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Saturday Review

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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Sharp, critical discussion of the week's cultural events, with Tom Sutcliffe and guests

Presenter Tom Sutcliffe and guests offer sharp, critical discussion of the week's cultural events

Tom Sutcliffe

Deborah Moggach

John Mullan

Helen Lewis

Oliver Jones

Saturday Review: Saving Mr Banks; Eimear McBride; This American Life

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30/11/2013

Saving Mr Banks; Eimear McBride; This American Life

BBC Radio 4 - Saturday Review, Saving Mr Banks; Eimear McBride; This American Life

Savings Mr Banks and top USA podcast This American Life are among this week's reviews.

How Walt courted Mary Poppins, as told in new film Saving Mr Banks, and prize-winning original fiction from Eimear McBride, are some of the items up for review by Tom Sutcliffe.

New film Saving Mr Banks tells the story of Disney's courting of PL Travers - the woman who wrote Mary Poppins. It wasn't an easy courtship as she didn't want any animation, any songs or even anything that was the colour red in it. Eventually she relented and this film shows her reconciled to the Disney-fication of her work. But is this version anything like reality? And could one expect Disney Studios to make a film about their founder that showed him in anything other than a flattering light?

Irish writer Eimear McBride's first novel A Girl Is A Half-formed Thing was rejected by all the major publishing houses as too difficult. Now it's won the inaugural Goldsmith's Prize- worth £10,000. The prize recognises 'published fiction that opens up new possibilities for the novel form', and the stream of consciousness story of a young girl has been compared to a cross between James Joyce and Edna O'Brien.

This American Life is a radio programme from WBEZ in Chicago and the most popular podcast in the USA. What's it about? How does it consistently win popular and critical acclaim? We listen to a couple of editions of the podcast to see whether it might appeal to a UK audience.

Comedian Larry David came to public attention as co-creator, writer and producer of Seinfeld on US television. He went on to create Curb Your Enthusiasm - and both of these shows have been hailed as groundbreaking comedy and much loved by TV audiences around the world. His newest project is a 90 minute comedy film for HBO, reprising his curmudgeonly obsessive character; does it still seem funny over an hour and a half, or can you have too much of a good thing?

White Light White Heat at The Wallace Collection in London is not a tribute to Lou Reed, but a display of work by contemporary artists such as Tracey Emin and Gavin Turk where they have collaborated with Venetian glass workers. Originally part of this year's Venice Bienalle, it's a small collection, but is it a thing of beauty or an indulgent experiment?

Tom Sutcliffe is joined by writer Deborah Moggach, Professor John Mullan and deputy editor of The New Statesman Helen Lewis

Producer: Oliver Jones.

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