大象传媒

A landmark book which became a landmark TV series finally comes in from the cinematic cold as John Le Carre's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy hits the big screen this week, with Garry Oldman filling Alec Guiness's shoes as spy George Smilley. Historian Frances Stonor Saunders is here with her verdict.

What does a screenwriter actually do - and why aren't they as celebrated and lionised as actors and directors? Moira Buffini, who scripted Tamara Drewe and the current film version of Jane Eyre, and the writer behind Gladiator and Shadowlands, William Nicholson, ponder these questions and more.

As a new exhibition opens at the Royal Academy of Arts, Matthew and guests discuss Edgar Degas' love of the ballet and in particular the stoop, step and stretch of the ballerinas.

And celebrated tenor Ian Bostridge discusses the importance of phlegm and confesses his interest in witchcraft.