Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

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

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

Front Row

Magazines & Reviews

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

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

BBC Radio 4 LW

Sue Nelson

Simon Armitage

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Jerry Brotton

Samira Ahmed

Jerome Weatherald

Front Row: Hidden Figures, Dirty Dancing writer, Muslim Othello, Simon Armitage

Hidden Figures, Dirty Dancing writer, Muslim Othello, Simon Armitage

13/02/2017

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Hidden Figures, Dirty Dancing writer, Muslim Othello, Simon Armitage

The film Hidden Figures reviewed, and Dirty Dancing writer Eleanor Bergstein 30 years on.

Hidden Figures reviewed, Eleanor Bergstein on 30 years of Dirty Dancing, Simon Armitage on Branwell Bronte, Muslim Othello.

Hidden Figures tells the story of three brilliant African-American women mathematicians working at NASA during the early years of the Space programme. Science expert Sue Nelson reviews the film which stars Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monáe and Octavia Spencer. 

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Dirty Dancing, the coming-of-age film starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, set in the 1960s, about a wide-eyed teen on a family holiday who discovers a forbidden underworld of sexy dancing. The film's writer Eleanor Bergstein explains how she drew on her own experiences as a teen, but also reflected the politics of the time.

To celebrate the bicentenary of Branwell Brontë, the brother overshadowed by his more talented sisters - Charlotte, Emily, and Anne - the poet Simon Armitage discusses a new exhibition he has curated at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, and a new series of poems he has written inspired by some of Branwell's possessions.

A new production of Othello at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol aims to emphasise Othello as an Islamic convert to Christianity rather than focusing solely on the race dimension to the play. Writer and journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and historian Jerry Brotton discuss the impact this has on how we understand the text.

Presenter Samira Ahmed
Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Front Row

Hidden Figures, Dirty Dancing writer, Muslim Othello, Simon Armitage

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4