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

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Samira Ahmed

Sean Doran

Meow Meow

Keith Saha

Jimmy McGovern

Suzy Jones

Joseph Sharples

Ekene Akalawu

Front Row: Sgt. Pepper at 50; Jimmy McGovern; RIBA North

Sgt. Pepper at 50; Jimmy McGovern; RIBA North

29/05/2017

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Sgt. Pepper at 50; Jimmy McGovern; RIBA North

Sgt. Pepper at 50 arts festival; Jimmy McGovern on his new drama Broken; RIBA North.

Sgt. Pepper at 50: Heading For Home arts festival; Jimmy McGovern on his new drama about a maverick priest; RIBA North, the new national architectural centre in Liverpool.

For the bank holiday, Samira is in Liverpool for the art premieres celebrating the 50th anniversary of the release of the album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. She meets Sean Doran, the co-artistic director of the Sgt. Pepper at 50: Heading for Home arts festival, as he transforms the city into a turntable for the album by commissioning 13 world premieres - one for for each track.

Samira also meets two of the artists commissioned to come up with their interpretation of these classic Beatles songs: singer and performance artist Meow Meow has taken on Lovely Rita and is creating a street procession and a sound installation; and dramatist Keith Saha has written a new play inspired by the themes of She's Leaving Home, which will be performed in private homes in Toxteth.

Distinguished television writer Jimmy McGovern has written a new drama for BBC One, Broken, which looks at the life of a priest, Father Michael Kerrigan, played by Sean Bean, as he struggles to minister to a poor community. Jimmy takes Samira to St Francis Xavier church in Liverpool where much of the new television drama was filmed, and which has long inspired him.

And RIBA North is the new national architectural centre in Liverpool. As it finally prepares to open, Samira pays a visit to the new building on the city's waterfront which itself has been the subject of controversy, and arrives in Liverpool at a time when the city's architectural plans have led to it being placed on UNESCO's World Heritage in Danger list.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Ekene Akalawu.

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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