscar-tipped new movie Slumdog Millionaire is released, the Culture Show stages a unique screening of the film in front of a specially invited all-Indian audience. The film is set entirely in the slums of Mumbai and this is the first time the director has watched it with an Indian audience. After the screening, Danny Boyle takes to the stage to face the audience's verdict. We also look at the attempt in London - despite the biggest economic downturn in decades - to build Europe's tallest building. Work on The Shard, at London Bridge, has just begun. Tom Dyckhoff talks to architect Renzo Piano about his plans to reach for the sky Following the official closing ceremony of Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture, The Culture Show profiles one of the most successful community projects to come from the year's events. The Rightful Owners of the Song was a search for Liverpool's best pub singers, with the chance to sing with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra for the chosen performers. Composer Jonathan Raisin spent a year touring the bars and pubs of Liverpool looking for the city's best singing talent. We follow the winners from their initial pub perfomance to the on-stage finale with RLPO.
Lauren Laverne and the Culture Show team are in Liverpool to look back at the city's year as European Capital of Culture. The programme features highlights of the year plus a look at what the long-term legacy will be for the city. There is a special focus on how the buzz and investment has - or has not - really affected people and communities in the city. Highlights include Simon Rattle on his return to his home city with the Berlin Philharmonic, Paul McCartney's homecoming concert at Anfield in June, and actor Pete Postlethwaite and director Rupert Goold on their controversial King Lear at the Everyman Theatre. Film director Terence Davies talks to Mark Kermode about his bittersweet, personal portrait of Liverpool - Of Time and the City. Andrew Graham-Dixon looks at the Gustav Klimt exhibition at Tate Liverpool, and Tom Dyckhoff takes to the air in the Culture Show helicopter to look at the city's world-famous skyline. Tom also reviews the Le Corbusier exhibition in the crypt of Liverpool's Metropolitan Cathedral. There is also coverage of what for many was the event of the year - the gigantic robot spider. Built by French company Le Machine, the giant spider clings to buildings, attacks shoppers and creates arachnid, artistic mayhem. Projects that aimed to get communities involved in the year's events included searching for the best of Liverpool's pub singers and uniting them with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra for a unique performance at the Philharmonic Hall. Also, young people from 17 cities around the UK got together to explore their hometown's heritage and identity at Liverpool's St George's Hall for 'Portrait of a Nation', a huge event featuring art, performance and debate about what it means to be a young person in the UK.
This edition of The Culture Show focuses on three very different writers who have given a powerful voice to characters and stories. And Barack Obama's presidential inauguration is marked in a special way. In a rare interview, young journalist Roberto Saviano talks about his book Gomorrah, which exposes the inner workings of the Naples mafia. The book has now been made into an acclaimed film, tipped to win Oscars. Roberto Saviano is living in the shadow of a death sentence from the Camorra, which is aggrieved at being depicted as cruel, selfish and banal. There is also a special masterclass in creating cult TV from Ed Burns, the co-writer of The Wire - Barack Obama's favourite TV show. Burns's new series Generation Kill is a raw account of the war in Iraq as seen from the inside of an American tank. The Culture Show goes backstage with Armando Iannucci. The man behind Knowing me Knowing You and The Thick of It has now turned his satirical eye to writing Skin Deep, an opera about plastic surgery which opened in Leeds in January. We have all-areas access to last-minute rehearsals and the crucial first night. All that plus, as 20 January is the day Barack Obama is inaugurated, the Culture Show is at the epicentre of black America, 125th street in Harlem. We hear from the men and women who voted for the first time ever in November and who believe America now stands to be transformed.
The Culture Show comes from the Old Fruitmarket in the heart of Glasgow's Merchant City, one of the main venues in the city's Celtic Connections festival. It's one of the world's largest winter music festivals with 1,500 musicians from all round the globe performing in 300 concerts. Lauren Laverne looks at the growing appeal of a simpler, stripped-back approach to music in these new economic times. To mark the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns' birth, we've brought together some of Scotland's finest actors, led by Robert Carlyle and Siobhan Redmond, to perform Burns' most striking and rarely celebrated works. We profile the work of rising star theatre director Rupert Goold whose controversial and much criticised production of King Lear comes to the Young Vic on January 29th. Glasgow band Franz Ferdinand are due to release their much awaited third album Tonight: Franz Ferdinand this week. The Culture Show has been following the progress of the new work in the run up to its release. Nihal joins the group in their rehearsal room in Glasgow for some exclusive acoustic performances from the new album and we're backstage with the group as they perform some of the new material live at a gig in Manchester.
The Culture Show, presented by Lauren Laverne, broadcasts from the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts in Gateshead. The show looks at the future for the arts in the Northeast, a region which has put culture at the heart of its regeneration, and with the collapse of Northern Rock, was the first into this new economic climate. Art critic Alastair Sooke meets conceptual artist Yoko Ono at her new exhibition Between the Sky and My Head at the Baltic Centre. Lauren Laverne celebrates 30 years of Viz with creators Chris and Simon Donald. Plus, the writer of Gomorrah Roberto Saviano examines the portrayal of the mafia in films and television. One of his stated aims with Gomorrah was to reveal what 'grubby, hunted little lives' mafioso types live. Here, he discusses the impact of how films like Scarface, Goodfellas and The Godfather have shaped the mafia itself.
In December 2008, Alfred Brendel, one of the greatest classical pianists of our time, stopped performing for good. In a rare interview to mark the occasion, he talks to conductor Charles Hazlewood about his final concert and what he is going to do next. He talks about his parallel profession as a published poet, gives an exclusive reading of three of his poems and explains how his love of absurd films, art and cartoons has influenced his poetry and his life. The film contains a very special short extract of Brendel playing Mozart's Sonata in F Major recorded at his last ever recital.
Lauren Laverne and Mark Kermode present another mix of cultural highlights. Lauren meets Seattle band Fleet Foxes, who burst onto the music scene in 2008 with a debut album rich in soaring, baroque hymns and timeless harmonies. They topped album of the year polls and saw off competition from the likes of Radiohead and Elbow to win the first-ever Uncut Music Award. Lauren catches up with the group as they prepare for three sell-out dates at Camden's legendary Roundhouse venue, and they give an exclusive performance. Andrew Graham Dixon goes behind the Iron Curtain at Tate Modern's exhibition of Russian constructivist art, featuring the work of Aleksandr Rodchenko and Liubov Popova. Andrew reveals how constructivism has long outlived Russian communism on album covers and magazines. Also on the show, the original punk poet John Cooper Clarke. His acerbic, witty observations on life in post-war northern England inspire bands like the Arctic Monkeys and Reverend and the Makers, but why was his fame so short-lived? As he turns 60 we speak to him about a life on the literary edge.
Special edition all about the life and work of one of the greatest artists of the 20th century - Pablo Picasso. Andrew Graham-Dixon is in Paris - the art capital of 20th-century Europe and the place where Picasso spent much of his life. Andrew tells Picasso's story from his early days in Montmartre, the artist's obsession with all things Modern and the invention of Cubism, through to Picasso's fascination with the Grand Masters of European painting. Picasso endlessly borrowed from, copied, satirised and re-vamped the paintings of the European masters including Delacroix, El Greco, Velazquez, Goya, Rembrandt, Degas and Manet. The programme includes contributions from Picasso's grandson Olivier and his biographer Pierre Daix. Sixty of Picasso's paintings will be on display at a major exhibition at the National Gallery in London. Picasso: Challenging the Past runs from February 25th until June and will show how Picasso's work was shaped and inspired by the Masters of European painting.
The final Culture Show of the current series comes from the Whitechapel Art Gallery in east London. It is presented by Lauren Laverne, Andrew Graham-Dixon and Mark Kermode. Find out what happens when a prominent figure in British politics meets his fictional nemesis. Alastair Campbell reviews Armando Iannucci's first feature film In the Loop, which features spin doctor Malcolm Tucker and his role in Britain's involvement in a controversial war. After a 13-million-pound restoration, the Whitechapel re-opens in April 2009. Andrew Graham-Dixon tells the story of the gallery that transformed the British art scene. He also reviews the opening exhibitions, including a new installation by Goshka Macuga, which features Picasso's Guernica tapestry on loan from the UN in New York. Mark Kermode has a rare interview with a cinematic one-off - the playwright, screenplay writer and now film director Charlie Kaufman. The writer of Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind has made his first film as director, Synecdoche New York, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. Lauren Laverne has an equally rare interview with American singer-songwriter Will Oldham, who also goes by the name Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. His concerts sell out within minutes, and music critics call him a wayward genius and the finest songwriter to come out of America for years. Exclusively for the Culture Show, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy performs a stripped-down version of You Can't Hurt Me Now from his new album.
Andrew Graham-Dixon, Lauren Laverne and Mark Kermode present a special edition of The Culture Show devoted to the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition. The hour-long special will showcase the best of the 2009 exhibition and look back to uncover the secret of its enduring appeal. Held every year since 1769, the Summer Exhibition is unique. Running from June 8 to August 16, it is the biggest open-submission contemporary art exhibition in the world, and the longest-running annual art event. The show displays a wide range of new work by both acclaimed and completely unknown artists in all media - including painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture and architecture. Andrew Graham-Dixon tracks the progress of four unknown artists who have submitted work for consideration this year. He loves their work, but will their pictures make it through the make-or-break judging process and into the final show? The Culture Show talks to some of the leading artists exhibiting this year. New Royal Academician Michael Landy - famous for having destroyed all of his possessions - talks about why he is now making portraits. The programme also follows two legends of the sixties art scene, painter John Hoyland and sculptor Allen Jones, as they prepare work for the exhibition; and video art sceptic Mark Kermode talks to Richard Wilson, who is curating the Summer Exhibition's first ever room dedicated to video art. There is also exclusive access to the judging of the Wollaston Award and the winner of the 25,000 pound prize is revealed. Previous winners include David Hockney, the Chapman brothers and Jeff Koons. Plus a spectacular performance by art lover Beth Ditto and band of the moment Gossip, playing to the crowds at the Summer Exhibition's glamorous preview party
Coverage of the literary awards, presented by Mishal Husain. Before the winner's name is revealed, there are profiles of the six books that made it to the judges' shortlist. They are: Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed Bad Science by Ben Goldacre The Lost City of Z by David Grann Leviathan by Phillip Hoare The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality by Manjit Kumar There is also discussion with the judging panel who had the task of compiling the shortlist and chosing a winner from the six finalists. The judges are Jacob Weisberg, one of America's leading political journalists and commentators; Dr Mark Lythgoe, neuroscientist and director of the Cheltenham Science Festival; Tim Marlow, writer, broadcaster, art historian and director of exhibitions at White Cube; Munira Mirza, director of policy, arts, culture and the creative industries at the Mayor of London's office; and Sarah Sands, deputy editor of the London Evening Standard. Mishal Husain will also interview the winning author who, as well as receiving a cheque for 20,000 pounds, will be joining writers such as Antony Beevor (for Stalingrad), Anna Funder (for Stasiland) and Kate Summerscale (for The Suspicions of Mr Whicher) on the prestigious list of winners of the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize.
The Culture Show captures the best of the 2009 Manchester International Festival. This programme goes behind the scenes with artist Jeremy Deller, as he gets the festival off to a bang on Sunday July 5th. Famous for recreating the Battle of Orgreave and for fusing acid house with brass band culture, Deller has been at work for months on a massive procession down Deansgate. Thousands are expected to take part, in this one-off event combining art, music and protest politics. There’s also a rare TV interview with Ralf HÏ‹tter, founder member of reclusive German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk - and stars of a one-off concert at the Manchester Velodrome. Lauren Laverne talks to Guy Garvey. His band Elbow are working with the original Manchester band, the Halle Orchestra at the Bridgewater Hall. There's also a profile of the Young at Heart Choir. Made up of singers in their 70s and 80s, Young at Heart made its name with their unique take on songs by the Clash and James Brown. The Culture Show caught up with them rehearsing a brand new show for the Manchester Festival – End of the Road, based around iconic Manchester songs. Plus, Carlos Acosta prepares to perform new work at the festival, exploring the idea of the male muse in ballet. His programme includes work by Balanchine's classic Apollo and Robbins' A Suite of Dances. A panel of cultural critics discuss all these highlights from Manchester plus performance art from Marina Abramovic, and a new work by German artist Gustav Metzger
Miranda Sawyer presents from the Manchester International Festival. The show looks at the collaboration between award-winning film-maker Adam Curtis, theatre company Punchdrunk, and Damon Albarn. It Felt Like a Kiss tells the story of dark dreams and desires in 1960s America. The unique theatrical event unfolds over 5 floors of a deserted multi-storey office block and blends documentary footage with fairground ghost train horrors. Art critic Alastair Sooke puts himself through a four-hour live art experience curated by artist Marina Abramovic at the Whitworth Gallery. Zaha Hadid converts the Manchester Art Gallery into a new chamber music hall for the solo works of Bach, and there is a performance by violinist Alina Ibragimova. Rufus Wainwright talks about his first opera, Prima Donna - a collaboration with Opera North - which gets its world premiere on 10 July 2009; and a panel of cultural critics debate the highlights of this week’s Manchester festival offerings, including a special collaboration between Elbow and the Halle Orchestra. All that plus Film Club with Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo. With school term finishing for summer, Kermode and Mayo discuss school movies.
Tim Marlow presents from Albert Square in Manchester in the final week of the Manchester International Festival. Tim looks at the collaboration between Elbow and the Halle, the city's world-renowned symphony orchestra and its original cultural icon. Over two nights at the Bridgewater Hall, Elbow and the Halle are playing songs from across the band's career, curated in collaboration with Mancunian composer Joe Duddell. Tom Dyckhoff takes to a barge to tell the story of Manchester's distinctive look, and reviews Zaha Hadid's new chamber music hall installed in the Manchester Art Gallery. Conductor and music critic Jason Lai finds out how Bach's solo works sound in the new music hall, with a special performance by Alina Ibragimova on violin. In A Paean to Wilson, Vini Reilly of the Durutti Column pays a special tribute to Tony Wilson, whose Factory Records did so much to define Manchester in the 80s and 90s. A team of critics joins Tim Marlow to review the whole festival - 18 days of world premieres. There is also another session from Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo's Screening Room. The pair argue about the merits of music biopics, with the help of a live audience.
Lawrence Pollard presents from the Port Eliot Festival in Cornwall, which features an unusual mix of literature, music and summer entertainment. As author of the Damned United, which tackles Brian Clough's time as manager of Leeds United, as well as the Red Riding Quartet, which was recently adapted for TV, David Peace is the writer of the moment. Because his work is inextricably connected to his roots and upbringing in Yorkshire, the Culture Show sent fellow author Denise Mina, who writes crime fiction set in her own home town of Glasgow, to Leeds for a tour of Peace's home turf and to talk about his dark inspirations. Miranda Sawyer, meanwhile, interviews the Dead Weather - Jack White of the White Stripes's latest collaboration with a select group of indie rock stars, including Alison Mosshart of the Kills and Dean Fertita of Queens of the Stone Age. Jack talks about stepping away from the mic to become the drummer of the new group. There is also an exclusive performance of Treat Me Like Your Mother, a track from the band's new album Horehound. Andrew Graham Dixon is at Tate Modern, which this summer celebrates the centenary of the writing of one of the founding texts of modern art, the Futurist Manifesto by Filippo Marinetti. Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo are in front of an audience once again to debate the merits of specific movie genres in their Screening Room. This time it is the turn of rock docs. Movies such as Gimme Shelter, Rattle And Hum and Anvil are given the Mayo and Kermode once-over. Plus, there is a tour of the Port Eliot Festival site and discussion with some of the country's most successful authors who are taking part in the event.
1/10. Coming from the Brighton Festival, artistic director Brian Eno talks about his line-up.
2/10. Art critic Matthew Collings celebrates Tate Modern's birthday.
3/10. Andrew Graham-Dixon discovers the history of gargoyles at Westminster Abbey.
4/10. Andrew Graham-Dixon contemplates the past, present and future of British comic art.
5/10. An edition dedicated to the relationship between science and art.
7/10. A Culture Show special on 2010's BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction.
8/10. Featuring a major retrospective of Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Creed.
9/10. Featuring abstract painter Joan Mitchell and Opera de Lyon's production of Porgy and Bess.
10/10. Featuring Bliss by Opera Australia, based on the blackly comic novel by Peter Carey.
Andrew Graham Dixon presents the latest edition of The Culture Show from Glasgow featuring writer and artist Alasdair Gray on the publication of his autopictography, A Life in Pictures. Andrew also visits Chichester Cathedral to see how the campaign to restore their magnificent collection of Tudor paintings is progressing. Miranda Sawyer meets the latest British rap sensation Tinie Tempah midway through his UK tour; and Mark Kermode checks out one of the year's most talked about movies, The Kids Are Alright, featuring Julianne Moore and Annette Bening as a married couple with two children conceived through artifical insemination. Also, Damien Hirst raids the BBC archives to uncover his favourite moments featuring Andy Warhol, Marchel Duchamp and Francis Bacon.
Andrew Graham Dixon visits the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence to view a landmark exhibition of work by Bronzino, artist and poet to the Court of Medici. Mark Kermode meets Mike Leigh to discuss his latest film, Another Year, while Matt Berry celebrates the 40th anniversary of what he considers the seminal concept album - Jesus Christ Superstar. Legendary graphic novel author Alan Moore explores the biggest public art exhibition of Austin Osman Spare for over 50 years, and discovers why Spare, an Edwardian virtuoso artist and occult magician has been left off art history's canon. Simon Schama picks his favourites foodie moments from the BBC's back catalogue, from Fanny Craddock to Keith Floyd.
Tom Dyckhoff visits Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill House, which was recently re-opened to the public after a two-year restoration project. Sarfraz Manzoor investigates the winning images of the 2010 World Press Photo competition, and Paul Auster talks about his latest book Sunset Park. Michael Smith explores the British Library's exhibition on accents and language, while Alain de Botton takes a look at the critically acclaimed video installation The Clock. Andrew Graham-Dixon remembers war artist Henry Tonks, and Mark Kermode revisits cult classic Peeping Tom on its 50th anniversary.
In this Culture Show special, Sue Perkins investigates crime and experiences 'new romance' in an attempt to discover the essential ingredients of a bestselling novel. Her journey takes her to the home of Agatha Christie to find clues as to why she is the bestselling crime author of all time. She visits the racetrack with Dick Francis's son Felix to find out what makes the perfect backdrop for a thriller. And she meets author Lee Child to discover why men and women love his anti-hero Jack Reacher. Plus, she tests the popularity of a Sophie Kinsella chick-lit novel in a flashmob-style raid on an Edinburgh hairdressing salon. Along the way, Sue also meets bestselling authors Ian Rankin, Ruth Rendell, Colin Dexter, Anthony Horowitz and Joanne Harris along with some of the UK's biggest crime, thriller and romance fans to find out what they like best about their favourite authors.
Coming from the 60th anniversary celebrations for the Festival of Britain where Nancy Durrant talks to Tracey Emin about her new show at the Hayward. Also, Andrew Graham-Dixon travels north to the new Hepworth Wakefield exhibition space designed by David Chipperfield, while Tom Dyckhoff explores the militarisation of urban architecture. Mark Kermode tries the new video game LA Noire, which draws its inspiration from film noir, while record producer Danger Mouse talks about his new album Rome, spawned from the spaghetti western soundtrack. Alastair Sooke checks out the four shortlisted for the Art Fund Prize Museum of the Year and choreographer Wayne McGregor selects his own prize moments from the BBC archives.
Hugh Laurie was best known for playing bumbling British toffs until he reinvented his onscreen persona in the role of House MD, and became the highest paid actor in the world. One skill that features throughout his meteoric career is a facility for music, from Bertie Wooster bashing out Minnie the Moocher to House dueting with a patient. Now though, Laurie has finally put his music centre stage. As he releases an album of New Orleans blues titled Let Them Talk, he speaks with Alan Yentob about the role music has played in his life and career.
Fronted by Andrew Graham-Dixon, this week's Culture Show comes from the recently revamped Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, and ranges from sci-fi to psychopaths, with Shakespeare, singing, art, hip-hop, design and new media packed in too.
Alan Yentob talks to his hero Sir Terence Conran, perhaps one of Britain’s greatest designers, about the revolutionary transformation he made to British life and style. A designer, retailer and restaurateur, Conran pioneered a new way of life that he wanted to be available to all with his vision of ‘easy living’. They discuss the work he contributed to the Festival of Britain in the 1950s, and his vision of a new way of living which he cemented with the opening of the high street shop Habitat in 1964, giving us stylish design for the everyday, from kitchen utensils to furniture.
Andrew Graham-Dixon visits the new Lucian Freud exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. Mark Kermode talks movies with author Geoff Dyer whose new book is based on the Russian cult classic 'Stalker', Charlie Luxton explores the churches of architect Nicholas Hawksmoor, Alastair Sooke looks back at the extraordinary life of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama and journalist Aleks Krotoski investigates the transformation of the world wide web when the next billion people go online. Miranda Sawyer chats to Emeli Sandé, winner of the Brit Awards Critics' Choice for 2012 and Clemency Burton-Hill meets Scrubs star Zach Braff, set to appear in his self-penned play All New People.
David Hockney, widely considered to be Britain's best-loved living artist, has taken over the Royal Academy in London with his exhibition A Bigger Picture made up of recent works depicting the landscape of his native Yorkshire. In this programme, Andrew Marr, a friend of Hockney's and an amateur painter himself, is in conversation with the artist, both at his home in Bridlington and in the galleries of the RA.
The Culture Show catches up with Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller as he prepares for his Hayward Gallery, London, exhibition; following him as he works on his latest project.
David Hockney chats about his latest exhibition, A Bigger Picture, inspired by East Yorkshire.
Sue Perkins presents the first of three Culture Show programmes from The Edinburgh Festival, featuring all the best in theatre, dance, literature, music and comedy from the Fringe, International, Art and Book Festivals. She meets Mark Thomas to discuss his new comedy show Bravo Figaro about his tempestuous relationship with his dad. Clemency Burton-Hill gets in step with brilliant Brazilian movers and shakers the Deborah Colker Dance Company. Harry Hill takes us on a tour of his art exhibition. Alastair Sooke explores the world of Catherine the Great in a major exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland with Miriam Margolyes. Ahead of her concert with the LSO at the Edinburgh International Festival and her appearance at The Last Night of the Proms, Nicola Benedetti performs the Tango Por Una Cabeza by Gardel - best known as the tango from the film Scent of a Woman - especially for The Culture Show.
Sue Perkins presents a second helping of The Culture Show from the Edinburgh Festival and meets author Kirsty Gunn and music legend Nile Rodgers. Also featured tonight, the 25th anniversary of So You Think You're Funny, the Edinburgh comedy competition which has uncovered stars from Dylan Moran to Peter Kay. Artists including David Hockney, Paul Gaugin and Sir Peter Blake swap paint for wool in an exhibition of contemporary tapestries, and we take a look at Speed of Light - a spectacular mass participatory event in which walkers and endurance runners ascend Arthur's Seat and illuminate the iconic mountain.
Sue Perkins presents a final helping of hits from this year's Edinburgh Festival including an interview with Howard Jacobson about his new novel Zoo Time and a look at the art of Dieter Roth.
Andrew takes a look at the art of French impressionist, Edouard Manet as the Royal Academy prepares for a major retrospective of his work. Mark talks to Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow about the controversy surrounding her latest film 'Zero Dark Thirty'.
Tom Dyckhoff presents a special design themed edition of the show this week. He takes a look at the latest 'hacking' craze, where online design communities interact to reinvent and create new objects. The show also learns about the impact of football on 50 years of men's fashion to coincide with the National Museum of Football's 'strike a pose' exhibition.
Andrew takes a look at the work of 17th century Spanish baroque painter Bartholome Esteban Murillo, as an exhibiton about the profound influence of his close friend and patron Justino de Neve opens at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Alan Yentob talks to Jonathan Miller as he returns to British theatre after a six year break to stage a production of Rutherford and Son.
Alastair takes a look back on the work of American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein as Tate Modern gets ready for a major retrospective. Cerys Matthews is at the National Theatre Wales as they get ready for the premiere of De Gabay, a unique performance based around the lives of the Somali community in Cardiff.
For years, thousands of paintings owned by the British public have been hidden away and inaccessible - until now. Thanks to the work of the Your Paintings project, over 200,000 works in our national collections have been painstakingly uncovered, photographed and put online - some for the very first time - allowing art experts and amateur-sleuths alike to make connections and discoveries that wouldn't have been possible before. Alastair Sooke teams up with art detective Dr Bendor Grosvenor to unearth some hidden gems and find out what our paintings say about us.
When a handful of musical immigrants from the Caribbean islands came to Britain in the 1920s and 30s, it was the beginning of both musical and political change. Leslie Thompson, an innovative musician and trumpeter, and Ken 'Snakehips' Johnson, a brilliant dancer and charismatic band leader, pooled their talents to start the first black British swing band. Clemency Burton-Hill reveals the untold story of the black British swing musicians of the 1930s, whose meteoric rise to fame on London's high society dance floors was cut short by unexpected tragedy at the height of the Blitz.
Alan Yentob talks to South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone about their comedy stage musical The Book of Mormon. Already a huge hit in the US, this irreverent religious satire is now opening in London's West End. Like the rest of Parker and Stone's work, the show is a master class in subversive comedy. In their eyes nothing is off limits and nobody safe from ridicule. This Culture Show Special reflects on the duos extraordinary career and reveals how music has always played a crucial role in their creative output - from early student films through to South Park and Team America: World Police. Alan visits South Park Studios in LA, encounters some real life Mormon missionaries in San Diego, and catches up with Matt and Trey in London as they oversee final rehearsals for the West End run of The Book of Mormon. Along the way he discovers what inspires this relentlessly provocative partnership and how they ended up making a Broadway musical in the first place.
Tom Dyckhoff takes a look at architectural solutions to affordable housing in this time of crisis. As the weather sta rts to becomewetter and the risk of flooding increases, Beatrice Galilee travels to Holland to find out how the Dutch have dealt with the problem.
Andrew Graham-Dixon is at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire. The house is holding an exhibition of works by the Scottish artist and sculptor William Turnbull.
Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle talks to Mark Kermode about his new thriller Trance, which stars James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson and Vincent Cassel. He also discusses the highs and lows of his film-making career, which includes Trainspotting, 28 Days Later and Slumdog Millionaire, and reveals how his working-class, left-wing upbringing helped shape his vision for the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Novelist Jay McInerney explores the life and writing of F Scott Fitzgerald, whose masterwork The Great Gatsby has just been filmed for the fifth time. Fitzgerald captured the reckless spirit of New York life in the roaring twenties - the flappers, the parties, the bootleg liquor, the inevitable reckoning, and the hangover to come. In Gatsby, he created a character who reinvented himself for love - just as Fitzgerald would, not once, but twice. Fitzgerald never wrote an autobiography. He left us something better - letters. Romantic, arrogant, humble letters; letters to editors, publishers, lovers, or friends. These letters reveal the inner thoughts of a man whose real life was never far from the fiction he wrote.
A topical series featuring the best arts and culture stories of the week. One of the hottest talents in Hollywood today, JJ Abrams talks to Mark Kermode about his latest turn at the helm of the Starship Enterprise, his lifelong love of filmmaking and the passion for mystery that lies at the heart of everything he does. New York born Abrams has conquered both television and film, bringing landmark TV series Lost to the small screen while collaborating with film industry royalty Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg for box office hits Mission: Impossible III and Super 8. Self-confessed geek and ultimate fan boy, Jeffrey Jacob Abrams is about to take on the daunting task of directing the new Star Wars film. In this programme JJ takes Mark on an exclusive tour of Bad Robot, the top secret Los Angeles hub of his production company and provides a rare glimpse into where the magic happens.
The Culture Show has had unique behind-the-scenes access to Rankin's latest exhibition.
Miranda Sawyer meets Maxine Peake, who is performing Shelley's The Masque of Anarchy.
Morgan Quaintance examines the careers of Ibrahim El-Salahi and Meschac Gaba.
Film following designer Thomas Heatherwick, whose works include the 2012 Olympic cauldron.
Alastair Sooke and Dr Bendor Grosvenor explore the art in Venice, both old and new.
Art critic Alastair Sooke heads to the new Leonardo da Vinci exhibition in Edinburgh.
Sue Perkins explores the highs and lows of being a woman in the world of stand-up comedy.
Sue Perkins goes behind the scenes at the Traverse Theatre, now in its 50th year.
Investigative journalist Jacques Peretti ventures into the world of YouTube.
Tom Dyckhoff explores the biggest public library in Europe, opening in Birmingham.
Alastair Sooke meets portrait artist Jonathan Yeo.
Malcolm Gladwell is about to publish a book. He's done it four times before, and whenever it happens huge things occur: Millions of copies get sold, world leaders take note, catchy phrases infiltrate our language and millions of us are moved by his inspiring stories and big powerful ideas. Jon Ronson goes head to head with The Tipping Point author in his New York home to talk about his latest work. 'David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants' seeks to shake our faith in what it means to have the upper hand. In it Gladwell argues we get advantage and disadvantage the wrong way round. Being dyslexic, losing a parent in childhood, being bombed, shot at, marginalized... can all be turned to good, according to his latest optimistic tome. In this candid and revealing confrontation, one thing comes clear... Giants beware: underdogs can surprise you when they make good the advantages that stem from a traumatic start.
A revealing portrait of Sylvie Guillem, one of the greatest dancers of our time. Hand-picked by Rudolph Nureyev at the age of 19, she was the youngest ever 'etoile', the highest-ranking female dancer at the Paris Opera Ballet and later, the star of the Royal Ballet here in London. A rebel who reshaped ballet, Guillem has always fearlessly pursued her own artistic vision, earning an uncompromising reputation and the nickname 'Mademoiselle Non!'. At 48 years old she remains an imperious physical force - but for how much longer? With an eye on life after dance, Guillem is now reinventing herself as an environmental campaigner. Filmed over several months with exclusive access, this programme explores what happens when a force of nature becomes a force for nature, and follows Guillem as she continues to defy her own body, confronting the future while remaining one of dance's most mesmerising trailblazers.
For 12 days London will be under siege from over 350 features, documentaries and short films from 57 countries. Mark Kermode explores the wealth of real life stories that have inspired some of these films, and the exciting British talent which the festival will showcase. From taut hi-jack thriller 'Captain Phillips' - directed by Paul Greengrass, to Oscar tipped '12 Years a Slave' with Chiwetel Ejiofor. Uncovering stories of love, loss, injustice and triumph, Mark discovers how the festival's film makers have created some of the most exciting and dynamic movies available today, and gives us a preview of what is going to be big cinema news in the coming months
The ancient art of Chinese painting is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in history. Kate Bryan, former Hong Kong resident and the Fine Art Society's head of contemporary, travels to China to find out more about this tradition, a journey which coincides with a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition at London's Victoria & Albert Museum, 'Masterpieces of Chinese Painting'. In China, Kate learns about the golden age of Chinese landscape and discovers why ink is still favoured over paint. She also learns how the country's unique aesthetic was heavily influenced by age-old standards of class and politics
The Culture Show reviews the six shortlisted books for Britain's most prestigious award for nonfiction and asks which book will win the coveted prize. The list has never been more eclectic or thought provoking, spanning poetry to politics, taking in our relationship with Roman Britain but also modern Afghanistan, even raising questions about how we commemorate our war dead and why we need bumblebees. The reviewers this year are all former judges of the prize including literary critic and author Diana Athill and journalist Jim Naughtie. Meanwhile publisher Jamie Byng explains why it's never been a more exciting time for nonfiction and gives his verdict on which book deserves to win.
For those who remained in London during the Second World War, the Blitz was a terrifying time of sleeplessness, fear and loss, but some of London's literary set found inspiration in the danger and intensity. With the threat of death ever present, nerves were tested and affairs began; it was an absolute gift for a writer seeking new material. Presenter James Runcie tells the story of novelists Graham Greene, Henry Green and Elizabeth Bowen, and American poet Hilda Doolittle, who revelled in the creative and personal freedom they discovered even as the bombs rained down. The programme reveals how these writers distilled the surreal and often frightening atmosphere of the time into some of their finest work
More than 40 million people follow Lady Gaga on Twitter. Can they possibly be wrong? For her fans, the Little Monsters, Gaga is not just a star - she is a mother figure and a fellow sufferer. As her long-awaited third album ARTPOP is released, Gaga meets Miranda Sawyer for an exclusive interview, to talk about pop, art, fans, and her need, and ours, for applause.
Why has a kids TV show about an eccentric man with a box that can travel anywhere in time and space become the BBC's longest running TV drama - and one of Britain's biggest brands? On its 50th anniversary, lifelong fan Matthew Sweet argues you ignore Doctor Who at your peril. It may be a piece of children's television, but he believes it's one of the most important cultural artefacts of modern Britain. Put simply, Doctor Who matters. In this hour-long Culture Show special, BBC Two's flagship arts programme explores with wit, authority and affection, why Doctor Who has become entrenched in British life. Matthew Sweet traces the 50 years of extraordinary social change and uncertainty that sent generations of children scuttling behind the sofa. How did a pepper pot, the Nazis and a sink plunger result in the scariest adversaries of our time - the Daleks? Sweet argues how in turn the show became a cultural force in its own right, influencing music, design and storytelling - whether pioneering electronica (Delia Derbyshire), or giving the unknown Douglas Adams a crucial break. Matthew meets both famous faces as well as cast, crew and Doctors past and present (from current Doctor Matt Smith to Richard Martin, the maverick director who first brought the Daleks to screens in 1964) to find out how Doctor Who has changed our culture.
It's a hundred years since DH Lawrence's revolutionary novel, Sons and Lovers, first hit the bookshops - and to celebrate, the writer Geoff Dyer, accompanied by Lawrence scholar, Catherine Brown, retread the Alpine journey that the love-struck Lawrence made when he eloped from England with the sexually liberated Frieda Weekley, in 1912. It was an extraordinary trip that enabled him to complete his first masterpiece and also marked the moment when he decided to risk everything for his writing. As Geoff and Catherine head into the mountains, the film ranges over the globetrotting story of Lawrence's life and work and takes the opportunity to fight back against Lawrence's many critics. With assistance from a clutch of Lawrence admirers - including poet Simon Armitage, novelist Rachel Cusk and the biographer John Worthen - the hikers peel back the stereotype of Lawrence as that earnest, one-track-mind novelist to reveal one of the most adventurous, humane and influential figures of the 20th century.
In 1964 the Mary Poppins film premiered in Hollywood to world acclaim. But one person loathed it. She was PL Travers, the author of the books. To coincide with the release of Saving Mr Banks, this Culture Show special presented by Victoria Coren Mitchell explores the dark and complex life of the writer. Her twenty year battle with Walt Disney, the strange adoption of her child (he was one of twins) and how the film version overshadowed her writings but made her rich. With contributions from Emma Thompson, Cameron Mackintosh and PL Travers's granddaughter.
Alan Yentob, in a bid to understand fashion designer Paul Smith, challenges him to choose the objects which sum up his life. Smith's Covent Garden office is an Aladdin's cave of objects - piles of toys, stacks of racing bikes, gifts from fans, hundreds of books. But there is a method to the strange world of Paul Smith. Growing up determined to be a racing cyclist, his dreams ended, and began, with a crash that led to him meeting his future wife Pauline Denyer, a fashion graduate. With her guidance, he developed his own quirky take on British tailoring which catapulted him to success in the 1980s and made him a cult figure in Japan. Today, he is one of the biggest names in fashion with shops in 74 countries around the world, including China and the Middle East. Smith attributes much of his success in life to his father, who taught him the importance of humour and communication. In this age of the corporate buyout, Alan Yentob asks if this is why Paul Smith is still the master of his own brand.
Now in its 245th year, and with 12,000 submissions, the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition is the largest open art exhibition in the world. In this Culture Show special, art critic Alastair Sooke asks what makes someone an artist and why do they do it? He hears from curators, art dealers, and of course the artists themselves. From Sunday painters to international contemporary artists, from traditional landscapes to giant sculptures made from bottle tops, the Summer Exhibition is the British art scene laid bare.
Exploring the historic walled city of Derry Londonderry, the first UK City of Culture, poet and author Nick Laird looks back at a year of dramatic spectacle and asks how art has healed decades of sectarian violence. Meeting Frank Cottrell-Boyce, author of the London 2012 opening ceremony, he is dazzled by the Return of Colmcille, Boyce's spectacular imagining of the return of the city's patron saint. At Picturing Derry, a photo exhibition of work by local amateurs and professionals from all over the world, he considers the legacy of Bloody Sunday and celebrates a city that is no longer defined by The Troubles. And as a measure of its new openness, the international traditional music festival The Fleadh, comes north of the border for the first time.
Andrew Graham-Dixon travels to Northern Spain to visit some of the world's oldest works of art, hundreds of meters beneath the surface of the earth. In limestone caves he is astonished to find a series of vivid paintings, some of which are over 33,000 years old, which appear to link modern man to our ice age ancestors.
To coincide with the release of 12 Years a Slave, this Culture Show special, presented by Mark Kermode, looks at the history and culture of slavery. The subject of slavery has inspired director Steve McQueen's film, which is based on the true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man who was sold into slavery in the 1840s. McQueen is known for his visceral, hard-hitting films, and even though this is his third feature, it's already creating awards season buzz for him and the movie's star Chiwetel Ejiofor. McQueen initially began his career as an artist, creating provocative work that won him the Turner Prize in 1999. In his relatively short film career, McQueen has already won a BAFTA and Cannes' Camera d'Or. Mark Kermode talks to McQueen about the making of 12 Years a Slave, his life, other works and unique artistic sensibility. With contributions from Charlotte Rampling and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Whenever Hanif Kureishi writes a new film or book, something is broken - a taboo, a confidence or new ground. The Buddha of Suburbia and My Beautiful Laundrette author, who first caused a stink turning his experiences of racism, Thatcherism and sexual transgression into corrosive comedy, has amused, provoked, annoyed and betrayed for over four decades now. It is with some relish, it seems, that the barbed and ruthless writer picks up a pen, and waits as friends, lovers and family take cover, fearing what bitter human frailty might get caught in his satirical gaze. In the year he turns 60, Kureishi is putting out a new book, publicising his latest film and committing his life's archive to the vaults of the British Library. Alan Yentob might have expected to find him in a reflective mood but Hanif Kureishi is not one for mellowing. He takes his duty as national literary nuisance very seriously indeed.
The Lego Movie (released 14 February) is the latest big-budget incarnation of one of the world's most popular toys. Yet Lego is more than a global brand. Tom Dyckhoff explores its fascinating relationship with architecture, and argues that it has changed the way we think about buildings. Lego's plastic yellow bricks were launched in the 50s, and resonated with new visions of rebuilding society - with ethical, imaginative children's play at its heart. Tom meets the artists and architects reared on Lego, who are using it to reimagine our cities today, from Bjarke Ingels, 39, the leading architect of his generation, to international artist Olafur Eliasson whose Collectivity project took three tonnes of Lego to the citizens of Tirana, Albania. But with Hollywood franchises and huge expansion, has Lego lost its original ethos of creativity and construction? Tom looks to Lego's successors and at how cult computer game Minecraft may be set to transform the cities of the future.
First he was the poster boy of 90s Britpop, then the music man behind electro-cartoon duo Gorillaz. More recently he's composed operas and helmed the world music juggernaut that is Africa Express... Now finally, after coming full circle with Blur's triumphant 20-year reunion tour, Damon Albarn goes it alone. Due in April 2014, Everyday Robots will be his first proper solo album and he's given The Culture Show exclusive and intimate access to his life as he prepares to present this new work to the world. It's a lyrical journey that takes him back to his childhood, to the places he holds dear and the memories that infuse his new collection of songs, many of which have never been heard by the public. The film follows Albarn as he looks behind his own masks of the past to give an honest account of himself and his work as a solo artist.
Now in their ninth year, the Kermode Awards are the ultimate antidote to the Oscars, a low-frills awards ceremony celebrating the very best of movie-making talent overlooked by the Academy. Even in what's considered a bumper Oscars year, film critic Mark Kermode has uncovers missing gems deserving of his coveted golden gong, including in the best actress, director and cinematography categories. Handing out the awards, Mark meets eminent film makers, behind-the-scenes talent and some of cinema's rising stars. But it's not all about the best this year. For the first time, Mark also picks his worst movie. So who will win the coveted Kermode statuette for best picture? And who will bag the turkey trophy?
Matisse was one of the most celebrated painters of the 20th century who, even in his own lifetime, enjoyed a level of popularity envied by other artists. But in 1941, after a near-fatal operation for cancer, he decided to give up painting and sought a new way of drawing in colour. Scissors replaced a paintbrush and with the unique skill of a tailor, he set about creating his now famous cut-outs, which have yet to be rivalled for their originality and daring. To coincide with a major Tate Modern exhibition in April, Alastair Sooke presents a moving and intimate portrait, with contributions from the Tate's Nicholas Serota, biographer Hilary Spurling and Jacqueline Duheme, who worked with Matisse in the late 1940s at this critical turning point in his career.
Talking about art matters a lot, according to Alastair Sooke, who was a judge in last year's ARTiculation - a little-known, but fast-growing speaking competition, in which teenagers compete to talk eloquently and passionately about art. Alastair has been following the journeys of nine competitors as they have battled their way through nine regional heats, against tough competition, to win a coveted place in the final. And he has been finding out why they took part and what art has inspired them, uncovering the moving, funny and often surprising stories behind their choices. He also catches up with them at the finals in Cambridge, where this year's judge, artist and writer Edmund De Waal, will pick the winner of ARTiculation 2014.
The Vikings are famous for their violent raids on Anglo-Saxon monasteries, incredible shipbuilding skills and general brutality. They are less famous, perhaps, for their artistic talents. Yet the precious fragments of art that survive from the Viking Age portray a far more mysterious side to Viking culture. From the so-called 'gripping beast' motif of the Oseberg wood carvings to the abstract animal ornamentation that adorns Viking jewellery, Viking art is defined by beautiful intricate artistic styles that are distinctly Scandinavian yet also show the Vikings' interaction with other cultures, culminating in their conversion from paganism to Christianity. To coincide with the first major exhibition on Vikings at the British Museum for over 30 years, Andrew Graham-Dixon invites viewers to explore and admire the splendours of Viking art.
For author and columnist Tony Parsons, boxing matters. He spars every week. Full-contact, no-holds-barred, in a searching examination of skill, courage and fear. On a journey through the cultural landscape of the 20th and now 21st century, Tony Parsons discovers a cast of cultural giants from Hemingway to TS Elliot and Joyce Carol Oates, to Picasso, Braque and Manet who shared a passion for this ancient art - both in their work and in their life. The sport was nearly knocked out in the sixties by a potent combination of peace and love but in the digital age, boxing is getting up off the canvas. A new generation of men and women are discovering that boxing has little to do with violence and everything to do with the search for self-knowledge.
Tony award-winning African-American artist Savion Glover is not your average tap dancer. From Broadway prodigy to global star, Glover's journey has been a remarkable one, fighting lazy cultural stereotypes and striving to make tap dance relevant to new generations. Often compared to basketball legend Michael Jordan, Glover is an explosive creative force of the hip-hop generation who has fundamentally reimagined what tap dance can be. However, schooled by the likes of Sammy Davis Junior, Glover is also a passionate torchbearer for the great tap trailblazers of the past. Presenter Morgan Quaintance visits Glover in his native Newark, a notoriously tough inner city in New Jersey, to discover more about his life, work and art. He also delves deeper into the history of a unique African-American tap dance style that Glover is the leading contemporary exponent of.
Lynn Barber has been interviewing famous people for more than three decades. Renowned for her audacious, brilliantly honest and often caustic profiles, Barber asks the questions no one else dares ask. The 'Demon Barber of Fleet Street' they call her. In this irreverent half-hour programme, Lynn Barber talks to Alan Yentob about her job interviewing and writing about celebrities. She recounts her combustible clashes with Rafa Nadal and Marianne Faithful, she explains why actors are so difficult to interview and why she relishes shouty men. 'I'm embarrassment proof,' she says, 'if somebody loses their temper and starts shouting at me I feel quite cosy with that'.
Sir Kenneth Clark was arguably the most influential figure in 20th-century British art. Born into a world of privilege, his achievements were staggering. He keeper of the King's Pictures, director of the National Gallery, founder of the Arts Council and independent television, and best remembered as the presenter of the most ambitious arts series ever made - Civilisation. A staunch defender of Reithian values, Clark was attacked for being an elitist 'posh man in tweeds'. But he held a passionate belief that art was for everyone and made it his mission, through television, to share his love of art with the masses. To coincide with Tate Britain's exhibition on Clark opening in May, this Culture Show special presents an intimate portrait of a contradictory and elusive character who transformed our cultural landscape.
When Edward St Aubyn summoned the courage to write the fictionalized version of his unbearable childhood and describe the horrific abuse he suffered at the hands of cruel and neglectful aristocratic parents, he not only broke a taboo, but he also pulled off a rare act of literary alchemy. He turned the grim material of his life - rape, drug addiction and the ever-present pull of suicide - into a series of exquisitely crafted books (The Melrose novels) that critics rate amongst the finest achievements of contemporary British fiction. The surprise is that they are wickedly funny too. Through his alter ego Patrick Melrose he slays the monsters of his past with witty, elegant rage. However, this is not therapy; in over 20 years of writing, St Aubyn has taken little comfort from the process, calling it a 'grim obligation' rather than a pleasure - writing under the terms of a psychological contract to prevent him killing himself. St Aubyn has a new book out - Lost for Words. This time he has ditched the anguished alter ego, and the monsters are the less pernicious demons of the literary world. His writing may still be funny, savage and true, but this time it may even bring him peace - at last.
Miranda Sawyer enters the wild imagination of celebrated British conceptual artist Ryan Gander. A cultural magpie renowned for his playful, cryptic and complex creations, Gander is one of the world's most exciting young talents whose creations can sell for up to £500,000. It is a big summer for this Chester-born innovator with works appearing at the Royal Academy and Hayward Gallery, exhibitions all over the world, as well as a massive solo show opening in Manchester in July. Sawyer explores the extraordinary diversity of Gander's art, spanning sculptures that tinker with art history, chess sets made from car parts, fantastical cocktails and even designer trainers. A charming and witty raconteur, Gander challenges our preconceptions about conceptual art while imparting an infectious enthusiasm and curiosity for the world around him.
For centuries, folk art has been ignored by the art establishment, but in June 2014 the first national exhibition to look back at the tradition of folk art in this country opens at Tate Britain. Artists Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane get a preview of the show and give their own take on what folk art is. They go on an illuminating tour of British folk art. From Blackpool promenade to customised motorbikes, from shop signs to street parades, they show that, if you look closely, we live in a folk art culture and that folk art is all around us.
All architecture begins with the tent. Tents are what humans lived in before we put down roots and began our love affair with bricks and mortar. And no-one is more obsessed with solid, heavy, permanent buildings than the British. To us, the tent is something flimsy and temporary that we will only endure bedding down in on rare occasions. But has civilisation - and architects in particular - unfairly overlooked the brilliant, efficient design of the tent? In an overcrowded world faced with a housing crisis and dwindling natural resources, could the tent be the answer? Tom Dyckhoff thinks it could well be. As festival season begins, Tom's freewheeling journey into the secret life of the tent takes him back to the origins of human habitat: the yurts and tipis of our nomadic past, to the German mecca of high-tech, cutting-edge tensile architecture and to the spiritual home of the modern peace camp where the tent became a symbol of political resistance. Along the way he discovers that our acceptance of the tent and our openness to alternatives to traditional stone and brick buildings is all a state of mind. The homes of the future could be fabric for all of us.
At the height of the punk explosion almost 40 years ago, a handful of women completely redefined what a woman in music could do. Through sheer talent and fearlessness they pushed themselves on to a male dominated music scene and became part of a movement that radically changed the cultural landscape. Along with Siouxsie Sioux, Poly Styrene and Chrissie Hynde, the Slits were among punk's most important figures and Viv Albertine, their guitarist, has just brought out her memoir 'Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys' which chronicles her life as part of this revolutionary vanguard. Miranda Sawyer meets up with Viv Albertine and some of the other key female figures of the era including Chrissie Hynde, The Raincoats, and punk anti-heroine Jordan to look at how they inspired a generation of young women with the notion that anyone could do anything if they wanted to. Plus she explores whether the punk spirit still survives today.
Hilary Mantel is one of our most assured and successful novelists. She writes blackly comic novels set in the present and confronts our Tudor past in her Thomas Cromwell novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. She reimagines famous figures from our history, or imagines for herself the life of a psychic medium in the suburbs of Surrey and Berkshire. In fact, everything she writes is historical fiction, because everyone she writes about must deal with their own past. James Runcie meets a writer who has conjured the ghosts of Henry VIII and Lady Diana, and whose latest collection of short stories contemplates the possibility that Margaret Thatcher was assassinated in 1983.
World-renowned photographer Rankin takes on the challenge of interpreting Rembrandt's portraits of old age, adapting the Dutch master's techniques for his camera. Rembrandt's portraits are some of the most arresting images of old age in western art. He captured the vitality and vulnerability of his subjects, highlighting the effects of time in a candid way that still resonates today. Rankin collaborates with Terry Gilliam, Ken Loach, Zandra Rhodes and Una Stubbs to create his own contemporary versions of four Rembrandt portraits. He explores Rembrandt's use of light, his technique with paint and his ability to capture the ambiguities of facial expression and subtleties of personality with startling effect. Drawing on all these elements, Rankin attempts to produce photographs that capture the essence of these 17th-century images, created by one of the world's greatest portrait painters.
As Henry VIII's court painter, Hans Holbein witnessed and recorded the most notorious era in English history. He painted most of the major characters of the age and created the famous image of the king himself that everyone today still recognises. But who really was Holbein? Where did he come from? And what were the dark and unsettling secrets hidden in his art? Waldemar Januszczak looks at the life and work of an artist who became famous for bringing the Tudor age to life, but who could have been so many other things.
Lauren Laverne presents the first of three shows from Edinburgh covering the highlights from the Festival and Fringe. Miranda Sawyer meets Tracey Emin, who is staging her first ever retrospective exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. We speak to Steven Berkoff about his new staging of On the Waterfront, a project which has the blessing of the movie's screenwriter Budd Schulberg and we talk to multi-tasking comedians David O'Doherty, Simon Munnery and Rich Hall, all of whom are doing at least two shows during the festival. Roving reporter Tim Samuels samples the weird and the wonderful events happening across Edinburgh, from The Aluminum Show and Falsetto Sock Puppets to Jim Rose and Circus Oz. The show comes from the Pleasance Courtyard, right at the heart of all the Edinburgh action, where comedian and musician Tim Minchin joins us to talk about his new show Ready For This? and French band Nouvelle Vague perform a bossa nova version of the Clash's Guns of Brixton.
Lauren Laverne presents the second of three shows from Edinburgh covering the highlights from the Festival and Fringe. On the show tonight is a preview of 365, the new work by The National Theatre of Scotland. The Edinburgh Festival Show has been following the work through rehearsal stages and tonight's programme features scenes from the play, one of the most hotly anticipated shows of the International Festival. Comedian and political activist Mark Thomas looks at some of the political art at this year's festival, concentrating on Richard Hamilton's show Protest Pictures and Sherman Cymru's documentary drama Deep Cut. Tim Samuels allows himself to be drawn into some of the numerous audience participation shows on offer, including Office Party and Faulty Towers the Dining Experience. Lauren is joined in the Pleasance Courtyard by Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club and Snuff. Another of his novels, Choke, has recently been turned into a movie with Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston and Kelly Macdonald. Virtuoso Hungarian violinist Roby Lakatos plays us out with typical exuberance.
Lauren Laverne presents the last in the series of shows covering the Edinburgh Festival and Fringe. Coming from the Pleasance Courtyard, right in the middle of all the Edinburgh action, the programme will be covering the enormous range of shows and performances that hit Edinburgh in August. Joining Lauren at the Pleasance will be the legendary Joan Rivers. Her autobiographical play, a Work in Progress by a Life in Progress, in which she also appears, is set to be one of the most talked about shows on the Fringe and she remains one of the most entertaining, and occassionally shocking, acts on the circuit. Lauren also meets Matthew Bourne, one of the country's most popular choreographers, his new work Dorian Gray, part of the Edinburgh International Festival, is his first new production in three years. One of the most unusual projects on the Fringe, Scavenger Hunt is also featured on this week's show. Scavenger Hunt is a one off event in which teams solve treasure hunt type clues around the city, producing pieces of art work as they go. The programme will be following many of the teams as they race round the Scottish capital and will feature the exhibition produced at the end of the event. In the last of his Festival reports, Tim Samuels will be speaking to some of the acts that haven't quite hit the headlines and will be asking the performers whether it was worth all the blood, sweat, tears and hard cash needed to put on a show in Edinburgh.
Six months on from the death of Michael Jackson, The Culture Show re-evaluates his impact on modern music. Musicians, producers and contemporaries assess Michael Jackson's position within African-American culture, his mainstream appeal and his massive contribution to pop music and culture across the world, as well as telling the stories behind some of Michael's most enduring hits. With contributions from Smokey Robinson, Jermaine Jackson, Martha Reeves and record producer and DJ Questlove.
A special edition of The Culture Show marking the start of a landmark project in which the BBC and the British Museum focus on the span of human history through 100 objects held at the museum. This programme, presented by Mishal Husain from the British Museum, profiles all the elements of the project, which includes one hundred programmes on Radio 4, a massive online factor, as well as programmes on CBBC and coverage from the BBC right across the country.
Presented by Kevin McCloud, this Culture Show Special comes from the Royal Institute of British Architects' annual award ceremony, celebrating the best buildings of 2011. Kicking off with a look at the key trends in new architecture, the programme reveals the winners of three RIBA awards: the Stephen Lawrence Prize, for UK projects costing under £1 million; the Lubetkin Prize, for outstanding buildings outside the EU; and finally the UK's most prestigious prize for architecture, the RIBA Stirling Prize. The six buildings on the Stirling shortlist, explored here by Tom Dyckhoff, range from projects by star architects - including a school by last year's Stirling winner, Zaha Hadid; the Olympic Velodrome by Michael Hopkins; and a museum in Germany by David Chipperfield - through to projects by less well-known names, including an imaginative office building in London, an Irish language cultural centre in Derry and the RSC's newly-revamped theatre in Stratford.
Mark Kermode interviews Steven Spielberg on his 60th birthday
Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond's Orbit sculpture is the most spectacular artistic creation of 2012 - a gravity-defying, breathtakingly dynamic scribble of crimson steel. Standing twice the height of Nelson's Column, it now towers over the Olympic Park, and has already inspired strong reactions. It is the biggest piece of public sculpture this country has ever seen - a bold statement of artistic ambition and a giant engineering challenge. In this one-off special, The Culture Show goes behind the scenes to follow it from commission to completion, and discovers just how difficult it is to build a tower for the 21st century. Featuring interviews with Boris Johnson and Lakshmi Mittal along with exclusive access to Kapoor and Balmond as they strive to realise their vision in the face of some Olympian challenges.
Verity Sharp meets the four-piece band Sigur Ros in their native Iceland and on their visit to the UK for the 2007 Electric Proms. They have sold two million albums globally and their haunting music has been used as a soundtrack on trailers for the BBC series Planet Earth. They talk about their unique sound and their film Heima, which chronicles a series of unannounced gigs in Iceland in 2006.
Ford Madox Ford is one of the forgotten greats of British fiction. With Tom Stoppard's dramatisation of Ford's unusual First World War love story Parade's End showing on BBC Two, Alan Yentob reveals Ford to be one of the most likeable characters in literature - humorous, overweight and with a deeply complicated love life that lit the fire under his greatest novels. A radical and a modernist, Ford was friend and collaborator to the great experimenters, Conrad, Lawrence, Pound and Joyce, and he wrote over 80 books including the masterpiece The Good Soldier. Yentob follows Ford through scandal, prison, exile and into the army, where he was injured by an explosion while serving in the Somme. He reveals how the shockwaves from this explosion reverberated through the rest of Ford's life, providing the inspiration for his visceral, unique and spectacular wartime epic Parade's End. Contributors include fans John Simpson, the Booker winner Ben Okri and academic Hermione Lee, as well as eminent chef Rowley Leigh, cooking some of Ford's favourite food.
Lee Child, one of Britain's bestselling authors, explores the phenomenal popularity of his character Jack Reacher - the basis of a new blockbuster movie starring Tom Cruise. In an insightful interview with Andrew Graham-Dixon, he reveals how being made redundant at age 40 pushed him into a life of writing and led him to New York, where he now lives. But despite the American setting of the highly successful Jack Reacher series, it is poignant elements of his childhood in Birmingham that form the basis of his fiction.
Andrew Graham-Dixon travels to Northern Spain to visit some of the world's oldest works of art, hundreds of meters beneath the surface of the earth. In limestone caves he is astonished to find a series of vivid paintings, some of which are over 33,000 years old, which appear to link modern man to our ice age ancestors. Back in London, the British Museum is staging one of its most ambitious exhibitions yet, Ice Age Art: Arrival of the Modern Mind. Andrew gets a behind-the-scenes preview of the extraordinary highlights and discovers that the world's first commissioned artists were producing highly sophisticated work tens of thousands of years before he previously imagined. The programme includes contributions from the British Museum's director, Neil MacGregor, and artist Antony Gormley.
One of the hottest talents in Hollywood today, JJ Abrams talks to Mark Kermode about his latest turn at the helm of the Starship Enterprise, his lifelong love of filmmaking and the passion for mystery that lies at the heart of everything he does. New York born Abrams has conquered both television and film, bringing landmark TV series Lost to the small screen while collaborating with film industry royalty Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg for box office hits Mission: Impossible III and Super 8. Self-confessed geek and ultimate fan boy, Jeffrey Jacob Abrams is about to take on the daunting task of directing the new Star Wars film. In this programme JJ takes Mark on an exclusive tour of Bad Robot, the top secret Los Angeles hub of his production company and provides a rare glimpse into where the magic happens.
It's 30 years since Manchester four-piece The Smiths changed the face of British pop with their debut single Hand In Glove. In this half-hour Culture Show special, fellow Mancunian and lifelong fan Tim Samuels sets out to find out why The Smiths have such a special place in the hearts of a generation of Brits. The Smiths were only around for five years in the mid-eighties, but to this day the sentiment their music evokes is strong. Samuels pays visits to a variety of dedicated fans including fashion designer Wayne Hemingway, poet Simon Armitage, Labour MP Kerry McCarthy and Oasis songwriter Noel Gallagher to analyse the look, the lyrics, the issues and the riffs that made The Smiths Britain's first, and arguably best ever, indie rock band.
There are more images of Elizabeth II than any other historical figure, but how to paint a queen is one of the trickiest of artistic challenges. Alastair Sooke looks at the depiction of Britain's female rulers, from Mary Tudor and Elizabeth I to Queen Victoria and our current monarch, and discovers how queenly portraits reveal Britain's changing ideas about women and power.
The story of pop art has been culturally canonised as the preserve of a ground-breaking gang of boys, focusing on the likes of Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Peter Blake, Richard Hamilton, or Tom Wesselman. Just like Andy Warhol's soup cans or Lichtenstein's comics, women were simply commodified objects. However back in the day, pop art was not just a boys' club. The scene was full of female artists, tussling with sexuality, violence and consumer culture every bit as much as their male counterparts. Strangely, their work has been consigned to the margins of history - they started out together, shared the same art dealers and were shown in the same exhibitions, but as the boys' prices skyrocketed, the girls' stayed put. By the end of the sixties they had pretty much been erased from the pop narrative. In this Culture Show special, Alistair Sooke tracks down the forgotten women artists of pop, finding many of them are still alive and working, their art and their stories ripe for rediscovery. Artists include Pauline Boty, Marisol, Rosalyn Drexler, Idelle Weber, Letty Lou Eisenhauer and Jann Haworth.
Stonehenge is our most famous prehistoric monument; a powerful symbol of Britain across the globe. But all is not well with the sacred stones. MPs have described the surrounding site as a 'national disgrace' and 'shameful shambles'. Now, after decades of disputes over what should be done, English Heritage has just 12 months to create a setting that this unique monument deserves. But Stonehenge is more than a tourist attraction; it is also a temple. In this hour-long Culture Show special, Alastair Sooke shows that Stonehenge has long been a place of conflict and controversy, and that passions still run high at the monument where druids, archaeologists and scientists all battle for the soul of Stonehenge.
In a major new BBC commission, acclaimed poet Simon Armitage has written seven new poems about World War I that form the centre of his latest television documentary. Armitage visits French beaches, German prison camps, so-called 'thankful' villages and remote corners of the Scottish Highlands as he considers the death of over 700,000 British soldiers in the conflict and tells seven real-life war stories. He learns of those who lived and died through it, those who worked and grieved and cried through it, and even those who tunnelled to freedom beneath its very soil. Each story culminates in a poem inspired by Armitage's research. Featuring readings by both the poet himself and the surviving relatives of those whose stories he tells, this film offers an opportunity to reflect again on that catastrophic loss of life, and to think about how we commemorate the dead for the next 100 years.
The Vikings are famous for their violent raids on Anglo-Saxon monasteries, incredible shipbuilding skills and general brutality. They are less famous, perhaps, for their artistic talents. Yet the precious fragments of art that survive from the Viking Age portray a far more mysterious side to Viking culture. From the so-called 'gripping beast' motif of the Oseberg wood carvings to the abstract animal ornamentation that adorns Viking jewellery, Viking art is defined by beautiful and intricate artistic styles that are distinctly Scandinavian, yet also show the Vikings' interaction with other cultures, culminating in their conversion from paganism to Christianity. To coincide with the first major exhibition on Vikings at the British Museum for over 30 years, Andrew Graham-Dixon invites viewers to explore and admire the splendours of Viking art.
To mark the publication of Keith Richards' autobiography, Life, this Culture Show special looks at the life of the man with five strings and nine lives. In a candid interview he chats to Andrew Graham-Dixon about his childhood in Dartford, his passion for music and the decade that catapulted the Rolling Stones from back-room blues boys to one of the greatest rock 'n' roll bands in the world.
A one-hour special on one of the most important and popular British sculptors of the twentieth century, Henry Moore. Presented by Alan Yentob, the programme takes a unique approach to Moore by examining his life on film.
David Attenborough is the winner of Living Icons, a quest to establish the greatest cultural icon in Britain today. Nominations began on 14th October 2006, followed by voting from a Top 10 shortlist which opened on 11th November 2006. The winner was announced on 16th December 2006.
China's antique trade is booming, with records being smashed at auction every week. But why is this market exploding now, and what makes a piece of pottery into a million pound masterpiece? Andrew Graham-Dixon travels to Hong Kong to see how China's super-rich are spending their new-found wealth on purchasing relics from their country's imperial history.
The show focuses on one of the world's biggest bands as Lauren visits them in Dublin to talk about the new album and hear some of the songs live. We also speak to Radio 1 DJ Nemone and writer and critic David Quantick for a frank appraisal of U2's musical career.
As Henry VIII's court painter, Hans Holbein witnessed and recorded the most notorious era in English history. He painted most of the major characters of the age and created the famous image of the king himself that everyone still recognises today. But who really was Holbein? Where did he come from? And what were the dark and unsettling secrets hidden in his art? Waldemar Januszczak looks at the life and work of an artist who became famous for bringing the Tudor age to life, but who could have been so many other things.
Alastair Sooke presents this Culture Show special from the 243rd Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. The Summer Exhibition is the visual arts world's largest and longest running open-submission show.
Alastair Sooke goes behind-the-scenes of the Royal Academy's 244th Summer Exhibition, the biggest open-submission contemporary art show in the world.
Jonathan Freedland chairs a discussion on John F Kennedy, while producer Joel Surnow talks about the mini-series The Kennedys and the controversy that engulfed it.
Alastair Sooke explores the often overlooked history of Britain's wartime renaissance. He meets the Blitz survivors and factory workers who became the subject of iconic paintings.
Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry presents from the Frieze Art Fair - now one of the most influential contemporary art fairs. He explores the highlights of the show and some of the specially commissioned artworks based on game shows, mobile phone shops and archaeological digs. The Frieze Art Fair has a huge impact on London itself and all the galleries have new shows opening in the same week; Andrew Graham-Dixon talks to Chinese artist Ai Weiwei about his new installation in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, and Ben Lewis goes on an art safari around the new up and coming galleries of south and east London to find the art stars of tomorrow.
