Thandie Newton; Romola Garai; The Slap

With Mark Lawson,

The actress Thandie Newton has set herself a challenge for her first ever stage role. Taking time out from her film career - she won a Best Supporting Actress BAFTA for Paul Haggis's Crash - she discusses playing the role of Paulina Salas, a former political prisoner in a Latin American country who was incarcerated and raped by her captors, in Ariel Dorfman's play Death and the Maiden.

Romola Garai, star of The Hour and Atonement, reviews a new exhibition of historical actress portraits depicting such superstars of their time as Nell Gwyn, mistress of Charles II, and Dorothy Jordan who had 10 illegitimate children with William IV. The exhibition includes Joshua Reynolds's depiction of Sarah Siddons as a noble Tragic Muse, and a full frontal portrait of a bare-breasted Nell Gwyn.

The Slap is a new TV drama series starting on BBC Four, based on Christos Tsiolkas' best-selling novel. At a summer barbecue, a man slaps a child who is not his son and the story traces the repercussions of a single event upon a group of family and friends. Rachel Cooke reviews.

We Need to Talk About Kevin is a best-selling book and now an acclaimed film, and its title is being widely re-worked by headline writers, authors and organisations. Comedian Danny Robins assesses why some titles prove so alluring.

Producer Claire Bartleet

Presenter Mark Lawson.