David Mitchell on Ludwig, poet Kathleen Jamie...

Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and William Lee Adams join Tom Sutcliffe to review:The Life of M - the new novel from Rachel Cusk. The book centres on a writer’s attempt to chronicle the life of a globally famous film star, and explores the strangeness of celebrity.Stop! That! Train! - a com ...  Show more

Writer and director John Morton, one of the team behind 2012 and W1A, on the new comedy Twenty Twenty Six, set in the run up to this year's football World Cup.Artist Lachlan Goudie's new book The Secrets of Painting explores the creative big bangs in art over the centuries which ...  Show more

Poet Fiona Sampson, conductor Alice Farnham, and broadcaster Tom Service join Ian McMillan to explore the maths, metaphors and musical terms that make up the language of conducting. Plus comedy writer Jack Bernhardt takes a sideways look at Hollywood's take on the tortured genius ...  Show more

Ben Elton has a new sitcom on BBC2; Upstart Crow starring David Mitchell as The Bard of Avon. Could it be a return to his golden form of Blackadder? A Midsummer Night's Dream is the first production by Emma Rice, the new Artistic Director at London's Globe Theatre. Does it auger ...  Show more

This week, Yoojin Grace Wuertz celebrates this year’s Nobel Laureate in literature, South Korea’s Han Kang; and David Morley reads his new poem, and discusses the link between birds, music and poetry.‘The Vegetarian’, ‘Human Acts’ and ‘Greek Lessons’, by Han Kang‘Beethoven’s Yell ...  Show more

In the first programme of a new series, Andrea Catherwood discusses BBC coverage of the Queen’s funeral with Royal Correspondent Jonny Dymond and the BBC’s Director of Journalism, Jonathan Munro.Kate Bush’s musical renaissance featured in a recent Archive on 4. We put two young l ...  Show more