Writer and essayist Olivia Laing reflects on the work of the American journalist and essayist Joan Didion, who has died at the age of 87.With the Christmas Special of Call the Midwife taking its usual slot on BBC One on Christmas Day – for the tenth consecutive time - the show’s creator and writer Heidi Thomas discusses how she tries to keep the stories fresh, year on year. She’s also joined by ‘super-fan’, the historian Tom Holland, to consider its lasting appeal. The British Council's Director of Film Briony Hanson and writer and broadcaster Ekow Eshun review Joel Coen's film The Tragedy of Macbeth and share their cultural highlights of the year.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Simon RichardsonPhoto: Call the Midwife Christmas special 2021
Photo credit: BBC
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Folge vom 23.12.2021Joan Didion remembered, Call the Midwife, The Tragedy of Macbeth and a review of the year in culture
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Folge vom 22.12.2021Paul Thomas Anderson, Eliza Carthy and Jon Boden, Postcard from DoncasterPaul Thomas Anderson discusses directing and writing his new romantic comedy, Licorice Pizza, starring Sean Penn, Bradley Cooper and Tom Waits. The film is a coming-of-age story, complicated by the fact that the protagonist is 15 and his love interest, 25.In our Christmas card from Doncaster, the host of the BBC’s Yorkshire-cast and local boy, James Vincent, meets Deborah Rees, Director of CAST Theatre and Connor Bryson, an actor appearing in the BSL integrated pantomime, Aladdin. Street art duo Nomad Clan reflect on the making of the UK’s longest mural, and local musician Skinny Pelembe shares his lockdown Song for South Yorkshire.Last night, the longest of the year, musicians Eliza Carthy and Jon Boden intended to bring good cheer, light and joyful music with a wassail concert, but the omicron variant put paid to that. Instead Eliza and Jon will be bringing some of what was planned to Front Row, explaining the ancient tradition of wassailing – the word comes from the Anglo Saxon for good health - and singing and playing.Presenter Tom Sutcliffe Producer Julian May
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Folge vom 21.12.2021Anything Goes, Live arts venues under Omicron, The Princess BrideBroadway star Sutton Foster and director and choreographer Kathleen Marshall talk to Samira Ahmed about staging the musical Anything Goes, one of the hottest tickets of the year at The Barbican, ahead of a Boxing Day screening on BBC 2.In light of the increasing uncertainty facing the performance sector because of the Omicron variant, we talk to Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Lucy Powell. We also hear the experiences of Dominique Fraser, the director and founder of the Boiler Room - a live music venue in Guildford and the views of Mark Davyd, CEO of the Music Venues Trust and Philippa Childs, the head of the entertainment workers’ union, BECTU.And Stephen Keyworth has adapted cult classic novel and film The Princess Bride for BBC Radio 4, beginning on Christmas Day. He joins Samira to discuss the challenges of creating satisfying swordfights for radio. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Tim ProsserPhoto: Sutton foster and the cast of Anything Goes, performing at The Barbican, London Photo credit: Tristram Kenton
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Folge vom 20.12.2021Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kehinde Wiley, Christmas book giftsMaggie Gyllenhaal discusses her new film The Lost Daughter, an adaptation of the novel by Elena Ferrante. Gyllenhaal has written the film and it is her directorial debut, which stars Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley and Ed Harris.Samira talks to American artist Kehinde Wiley, best known for his portraits that render people of colour in the traditional settings of Old Master paintings, about his new exhibition at the National Gallery in London. The show, titled The Prelude, sees Wiley shifting his focus from Grand Manner portraiture to landscape painting. And with Christmas approaching fast, writers Kit de Waal and Michael Rosen are on hand to suggest some last-minute book ideas:Mayflies by Andrew O’Hagan Walking with Ghosts by Gabriel Byrne The Correct Order of Biscuits: And Other Meticulously Assembled Lists of Extremely Valuable Nonsense by Adam Sharp When Shadows Fall by Sita Brahmachari The Island Of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper Recovery: The Lost Art of Convalescence by Dr Gavin Francis Everything, All the Time, Everywhere by Stuart Jeffries Fallen Idols by Alex von TunzelmannPresenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Jerome Weatherald