With Mark Lawson. 

David Fincher's directing credits include The Social Network, Fight Club, Se7en and Alien3, and his latest film is an adaptation of Stieg Larsson's book The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, starring Daniel Craig. Fincher discusses his approach to filming a book that has already sold 65 million copies worldwide and been made into a successful trilogy of movies in Swedish.

Mark Lawson and Jeff Park make their selection of crime books for Christmas including works by P D James, Umberto Eco and Anthony Horowitz.

Vikram Seth is best known for his novel A Suitable Boy, but he's also written a series of opera libretti, as part of a collaboration with composer Alec Roth, and now published as The Rivered Earth. Vikram Seth discusses the working process and how a former owner of his house made a mark on the project.

Producer Nicki Paxman. Published on December 15, 2011.

David Fincher; Crime Books; Vikram Seth

With John Wilson. 

Michelle Yeoh, star of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Tomorrow Never Dies, on playing Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in The Lady. Luc Besson's film tells the extraordinary story of the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who sacrificed her personal life for her people, remaining under house arrest in Burma even when her Oxford-based husband Michael Aris was dying of cancer. 

Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills; BBC Proms presenter Suzy Klein; and writer and critic David Hepworth nominate their album of the year for 2011. 

And - Julian Barnes thanked his book jacket designer in his Booker acceptance speech this year and emphasised the importance of books as beautiful objects. At a time when e-readers are changing the publishing landscape, Barnes' designer Suzanne Dean and art director at Harper Collins Alice Moore reflect on how the role of the cover designer might evolve.

Producer Lisa Davis. Published on December 20, 2011.

Michelle Yeoh, 2011 music picks, book cover design

With John Wilson. 

Paul Merton reviews the new silent film The Artist, which with six Golden Globe nominations is already the surprise hit of this year's Hollywood awards season. 

Adele's producer Paul Epworth discusses his part in creating this year's biggest album, 21, for which he has received four Grammy nominations, and how he and Adele came up with the hit song Rolling in the Deep. 

It's almost a century since a Parisian barber's shop began the urban romance with neon when it put up the first commercial neon sign. Although neon has fallen out of commercial favour, artists are breathing new life into the medium. John went to the Neon Workshops in Wakefield, Yorkshire, to learn how to make his own neon artwork. 

The neon art is now installed at the BBC's building in Salford. The graphic designer Peter Saville, famed for his record sleeves for the likes of New Order, Joy Division, Roxy Music and Pulp - and a huge neon fan - joins John, along with the Junior Royal Northern College Brass Quintet and the BBC North Staff Choir, to switch on the first Front Row artwork.


Producer Ekene Akalawu. Published on December 21, 2011.

Paul Merton; Neon Artwork; Adele's producer Paul Epworth

Mark Lawson unwraps a selection of new interviews with arts headline makers of 2011. 

Booker Prize winner Julian Barnes explains why he no longer refuses to read his reviews, and poet Jo Shapcott, winner of the Costa Prize for her collection Of Mutability, discusses why the book's subject, her cancer, is never referred to explicitly. 

Director Nicholas Hytner and writer Richard Bean reflect on the success of their hit play One Man, Two Guvnors, which will make its way to Broadway after a sell-out UK tour and London run.

Film-maker Andrea Arnold is best known for contemporary dramas such as Red Road and Fish Tank, but her 2011 version of Wuthering Heights won wide acclaim. She reveals why her next film won't be an adaptation.

Architect Sir David Chipperfield received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal this year, as well as completing the Turner Contemporary in Margate and the Hepworth in Wakefield. He discusses how the current wranglings in Europe could affect his profession.

Producer Ellie Bury. Published on December 22, 2011.

Julian Barnes, Andrea Arnold, Sir David Chipperfield

Mark Lawson talks to three tenors and a counter-tenor: Joseph Calleja (pictured), Ian Bostridge, Mark Padmore and Iestyn Davies reflect on repertoire, singing teachers and the perils of phlegm. 

Producer Georgia Mann. Published on December 27, 2011.

Singers Joseph Calleja, Ian Bostridge, Mark Padmore and Iestyn Davies

Kirsty Lang examines how writers from India and Pakistan are tackling social and political shifts, with Booker-winner Aravind Adiga, Aatish Taseer, Mohammed Hanif and Moni Mohsin.

All have published fiction in the past year with a focus on complex current issues in their respective countries, including terrorism in Pakistan and the huge social changes brought about by India's economic boom.

They also reflect on the differences between readers in the Indian subcontinent and those who live outside it, and discuss how - as Aravind Adiga reveals - a warm critical reception in the UK is no guarantee of critical praise at home.

Producer Rebecca Nicholson. Published on December 28, 2011.

Front Row 2011