Front Row

Roger Taylor has been a driving force behind Queen, one of the most successful bands in history. The songwriter, drummer and singer talks to Tom Sutcliffe about his 7th solo album Violence Insane in a Beautiful World.
Stars Wars legend George Lucas has long sought to fulfil his dream to open a museum for his vast art collection, which includes everything from the comics of R. Crumb and Moebius to the art of Frida Kahlo, Banksy and Norman Rockwell. Art critic Jocelyn Silver joins to tell us about what fans can see when the Lucas Museum of Narrative Arts opens in Los Angeles tomorrow.
Imagine a scenario where Russia attacks the UK and the decisions about how the country responds are down to you. That's the task taken on by ex-politicians from across the political parties in a new TV series called The Wargame. Tom talks to ex MP Jim Murphy, who took part as the Foreign Secretary, and one of the Executive Producers Nicola Brown.
As the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has announced a new committee to look into Eurovision, journalist and Eurovision expert William Lee Adams explains why we don’t have the best track record with song success and what the committee could learn from other countries.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Andrea Kidd

Robbie Collin and Sarah Crompton join Samira Ahmed to review:
Rose Tremain’s new book, The Housekeeper, which imagines how Daphne du Maurier’s classic novel, Rebecca, came to be written.
Queen at Sea, a film starring Juliette Binoche and Tom Courtenay, which takes on the moral quandaries that occur with care in the advanced stages of dementia, when someone has lost the ability to make critical decisions.
Thelma & Louise the new musical which is playing at the Young Vic in London.
And we’ll have an interview with Laura Beatty, a finalist in the BBC National Short Story Awards, for her story Two Minutes to Midnight.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Jonathan Blackwell

Twin brothers Craig and Charlie Reid emerged almost 40 years ago with their debut album This Is The Story and Top 3 single ‘Letter from America’. The Proclaimers join Kirsty Wark to discuss their new album, the ambiguously titled, You May Offend.
Novelist Kate Atkinson won the Whitbread Book of the Year prize with her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum and today she chats about her latest novel, Our Noble Selves, set around the Festival of Britain which is 75 years old this autumn.
Ahead of London Fashion Week, Laura Weir, CEO of the British Fashion Council discusses the fashion industry and the British Fashion Council’s recently launched initiative Fashion Britain about devolving fashion outside the London epicentre of the industry.     Edinburgh based menswear designer Kestin Hare joins the conversation to talk about growing a fashion industry away from London centre of the fashion industry.
And we'll have an interview with another finalist in the BBC National Short Story Awards, Irish novelist Caoilinn Hughes

Biographer Hermione Lee talks to Tom about her new book Anita Brookner: Art and Life, which explores the career of the famously private art historian and author of 24 novels including the Booker prize-winning Hotel du Lac.
Hollywood is enjoying one of its best summers at the box office as a mix of big budget blockbusters and surprise hits by new directors has powered cinema to a record $4.76 billion in global ticket sales, a 25% increase on the year before. Tim Richards, the CEO of VUE Cinemas, and Clarisse Loughrey, the chief film critic at The Independent, discuss what’s happening and how it is reshaping the films you see.
Echo & the Bunnymen’s lead singer Ian McCulloch talks about the band’s latest album Apples for Isaac, their first new release for over a decade.
And author Cherise Saywell on her story Ditto, set in a small town in Australia, which has been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Andrea Kidd

Samira Ahmed talks to Hunter Davies about his new book Get Back: The Boys Who Became the Beatles, Juliette Binoche about her directorial debut on In-I in Motion, Jack Thorne on his speech arguing for the need to protect writers in the age of AI, and National Short Story Award shortlisted author Lucy Caldwell.
Producer: Eliane Glaser