Front Row

Fun Lovin' Crime Writers - band, AI: More than Human - exhibition, Medusa - ballet

May 14, 2019

Mark Billingham, Val McDermid and Doug Johnstone are well-known for their detective stories, which they write alone. But they come together as members of the band Fun Lovin' Crime Writers. They perform live and talk to Stig Abell about their day jobs, the joys of collaborating as a popular beat combo and the connections between these.

They stay on as cultural commentators to give their opinions of Robert De Niro's powerful new role - in an ad for bagels, the temporary ban on the export of the copy of Lady Chatterley's Lover that the judge annotated and brought with him to court when he presided at the famous obscenity trial in 1960, and, closer to home, the list of the 100 best crime novels published since 1945 - of which only 28 are by women.

The impact Artificial Intelligence will have on our lives is the subject of the Barbican’s major new exhibition AI: More than Human, which also seeks to challenge our preconceptions. Tech expert Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino reviews.

Medusa is an ancient myth that certainly speaks to our times, abused by a powerful male, she is somehow blamed for this and exacts revenge. The Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui has chosen this tale for his first work for the Royal Ballet and has set his dance to songs by Purcell and modern electronic music. He explains to Stig Abell why he is melding the ancient, modern and Baroque.

Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Julian May

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