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Front Row: Jojo Moyes, Prime Suspect 1973, Independent bookstores, Swan Lake in Hull

Jojo Moyes, Prime Suspect 1973, Independent bookstores, Swan Lake in Hull

28/02/2017

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Jojo Moyes, Prime Suspect 1973, Independent bookstores, Swan Lake in Hull

It took nine novels before Jojo Moyes found success; fancy being a cygnet in Hull?

It took ten years and nine novels before Jojo Moyes found success; how Prime Suspect's Tennison became such a formidable character; fancy being a cygnet in Hull?

Jojo Moyes had been writing for ten years and was beginning to wonder if she'd ever find success when her ninth novel, Me Before You, rocketed her to number one in the charts. She discusses her sudden rise to global fame and, as her first short story collection is published, compares the art of writing novels to short form.

Prime Suspect 1973 is a new TV drama charting the rise of the young WPC Jane Tennison, the character made famous by Helen Mirren in the successful 1990s series. This prequel, starring Stephanie Martini, shows how Tennison became the formidable character viewers have come to know. Dreda Say Mitchell reviews.

As the Waterstones bookshop chain admits to opening shops in three small towns in England that appear to be both local and independent, Rosamund De La Hay, the owner of the Main Street Trading Company in St Boswells, Scotland defends the truly independent bookstore.

Hull UK City of Culture 2017 announced today that, after a £16m transformation, the Hull New Theatre will reopen with its first visit from The Royal Ballet in 30 years. Kevin O'Hare, director of The Royal Ballet, explains why he's bringing a programme of Swan Lake-inspired works to the city of his birth; including getting the whole city to dance together as a long line of several hundred cygnets. 

Presenter: Kirsty Lang
Producer: Angie Nehring.

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