Patricia Cornwell, X Japan, Tom Hiddleston

Patricia Cornwell, the best-selling American crime writer, joins Nikki Bedi in the studio for this week’s programme. Talking about her new book Ripper- The Secret Life of Walter Sickert, Cornwell outlines her case for claiming that the British artist Walter Sickert had a secret life, killing prostitutes in London in the 1880s. The murderer known as Jack the Ripper was never identified.

British film star Tom Hiddleston talks about the importance and the strain of doing media interviews. We hear from American film director Paul Verhoeven about why Hollywood’s finest turned down the lead in Elle and which he eventually made in the original French starring Isabelle Huppert. Dorthe Nors, the Danish writer discusses the importance of a good translation now that her books are being published in English.

X Japan’s founder Yoshiki reveals how he feels about the new documentary We are X which charts 30 turbulent years of the Japanese heavy metal band’s history.

Presenter Nikki Bedi is joined by Patricia Cornwell in the studio and writer and film critic Agnès Poirier in Paris

(Photo shows: Patricia Cornwell (c) Thomas & Mercer, Yoshiki (c) Jason Merritt/Getty Images, Tom Hiddleston (c) Chuck Zlotrick/Warner Bros Entertainment Inc.)