Front Row

The full scale invasion of Ukraine began four years ago today. Ukraine Unbroken is an evening of five new plays written in response to the war. David Edgar talks about his, Five Day War, which imagines the puppet government waiting to move in when Kviv falls, and the other dramas. Between the plays Ukrainian musician Mariia Petrovska sings and plays the bandura. She talks about her involvement and the bandura, the national instrument that was once banned. And Mariia plays and sings live in the studio.
As Oscar-winning British cinematographer Sir Roger Deakins looks back at his career through his visual memoir Reflections: On Cinematography, he talks to Samira about his practical and inventive approach to working on many iconic films such as 1984, O Brother Where Art Thou, 1917, tackling sci fi on Bladerunner 2049 and Bond with Skyfall.
The government has announced the introduction of new legisation to introduce monitoring by Ofcom of streaming services. Front Row explores the implcations of this.
And we consider the novels selected for the International Booker Prize longlist, announced today with writer and head judge Natasha Brown. The books in contention are:
The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran by Shida Bazyar, translated from German by Ruth Martin
We Are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated from Spanish by Robin Myers
The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, translated from Dutch by David McKay
The Deserters by Mathias Énard, translated from French by Charlotte Mandell
Small Comfort by Ia Genberg, translated from Swedish by Kira Josefsson
She Who Remains by Rene Karabash, translated from Bulgarian by Izidora Angel
The Director by Daniel Kehlmann, translated from German by Ross Benjamin
On Earth As It Is Beneath by Ana Paula Maia, translated from Portuguese by Padma Viswanathan
The Duke by Matteo Melchiorre, translated from Italian by Antonella Lettieri
The Witch by Marie NDiaye, translated from French by Jordan Stump
Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur, translated from Persian by Faridoun Farrokh
The Wax Child by Olga Ravn, translated from Danish by Martin Aitken
Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, translated from Mandarin Chinese by Lin King
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Julian May

Fifty years on from the death of painter LS Lowry, the BBC has made a documentary featuring recently discovered recordings made in the last years of his life. Recorded by Lowry fan Angela Barratt over a period of four years, the tapes have been lip-synced for the documentary, with Ian McKellen playing Lowry and Annabel Smith as Barratt. Art historian Verity Babbs and curator of the Lowry Collection, Claire Stewart, join Samira Ahmed to discuss the painter's life and legacy.
Actress Neve Campbell shot to fame playing the lead role of Sidney Prescott in Scream in 1996. She went on to appear in five of the six sequels - and now returns for another battle with the Ghostface killer in Scream 7.
Francis Spufford is the award-winning author of Golden Hill and Light Perpetual. His new novel, Nonesuch, tells the story of a young woman who must thwart an occult plot by time-traveling fascists during the chaos of the London Blitz.
And Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw reacts to last night's BAFTAs, as well as the winner of the Berlin Film Festival's coveted Golden Bear Award.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Tim Bano

Poet, playwright and curator Inua Ellams and film critic Hanna Flint join Tom Sutcliffe for this week's reviews.
Riding high after the huge success of the Wicked films, actor Cynthia Erivo returns to the London stage for a one-woman production of Bram Stoker's Dracula, in which she plays all the parts.
Last summer was dubbed 'brat summer' by the press, with the word 'brat' entering the dictionary as an adjective - all in response to the pop album Brat by singer Charli XCX. In a new mockumentary, The Moment, Charli considers how to follow up on Brat, and how to deal with fame.
And Kleber Mendonça Filho's new film The Secret Agent follows a man caught in the turmoil of the Brazilian military dictatorship. With four Oscar nominations and two BAFTA nominations, it's widely tipped to be one of the big winners in this year's awards season.
Plus authors Hallie Rubenhold and Jason Sanford tell Tom about a new and troubling marketing scam aimed at authors which promise good reviews and then resort to threats when authors do not respond.
Producer: Tim Bano

Director Mona Fastvold and actor Amanda Seyfried discuss their film The Testament of Ann Lee, a musical history about the life of the founder of The Shakers, a mystic who moved from Manchester to the United States in the 18th century and founded a religious community, and who advocated for celibacy, communal living, and gender equality.
As a new production of George Bernard Shaw's St Joan opens, director Stewart Laing and theologian and art historian Ayla Lepine discuss how the 15th-century French religious martyr who led France to victory in the Hundred Years War against England but who was burned at the stake after being found guilty of heresy has influenced culture, and why her story is particularly relevant today.
In her new book Fashioning the Crown, journalist and author Justine Picardie explores how the women of The Windsors have used clothing to communicate messaging to the public. She speaks about her research in the Royal Archives and about how symbolic royal dress has been over the past century.
Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Mark Crossan

In 1986 Jim Cartwright's debut play, Road, was the theatrical sensation of the year and its reputation has only grown in the decades that have followed. As a new production to mark its 40th anniversary opens at the Royal Exchange in Manchester, Jim Cartwright joins Front Row to reflect on why the play has had such an enduring impact.
"How lovely yellow is! It stands for the sun.” So exclaimed Van Gogh in a letter. Now an exhibition, 'Yellow: Beyond Van Gogh's Colour', at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam explores why the artist and his contemporaries loved yellow so much. Art historians Martin Bailey and Kirsty Sinclair Dootson discuss the significance of yellow in art, and the long history of the colour.
American filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir on her new Oscar-nominated documentary, The Perfect Neighbour, which looks at a 2023 shooting incident in Florida when white female, Susan Louise Lorincz, fatally shot her black female neighbour, Ajike Owens.
Dr Jasmine Allen, Director of the Stained Glass Museum, on the "nation's favourite" stained glass window at Carlisle Cathedral.
Presenter: Nick Ahad
Producer: Ekene Akalawu