Mark Lawson talks to novelists who have taken on another writer's characters, including P D James, who wrote a Pride and Prejudice sequel, Anthony Horowitz, creator of a new Sherlock Holmes story, Jeffery Deaver, author of the latest James Bond book, and Frank Cottrell Boyce, who took on another of Ian Fleming's creations - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. And what happens to a novel left unfinished when a writer dies? Incomplete manuscripts left by British novelist Beryl Bainbridge and American...

John Wilson talks to singers Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Jack Jones and Bruce Forsyth, whose careers began before rock and roll, and whose combined performing experience totals over 200 years. They reflect on the art of 'intimate singing', their inspirations, and the art of sustaining a career in a business which has changed radically over seven decades. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

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...

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.

Mark Lawson unwraps a further selection of new interviews with arts headline makers of 2011. Stage and screen actor Dominic West discusses playing serial murderer Fred West, Shakespeare's Iago, and upper-class anchorman Hector Madden in The Hour. Tracey Emin, newly-appointed Professor of Drawing at the Royal Academy, reflects on opening the new Turner Contemporary gallery in her home town of Margate, her solo show at the Hayward Gallery, London, and her art-work for 10 Downing Street....

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...

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...

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...

With Mark Lawson. Jennifer Saunders reflects on the return of Absolutely Fabulous, 20 years after Patsy and Eddy first staggered onto our screens. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is the latest instalment of the action-packed franchise. The film sees Tom Cruise return as undercover operative Ethan Hunt, trotting the globe in an attempt to clear his name of terrorism charges and prevent a nuclear attack. Naomi Alderman gives her verdict. Television is as much part of a traditional...

With Mark Lawson. Former Monty Python star Terry Jones has now written 26 books. His latest, Evil Machines, is a collection of 13 short stories which explore what happens when everyday objects take on a life of their own. He discusses the inspiration for the book, life as a Python and his relationship with the group now. The young lives of James Herriot and Inspector Morse will soon arrive on our TV screens. Glasgow in the 1930s is the setting for the adventures of James Herriot as an...

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,...

With John Wilson. Historian Simon Schama has selected his pick of works from the Government Art Collection for an exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery. While hanging the exhibition, he reveals how his choices were inspired by the British romance with travelling. Dame Edna Everage, Ann Widdecombe and Vanilla Ice are all making their pantomime debuts this year. Danny Robins has seen all three and considers the qualities needed for panto success. A large crane has been lowering a new art...

With Mark Lawson Two decades after the last series of Only Fools and Horses, Sir David Jason returns to BBC One as the star of a new comedy series. He discusses his role as the incompetent bodyguard of the Queen, his close relationship with Ronnie Barker, and whether he can predict which lines will get the best laugh. Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law have joined forces again for a second Sherlock Holmes film, directed by Guy Ritchie. In A Game of Shadows, Holmes and Dr. Watson take on their...

With Kirsty Lang. Meryl Streep is hotly tipped for Oscar success for her performance as Margaret Thatcher in the forthcoming film The Iron Lady. She discusses how she mastered Thatcher's famous voice, why she decided to donate her fee for the film to charity and how she feels about her daughters following her into the acting profession. Director Shane Meadows continues the story of a group of young skinheads who first appeared in his film This is England, set in 1983. This is England 88...

With Kirsty Lang. Lee Evans, Peter Kay, Ross Noble, Sarah Millican, Alan Carr and Milton Jones are among the host of comedians releasing new DVDs aimed at Christmas shoppers. Comedy critic Stephen Armstrong discusses the stand-up boom, and whether any of the DVDs is worth a second viewing. Sophie Okonedo and Ben Daniels star in Haunted Child, a new play by Joe Penhall. A small boy and his mother struggle to understand why the father abandoned them to join a religious cult, and his motives...

With Kirsty Lang. Singer Annie Lennox reflects on a career which has seen her push boundaries in both music and fashion, as she releases an album of Christmas songs and sees her V&A exhibition, The House Of Annie Lennox, go on tour early next year. The Ladykillers, the classic Ealing comedy film, now arrives on stage in a new adaptation by Graham Linehan, with a cast including Peter Capaldi, Ben Miller and James Fleet. Writer Iain Sinclair reviews. Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park...

With Mark Lawson. Singer and songwriter Carole King enjoyed her first hit fifty years ago, and released her landmark album Tapestry four decades ago. She discusses her career so far and her first-ever seasonal album, A Christmas Carole, including a Chanukah Prayer recorded with her daughter and grandson. Eddie Redmayne takes the title role in a new staging of Shakespeare's Richard II, directed by Michael Grandage. Adam Mars-Jones gives his verdict. Don DeLillo, whose novels include the...

With Mark Lawson. Amy Winehouse's posthumous album Lioness: Hidden Treasures was released yesterday and is already topping the midweek charts. Editor of NME magazine Krissi Murison gives her critical verdict on the disc, and considers the issues surrounding the release of recordings after an artist's death. The acerbic art reviewer Brian Sewell reflects on his experience as a student at the Courtauld Institute with Anthony Blunt, his life as a critic and 21st century attitudes to art. New...

With Mark Lawson. Writer and comedy performer John Cleese reflects on his career, including the rivalries between the Monty Python team, the creation of Fawlty Towers and the film A Fish Called Wanda. He also discusses breaking taboos, morality in comedy and the multi-million dollar divorce settlement which led to his recent show The Alimony Tour. Producer Claire Bartleet.

The Heart of Robin Hood is the new family show at the RSC. But it's the Robin Hood story with a twist. The production is directed by Gisli Örn Gardarsson, who has a reputation for challenging staging. Andrew Dickson reviews. Novelists Joanna Trollope and Tracy Chevalier discuss how a selection of Tudor portraits of unknown people at the National Portrait Gallery in London inspired them to invent fictional biographies for the mystery portrait sitters. Professional double-bass player Andy...

With Kirsty Lang. Kirsty meets Broadway composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz, whose hugely successful musicals include Godspell and Wicked, and whose 1972 show Pippin now receives a new British production. Steve Martin, Owen Wilson and Jack Black star in the film The Big Year, in which they compete to see who can spot the most species of birds in North America in one year. Comedian Alex Horne spent a year following his bird watching father and discusses whether the passion and paranoia...

Lenny Henry was acclaimed when he made his stage debut as Othello, and now he returns to Shakespeare as Antipholus of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors, in a new production at the National Theatre. Rachel Cooke reviews. Comedy performer and actor Rob Brydon reflects on his career so far, including his first appearance in a play, starring alongside Kenneth Branagh in Belfast earlier this year. He also recalls an awkward encounter with Harold Pinter. Charlie Brooker's latest project is Black...

With Mark Lawson. Ricky Gervais discusses the response to his TV comedy series Life's Too Short, which stars Warwick Davies as a "showbiz dwarf", and his return as host of the Golden Globes, following this year's insult-packed ceremony. Choreographer Wayne McGregor and composer Mark-Anthony Turnage discuss their new collaboration, Undance, inspired by the 19th Century photographer Eadweard Muybridge. Wealth-creation gurus are the focus of a new three-part documentary series Money by the...

Martin Scorsese has directed his first film in 3D. Adapted from the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, Hugo is the tale of a boy who lives in a Paris railway station in the 1930s, and features Ben Kingsley, Jude Law and Sacha Baron Cohen. Naomi Alderman reviews. The winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2011 is announced today. Mark interviews all seven shortlisted authors, whose books cover a range of sports including football, rugby, cycling, running and...