Front Row Folgen

In the week Rowan Atkinson returns to the big screen as the hapless spy in Johnny English Strikes Again, which sees him batter innocent bystanders and himself in a series of pratfalls, we look at the art of physical comedy. Jonathan Sayer of Mischief Theatre, classicist and stand-up Natalie Haynes and Dr Oliver Double of the University of Kent attempt to answer an eternal question: why is the unfortunate mishap hilarious - so long as someone else is falling off the ladder?Damien Hirst has just announced that he is scaling back business activities, including laying off 50 staff, to focus on making art. This news coincided with a recent report into the value of Hirst’s work, which found that the artworks he sold at auction in 2008, had plummeted in value when resold. Art market journalist Georgina Adam explains what this all might mean for the artist. Andre Aciman, whose first novel Call Me By Your Name, was turned into an Oscar winning film, discusses his latest novel Enigma Variations, which charts the life and loves of one man from adolescence through adulthood.In the first in an occasional series looking at the way the way in which the arts can positively impact on people’s mental well being, Stig Abell talks to Laura Freeman about her book The Reading Cure in which she describes “the chaos, misery and misrule of an anorexic’s thinking”, and how she overcame it. Aged 24 she read Charles Dickens’s Christmas Carol and describes how continuing to read about food in fiction gave her the inspiration to start enjoying food again and became the pathway to a fuller and richer life. Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Edwina Pitman

We announce the winner of the 2018 BBC National Short Story Award and the Young Writers' Award live from West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge and celebrate the power and possibilities of the short story.Judges Sarah Howe and Stig Abell discuss the merits of the entries from the shortlisted authors. In contention for the £15,000 prize are Kerry Andrew, Sarah Hall, Kiare Ladner, Ingrid Persaud and Nell Stevens.Radio 1 presenter Katie Thistleton will also announce the winner of the BBC Young Writers' Award and consider the strengths and emerging themes of the stories with fellow judge Sarah Crossan, the Irish Children's Laureate / Laureate na nÓg.The Student Critics Award is a new scheme mentoring school students in their critical reading, helping this generation to be literary critics in a digital world where everyone can be a reviewer. Poet Dean Atta has been workshopping in a school and describes his work with the young people he met. The BBC National Short Story Award is presented in conjunction with Cambridge University and First Story. Presenter : John Wilson Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

Sarah Perry discusses Melmoth, her eagerly awaited novel after her award-winning The Essex Serpent. Her new novel is about an English translator who, hiding from her past in Prague, uncovers the legend of Melmoth – a woman in black who wanders the world bearing witness to humanity’s worst crimes.BBC1’s new Sunday night drama is a television adaptation of Helen Fitzgerald’s novel The Cry, in which the abduction of a baby leads to the psychological disintegration of a young woman. Emma Bullimore reviews The Cry and considers why child abduction or disappearance is such a recurring theme in contemporary television drama, with series such as Missing, Kiri and Save Me. What is ‘cultural first aid’? And why is it so important to save heritage in the face of natural disaster, fire, flood and conflict emergencies? Biovanni Boccardi of UNESCO alongside Aparna Tandon and Jose Luiz Pedersoli from ICCROM join Samira to discuss, and also to look at how cultural first aid is being used to help the National Museum of Brazil after the recent devastating fire.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Kate Bullivant