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Episode details

Radio 4,24 Oct 2018,28 mins

The Hate U Give, House of Cards, Measure for Measure

Front Row

Available for over a year

The Hate U Give: the hugely popular Young Adult novel which charts the personal and political fallout from the police shooting of a young African-American man, viewed from the perspective of his close friend, Starr Carter. As the film adaption of the novel is released, the author and producer Angie Thomas discusses the book’s genesis in Black Lives Matter and bringing her story to the big screen. House of Cards: the US political thriller returns to Netflix, but without Kevin Spacey, who played its former lead character, President Frank Underwood. The actor was fired following sexual assault allegations, and the role was written out of the show for this final series. But how does House of Cards manage without the scheming political operator who often broke the fourth wall? Sophie Wilkinson reviews the new series, which sees Frank’s widow, Claire Underwood, played by Robin Wright, as the new American President. Actors Hayley Atwell and Jack Lowden discuss their gender-swapping roles in a new version of Shakespeare’s Measure For Measure at the Donmar Warehouse in London. In Josie Rourke’s production they perform the play twice – in the second half switching roles and the gender of the powerful deputy and the powerless novice, Angelo and Isabella, to create a modern-day depiction of the play. Presenter John Wilson Producer Emma Wallace

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