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Front Row: The Impossible; Simon Amstell; Arts Funding

The Impossible; Simon Amstell; Arts Funding

20/12/2012

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, The Impossible; Simon Amstell; Arts Funding

The Impossible reviewed; comedian Simon Amstell; Ed Vaizey and Tom Morris on arts funding.

Kirsty Lang meets comedian Simon Amstell and reviews The Impossible, starring Ewan McGregor. Ed Vaizey and Tom Morris discuss arts funding, plus the best TV shows over Christmas.

With Kirsty Lang. 

A new film The Impossible, starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts, focuses on the powerful tsunami which occurred in the Indian Ocean on Boxing Day 2004, and killed over 280,000 people. The film shows how events affected one family on a Christmas holiday in Thailand. Novelist Kamila Shamsie reviews. 

Ed Vaizey, the Minister for Culture, and Tom Morris, Artistic Director at Bristol's Old Vic Theatre, discuss the future of arts funding. Leading figures in the arts, including Sir Nicholas Hytner and Danny Boyle have expressed concerns about how government funding cuts could affect regional theatre. Following the news that Arts Council England will have its funding cut by a further £11.6m before 2015, Ed Vaizey outlines his thoughts on the future of UK arts organisations.

Comedian Simon Amstell's stand-up show, Numb, is on TV on New Year's Eve. The former host of Never Mind The Buzzcocks, who also wrote and starred in the autobiographical TV comedy, Grandma's House, reveals how creating Numb from his own insecurities, led him to a happier place - helped by a pungent potion in Peru.

With Christmas on the horizon, Front Row takes a look at the wealth of festive television programmes. Time Out's TV Editor Gabriel Tate, discusses a selection of the drama, factual and children's programmes on offer, and recommends some must-see shows. 

Producer Rebecca Nicholson.

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