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Dakota Blue Richards, Paul Bettany and Andrew Crofts

Claudia is joined by the star of a new Stoppard play, Dakota Blue Richards and Paul Bettany talks about his new film Mortdecai and working with Johnny Depp and Ewan McGregor.

We'll also have the latest film and theatre reviews and learn about ghostwriting with Andrew Crofts.

1 hour, 57 minutes

Music Played

  • Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

    Hollywood Nights

    • (CD Single).
    • Capitol.
  • Nina Simone

    My Baby Just Cares For Me

    • Heartbeat - The 60's Gold Collection.
    • Global Television.
  • Hozier

    Take Me To Church

    • (CD Single).
    • Island.
  • Gotye

    Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. Kimbra)

    • Communion/Island.
  • Crowded House

    Instinct

    • Crowded House - Recurring Dream.
    • Capitol.
  • Nicholas McCarthy

    Nocturne Op 9

  • Tom Cochrane

    Life Is A Highway

    • Tom Cochrane - Mad Mad World.
    • Capitol.
  • Gladys Knight & the Pips

    Midnight Train To Georgia

    • 25 Years Of Rock `n' Roll - 1976.
    • Connoisseur Collection.
    • 9.
  • Simple Minds

    Let The Day Begin

    • (CD Single).
    • Caroline.
    • 001.
  • Mariah Carey

    Fantasy

    • (CD Single).
    • Columbia.
  • Lou Reed

    Satellite Of Love

    • Lou Reed - NYC Man.
    • BMG.
  • Barbra Streisand & Barry Gibb

    Guilty

    • Bee Gees - Their Greatest Hits.
    • Polydor.
  • Sam Cooke

    Twistin' the Night Away

    • Sam Cooke - The Man & His Music.
    • RCA.
  • Rae Morris

    Under The Shadows

    • (CD Single).
    • Atlantic.
  • Tom Robinson

    Listen To The Radio: Atmospherics

    • Pure Soft Metal (Various Artists).
    • Temple Records.
  • Nik Kershaw

    The Riddle

    • The Essential Nik Kershaw.
    • Spectrum.

Dakota Blue Richards

Dakota Blue Richards

At just 20 years old, Dakota Blue Richards has already clocked up numerous screen credits, notably as Franky in Skins and playing Lyra in The Golden Compass. The end of this month will mark her stage debut as she plays Thomisina Coverly in a revival of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia.

Arcadia starts it's run next Friday 30th Januar, at The Theatre Royal in Brighton and tours until the middle of April.

Nicholas McCarthy

Nicholas McCarthy

Nicholas McCarthy is the only one-handed pianist to have graduated from the Royal College Of Music in its history. As well as performing extensively across the world - including the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC - he performed at the closing ceremony of the Paralympics in 2012 alongside Coldplay - and is returning to the UK to play in March.

Nicholas performs at the South Bank Centre in London on 9th March.

Camilla Long with the Film Review

Camilla Long with the Film Review

1. A Most Violent Year
Director
: J.C. Chandor
Cast: Oscar Issac, Jessica Chastain, David Oyelowo, Alessandro Nivola, Albert Brooks

Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain star in a gritty thriller set in crime-ridden '80s New York City. Young immigrant Abel Morales is a firm believer in the American Dream. Through hard graft, he's worked his way up the ladder and now runs a heating oil company. Along the way, he married his former boss's daughter, Anna, and they live in a nice suburban home with their children. But this is corrupt, crime-ridden New York City in 1981. His crooked competitors don't take kindly to an honest businessman in their midst. So they launch a campaign of dirty tricks and violent intimidation that even puts Abel's family in the firing line. Meanwhile, the DA launches an investigation into his business.

A Most Violent Year is out now rated 15

2. Ex-Machina
Director
: Alex Garland
Cast: Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, Alicia Vikander

Caleb, a 24 year old coder at the world's largest internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a retreat belonging to the company's reclusive CEO, Nathan. But when Caleb arrives he finds that he will have to participate in a fascinating experiment with the world's first true artificial intelligence, housed in the body of a beautiful robot woman, Ava. Truths, emotions and motives are blurred as the relationship between Caleb, Ava and Nathan intensifies

Ex-Machina is out now rated 15


3. Big Hero 6

Director: Don Hall
Cast: Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit, Jamie Chung, Genesis Rodriguez, T.J. Miller, Damon Wayans Jr., Alan Tudyk, James Cromwell, Katie Lowes, Maya Rudolph

An action comedy adventure about brilliant robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada, who finds himself in the grips of a criminal plot that threatens to destroy the fast-paced, high-tech city of San Fransokyo. With the help of his closest companion-a robot named Baymax-Hiro joins forces with a reluctant team of first-time crime fighters on a mission to save their city.

Big Hero 6 is rated PG


4. DVD Release - Riot Club

Director:Lone Scherfig
Cast: Sam Claflin, Max Irons, Douglas Booth

Two first-year students at Oxford University join the infamous Riot Club, where reputations can be made or destroyed over the course of a single evening.

The Riot Club is out now on DVD rated 15

Cathy Tyson and James Palmer

Cathy Tyson and James Palmer

Cathy Tyson and James Palmer are two seasoned actors who are about to appear in the UK Premiere of Alan Alda's play "Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie" which opens in London next month.

In the intellectual and creative ferment of early 20th century Paris, Marie Curie (Cathy Tyson) and her husband, Pierre, struggle through endless hours of physically dangerous work in order to master the secrets of radiation. Reaching a remarkable breakthrough, they share a Nobel Prize, the first ever granted to a woman. But the world isn鈥檛 fully ready to accept Marie鈥檚 incredible achievement. After Pierre鈥檚 death, a love affair with the brilliant, unhappily married physicist Paul Langevin rescues her from depression, but at the cost of a public scandal. It threatens to end Marie鈥檚 career just when she might be awarded an unprecedented second Nobel Prize.

Radiance: The Passion Of Marie Curie opens at the Tabard Theatre, London, on the 4th February and runs until the 28th.

Andrew Crofts

Andrew Crofts

Andrew Crofts is one of the most successful ghostwriters in the world and has guided a number of international clients successfully through the minefield of independent publishing. Last year, he published his own book "Confessions Of A Ghostwriter" and next week sees the publication of another title he has ghost written.

"Chances" by Penny - ghost written by Andrew Crofts is published by RedDoor on Thursday 29th January 2015

Alex Heminsley with the Book Review

Alex Heminsley with the Book Review

1. Lost And Found by Brooke Davis

"Lost and Found" follows the story of three lost people needing to be found. Millie Bird is a seven-year-old girl who always wears red wellington boots to match her red, curly hair. But one day, Millie's mum leaves her alone beneath the Ginormous Women's underwear rack in a department store, and doesn't come back. Agatha Pantha is an eighty-two-year-old woman who hasn't left her home since her husband died. Instead, she fills the silence by yelling at passers-by, watching loud static on TV, and maintaining a strict daily schedule. Until the day Agatha spies a little girl across the street. Karl the Touch Typist is eighty-seven years old and once typed love letters with his fingers on to his wife's skin. He sits in a nursing home, knowing that somehow he must find a way for life to begin again. In a moment of clarity and joy, he escapes. Together, Millie, Agatha and Karl set out to find Millie's mum. Along the way, they will discover that the young can be wise, that old age is not the same as death, and that breaking the rules once in a while might just be the key to a happy life.

Lost And Found is published by Hutchinson Books on 29th January 2015.

2. The Power Of Negative Emotion

Feelings like anger, boredom, guilt, and anxiety might be uncomfortable, but they are also incredibly useful. In this ground-breaking book, acclaimed psychologists Dr Todd Kashdan and Dr Robert Biswas-Diener explain why positivity and mindfulness can only take us so far. To live life to the full, we need to cultivate 'emotional agility' - the ability to access our full range of emotions (not just the 'good' ones).

The Power Of Negative Emotion is published by OneWorld and is out now.

Broadcast

  • Fri 23 Jan 2015 22:00