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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

Conn Iggulden

Andrew Collins

Timberlake Wertenbaker

Pete Naughton

Dymphna Flynn

Front Row: Conn Iggulden, Timberlake Wertenbaker and virtual reality on radio

Conn Iggulden, Timberlake Wertenbaker and virtual reality on radio

15/05/2017

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Conn Iggulden, Timberlake Wertenbaker and virtual reality on radio

Conn Iggulden on St Dunstan, playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker, virtual reality on radio.

Conn Iggulden on writing about St Dunstan, distinguished playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker on her new play Winter Hill, we assess virtual reality on radio.

Conn Iggulden is one of the most successful authors of historical fiction, writing about the Wars of the Roses, Genghis Khan and Julius Caesar; as well as his hugely popular manual Dangerous Book for Boys. He now turns to St Dunstan, who was Archbishop of Canterbury and lived through the reigns of seven kings in the tenth century. Conn talks to Samira about how Dunstan became a saint, and his legacy. 

Royal drama The Crown was made by Netflix when they outbid the BBC for the rights. The £100m series was expected to pick up the top awards at the BAFTAs after it led the shortlist with five nominations. But on the night, it missed out entirely. TV writer Andrew Collins discusses what the fate of The Crown reveals about the BAFTAs. 

Playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker has won many awards for her stage plays Our Country's Good, Three Birds Alighting on A Field, and most recently Jefferson's Garden; as well as praise for her radio adaptations of War and Peace and Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan quartet. Her new play, premiering at the Octagon Theatre in Bolton, looks at a group of women attempting to block the development of a big hotel on Winter Hill. Front Row spoke to Timberlake on the hill outside Bolton that inspired the drama. 

Quake is Radio 4's experimental new drama set after a deadly earthquake. As well as the audio drama, there is a virtual reality video to accompany the first episode and graphic novel style animations for the remaining eleven. Quake is also non-linear so apart for the first and last, the episodes can be listened to in any order. Critic Pete Naughton reviews. 

Presenter : Samira Ahmed
Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

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

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