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Front Row: Patrick Gale's Man in an Orange Shirt, Olly Alexander's Queer Icon, Man Booker Prize longlist, Mercury Prize shortlist

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27/07/2017

Patrick Gale's Man in an Orange Shirt, Olly Alexander's Queer Icon, Man Booker Prize longlist, Mercury Prize shortlist

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Patrick Gale's Man in an Orange Shirt, Olly Alexander's Queer Icon, Man Booker Prize longlist, Mercury Prize shortlist

Patrick Gale, Olly Alexander, Man Booker Prize longlist, Mercury Prize shortlist.

Patrick Gale on his first television play Man in an Orange Shirt. Plus Olly Alexander's Queer Icon, the Man Booker Prize longlist and the Mercury Prize shortlist.

A family secret inspired novelist Patrick Gale's first TV screenplay Man in an Orange Shirt. Part of the BBC's Gay Britannia season, the drama focuses on gay relationships in two interlinking episodes set during the '40s and in the present day.

The Man Booker Prize 2017 longlist has just been announced and includes big names including previous winner Arundhati Roy, as well as Zadie Smith and Sebastian Barry, and Colson Whitehead and his Pulitzer-prizewinning The Underground Railroad. There are a few surprises there too including debut novelist Fiona Mozley's Elmet. Literary critic Alex Clark and Toby Lichtig of the Times Literary Supplement join John to talk about the significance of this year's choices.

The 12 Albums of the Year nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize were announced earlier today. From pop to jazz to grime, the diverse shortlist includes some of the UK's biggest acts, and then some you may never have heard of - we'll be discussing it with BBC Radio 6 music presenter Tom Ravenscroft.

For our Queer Icons series, Olly Alexander - lead singer of the band Years & Years - talks about Anne Carson's verse novel Autobiography of Red, and his identification with its central character, a red winged monster. 

Presenter: John Wilson
Producer: Harry Parker

Main Image: Michael (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), and Thomas (James Mcardle) in Man in an Orange Shirt. Image Credit: BBC / Kudos / Nick Briggs.

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