大象传媒

With Mark Lawson.

Sir Kenneth Branagh returns to performing and directing Shakespeare, taking the title role in a new production of Macbeth at the Manchester International Festival. This follows a decade-long hiatus in his long relationship with Shakespeare - from his RSC years, through the Renaissance Theatre Company and films including Henry V, Hamlet and Love's Labours Lost. Dramatist Charlotte Keatley reviews.

Monsters University is a prequel to Monsters, Inc, the 2001 film from the animation studio Pixar. The film sees Mike and Sulley (voiced by Billy Crystal and John Goodman) attend the classes of Dean Abigail Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren), to learn how to scare children. Mark Eccleston reviews.

When the South London band The xx released their debut album in 2009, its quiet ambience gained critical acclaim, became the soundtrack for several TV programmes and won the Mercury Music Prize. Its follow up, Coexist, topped the UK charts. As they prepare for start of their Manchester International Festival residency, Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim of The xx discuss playing in a small secret venue.

For Cultural Exchange, in which creative minds share a favourite art-work or design, Penelope Curtis, Director at Tate Britain, chooses buildings designed by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon at the University of Leeds. Created in the 1960s and 70s, and including the Grade II* listed Roger Stevens Building, the designs are seen as key examples of modernist architecture.

Producer Nicki Paxman.