Front Row: Archive 2011 - Comedy DVDs; Haunted Child; Graham Sutherland

Download Comedy DVDs; Haunted Child; Graham Sutherland

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 for returning to the family home. Julie Myerson reviews.

The artist Graham Sutherland is the focus of a new exhibition curated by Turner Prize nominee George Shaw. Sutherland, who died in 1980, produced a wide range of work, including landscapes, images of the Blitz and portraits, including one of Winston Churchill, which was loathed by Churchill's wife. Writer Alexandra Harris and art critic Richard Cork reflect on Sutherland's current reputation.

Composer Joshua Cody was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer when in his early thirties. He charts his experience of treatment and his reaction to the diagnosis, whilst aiming to avoid what he describes as the classic cancer memoir. Instead, he describes his morphine delusions, and the comfort he found in writers, poets and artists.

Crime writer Mark Billingham loves a good narrative. And particularly in pop songs. He raises a glass to Two Little Boys, Copacabana and Bohemian Rhapsody, as there's nothing better than a good yarn with a beginning, a middle and an end set to music.

Producer Katie Langton.

Published on Friday, 9th December 2011.

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