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Front Row: Rowan Atkinson interviewed; Claire Tomalin on Dickens

Rowan Atkinson interviewed; Claire Tomalin on Dickens

03/10/2011

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Rowan Atkinson interviewed; Claire Tomalin on Dickens

Rowan Atkinson on Johnny English Reborn; Claire Tomalin on the life of Charles Dickens.

With Mark Lawson, including Rowan Atkinson on his role as the hapless spy Johnny English, and Claire Tomalin on Dickens.

With Mark Lawson.

The acclaimed literary biographer Claire Tomalin publishes a new life of Dickens this week, ahead of the bicentenary of his birth next year. She discusses the author's contradictions and insecurities and whether they were an essential part of his genius.

Rowan Atkinson returns to his role as the spy with no sense of fear but plenty of gadgets, in the film Johnny English Reborn. He talks about the similarities between Johnny English and Mr Bean, the art of pulling faces and the importance of cars in his work.

Artist Grayson Perry pays homage to thousands of forgotten and anonymous craftsmen by picking 200 objects from the British Museum's collection to display in his exhibition The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman. At the centre of the show is a decorated cast iron coffin ship, made by Perry himself. Natalie Haynes reviews.

Producer: Nicki Paxman.

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