Front Row Folgen

We explore the natural landscape as artistic inspiration from three locations around the country. Writer Tracy Chevalier and artist Gayle Chong Kwan join John Wilson in Epping Forest to discuss why forests and trees have sparked ideas for them, composer Brian Irvine and broadcaster Marie-Louise Muir consider the art made about the sea and coastline from Helen's Bay, County Down and poet Kenneth Steven and critic Hannah McGill explore lochs, mountains and islands as a theme from the shore of Loch Lomond.Tonight's programme is the launch of Front Row's Inspire season. We'll be finding out what artistic inspiration is - how do you define that moment when an idea strikes, and where artists find it - the natural world, their dreams, their muse, their Gods. But most importantly, we want to inspire you at home, by speaking to creativity experts and finding out the best tips and tricks to spark your own ideas. The season runs throughout the summer and concludes in September.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Hannah Robins.

Melvin Burgess, who's been dubbed the Godfather of Young Adult fiction, talks about his new book The Lost Witch about a teenage girl who discovers she has magical powers.A record-breaking 3.6 million people watched this year's Love Island final. That's more viewers than were watching BBC One, BBC Two or ITV in the same time slot. Journalist and critic Alix O'Neill discusses the show's cultural impact. In Thursday's Prom concert at the Royal Albert Hall Milŏs Karadaglíc will give the world premiere of Ink Dark Moon, a guitar concerto written for him by Joby Talbot. Milŏs plays live in the Front Row studio, and the pair discuss the relationship between musician and composer. They consider, too, the range of a modern musician's work: Milŏs has recorded classics beyond the classical repertoire - an album of tunes by The Beatles - and Joby writes ballet music, has composed an opera and arranged music for Tom Jones and The Divine Comedy.Brian Friel's Translations is enjoying a sell-out run at the National Theatre; when it comes to an end Aristocrats will open at the Donmar Theatre. Philadelphia Here I Come!, Faith Healer, Dancing at Lughnasa - there is almost always a Friel play on somewhere. All of them are set in Ballybeg (which means 'small town' in Irish) and most are family dramas. Roy Foster, Professor of Irish history and literature, teases out why Friel's domestic dramas of Donegal hold such universal appeal. Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Jack Soper.Main image: Love Island. Credit: ITV

Chris Dunkley, for many years television critic of the Financial Times, discusses the impact and ongoing popularity of Dad's Army, which was first broadcast fifty years ago this week.Music streaming platforms have reported a rise people aged under 30 listening to jazz, with the genre's new sound also being produced by musicians in that age group. Music journalist Teju Adeleye and jazz musician Emma-Jean Thackray discuss why young people are responding to jazz now more than ever, if jazz was less accessible in the past and how has the sound evolved. The Marvellous Mechanical Museum, a new exhibition at Compton Verney in Warwickshire, looks back to the historical automata (or animated mechanical objects) museums of the 18th centuries and re-imagines them for the modern day. The exhibition includes 57 works, historical pieces dating back to 1625 and new commissions by contemporary artists, all of which explore the themes of life, creation, imitation, and our fraught relationship with technology.After WOMAD festival organisers complain about foreign artists being deterred by the "humiliating and difficult" process of applying for a British visa, David Jones, director of Serious, a company which produces over 800 events nationwide with over 2,600 artists and a broadcast reach of 44 million, discusses what foreign artists have to do when applying for a British visa, what has changed in the last couple of years and what might be done about it.Presenter : Samira Ahmed Producer : Dymphna FlynnMain image: Dad's Army Christmas Special 1975. Credit: BBC(Clive Dunn as L-Cpl Jack Jones, Ian Lavender as Pvt. Frank Pike, Arthur Lowe as Captain George Mainwaring, John Le Mesurier as Sgt. Arthur Wilson, John Laurie as Pvt. James Frazer and Arnold Ridley as Pvt. Charles Godfrey.)