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27/08/2011

Tom Sutcliffe and guests historian Kathryn Hughes, novelist Louise Doughty and writer Jim White discuss the cultural highlights of the week.

Tom Sutcliffe and guests historian Kathryn Hughes, novelist Louise Doughty and writer Jim White discuss the cultural highlights of the week including the film The Skin I Live In.

The Skin I Live In is Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's latest film. Ever since his wife died of her burns in a car crash, surgeon Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) has been interested in creating a new skin with which he could have saved her. After twelve years, he manages to cultivate a skin that is a real shield against every assault. But the research laboratory in his own home has its own sinister secret.

The Genius in My Basement, the Biography of a Happy Man is Alexander Masters' story of mathmatics genius Simon Phillips Norton. Simon is exploring a theoretical puzzle so complex and critical to our understanding of the universe, that it is known as the Monster. This is Masters' folllow-up to his critically acclaimed Stuart: A Life Backwards

Bartlett Sher's production of South Pacific reinvents Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic musical. It swept the 2008 Tony Awards, played to sold-out houses on Broadway for 2 years, was televised across America, and now makes its London debut.

The tenth anniversary of 9/11 is almost upon us. Memory Remains: 9/11 Artifacts at Hangar 17 at the Imperial War Museum is a photographic exhibition by artist Francesc Torres to mark the 10th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks. We juxtapose that with a visit to another exhibition. The Museum of Broken Relationships is a touring exhibition, now open in London, which has collected together the weird and wonderful paraphernalia of hundreds of failed romances.

Phase Eight is a contemporary spy film, by David Hare, featuring Johnny, played by Bill Nighy, a long-serving MI5 officer. His boss and best friend Benedict dies suddenly, leaving behind him an inexplicable file, threatening the very stability of the organisation. Johnny is forced to walk out of his job, and then out of his identity, to find out the truth.

Producer: Anne Marie Cole.

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45 minutes

Last on

Sat 27 Aug 2011 19:15

Broadcast

  • Sat 27 Aug 2011 19:15

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