Front Row Weekly

Including interviews with actress Olivia Colman and writers Peter Ackroyd, Sue Townsend and Charlotte Keatley. Also John Wilson explores why so many of this year's BRIT nominees take literature as their inspiration and we examine why there is no UK e-book chart.

Daniel Radcliffe on life after Harry Potter; AS Byatt on Picasso; tenor Vittorio Grigolo; Paul McCartney; Mad Men's Jon Hamm and new director at the Donmar Warehouse Josie Rourke.

Stephen Daldry discusses his latest film, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close; Beth & Emma Kilcoyne on writing the second series of Roger & Val Have Just Got In. Syrian poet Adonis talks about his work and theatre producers Howard Panter & Rosemary Squire discuss how they run 36 venues in the UK. We celebrate the centenary of the neglected composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and John Wilson talks to singer Don McLean about American Pie and to Julie Totman who trains dogs to become Hollywood stars

Anne Rice on her new werewolf novel; why Heygate and Aylesbury estates have banned film-makers; the enduring appeal of The Singing Detective; Australian author Kate Grenville; Ashley Walters on acting after prison; mezzo-soprano Alice Coote.

Kenneth Branagh dicusses his Oscar nomination and Edmund White talks about his new book. Novelist Andrew Miller on winning the 2011 Costa Book Prize and poet Paul Farley reviews a film on rhyming couplets. Film maker Norma Percy discusses the story of Vladimir Putin’s secretive Russia. And a review of the exhibition Hajj: A Journey to Islam.

Mark Lawson talks to screen writer Abi Morgan and to Leonard Cohen about his new album. The Carolina Chocolate Drops discuss their own brand of music and John Wilson talks to rising soul star Michael Kiwanuka and to writer Heidi Thomas about her new series, Call The Midwife. William Boyd reviews David Hockney at the Royal Academy and Ian Rankin and Frances Fyfield discuss their first novels.

This week's highlights - Stephen Spielberg on War Horse, singer-songwriter Emile Sande on her new album, two artists discuss painting Tony Blair & Antony Gormley & Hofesh Schecter talk about their dance piece & Anna Meredith on ceating music from clapping hands

Michael Fassbender on shooting 6 films in 20 months, Tom Hooper on following the success of The King's Speech, Julian Lloyd Webber and Tasmin Little on Delius, Tony Marchant on Public Enemies and a report on the hidden gems that can emerge from record company vaults.

Jennifer Saunders on the return of Absolutely Fabulous, Michelle Yeogh on playing Aung San Suu Kyi, Terry Jones on self publishing and Adele's producer, Paul Epworth and a Front Row neon artwork

Sir David Jason; Meryl Streep on the Iron Lady; director David Fincher on his version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo; historian Simon Schama selects his pick of works from the Government Art Collection; and Front Row's choice of the season's most tolerable songs.

Annie Lennox; Joanna Trollope and Tracy Chevalier invent biographies for unidentified paintings at the National Gallery; comedian John Cleese; art critic Brian Sewell; songwriter Carole King; and musical instruments made from scrap.

Comedian Ricky Gervais on Life's Too Short; actor Rob Brydon; Broadway composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz; Shakespeare scholar Eric Rasmussen on tracking down Shakespeare's First Folios; and interviews with all seven short-listed authors for the winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2011.

Kate Bush discusses her new album and Sir Bruce Forsyth celebrates 70 years in showbusiness. Tim Minchin talks about writing his hit musical Matilda which has opened in the West End and Gillian Slovo discusses her new play which addresses the London riots. John Craven on forty years in broadcasting and we hear a review of My Week with Marilyn

Neil La Bute on his latest play, Terence Conran reflects on his retrospective at the Design Museum, Simon Keenleyside offers notes on his career and America Ferrera on life after Ugly Betty

REM discuss their feelings about the end of the band, Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja on how wine played a part in his early singing career and the verdict on Michael Sheen on stage as Hamlet. Plus Jeffrey Eugenides, author of The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex, discusses his third novel, published after a gap of 9 years, Musician Nile Rodgers recalls how being turned away from a club inspired a number one hit, and Lou Reed gives his no-holds-barred assessment of the BBC.