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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music

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Samira Ahmed

Rachel Simpson

Antony Sher

Gregory Doran

Vicky Cooper

James Swallow

Rhianna Pratchett

Front Row: Antony Sher and Gregory Doran, Writing video games, Hendrik Groen

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26/08/2016

Antony Sher and Gregory Doran, Writing video games, Hendrik Groen

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Antony Sher and Gregory Doran, Writing video games, Hendrik Groen

Antony Sher and Gregory Doran on King Lear. Plus gaming from a writer's point of view.

Sir Antony Sher and Gregory Doran talk about King Lear, how video games are embracing narrative, and the anonymous author of The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 1/4 Years Old.

Actor Sir Antony Sher and director Gregory Doran talk about all-powerful pagan kings and post-Brexit Britain in relation to their RSC production of King Lear.

As the Victoria and Albert Museum adds to their archive a collection of Tommy Cooper's props, posters and notebooks, Cooper's daughter Vicky remembers growing up among her father's famous stage props and hearing jokes at the kitchen table. 

This month has seen two big new releases in the video gaming world: the highly anticipated No Man Sky, which promises an infinite, constantly regenerating universe for players to discover, and the latest instalment in the sci-fi blockbuster franchise Deus Ex, Mankind Divided. From an economic perspective, games have outperformed other creative industries for years, and they're also nurturing the best creative writing talent. So how do writers fit in to this multi-billion pound industry? Novelist and scriptwriter James Swallow, whose game writing credits include Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and No Man's Sky, and scriptwriter and story designer Rhianna Pratchett, whose credits include Lara Croft: Tomb Raider discuss.

A hit when it was first published in Holland two years ago, The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen 83 1/2 Years Old is a debut novel written in the voice of the titular Hendrik, a resident in a retirement home in the north of Amsterdam. Praised for its witty and realistic portrayal of life in a care home, the book also sparked a media frenzy over the identity of its anonymous author, with a series of famous Dutch authors linked to the book. By email, the author responds to Samira's questions about the novel - and his or her's true identity. 

Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Rachel Simpson.

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